In Contention

Category: Daily

  • The Sans weigh in

    Francisco and Diego, that is. Anyone else think there are a tad too many critics’ awards floating around out there? Seriously, what do they all mean? New York, Los Angeles, Boston and the National Society are the only ones that really register with me… maybe Chicago, if I’m feeling generous.

    The rest really kind of blur into one, particularly when they elect the same winners over and over again. Anyway, you won’t be surprised to hear that the San Franciscans went for “Milk” in a big way, while San Diego continued the lovefest for “Slumdog Millionaire.”

    The San Francisco picks:

    Best Picture: “Milk”
    Best Director: Gus Van Sant, “Milk”
    Best Actor: Sean Penn, “Milk” & Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
    Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
    Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
    Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”
    Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, “Milk”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon”
    Best Foreign Language Film: “Let the Right One In”
    Best Documentary Feature: “My Winnipeg”
    Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, “The Dark Knight”

    (more…)

  • Better quality…SNIKT!

  • Critics, critics, critics…

    I’ve been out all day long so I haven’t been able to post, let alone comment on the array of awards that were dished out today (beyond the Golden Satellites).  Luckily, Sasha Stone and Ryan Adams are, as always, on top of it, so check out their posts regarding the St. Louis winners (topped by “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), the Southeastern Film Critics nominees (with a top 10) and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards (with high marks for “Slumdog Millionaire”).

    Tom O’Neil also has some brief commentary on the multitude of kudos at Gold Derby.  Just nevermind the unnecessary Sean Penn swipe.

    Truthfully, it’s all running together in my head now.  Too many to count.

  • Runnin’ on empty: the best films of 2008

    Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall in Vicky Cristina BarcelonaJust to say it once more, because I’ve certainly brought it up enough, 2008 was not a good year for film-goers.

    That’s an incredibly subjective quip, of course, but I certainly found myself struggling with the level of quality on display with each and every screening, the oasis of the Oscar season ultimately proving to be a trickster mirage on the horizon as contenders ultimately fell flat or disappointed in various ways. And suddenly, we’re two weeks away from 2009.

    Who let the goods out?

    But a year lacking broad quality can be a fun “Where’s Waldo” for the impassioned film lover, and so it is that I found some truly wonderful, praise-worthy work from a number of driven and creative filmmakers this year. But a peculiarity began to arise as I sifted through the year’s offerings: What a load of downer cinema.

    I first noticed it in the documentary offerings, heavier on morose subject matter than any other year I can remember. Depictions of the horrors of Katrina, the passionate life and tragic death of a Neil Diamond impersonator, the work of a journalist obsessed with his own inevitable suicide, the nation’s stance on the death penalty, the life and times of a child molester, a heart-breaking family drama in St. John’s, Newfoundland, a national economy on life support, despicable soldier etiquette at our global detention facilities -– it is hardly surprising that the most well-received documentary of the year is a celebration of an “artistic crime” in James Marsh’s “Man on Wire.” But how odd that the genre’s resident cynic, Werner Herzog, was responsible for one of the few other positive doc titles that made the rounds this year?

    Moving into the realm of fiction, even the usually jubilant folks at Pixar couldn’t help but crank out their most sobering film to date, a cautionary tale wrapped in the guise of a love story that conveyed a creepy sense of inevitability despite a hopeful denouement.

    I bring these observations up for a reason, and that is to add some perspective to the list you’ll find below. 2008 was a bellwether for me personally as I began to let the idea of “best” as a definitive slip away and become something more akin to a solid if flexible representation of the times, and how those times affect the viewer.

    (more…)

  • Could Woody Allen be a surprise Best Director nominee?

    Woody Allen at the 2002 Academy AwardsIn 1994, Woody Allen’s masterful “Bullets Over Broadway” was not really on anyone’s charts as a potential Oscar nominee. A very funny film about a playwright who enlists a gangster to help him bring life and reality to his play, it was one of Allen’s best works with hysterically funny performances from John Cusack, the great Dianne Wiest (who won an Oscar), Chazz Palminteri, Jennifer Tilly, Jack Warden, Mary Louise Parker, Rob Reiner, Jim Broadbent, and Tracey Ullman. The film premiered here at the Toronto International Film Festival with excellent reviews, but it seemed overshadowed that season by Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” without question the movie of the year.

    The day the Academy Award nominations were announced, as expected, “Forrest Gump” and “Pulp Fiction” dominated, but in a huge surprise, Allen’s film was up in seven categories including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Palminteri), Best Supporting Actress (Weist and Tilly) and a couple of technical awards.

    I have always believed the film to be one of Allen’s funniest and finest films, with beautifully created characters and knockout performances throughout. Wiest is miraculous as a manipulative diva seducing the director/writer portrayed by Cusack because she knows it to be the only way to create a better character for herself. Her “don’t speak” becomes more and more insane throughout the film.

    I have always felt the film was robbed of a Best Picture nomination, likely edged out by “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” but it really did not matter as “Forrest Gump would dominate the ceremony.

    This year, Allen has directed and written a critically acclaimed film in “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” with a powerhouse performance from Penélope Cruz (the Oscar frontrunner), and solid work from Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, and Scarlett Johansson (two of them Golden Globe nominees). The film is funny, sexy and dangerous, both vintage Allen, but also a newer, darker Allen, a director evolving.

    (more…)

  • In case you care…Golden Satellite winners

    Talk about spreading the wealth…

    Best Film (Drama): “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Film (Comedy/Musical): “Happy-Go-Lucky”
    Best Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Actress (Drama): Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
    Best Actor (Drama): Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
    Best Actor (Comedy/Musical): Ricky Gervais, “Ghost Town”
    Best Actress (Comedy/Musical): Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
    Best Supporting Actor: Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road”
    Best Supporting Actress: Rosemarie DeWitt, “Rachel Getting Married”
    Best Original Screenplay: “The Visitor”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “Frost/Nixon”
    Best Art Direction and Production Design: “Austrailia”
    Best Cinematography: “Australia”
    Best Costume Design: “The Duchess”
    Best Editing: “Iron Man”
    Best Original Score: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Original Song: “Another Way to Die” from “Quantum of Solace”
    Best Sound (Editing and Mixing): “The Dark Knight”
    Best Visual Effects: “Australia”
    Best Foreign-Language Film: “Gomorrah”
    Best Animated or Mixed-Media Film: “WALL-E”
    Best Documentary: (tie) “Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer” and “Man on Wire”

  • Building a sinister reality

    Matteo Garrone

    “I was interested in showing a different point of view than ‘ The Godfather’ or ‘GoodFellas,’ ” he says. “These movies are the models for these people, but their real lives are different. We wanted to develop the confusion between reality and fiction. They act like they’re in an American action movie”…

    “The movie I think has a kind of anthropological value,” Garrone says. “It was important to reinvent the imagery of the criminal without glamorizing. We chose very carefully every face in the movie.

    From Michael J. Ybarra’s 12/14 story on Matteo Garrone’s “Gomorrah.”  More on Garrone’s film later this morning, I assure you.

  • 12/15 Oscarweb Round-up

    Will Smith• Nathaniel Rogers goes back to the well with some updated Oscar predictions. [The Film Experience]

    • Charles McGrath writes up the upcoming “Revolutionary Road” release. [New York Times]

    • Philip French remembers a bleak year in cinema. [The Guardian]

    • Similarly, John Horn notes the box office success of some challenging films this holiday season. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Speaking of challenging films, Andrew O’Hehir talks to Steven Soderbergh about “Che.” [Beyond the Multiplex]

    • Susan King, meanwhile, talks to Brian Goodman about his life-turned-movie in “What Doesn’t Kill You.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Andy Serkis comes out from behind the CGI masks of his most famous performances into acceptance as a fine actor. [The Times]

    • Donna Freydkin chats it up with “Seven Pounds” star Will Smith. [USA Today]

    • Glenn Kenny on Hollywood finally turning classics into digital masterpieces. [Popular Mechanics]

  • ‘Dark Knight’ and ‘Slumdog’ lead list of Chicago critics nominees

    Nothing in the way of major surprises, but I’m stoked for the “Let the Right One In” love.  The rundown:

    Best Picture
    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    “The Dark Knight”
    “Milk”
    “Slumdog Millionaire”
    “WALL-E”

    Best Director
    Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
    David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight”
    Andrew Stanton, “WALL-E”
    Gus Van Sant, “Milk”

    Best Actor
    Clint Eastwood, “Gran Torino”
    Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
    Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
    Sean Penn, “Milk”
    Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”

    Best Actress
    Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
    Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
    Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
    Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
    Meryl Streep, “Doubt”

    (more…)

  • An Oscar contender, as you know, is a lot like gravity…

    The Dark Knight

  • Just a reminder

    There will be no Oscar column tomorrow, though I may get around to a chart update later in the evening.  Instead, tomorrow morning be sure to watch for my annual “best of the year” column, if you, you know, care about those things.  It’s been hard chipping away all the crap this year, but I think I’ve settled on a list I’m quite content to call the year’s best.  Until then…

  • The absurdities of ‘The Dark Knight’

    The Dark KnightEven as a clear fan of the film, I have to say this cracked me up:

    Wait, so the Joker really orchestrated that big truck chase just so that he could get caught and go to prison, then he could kidnap that guard and grab his phone to make the call to set off the bomb he’d previously sewn inside the henchman in the next cell? That would kill the guy who stole the mobsters’ money, thus enabling him to … er, what? Heath Ledger’s Joker may have been a psychopath, but he had a nerdish capacity for forward planning.

  • AFI list a blend of commercial and independent cinema

    Paramount Pictures' Iron ManThe American Film Institute has unveiled its schizophrenic list of the top 10 films of the year, and it’s a strangely delightful mixture of populist choices and more fringe contenders.

    The appearance of “Iron Man” is as interesting as “Wendy and Lucy” popping up, but I don’t think this collective will do much to help any of the films within.  Just another fun list of the year’s best.  (Speaking of which, be sure to tune in tomorrow for my own list of same.  Like how I turned that into a plug?)

    Not sure why “Slumdog Millionaire” was snubbed.  Is it considered an American production?  Anyway, here’s the list:

    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    “The Dark Knight”
    “Frost/Nixon”
    “Frozen River”
    “Gran Torino”
    “Iron Man”
    “Milk”
    “WALL-E”
    “Wendy and Lucy”
    “The Wrestler”

  • ‘Slumdog,’ ‘WALL-E’ tie for top honors with Beantown critics

    Two ties from the Boston crowd, actually.  In big categories.  Have some balls.  Take a stand.  Anyway, Sally Hawkins gets yet another boost, while “Man on Wire” remains the only (boringly) undefeated contender so far.

    Here’s the list:

    Best Picture: (tie) “Slumdog Millionaire” and “WALL-E”
    Best Director: Gus Van Sant, “Milk,” “Paranoid Park”
    Best Actor: (tie) Sean Penn, “Milk” and Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
    Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
    Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
    Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
    Best Screenplay: “Milk”
    Best Cinematography: “Paranoid Park”
    Best Documentary: “Man on Wire”
    Best Foreign-Language Film: “Let the Right One In”
    Best Animatd Film: “WALL-E”
    Best Film Editing: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best New Filmmaker: Martin McDonough, “In Bruges”
    Best Ensemble Cast: “Tropic Thunder”

  • Sean Penn on course for Oscar #2, and he deserves it

    Sean Penn in MilkWith two of the major critics awards won, actor Sean Penn seems to be headed for his second Academy Award for Best Actor for his brilliant work in “Milk.”

    Penn’s work through the 1980s and 1990s defined him as one of the greatest actors of his generation (if not the best) and certainly on the level with Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson and early Robert De Niro.  I find it incredible to see him today in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and try to connect that actor and character to anything he has done in his career. It gives a very clear example of his seemingly limitless range.

    His first Oscar nod came for “Dead Man Walking” in 1995, with only the Independent Spirit Awards giving him the grand prize.  All the others went with Nicolas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas,” a great performance to be sure, but for my money Penn was stronger. Four years later he was something of a surprise nominee for “Sweet and Lowdown,” a fine piece of acting, but a kind of out-of-nowhere nomination, as was his third nod for “I Am Sam,” which I still struggle with watching; it represents the only time I can “see” Penn acting.

    “Mystic River” won him his first and only Oscar, and I stand by it as a stunning example of the craft.  I agree with The New York Times, which declared it one of the great acting performances of all time. Bill Murray was a popular choice that year for “Lost in Translation” and no argument, he would have been a most worthy winner.  But I am pleased Penn won. For me, he captured the anger and rage of the character, as well as the disappointment and hurt over something so precious as a daughter, now lost. There was shame in his eyes for not having protected her, and to make up for that in his mind, he avenges her.

    (more…)

  • 12/13 Oscarweb Round-up

    Michelle Williams in Wendy and Lucy• Rod Lurie wants to steer comparisons of “Nothing But the Truth” away from Judith Miller, evokes Susan McDougal. [Los Angeles Times]

    • The company behind releasing his film, meanwhile, goes into chapter 11. [Variety]

    • Is the Academy ready to award digital performances? [Variety]

    • Sasha Stone spotlights the seasons actor reunions. [Awards Daily]

    • 10 best Christmas bits from non-Christmas movies. [Cinema Blend]

    • Theater (er, theatre) chains across the pond plan to invest in digital technology to capitalize on upcoming releases from Steven Spielberg and James Cameron. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Iranians don’t seem to understand the correllation of the Ayatollah in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” to The Iron Shiek of 20 years ago. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Gaby Wood talks to “Revolutionary Road” helmer Sam Mendes. [The Guardian]

    • Clint Eastwood digs into his star and its purpose with Bruce Headlam. [New York Times]

    • Mark Olsen chats with Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams about “Wendy and Lucy.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Kind of difficult not to take stabs at Fox lately. [The Big Picture]

    • Erica Abeel talks “I’ve Loved You So Long” with director Philippe Claudel. [indieWIRE]

    • A couple of talking points with John {atrick Shanley, Meryl Streep and Viola Davis on “Doubt.” [Newsweek]

  • “You’re so money and you don’t even know it.”

    Hugh Jackman in AustraliaTim Gray has put together a typical response piece to the Hugh Jackman emcee news over at Variety, but the real interesting bits are as follows:

    “[W]e are trying to turn a corner and to give the evening more of a nightclub-party feel — which it once had,” said the show’s producer Laurence Mark.

    And…

    “Hugh will entertain the audience throughout the show,” [Oscarcast executive producer Bill] Condon said. Jackman’s goal, as theirs, is “to keep the show hot throughout, to make it communal and great fun.”

    I always knew guys like Spacey, Clooney and Jackman made sense as an Oscar host, but I never could really put into words why.  But it’s starting to click.  Jackman and the rest, they are perfect “master of ceremonies” types, yes, but they’re also the kind of guys you can totally see as a soiree host with the most, bouncing around an intimate gathering and asking, “How’s the tuna tar-tar?”  Things like that.  Mark’s “nightclub” quote nails it and I have to say, it’s nice to see him and Condon taking this so seriously and with the height of class.

    Better and better…

    Meanwhile, Mary McNamara has a wandering Envelope piece up that reads like a “who should host” story that had to be rethought after the Jackman news hit.  Whether that’s true or not, I can’t be sure, but it’s a tally of stars to fill the hours on the show…I think.

  • In honor of our newly minted Oscar host

    Though I wish they’d “officially” release this thing already.  It’s attached to prints of “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” so feel free to sneak in and half a look before ducking out of that atrocity.  Personally, I think it kicks ass, but I’m as aware of this troubled production as the next guy, so here’s hoping: