Okay, so I’m not really advocating it. But this has to be one of the best FYC ads I’ve seen so far this season. Whatever other failures “W.” can claim, marketing is not one of them:
Category: Daily
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The docs you aren’t considering
Whenever an awards shortlist is announced, people will inevitably spend as much time, if not more, pondering its omissions as they will its inclusions. And so it has been this week, in the wake of the Academy’s announcement of the 15 titles shortlisted for Best Feature Documentary.Some are curiously kvetching that Bill Maher’s sporadically amusing but ultimately pedestrian “Religulous” got slighted, instead of commending the Academy for looking beyond the obvious. Others (including yours truly, admittedly) are puzzled that the excellent “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” didn’t make the cut, while some are surprised that last year’s winner in the category, Alex Gibney, was frozen out this time. (Well, had “Gonzo” been half the film “Taxi to the Dark Side” was, he might not have been.) And then there’s “American Teen” and “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” and … well, you get the idea.
The conclusion to draw from this is twofold. First of all, in this category, name recognition isn’t always a deciding factor. Second of all, and more simply, the shortlist is, even with these high-profile exclusions, a markedly strong one. Boiling it down to fifteen titles was clearly a harder task than one might have guessed.
I’m not sure enough people are recognising the breadth and the depth of the competition in this category. Amid the various reactions I’ve read to the shortlist, I’ve noticed the same small handful of contenders coming to the fore: “Standard Operating Procedure” from previous champ Errol Morris, “Encounters at the End of the World” from the long-slighted Werner Herzog, Sundance victor “Trouble the Water,” and the film widely deemed the one to beat, “Man on Wire.”
I’m less convinced. Yes, they’re all highly acclaimed conversation pieces. (Well, almost — Morris’ film appears more polarising than the rest.) Yes, they all have enjoyed comparatively prominent releases. But, like the notoriously wilful Best Foreign Language Film category, this category doesn’t always reward a high profile. For every time they’ve embraced a populist frontrunner like Michael Moore, they’ve ignored a supposed shoo-in. Just ask, well, Errol Morris and Werner Herzog — both previously snubbed for some of their most lauded work.
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Oh you crazy gangsters
If you can’t rub ’em out, sell ’em out.
The notorious Camorra crime syndicate is selling bootlegged DVDs of “Gomorrah,” the film that mercilessly exposes its activities and is Italy’s hopeful in the foreign-language Oscar race.
Camorra members may not like being scrutinized on the bigscreen, but apparently business must go on.
(Courtesy: Variety)
Check out my interview with “Gomorrah” author and screenwriter Roberto Saviano here.
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11/23 Oscarweb Round-up
• Variety moves deeper into the awards season features world with a Golden Globes preview. [Variety]• Within said preview, yours truly spotlights actors and actresses straddling the line between comedy and drama this season. [Variety]
• Patrick Goldstein says make the Oscar nod announcement a prime time event like the Grammys. [The Big Picture]
• The 20 greatest movie car chases. “The Dark Knight” should be higher, but it’s hard to argue with #1. [The Times]
• Andrew O’Hehir wonders what’s behind the cult of “WALL-E.” Me too, frankly. [Beyond the Multiplex]
• Peter Bart dishes on the kudos season of chaos, but if he’s finally getting to Thursday’s botched “Button” screening, surely it’s time to put that story to bed, right? [Peter Bart]
• Speaking of “Button,” Karina Longworth is down on the film. [Spout Blog]
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‘Button’ drops (UPDATED with audio)
UPDATED (5:30 p.m.): Alright, now that I’m home and away from the shuffle, I can unfold some further thoughts on this. Judging by the mood of the room — mostly guild members and industry types, a lot of press folks have decided on the 6:00 screening — the verdict is a big thumbs up. Lots of positive thoughts dished about all around.I spoke briefly with Kathleen Kennedy, who has seen this project go up and down, back and forth for 18 years. We talked about the visual effects in the film and how refreshing it is that this innovative work came within such a cerebral and affecting story. “Jurassic Park” (which she also produced) has held the industry effects crown for 15 years, and now, a new leap forward. Though director David Fincher has said from the start that he and his crew weren’t particularly sure whether they could pull it off, Kennedy took solace in her filmmaker’s professionalism.
“When you bring in a director like Steven [Spielberg] or David [Fincher], you trust their instincts when it comes to that stuff,” she said. “They come along with this giant tool box and they know which tool to use for this or that.”
I also chatted with Eric Roth for a good while, screenwriter-to-screenwriter type stuff. He really did work wonders with this story, and picking his brain for the reasons behind this decision or that can be a lot of fun. One of the odd reactions I took away from the film, however, was that the work felt strangely cold. I wasn’t sure whether I meant that in a good way or a bad way, and surely, people were crying their eyes out over this thing, so I might be in a minority. Perhaps it’s my youthful cynicism, who knows, but I thought Fincher brought an arm’s length approach to the emotions in the film and I wanted Roth’s reaction to that.
Of course, Roth doesn’t particularly agree with my take. Indeed, he was right in the middle of telling me how the bathroom was filled with sobbers after the screening when a beautiful young lady walked up to us and told him how much the movie had affected her. But he took my comment in stride.
“Fincher is the kind of director that brings you right up to the point of sentiment and then brings it back,” he said. “There’s something to be said for that I think.”
(More, plus audio of tonight’s Q&A, after the jump.)
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11/22 Oscarweb Round-up
• Jeffrey Wells hangs with the “Revolutionary Road” crew in the Big Apple. [Hollywood Elsewhere]• Ditto Glenn Kenny, who moderated the post-screening Q&A. [Some Came Running]
• David Poland waxes on about how much he thinks “Revolutionary Road” fails, and judging by his charts, clearly hasn’t seen “Australia” yet. [Movie City News]
• Steve Gaydos reports on a Rod Lurie event at UCLA for “Nothing But the Truth.” [Thompson on Hollywood]
• Peter Sciretta talks to Pixar honcho John Lasseter. [/Film]
• Pete Hammond thinks there’s a hex on Paramount screenings because of a couple of snafus of late, reports from a “Doubt” reception. [Notes on a Season]
• Which songs will get the ole’ Oscar shove for “High School Musical 3?” [Gold Derby]
• Simon Hattenstone meets with the “contradictory” Tilda Swinton. [The Guardian]
• Eugene Hernandez and Peter Knegt debate the documentary shortlist. [indieWIRE]
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Narrowing it down
Over at Awards Daily, Sasha Stone has taken it upon herself to whittle down the Best Picture race to a brisk 11-title list, and it makes for sobering reading:“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Gran Torino”
“Milk”
“Rachel Getting Married”
“The Reader”
“Revolutionary Road”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“The Wrestler”I can’t be the only person looking down that list and gloomily wondering, “Is that it?” (I suppose some might argue for “Australia” still, but even the positive early reviews don’t give me a great feeling.) Sadly, not only is Stone probably right, but she’s still being relatively generous — I would strike “Rachel Getting Married” off the list without too much hesitation. Meanwhile, the level of hype centering on Clint Eastwood’s Best Actor campaign for “Gran Torino” has me wondering whether those who have seen it don’t deem it Best Picture material. (I remain among those unpersuaded by the film’s trailer.)
It seems to me that “Doubt”‘s chances of a Best Picture nomination depend entirely on how much award steam it gathers in the acting races, while “The Reader” remains a puzzle to me — it has the right credentials, the trailer looks solid, but why don’t I sense more excitement around it? Harvey Weinstein is still struggling to regain his golden touch at the Oscars, and it remains to be seen whether that early bout of bad press over the film’s release-date kerfuffle will linger.
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Karger predicts paydirt for ‘Button’
A couple of weeks ago, Dave Karger revealed that he’d seen “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” offering a single “wow” as his response. He now feels able to expand on that slightly, though “wow” is still his general gist:“Button” is an Oscar movie with a capital O, with jaw-dropping production values, a soaring romance, and terrific performances, particularly from supporting-actress candidate Taraji P. Henson as Benjamin’s de facto mother. Even if Brad Pitt doesn’t make it into the tough Best Actor race (the likes of Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio may squeeze him out), I still can see “Button” racking up as many as 11 nominations, which could very well be the highest tally for any film this year. Once the film opens on Christmas day, I guarantee we’ll all be talking about one thing: whether or not “Benjamin Button” made you sob.
Nothing that most of us weren’t suspecting anyway, but nice to see it in black-and-white. I’m interested to see that he confirms the chances of presumed contender Henson, after some vague whispers elsewhere that Tilda Swinton might be one to watch in the category. And I agree that, even if his film is a frontrunner, Brad Pitt is up against it in the Best Actor race. (After all, an Oscar juggernaut needn’t always pull its leading man with it — just ask Joseph Fiennes or Leonardo DiCaprio.)
To me, it looks increasingly as if all “Benjamin Button” has to do is be merely good, and it will likely score at the Oscars by sheer default in this weird season. (Incidentally, why stop at eleven nods? I count thirteen, excluding Best Actor. I’m not saying it will get them all, but surely the possibility is there.) I’m really looking forward to Kris’ thoughts once he — finally — sees the whole picture.
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WEEKLY WRAP: Big guns unveiled, docs shortlisted, Saviano speaks
A big week, this, in which the covers were finally lifted off some heavyweight titles. Here’s what we were talking about:• And speaking of those heavyweights, Kris ran hot on “Revolutionary Road,” but cool on “Australia” …
• … while being offered a frustratingly truncated glimpse of “Benjamin Button.”
• The Academy announced their 15-strong shortlist for Best Documentary Feature, and emerged with credibility largely intact, in my opinion.
• We were fortunate enough to chat to the incredible Roberto Saviano of “Gomorrah” fame…
• … as well as the charming Rosemarie DeWitt, our pick of the “Rachel Getting Married” ensemble.
• Roger Ebert either picked the brain of an Academy insider, or made some bold predictions of his own. Interesting either way.
• This week’s Off the Carpet column played the waiting game.
• Tech Support got musical this week, with a look at the composers in the hunt for gold this year.
• We examined the horses (or lack thereof) in the Comedy/Musical races at the Golden Globes.
• This week’s edition of The Lists delved into the embarrassment of cinematic riches that was the 1970s.
• “The Wrestler” finally got a poster and an impressive trailer.
• We contemplated next year’s BAFTA awards, wondering whether homegrown winners will again dominate proceedings.
• The Best Picture debate over “The Dark Knight” continues apace.
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Thumping ‘Slumdog’ soundtrack to be released
Thank God. I was hoping Fox Searchlight would find a way to market this amazing material. It worked well for them last year, albeit in the grungy, alt-rock vein. But the music in “Slumdog Millionaire” is like a two-hour celebration, and it’s dying to be collected.The track listing, from MTV, has a lot of the A.R. Rahman stuff, of course (all of it exciting). But M.I.A. pops up on there as well. “Paper Planes” is put to great use in a montage that you wish would never end mid-film.
The final track, as expected, is “Jai Ho,” the Bollywood number Searchlight is hoping will make some noise in the Best Original Song category.
Check out the full story at MTV. Here’s the track listing:
1. “O… Saya” Performed by A R Rahman & M.I.A.
2. “Riots” by A R Rahman
3. “Mausam & Escape” by A R Rahman
4. “Paper Planes” Performed by M.I.A.
5. “Paper Planes” DFA REMIX Performed by M.I.A.
6. “”Ringa Ringa” by A R Rahman featuring Alka Yagnik & Ila Arun
7. “Liquid Dance” by A R Rahman featuring Palakkad Sriram & Madhumitha
8. “Latika’s Theme” by A R Rahman featuring Suzanne
9. “Aaj Ki Raat” Performed by Sonu Nigam, Mahalaxmi Lyer & Alisha Chinoi
10. “Millionaire” by A R Rahman featuring Madhumitha
11. “Gangsta Blues” by A R Rahman featuring BlaaZe & Tanvi Shah
12. “Dreams on Fire” by A R Rahman featuring Suzzanne
13. “Jai Ho” by A R Rahman featuring Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah & Mahalaxmi Iyer -
WB scores available at awards site
In the wake of the James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer’s disqualification no less. But fuck it, it’s a fantastic piece of work and you can listen to the whole damn thing at the Warner Bros. awards site, so rise up and feel the righteousness.
The ‘Gran Torino’ score has been tossed up as well, an expectedly low-key composition by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens.
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Eastwood to receive yet another accolade, this time at Santa Barbara Fest
The press release, in part:Clint Eastwood has been selected to receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s highest honor, The Modern Master Award, it was announced by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. The Tribute will take place on Thursday, January 29, at the historic Arlington Theatre.
The Modern Master Award is the highest honor presented by SBIFF. Established in 1995, it was created to honor an individual who has enriched our culture through his/her accomplishments in the motion picture industry. Past Modern Masters recipients include Michael Douglas, Peter Jackson, Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sean Penn, Jeff Bridges, Diane Keaton, George Clooney, Will Smith, and Cate Blanchett.
Comments SBIFF Director Roger Durling, “Clint Eastwood is inarguably one of our greatest directors, one of our greatest producers and one of our greatest actors ever – to call him a Modern Master is simply an understatement.”
We in the press will finally be getting a look at “Gran Torino” in a little over a week, by the way. In fact, Monday screenings of Oscar hopefuls will push the “Off the Carpet” column to Tuesdays for the next two weeks. I’ll post a reminder of that on Monday.
But with this news in mind, I find myself, more and more, seeing the Best Actor race as Sean Penn vs. Clint Eastwood. Penn’s performance has the power to be his second Oscar, in my view, and Eastwood’s role is going to rip a few hearts to shreds. Mickey Rourke is phenomenal in “The Wrestler,” but I’m beginning to sense that his award will be the nomination. A pat on the back and a “welcome home.”
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11/21 Oscarweb Round-up
• Lisa Rosen talks to Sally Hawkins about “Happy-Go-Lucky.” [The Envelope]• Tom O’Neil wonders whether Hugh Jackman’s title as “sexiest man alive” in People mag will be costly. I think the film did him in before the honor, but that’s me. [Gold Derby]
• Jeffrey Wells is on board for “Revolutionary Road.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• Anne Thompson comments on the woes of digitally projected films this season. The lesson? Just get a print ready and to hell with those of us in the press that might seem impatient. [Thompson on Hollywood]
• New York Mag keeps us up to date on the “ups” and “downs,” wonders if Kate Winslet is moving in on Meryl Streep. She is. [Vulture]
• Carrie Bell reports from a star-studded screening of “Doubt,” gets reactions to the film’s Oscar buzz. [Entertainment Weekly]
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‘Button’ didn’t happen
(Alright, I’m coming back to this item now that I don’t have to deal with iPhone-posting.)Tonight’s screening of “The Curious Case at Benjamin Button” was supposed to be a great night for producers Kathy Kennedy and Frank Marshall (correction appended — it was a late night, apologies). They introduced the film as a project 18 years in the making, a true labor of love, and the crowd of press, guild members and industry types sure was excited.
About a half hour into the screening, D.P. Claudio Miranda had had enough. Apparently a color channel on the digital projector was faulty and wasn’t going to be fixed any time soon. The image looked washed out but in a stylized way, so none of us really noticed. But it was painful for Miranda to watch. Publicists put the call into director David Fincher, who was on his way to the theater for a post-screening Q&A, and he made the decision: pull the plug.
The audience was understandably agitated. “Come on, it looks beautiful,” one chimed in. But they all knew Miranda would have felt terrible showing his film in that fashion (and talking to some who’d see the film already, there was a considerable difference, as well as a sound quality issue afoot). “Don’t do it,” another guy said, siding with Miranda and clearly a below-the-line guy that gets it. When your art and your craft is compromised out of the gate, it’s better to cut your losses.
The good news is, I hear the same thing happened to “The Pianist” and “Dances with Wolves” for their first big industry screenings. So maybe you do get a second chance to make a first impression. The SAG screening went swimmingly over at the Arclight, by the way, so there is that. But on the whole, what a bummer. Next to “The Dark Knight,” this had become my most anticipated film of the year.
All of that said, I think we liked what we saw. And after just 30 minutes, I’m pretty sure the film will take the Oscars for Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects walking away. Pure magic.
Saturday we’ll all get a second chance. These things happen, I guess.
