Though I find it hilarious that Dave Karger wrote “exclusive” before the headline. But anyway, it’s official now.
Category: Daily
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POLL: What are your five predicted Best Picture nominees?
We let the “Gran Torino” poll run through a second week given the potential impact of the film’s trailer and accompanying materials. The narrow majority of the readership seems to think Clint Eastwood’s film will manage a nomination here or there, but isn’t likely to be the sweeping nomination force his recent string of critical hits has been.
Moving into a week absent of chart updates, I thought I’d turn it over to everyone for a simple query: Which films are you predicting for Best Picture?
I’ve included what I believe to be the 20 most plausible contenders in the sidebar poll. There might be arguments for or against this film or that, but if you have a thought on that, feel free to post in the comments below.
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No Oscar update this week
Screenings of “Milk,” “Frost/Nixon” and “Doubt” are happening this week. Rather than take a final blind stab at placing those contenders in the landscape of awards season, I thought I’d hold off a week and take my own counsel after I see the highly anticipated trio.
Feel free to use this space to give us your own prognosticative thoughts.
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10/27 Oscarweb Round-up
• Nathaniel Rogers kick-starts an Oscar revamp, starting with the fellas. [The Film Experience]• Jeffrey Wells is nervous about Josh Brolin’s Oscar hopes in “W.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• I stopped when he didn’t clue into why it’s called what it’s called. Welcome to the Rex Reed Members Only lounge. [Peter Bart]
• Lou Lumenick gives good ink to the Oscar hopes of Angelina Jolie and Kristin Scott Thomas. [Lumenick on Film]
• “The French Connection” and “Serpico” top a readers’ poll of the best cop films. [New York Daily News]
• Peter Debruge looks at the year’s issue-focused Oscar hopefuls through the lens of precendence. [Variety]
• Adam Dawtrey, meanwhile, zeroes in on the obvious: this year’s Oscar product seems to have skipped the festival route. [Variety]
• And Justin Chang stands up for the performances of fanboy cinema. [Variety]
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LONDON: Surprise… it’s ‘The Wrestler’
It’s a rainy Sunday night in London, and darkness fell a whole hour earlier thanks to the start of daylight savings. All of which only made me happier to be seated inside the warm cavern of the Leicester Square Odeon for my favorite event of the London Film Festival — the annual Surprise Film.Usually a hot title secured too late for inclusion in the main festival lineup, and not revealed until the title shows up on screen, the Surprise Film has a mixed track record. Festival director Sandra Hebron scored last year by getting “No Country for Old Men,” but I’ll never forget the groans of disappointment that greeted the opening credits of “Mrs Henderson Presents” in 2005.
In the foyer before the screening, whispers were spreading that this year’s choice was either “Changeling” or “The Wrestler.” So as the lights went down and the logo of the Venice Golden Lion prize flashed onto screen, announcing Darren Aronofsky’s much-lauded new film, the murmur of approval around the theater was palpable. (Incidentally, I called this pick a few weeks back — mainly because I was so surprised not to see it in the lineup.)
But Hebron had more than one surprise up her sleeve tonight — unusually for the surprise slot, both Darren Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke showed up for a post-film Q&A. Nobody was expecting that, and it made for my most entertaining festival experience so far, though I’m now kicking myself for bringing neither camera nor notepad (d’oh!) to the screening. A terrific coup for the festival — kudos to Sandra.
As for the film itself, I’m still too shaken by it to offer much in the way of coherent thought, but count me among the yea-sayers. Deceptively simple in form but deeply probing as character study, it strikes me as exactly the right film for Aronofsky to have made at this point in his career. As someone who actively dislikes everything to do with the wrestling circuit, I had concerns about how much I could personally connect with the film, but it proved revelatory — sport aside, this is a story of the body as a war zone.
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On Eastwood: for the haters
18 months ago I began researching my book “Clint Eastwood: Evolution of a Filmmaker” after signing a three book deal with Greenwood Press in the United States. This was it, my life-long goal, writing books on film and getting paid to do it. Eastwood was my choice, a director I greatly admire, but who I found along the way is not exactly admired by all. In fact there are some who are openly hostile towards Eastwood and his films, as we have found in recent days.What I admire, beyond the sheer artistry and the deceptive simplicity of his films, is the manner in which he forged his directing career, using his stardom to get the films he wanted to make into production. Yes he would agree to a fourth Dirty Harry IF the studio agreed to fund “White Hunter Black Heart,” his thinly disguised study of John Huston and the shooting of “The African Queen.” Et cetera.
Studying Eastwood’s films, I watched an artist growing, always taking new chances, fearless of a challenge, and with each new film, learning. Even when the film tanked, there was a lesson to be learned. Eastwood himself says the lesson of the terrible “The Rookie” was simply, “Never make a film because you are bored and have nothing to do…ever.” As far back as his first film, “Play Misty for Me,” the talent was most evident as was the courage. Imagine Eastwood, the world’s biggest box office star, known for kicking ass as Harry Callahan, pitching to the Universal brass his love story “Breezy” with William Holden and Kay Lenz.
Even I remember the shock of seeing “Bird” knowing it was directed by Eastwood and being stunned by the style of the film, the brilliance of the lead performance and the powerful story being told.
But moving beyond his past accomplishments, which I’ve covered at length in this space before, I have to say I have been looking forward to both of Eastwood’s films this year, and have little doubt he will find himself in the Oscar race again.
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Wishing luck
I haven’t seen Chad Hartigan’s “Luke and Brie are on a First Date” yet. Hopefully I’ll amend that soon enough, but the film is on the festival circuit now and hoping to land some kind of distribution. I want to take a moment here to wish him and the film the best of luck, fresh on the heels of Aaron Katz’s success last year with “Quiet City.” It’s a pleasure to see old friends develop as filmmakers and get their voices out there — no easy task in a profession that demands you to make a place for yourself at the table.
The trailer:
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10/26 Oscarweb Round-up
• Tom O’Neil ponders Angelina Jolie’s Oscar hopes yet again… [Gold Derby]• …and rather pointlessly takes a shot at Sean Penn. [Gold Derby]
• Peter Bart is charmed by Clint Eastwood’s development through the years. [Peter Bart]
• Eastwood, meanwhile, offers up 12 key influences on his life in movies. [Entertaiment Weekly]
• Peter Sciretta takes a look back at Paul Thomas Anderson’s short film “The Legend of Dirk Diggler.” [/Film]
• Condon and Mark tap Roger Goodman to helm the 81st annual Oscar telecast. [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Gaynor Flynn spends some time with Debra Winger, assumed by some to be a shoo-in nominee for the worst five minutes of “Rachel Getting Married.” [The Independent]
• Howard Feinstein talks “Synecdoche, New York” with the haunted and brilliant Charlie Kaufman. [indieWIRE]
• Ditto Rachel Abramowitz. [Los Angeles Times]
• Harrison Ford is crowned best movie President for his performance in “Air Force One.” [Reuters]
• Mark Blankenship digs into the differences between “Billy Elliot” on stage and screen. [New York Times]
• Karina Longworth has some nice remarks about our old friend Chad Hartigan and his feature debut “Luke and Brie are on a First Date,” currently playing the Hamptons Film Festival. [Spout Blog]
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WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Button’ rises, ‘Torino’ surfaces, ‘Doubt’ swoops
Apologies for the slightly delayed wrap. Much to discuss this week — here are the highlights:• With some formerly hot prospects now off the radar, this week’s Off the Carpet column surveys the landscape, and concludes that things look good for “Benjamin Button.”
• “The Soloist” withdrew as the AFI fest opener; their loss is “Doubt”‘s gain.
• With a trailer for “Gran Torino” finally emerging, we wonder if Clint Eastwood is the real frontrunner for Best Actor.
• The Gotham Independent Film Awards unveiled the season’s first set of nominees — good news for titles like “Ballast” and “The Visitor.”
• More impressions from the London Film Festival, including hot foreign-language contender “The Class.”
• Still in London, we caught up with “Happy-Go-Lucky”‘s superb Best Supporting Actor contender, Eddie Marsan.
• This week’s edition of Tech Support put Art Direction in the spotlight.
• We were in a listmaking mood this week, rounding up some of the most scandalously unnominated actors of this era …
• … while John Foote reminisced over his personal favourite movie moments.
• And finally, who should host the Oscars? Our answer may surprise you.
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Revealing ‘Coraline’
Focus Features unveiled 30 minutes of Henry Selick’s “Coraline” today in Beverly Hills in two separate press events, and the material was as stunning as you would expect.
Based on Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel of the same name, “Coraline” is Selick’s first fully stop-motion feature effort since “The Nightmare before Christmas” 14 years ago. All of the puppets are hand-crafted, many of them on display during the reception that followed the footage, including this miniature set, featured in one of the scenes revealed today (forgive the crude iPhone shot — I wasn’t expecting such goodies):
Based on these fleeting moments, I’d say the film will be a creative dazzler. The 3-D really pops without drawing attention to itself, and that’s a breath of fresh air after “Beowulf” failed to capitalize on the by now decades old technology in a similar fashion last year. (How many “look, it’s in 3-D!!” moments did we really need in that thing anyway?).
What’s more, the film seems to be carrying Gaiman’s eerie tale across properly, without a lot of fuss and with an eye toward preserving the author’s atmospheric intentions.
Selick spoke brielfy beforehand and mingled afterward, but I had to leave before getting any face time with him myself. The film is set to bow in February and will be part of an interesting duo of animated endeavors for Focus next year (along with “9”). Can’t wait to see the rest.
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On ‘Synecdoche’
I’ve been pretty silent about my feelings on Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” ever since I first saw the film a month ago. I haven’t been coy, I just haven’t known how to qualify a film like this in a review format, and while I respect those whose job it is to convey such sentiments week in and week out, I think it’s a foolish exercise in this instance.
Predictably, the film is splitting the critical masses as hordes of viewers wrestle with the idiosyncracies of Kaufman’s narrative. I won’t comment on the brilliance of Manhola Dargis’s lede or the stupidity of Rex Reed’s assessment, but I will say this: count me in the “one of the year’s best” field.
More in the year’s Top 10 column in December, no doubt.
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Our hearts go out to Jennifer Hudson
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Who should host the Oscars?
This morning I linked to our friend John Campea at The Movie Blog who offered up a list of 15 possibilities for host of this year’s Oscar festivities. Producers Bill Condon and Larry Mark are hard at work putting the show’s particulars together (when Condon has a few moments away from that Richard Pryor biopic he’s been writing), and sooner or later, an announcement will be made.I agree with a few of Campea’s suggestions. George Clooney, for instance, is an inspired pick, the charmer of Hollywood without an enmy in the world — well, except for McCain supporters, I guess. I also like the choice of Robert Downey Jr., though in 2008, it’s almost TOO on the nose. Rounding out the big names that make sense, I’d be on board for Tom Hanks as well, always adept at working a crowd. But Steve Carrell seems to lack the right prestigious “umph,” while Denzel Washington would prove to be too cardboard-stiff, I’d wager.
We’ve been there and done that with Steve Martin, Ellen Degeneres and Jon Stewart — new blood would be preferable. And Steven Colbert would be a false echo of Stewart’s attempts. Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller — too silly. Tina Fey — too one-note. Jerry Seinfeld — too snooty. And Ricky Gervais was a manifested pipe-dream from the start. But I’d absolutely be on board if Condon and Mark want to hand over emcee duties to Uwe Boll. Who wouldn’t?? But you might as well toss in Kelsey Grammer in full-blown Beast make-up as a co-host at that point.
So the question remains: Who should be the host? Who has the right amount of showmanship to off-set his dramatic faculties and keep the even keel a show like this needs? Who has the right comedic reserve to tap into when necessary and who would absolutely light up the stage with his consistent determination to perform?
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EW Oscar chatter
Dave Karger and Missy Schwartz of Entertainment Weekly have “formally” launched their Oscar Watch video show. The duo will be looking at the Oscar race as it unfolds, digging into the contenders as they present themselves. This week, it’s a look at Angelina Jolie and “Changeling,” Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” and the cop drama “Pride and Glory.” Check out the conversation here.
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Is Clint Eastwood going to win his first acting Oscar?
I’ve been mulling this over for a few weeks now, and though we all know it’s foolish to sit back and predict Oscar winners when the race is still developing a clear slate of nominees, I keep coming back to the amount of sense it makes for Clint Eastwood to take the gold this year for his upcoming leading performance in “Gran Torino.”Let’s look at the obvious factors first: competition. There is no agreed upon, media-charming performance going into the season that either has forged, or is expected to forge the kind of undeniable mass appeal that Jamie Foxx did in 2004, the last time Eastwood had a shot at an acting prize.
Of the contenders most anticipate to be in play, only Sean Penn’s portrayal of Harvey Milk has the on-paper swagger, while Leonardo DiCaprio (despite generating considerable heat — I’ve heard one person say “it’s one of the best performances I’ve ever seen”) could spoil the party if he can push past the pretty boy image that fellow hopeful Brad Pitt will face.
Mickey Rourke is the odds-on favorite heading into November for a nomination, but despite the brilliance of the performance and the film, there is the sense that the nod will be the reward. An Indie Spirit Award is probably in the cards, and if so, promises to be the usual kiss of death.
Frank Langella, to round out my own predicted five, faces an uphill battle in gaining an Oscar to go along with his Tony for the same performance. Even with plenty of positive assessments, the potential to underwhelm is out there, in the open, and waiting to keep “Frost/Nixon” an also ran in multiple areas.
Benicio Del Toro could be a real threat if the film finds the traction necessary to move into serious play, but it probably won’t be the event that Eastwood’s efforts will be. And the only other performance that really shouts for attention is Josh Brolin’s work in “W,” a film that could be yesterday’s news sooner than later.
Then there is the chatter flying around that “Gran Torino” will be our last opportunity to see Eastwood perform on the screen, a swan song to his career as an actor. If so, what better way to cap off a hell of an autumn run than with a statue for his nearly six decades of achievements in front of the camera?
The film will be emotional, and given the particulars of the script, the portrayal is sure to prove heartbreaking. It could be the stiff upper lip of an awards season that finds itself competing with the election year, a note of hope and even a demand for sacrifice.
So I’ll just put it out there now: Clint Eastwood is going to win the Oscar for Best Actor come February. From where we sit right now, it just makes sense. But that’s the thing about “right now.” It changes.
We’ll see…
Have your say. Who do you predict to win the Oscar for Best Actor this year?
