In Contention

Category: Daily

  • 10/24 Oscarweb Round-up

    Kate Winslet in The Reader• Dave Karger ponders a double nomination for Kate Winslet. [Oscar Watch]

    • Six of us all agree that “Slumdog Millionaire” is in this hunt to stay. [Gold Derby]

    • David Poland waxes on about the year’s film product amid the political season.  And somehow he thinks Clint Eastwood’s front-and-center, in-nearly-every-scene role in “Gran Torino” is “more interesting as a supporting actor.” [Movie City News]

    • Andrew Gnere talks to “Changeling” scribe J. Michael Straczynski. [Moviemaker Magazine]

    • 15 possible Oscar hosts. [The Movie Blog]

  • Just now getting to this…

    And I like it.  A proper representation of this whirlwind of a film:

    Fox Searchlight Pictures\' Slumdog Millionaire

  • Tom O gets the goods on the ‘Doubt’ AFI move from the horse’s mouth

    Tom O’Neil wants you to understand and be clear that he was in attendance at the uber-private “Doubt” screening in New York this evening, but he was able to get some choice quotes from the film’s producer, Scott Rudin, on the decision to bow the film at the AFI Fest one week from today.

    Here’s the meat:

    “It was a big gamble…It was hard enough to pull everything together in such a short time,” Rudin said, “but to do it before we even had the first industry reaction to the film — that was the hardest part. But we did it and I’m glad we did.”

  • ‘Doubt’ replaces ‘Soloist’ as AFI Fest’s opening night gala

    Meryl Streep in DoubtThe press release, in part:

    The festival will screen an unfinished version of DOUBT when it opens AFI FEST on Thursday, October 30, 2008, at ArcLight Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome Theatre. The Opening Night Gala is the film’s World Premiere and is presented by Audi of America…

    “The movie is still being finished, but we were so excited to show DOUBT and help our friends at AFI FEST and the American Film Institute at the same time. We couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity,” said Miramax president Daniel Battsek.

    “We are grateful to Miramax Films and producers Scott Rudin and Mark Roybal for providing AFI the honor of premiering this highly anticipated, unfinished version of DOUBT.  There is no doubt that bringing together Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in concert with the extraordinary talents of writer/director John Patrick Shanley promises an evening that will celebrate the finest in American film,” said Rose Kuo, AFI FEST Artistic Director.

    Truthfully, we should have seen this coming.  Of the major films that are basically completed and ready to go, it was the only possibility (though the “unfinished version” bit is made clear at throughout — hedging their bets).  “Milk” has its fancy San Francisco debut on Tuesday, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is too comfortable in its position as the year’s last minute wower.  “Revolutionary Road” is completed, but only just, while “Australia” is still in the editing lab.

    The New York screening of “Doubt” tonight is for friends and family with the original cast of the play in attendance and the film will be screening for trade press on Wednesday, just before AFI’s opening night the next day.  Perfect timing.

  • LONDON: “W,” “Genova,” “Il Divo” and more

    We’ve reached the midway point of the London Film Festival, and today’s big event is the European premiere of “W.” As I eavesdropped on assorted critics’ reactions coming out of the press screening this morning, the dominant feeling appeared to be one of pleasant surprise; I have a feeling the film may find a rather warmer reception here than in its home country.

    I’m still gathering my thoughts on the film, which I thought riveting in some respects and messy in others, though it’s clear Stone has transcended the limitations of Stanley Weiser’s script. Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Banks offer such persuasive, full-bodied characterisations that the Madame Tussaud’s quality of certain supporting players (Thandie Newton in particular) pales by contrast.

    With that, here’s another roundup of notable films from the last few days, beginning with yesterday’s starry but rather under-the-radar Mayor of London gala selection:

    GENOVA (**1/2)

    There is much to engage the eye and ear in “Genova,” the new film from restless Brit auteur Michael Winterbottom. A return to his usual, more organic directorial style after the disappointingly conventional “A Mighty Heart,” the new film teems with activity: from the loose, jazzy rhythms of the editing to the fragmented, eclectic soundtrack overlaying busy dialogue, and above all, superb location work that turns the labyrinthine alleys of the eponymous Italian coastal city into a playground of threat and desire.

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  • 10/23 Oscarweb Round-up

    Philip Seymour Hoffman and Hope Davis in Synecdoche, New York• Tom Tapp rallies behind Kristin Scott Thomas’s work in “I’ve Loved You So Long.” [The Daily Beast]

    • Anne Thompson, meanwhile, thinks the actress leads the field.  (Sorry — the film just didn’t speak to me.) [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • After Spielberg and Greengrass bowed out, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” might end up in the hands of…Ben Stiller?  WTF? [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • Michael Ordoñachats it up with Hope Davis, probably the least interesting female component of Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • John Horn, meanwhile, writes a love letter to Clint Eastwood with “Changeling” set to bow nationwide. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Anthony Breznican gets some quality “Gran Torino” time with Clint Eastwood, plus some exclusive looks at the film’s first materials. [USA Today]

    • Missing the boat on so much of the subtle brilliance to be found in “W,” Christopher Rosen thinks Oliver Stone has simply gotten old. [New York Observer]

    • The director, meanwhile, takes part in an esteemed panel discussing the marks to be left by the current administration. [Slate]

    • Peter Bart makes the completely wrong-headed decision to chalk slumping ad sales revenue up to studios displaying a lack of talent support. [Peter Bart]

  • ‘Gran Torino’ poster

    Bad…ass.

    Warner Bros. Pictures\' Gran Torino

    (Courtesy: USA Today)

  • ‘Soloist’ AFI bow cancelled after release date delay

    Paramount Pictures' The SoloistWhen the news came down last week that the release Paramount’s “The Soloist” would be delayed until March 2009, the initial indication was that the film would go on to bow at this year’s AFI Fest as scheduled.  Well, in a just-issued press release (which landed after business hours), the festival has announced that the debut has been scrapped.

    The release, in part:

    In a joint statement from Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks Pictures and Participant Media: “Due to the change in THE SOLOIST release date, we unfortunately had to withdraw from the AFI FEST Film Festival. It was an honor to be invited as the Opening Night film and we are very grateful to the festival for their support and understanding. THE SOLOIST filmmakers, DreamWorks, Universal, Participant and Paramount are very proud of this film and we are excited and committed to bring it to the world in March.”

    “While we are greatly disappointed that AFI FEST will not have the opportunity to offer the World Premiere of THE SOLOIST, AFI’s priority is to honor the artists. We wish to be supportive in any endeavor that will help a film of this quality reach a greater audience,” said AFI FEST Artistic Director Rose Kuo.

    It’s a shame, personally speaking, because I was looking forward to this film and being able to give it a look sooner rather than later, as I’ll be covering AFI here next month.  But it might be the wisest move all around for the studio to just remove all aspects from the 2008 landscape.

  • LONDON: ‘Tony Manero,’ ‘The Other Man,’ ‘Awaydays,’ ‘Seamstresses’

    Before I continue my roundup of films from the last few days of the London Film Festival, I received an email asking why I haven’t mentioned such major festival titles as “Rachel Getting Married” and “Religulous.”

    There is little point in me reviewing titles that have already opened in the States (and which Kris has already discussed, in my opinion rather accurately), with so much coverage already available. But to deal briefly with three such films, I enjoyed “Rachel Getting Married” (***) for Jonathan Demme’s loose, funky aesthetic, but found the script disappointingly glib beneath the flashy surface wit. “Religulous” (**1/2) is entertaining but not as penetrating as it imagines itself, with Bill Maher claiming to stand for doubt, but showing precious little thereof in his one-sided argument. Meanwhile, the less said (from me, at least) about the fatuous trifle that is “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” (**), the better. Moving on:

    TONY MANERO (***)

    Chile’s official Academy Awards submission is a stark, studied and ultimately rather unsettling black comedy that provides a particularly bleak spin on the familiar character of the fame-crazed non-talent. Set in the late 70’s, against the ominous (and fascinating) political backdrop of the Pinochet dictatorship, the film centres on Raul (Alfredo Castro), a dour, dysfunctional middle-aged man whose chief pleasure in life is regular viewings of “Saturday Night Fever” at the local cinema.

    Obsessed with the John Travolta character for whom the film is named, Raul begins modelling himself on Manero, going so far as to enter a Manero lookalike contest on national TV, and leading a shabby dance troupe in meticulous pastiches of “Fever” dance numbers at a local bar. However, the startling lack of moral boundaries Raul shows in his quest to inhabit Manero leads him into a spiral of theft, lies and murder.

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  • How the hell did ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ get an ‘R’ rating from the MPAA?

    The Hollywood Reporter revealed today that “Slumdog Millionaire” has received an “R” rating from the MPAA, and I’m frankly stunned.  Considering the stuff that passes for PG-13 nowadays, and despite the violence in the film (which is tense but rarely frightening or graphic), I thought for sure the film had an easy road to a more accessible rating.

    Shocked.  More later, when I have time to be properly pissed about this.

  • Anticipation

    Warner Bros. Pictures\' Watchmen

  • Collecting themselves

    We’ve all heard, over and over again at this point, how much of a grab-your-hanky film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is.  You could surmise as much from reading the screenplay, that’s to be sure, and I keep coming back to the closing words of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story as evidence of the crippling power of the story’s emotional beats.

    Well I just got off the phone with one of the principle performers in the film, an interview for a separate piece at another outlet, and this line crossed my bow:

    Grown men have had to sit there and just collect themselves before they could get up and leave.

    Expectations are pretty much through the roof at this point, no?  Can’t…wait…

  • Errol Morris contest winners

    After trying our hand at a caption contest, we didn’t get as many participants as I’d have hoped for, but it was our first shot at one of these.  The winners are Ross Miller (for attempt #2) and JAB, so send us an email with your contact info and we’ll send along your copies of Morris’s “Standard Operating Procedure.”  Thanks to everyone who took a stab.

  • 10/22 Oscarweb Round-up

    Mike Leigh(Slim pickings this morning.)

    • Ricky Gervais says he would be reluctant to serve as Oscar Emcee. [BBC]

    • “The Road” makes it’s official move to 2009, as Patrick Goldstein reports. (By the way, I’ve been hearing the film is terrible.  Gulp…) [The Big Picture]

    • Peter Knegt profiles “Wendy and Lucy” star Michelle Williams. [indieWIRE]

    • James Ponsoldt chats it up with Mike Leigh. [Filmmaker Magazine]

  • LONDON: ‘Incendiary,’ ‘A Christmas Tale,’ ‘Blind Loves’

    I’ve been swamped with screenings at the London Film Festival, so between watching the films, maintaining some semblance of a day job and occasionally remembering to sleep and eat, my review updates have got a bit behind track.

    Hopefully, I can make up some of the distance tomorrow, when I have a lighter screening schedule, so expect a compilation of capsule reviews shortly, as well as some more in-depth evaluations of titles like Steve McQueen’s fascinating “Hunger.” In the meantime, here are some thoughts on three notable (if not necessarily successful) titles that made their London bow on the weekend:

    INCENDIARY (**)

    Steadily, and with very little fuss, Michelle Williams is growing into a remarkable young actress, as this, the first of three films she has in the festival, makes clear. It’s one thing to shine in a film as immaculately crafted as “Brokeback Mountain,” but it’s quite another to shoulder a project as problematic as Sharon Maguire’s “Incendiary.”

    A wildly confused, schizophrenic film based on a controversial novel, it stars Williams as a working-class London mother whose life is thrown into turmoil when her husband (a bomb disposal officer) and young son are killed in a (fictitious) terrorist attack on Arsenal football stadium. A low-key study of grieving ramps up into convoluted thriller territory when a journalist (Ewan McGregor), with whom the woman is having an affair, senses a cover-up and brings her into the investigation.

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  • Too many independents?

    I know I’m just one of many who have been concerned about the future of independent film, following the closing in quick succession of Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures, and the incorporation of Paramount Vantage into the main body of the studio.

    Someone who has a different perspective on matters, however, is Miramax head Daniel Battsek. Screen Daily reports that, in his keynote speech at the London Film Finance Market, he expressed the view that the specialty field is, if anything, overcrowded:

    Asked whether Miramax had been helped by the recent closure of Warner Independent Pictures, Picturehouse and Paramount Vantage, he replied:

    “Not significantly…the sector of the business was definitely overcooked. There were too many players. There probably still are too many players … Even with the slight reduction of companies operating in this space, there are still too many movies being released. It is very, very difficult to get your voice heard.”

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  • 10/21 Oscarweb Round-up

    Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace• Kim Voynar sets up Film Essent at MCN. [Movie City News]

    • Tom O’Neil collects some more guesses from Oscar prognosticators. [Gold Derby]

    • And he reports that “Slumdog Millionaire”‘s Dev Patel will be campaigned as a supporting actor. [Gold Derby]

    • John Campea explores the reasons why “The Dark Knight” will land a Best Picture nomination in the wake of delayed and underwhelming competition. [The Movie Blog]

    • Eugene Hernandez and Peter Knegt discuss the Gotham nods. [indieWIRE]

    • Brooks Barnes looks into Wall Street’s creative affect on Hollywood. [New York Times]

    • Brad Brevet sits down with “Happy-Go-Lucky” helmer Mike Leigh. [Rope of Silicon]

    • Lauren Schuker looks at Paramount’s two release date retreats as a sign of the economic crisis. [Wall Street Journal]

    • The meteoric downfall of Roberto Benigni. [Spout Blog]

    • Anne Thompson had a good time watching “Quantum of Solace.” [Thompson on Hollywood]

  • ‘Ballast’ tops list of Gotham Indie award nominees

    BallastThe Gotham Independent Film Award nominees have been announced (note the change in moniker this year), and Lance Hammer’s Mississippi drama “Ballast” leads the pack with four nominations.  Six films received two nominations apiece, including Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York,” Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married” and Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

    One film that might have popped up had it been eligible was Gus Van Sant’s “Milk,” but the film was not ready to screen for IFP in time.

    These are the first set of film awards nominations of the 2008 season, kicking off the campaigns for more than a few potential Oscar contenders, including actresses Rosemarie DeWitt, Melissa Leo and Rebecca Hall, each of them nominated in the Breakthrough Actor category.  The documentary race also includes a number of Oscar hopefuls, “Man on Wire,” “Trouble the Water” and “Encounters at the End of the World” among them.

    The frontrunner at this point is probably the bread-winner of the nomiantions process: “Ballast.”  But I have a feeling “The Visitor” could spark enough support to surprise in the end.  Also nominated for Best Feature is Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” the film’s only mention.

    The awards will be held on Tuesday Decmber 2 at New York’s Cipriani Wall Street.

    (Full list of nominees after the jump.)

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