In Contention

Category: Daily

  • 10/21 Oscarweb Round-up

    Charlie Kaufman• Jeffrey Wells passes along further second-hand indication that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is the one to beat this year. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Steven Zeitchick responds to the suddenly wide open acting races. [Risky Biz Blog]

    • Some folks think Robert Downey Jr. can’t score a Best Supporting Actor nomination…emphatically.  I beg to differ, but that race is weird at the moment. [Vulture]

    • Tom O’Neil wonders how what happened to the AMPAS hopes of “W.”  But I’m not so sure it was ever a “hot Oscar player.” [Gold Derby]

    • John Anderson profiles Milos Forman, set to be feted by the DGA. [Variety]

    • The Carpetbagger, David Carr, goes inside the mind of Charlie Kaufman. [New York Times]

  • Not such a little bitch after all…

    By the way, as noted by some commenters already, last night’s SNL proved Mark Wahlberg to be a stand-up guy.  Maybe my sarcasm radar was suffering last week, but I was worried there for a second.  It was slightly awkward, but I think that’s because they were a bit rushed to film something.  Regardless, it worked, and I laughed my ass off.  Plus, a number of my favorite sketches: Surprise Sue, MacGruber, Jean K. Jean, etc.  And Palin really worked.  Best first half of the show in a long time.

  • 40 movie moments that galvanized and shaped me

    Judy Garland and Bert Lahr in The Wizard of OzOn the weekend here I thought I’d offer a vast list of movie moments and particulars that have forged the guy who hammers out these columns week to week.  Lists such as these are bound to differ from person to person, but I’m sure we all share plenty of them as well.

    1. The Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz”
    At six-years-old that witch was terrifying as my family watched this in black and white for the first time (that I recall) — nightmares ensued.

    2. John Wayne in “True Grit”
    With a twirl of the rifle he marches boldly ahead to do battle outnumbered four to one by men half his age. Putting the reins between his teeth, he draws a weapon in each hand and charges…true grit indeed.

    3. That searing ending of “Planet of the Apes”
    I still get shivers watching Heston find Lady Liberty up to her armpit in the sand, his world gone forever.

    4. The parting of the Red Sea in “The Ten Commandments”
    THE moment that forever addicted me to movies. And I expected so little of the film. The sheer scope and spectacle took my breath away and when Moses parted the water? Hooked like a junkie to his junk1

    5. “The Godfather”
    In its entirety.  Such beauty and brilliance…family…murder…wow.

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  • The year’s evolving Oscar race reveals the weakest season in recent memory

    Frank Langella in Frost/NixonWith rumors that “The Road” may be bumped to 2009, (not Harvey Weinstein’s choice of release year) and “The Soloist” already moving on, along with the rumblings that “Frost/ Nixon” does indeed lack that edge I wrote about not so long ago, one can feel the Oscar race shifting day to day. Even “Changeling,” once thought to have a decent shot at Best Picture and Best Director nominations, is now looking like a maybe in the race, as 2008 and continues to confound audiences and critics.

    2008 has been a rather weak year at the movies with only “Stop Loss,” WALL-E,” “Iron Man” and best of all, “The Dark Knight” making much of an impact before the Toronto International Film Festival. When that 10-day event did not really produce a frontrunner as it has in years past, all eyes turned to New York and London.  Eastwood’s film received decidedly mixed reviews out of New York while “Che” continued to struggle with the length of the picture.  In London, Ron Howard’s political work, “Frost/ Nixon” has not been knocking the critics out as hoped.

    I’ve been worried about the film for some time.  But the screenplay is based on an award-winning play, Frank Langella is giving the performance that won him accolades on Broadway, but hey, in my view, Howard just isn’t the right director for this sort of film. Give it to Sidney Lumet who, in his 80s, has more edge to his work than Howard. It’s not that he is a terrible director.  On the contrary, he has made some very good films, the criminally under valued “The Missing” among them, but a picture like this needs the very things he lacks as a director.

    So where are we in terms of the Oscar race now, if these films are indeed falling off the radar (the jury is still admittedly out on “Frost”)?  What if the remaining releases are not very good at all and the Oscar race is saddled with an array of mediocre films, which has not happened for many, many years? In fact, the last time I can think of a slew of weak films making up Oscar’s major line-up was 1968, when curiously, “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Planet of the Apes” were left off the list, shunned for their sci-fi brilliance.

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  • LONDON: ‘Tulpan,’ ‘La Belle Personne,’ ‘A Simple Heart’

    Continuing the discussion of yesterday’s London Film Festival offerings:

    Spearheaded by such titles as “The Class” and “Gomorrah,” the big story of world cinema this year appears to be the fusion of a documentary aesthetic with fictional storytelling, in many cases employing semi-improvised scripts and non-professional actors to create the spontaneous, slightly unnerving feel of watching life being lived. The latest in this cinematic line is “Tulpan” (***), a spare, sure-footed and thoroughly winning first foray into fiction film from documentarian Sergei Dvortsevoy.

    Since picking up the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes, the film has built up healthy buzz on the festival circuit, and was recently named Kazakhstan’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race. (Kazakhstan, incidentally, is seeking their second consecutive nomination in the category after the surprise success of 2007’s “Mongol” — for all the “Borat” associations, this country is no joke.)

    Part folk tale, part National Geographic-style environmental study, the film unfolds on the barren, windswept steppes of south Kazakhstan, a milieu familiar from 2003’s documentary “The Story of the Weeping Camel.” “Tulpan” actually resembles that film in more ways than one, employing a similarly  leisurely, observational shooting style with a keen eye for domestic ritual.

    The story, such as it is, concerns a socially awkward young man, Asa, who returns from naval service to settle on the deserted steppe with his sister and her sheep-herder husband. Determined to find a wife, he sets his sights on marrying Tulpan, the daughter of neighbouring herders, who remains an unseen presence in the film. However, as he fails to win her over, while his herding abilities prove inadequate, he comes to re-evaluate his goals.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Road,’ ‘Soloist’ out, ‘Frost’ stumbles, Ledger buzz

    Busy week, this. Here is how it went down:

    • In the biggest story of the week, the pool of contenders narrowed as “The Road” got bumped to 2009…

    • … followed, in quick succession, by “The Soloist.”

    • The London Film Festival kicked off with “Frost/Nixon,” which got off to a middling critical start. We were underwhelmed.

    • More London coverage here, here and here.

    • As Tech Support ran down the Visual Effects contenders, we got an angle on the tantalising FX for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

    • Heath Ledger’s buzz remains as solid as ever — word went round that a lead campaign was in the works, but they’re staying put in supporting. Good move.

    • More (and still more) foreign film contenders bring the field to a record tally of 67.

    • We responded to the bad “Changeling” buzz with a kinder view, but like everyone else, are looking ahead to “Gran Torino.”

    • And finally, we solve your sartorial dilemmas in time for Halloween.

  • LONDON: ‘Dean Spanley,’ ‘1234,’ ‘Goodbye Solo’

    Long day today, with some complicated scheduling: after a press screening of Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” turned out to be full, I was presented with the choice of catching up with either “Miracle at St. Anna” or Kazakhstani Oscar submission “Tulpan.” I opted for the latter — well, it’s got more of a chance of getting an Oscar nomination than Spike Lee’s film, right?

    Anyway, as I have six films to discuss from today, for the sake of economy (and my own sleep requirements) I’ll look at three of them now, and deal with the rest early tomorrow. We’ll start with the English-language contingent.

    I missed tonight’s main attraction, Richard Eyre’s tepidly received “The Other Man.” However, Eyre’s film was preceded by another UK-set Toronto title, “Dean Spanley” (**), a sophomore effort from Kiwi helmer Toa Fraser, whose debut “No. 2” was, oddly, rather more ambitious than this amiable but over-extended skit.

    The ornate animated credit sequence and jaunty score announce upfront that the film demands high whimsy-tolerance levels from the audience. In the interest of full disclosure, mine are pretty low. Still, that doesn’t distract from the fact that the narrative is barely feature-film material. Set in London at the turn of the 20th century, the film focuses on the brittle relationship between mild-mannered gentleman Fisk (Jeremy Northam) and his batty, emotionally distant father (Peter O’Toole). Idly attending a lecture on reincarnation one afternoon, they encounter the enigmatic Dean Spanley (Sam Neill), whose own account of his imagined past life as a dog strikes an unexpected emotional chord with both father and son.

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  • Foreign film watch: 67 entries, but how open is the race?

    Since my last update on the Best Foreign Language Film race, a further ten latecomers have entered films, bringing the number of entries to a record 67. (The full, updated list is here.)

    The new names in the derby are Afghanistan (“Opium War”), Albania (“The Sorrow of Mrs Schneider”), Azerbaijan (“Fortress”), Egypt (“The Island”), Georgia (“Mediator”), Kazakhstan (“Tulpan”), Latvia (“Defenders of Riga”), Lebanon (“Under the Bombs”), Ukraine (“The Illusion of Fear”) and, interestingly enough, the United Kingdom (“Hope Eternal”).

    The last-named title proclaims itself the first ever Welsh-African production, and features dialogue in seven languages — including Swahili and Afrikaans. Beyond that, I haven’t a clue what it is. Incidentally, I saw the Kazakhstani entry “Tulpan” this afternoon, and will review it in my next London Film Festival roundup.

    Reflecting on the race in his Notes on a Season column, Pete Hammond declares the race “wide open,” but I’m not sure I agree. After all, the new voting system — whereby the foreign film committee votes on six of the shortlisted titles, after which a smaller executive will add a further three — is specifically designed to ensure that the most acclaimed (and most expected) films make the cut.

    Under this system, you can bet a film like “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” would have made the shortlist last year. Ditto “City of God” in 2002. Consequently, it seems safe to say that even if the general committee snubs high-profile critics’ favourites like “Gomorrah” or “Waltz With Bashir,” the executive committee will get them on the shortlist.

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  • Ledger to go supporting, WB says

    Heath Ledger is “100% supporting,” according to Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger.  It seems Karger did what I was too lazy to do this week: call the studio and get the goods.  I figured we’d just wait until an FYC site popped up, but for now, it seems to be settled.

    The “Dark Knight” star has been batted around as a lead actor contender by pundits, including yours truly, but even with the news that “The Soloist” and (possibly) “The Road” have vacated the 2008 season — leaving two fresh holes in the lead actor gerby — Warner Bros. is going to be campaigning Ledger as a supporting actor.

    Wise move.  And truthful to both the performance and the material.

  • Don’t forget to participate in the contest

    I’m going to run the “Standard Operation Procedure” contest through the weekend, so don’t forget to give it your best shot.

  • Cinema Audio Society to vet Dennis Maitland, Paul Mazursky

    The Cinema Audio SocietyThe Cinema Audio Society (CAS) has announced plans to honor esteemed but wrongfully Oscar-snubbed sound mixer Dennis Maitland and Oscar-nominated writer and director Paul Mazursky at this year’s CAS Awards, set to be held on February 14.  Here is the press release, in part:

    In keeping with the synergy of the three previous CAS Filmmaker and Career Achievement recipients, Maitland and Mazursky both have distinguished individual careers which have overlapped on many projects resulting in wonderful collaborations on several films including the Oscar® Nominated AN UNMARRIED WOMAN, TEMPEST, WILLIE AND PHIL and MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON.

    In making this announcement, CAS President Edward L. Moskowitz said “We are thrilled to present both our Career Achievement and our Filmmaker Award to two consummate filmmakers who have contributed so much to filmmaking and brought us so many enjoyable and prestigious projects. This is what the CAS awards endeavor to acknowledge and this year we have hit another home run.”

    Maitland has worked on more than 80 feature films including the critically acclaimed and Oscar® nominated: AS GOOD AS IT GETS, THE PRINCE OF TIDES, MOONSTRUCK, PRIZZI’S HONOR, …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, LENNY, THE PAWNBROKER, THE WAY WE WERE, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR and SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER to name a few

    As the 27th recipient of the Cinema Audio Society’s highest honor, Mr. Maitland joins an illustrious group of past honorees that include: Ray Dolby, Robert Altman, Jack Solomon, John Bonner, Bill Varney, Don Rogers, Walter Murch, Jim Webb, Richard Portman, Tomlinson Holman, Mike Minkler, Ed Greene and Dennis Sands.

  • 10/17 Oscarweb Round-up

    (from left) Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. in The Soloist• Dave Karger responds to the “Soloist” slide. [Oscar Watch]

    • Seven favorite screen Presidents.  In total agreement on #1. [Cinematical]

    • A welcome respite from the vitriol you might have come across elsewhere, New York Magazine runs an intern’s review of the “Road” screening that happened in the Big Apple this week.  Does that qualify as “AICN-style” as well? [Vulture]

    • A brief history of the Bond villain. [The Independent]

    • “Once”: a broadway musical. [Culture Monster]

    • Spike Lee carries his loud and off-base message overseas. [The Guardian]

    • Charting the true crime history of “Changeling”‘s Collins kidnapping. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Setting out to define what “best” picture means. [Awards Daily]

    • A sweet profile of Paul Thomas Anderson approximately 10 months after it would have really done him some good. [Esquire]

    • David Hinckley recycles the same old “it’s too early” argument regarding “W.” [New York Daily News]

    • But has Hollywood gone too easy on our Commander-in-Chief? [Slate]

    • Joe Morgenstern conveys the joy of ensemble films. [Wall Street Journal]

    • Why Eddie Marsan deserves an Oscar nomination. [The Playlist]

    • Cast your revote for the Best Actress contenders of 1983 in the much bally-hooed Oscar Revote. [Pop Watch]

  • Do we really need Weekend Update Thursday Night?

    Seriously, that was just…weird.  Seth Meyers and Darrell Hammond looked like they didn’t know how to work on a weekday, but Kristen Wiig was, as usual, on point.

    Still…why?

    Also, I just heard Joe the Plumber isn’t even a licensed plumber.  Hilarious.

    November 4 can’t get here fast enough.

  • ‘The Soloist’ moves into 2009

    Jamie Foxx in The SoloistWell, I made my calls (since that Nikki is a kook), and yep, it looks like “The Soloist” is being pushed to March of 2009.  Opening the film there is “more fiscally sound” I’m told, but that’s to be expected.  With “The Road” looking to move to 2009 as well, this has become the best week of news for Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, all fringe Best Actor hopefuls that have a fighting chance now that Robert Downey Jr. and Viggo Mortensen have exited stage left.

    It’s probably for the best on one hand, since Downey’s shooting schedule for “Sherlock Holmes” in London was going to interfere with the junket dates for “The Soloist” and he wasn’t expected to be here.  Kind of hard to launch a Best Actor campaign if your lead actor can’t participate in the major press exercises.  The possibility is still floating for an Oscar qualifying run, but it doesn’t look good.

    Also reported, “Defiance” will get a shift into late December for an Oscar qualifying run with a wide bow held for January 2009.  Makes sense.  Lots of Christmas drama to contend with this year: Pitt, Will Smith, Keanu Reeves.

    Both films will still play the AFI Fest next month.

    Boy…the charts sure are gonna get a work-over on Monday.

  • LONDON: ‘Three Blind Mice,’ ‘Nights and Weekends,’ ‘Lazy Days,’ ‘Kala’

    So today was the first full day of London Film Festival action, after last night’s premiere of “Frost/Nixon” kicked off proceedings. With a raft of fair-to-respectable reviews (as you know, I was firmly in the “meh” camp), Howard’s film didn’t land with quite the bang I’m sure the festival organisers were hoping for, but it was still a notable coup — and they have the comfort of more tried-and-tested titles to come.

    Today’s fare was more low-profile, with the biggest event being the UK premiere of Spike Lee’s “Miracle at St. Anna,” which arrives at the festival as damaged goods. Perhaps tellingly, it wasn’t screened for the festival press, and after a long day of film-watching, I couldn’t muster up the energy for tonight’s screening. I’m not particularly bothered — I’ll catch it one of these days. (Here’s Kris’ withering review, to jog your memory.)

    As I’m restricted by time (not to mention a hellish head cold), I can’t offer full reviews on everything, but what follows are my impressions of four titles that screened earlier today.

    In my view, the best film of the day (and likely to remain one of the best of the festival) was, easily, writer-director-actor Matthew Newton’s “Three Blind Mice” (***1/2), a baldly funny, ultimately devastating study of male insecurity from Down Under that I already highlighted in my festival preview.

    The film follows three naval officers as they embark on a boozy, debauched night of shore leave before shipping out to Iraq the next morning. Randy alpha male Harry (Newton) is the leader of the night’s entertainment, ordering prostitutes and drinks with equal abandon; more reluctant are strait-laced Dean (Toby Schmitz), seeking time alone with his fiancee, and emotionally frail Sam (Ewen Leslie), whose secret escape plans are sparked by an encounter with free-spirited waitress Emma (Gracie Otto).

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  • Sweet buzz for ‘Button’ effects

    Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonFresh on the heels of Gerard’s visual effects Tech Support column this morning, I got an email from an industry friend who keeps his eye on the tech races and, indeed, the Oscar races in general.  It seems “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which was always going to be a delicate effects balance, is striking the right chord with those who ought to know.

    Here’s what our source had to say:

    Don Shay, who founded and is EIC of Cinefex magazine, which is more or less the gold standard for folks in the visual effects industry, has already seen “Benjamin Button” and told a mutual friend that it’s as big a leap forward in visual effects as “Jurassic Park” was. Coming from him, that’s a big deal.

    Obviously, the odds for it go even higher if the picture ends up being a sweeper, which I’m betting on as I know two other guys who have seen it in rough shape and both of them – straight shooters and neither of them particularly emotional – were crying at the end.

    I say if you watch that second trailer, and you get all of that sweep and Americana AND you’re crying at the end, it’s going to be a major force.

    When I first talked to Eric Roth about “Button” almost two years ago, he told me director David Fincher was keeping his recipe for the film’s effects close to the vest.  A wise move, considering the finished product could have become lost in its own good intentions.

    But that doesn’t seem to be the case.  With a Los Angeles Times write-up on makeup wizard Greg Cannom still to come and an Industrial Light & Magic feature just waiting to happen, I’d say the below-the-line achievements on the film might be inching it toward consideration as the tech giant of the year.

  • ‘Gomorrah’ and ‘Changeling’: two that work

    Angelina Jolie in ChangelingIt’s been a while since I’ve committed to a long-form review, and for that, I have to apologize.  Short Takes here and there don’t exactly cut it, but we’ve certainly stayed afloat in this light with Guy’s wonderful work across the pond.  I don’t get a chance to sit down and hammer out some thoughts very often, and I’m hoping that will change in the coming weeks.

    Two films that jumped out this week, however, demanded some attention.  The first is Matteo Garrone’s “Gomorrah,” which I saw recently in preparation for the AFI Fest.  The film was well-received at Cannes and has become Italy’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race.

    I have to say, I’m in agreement with Guy’s assessment for the most part.  Garrone’s patch-work narrative might seem trite and even trendy at first mention, but the menagerie works because it isn’t pretentious.  There is no sense of contrivance or expressed intent to make these five separate narratives comment toward one another or intersect in a nifty manner.

    The assemblage is borderline slap-dash and is more impactful as a result.  In a sense, Garrone has cooked up five tense, detailed short films and simply sifted them together.  All roads lead to nowhere, and a list of sobering Camorra facts at the end of the film really sticks with the viewer — especially that last doosey.

    (More on “Gomorrah,” plus thoughts on “Changeling” after the jump.)

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  • Casting the 2008 election

    Rope of Silicon has a sweet feature up today: “Casting the 2008 Election.”  It’s one of those lists I wish I had thought of, and for the most part, it’s spot on, some real zingers: Bruce Campbell as Mitt Romney, Harold Ramis as Keith Olbermann, Kevin Spacey as Mike Huckabee.  Some of the choices don’t really work, though: Tobey Maguire as John Edwards, Nicolas Cage as Joe Biden.  And though the choice of Mary-Louise Parker for Campbell Brown is inspired, I always get a Margaret Colin vibe.

    Anyway, a great diversion these days.  Head on over to Rope of Silicon for the full list.  I’ll leave you with my fave:

    Casting the 2008 Election