In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Back…

    I’ve been in Los Angeles now for two days and loving every haze-filled, 90-degree moment.  It’s good to be back.  Futzing around with a new HDTV, putting the pieces of my life back in U.S. order and basically settling back in.  Things ought to be a bit quiet from my end for the next few days…

  • Israel leaves Vantage: “It’s not the same company”

    This strikes me as very bad news indeed. Amy Israel, head of acquisition and production at Paramount Vantage, has been shown the exit. You’d think overseeing the production of such titles as “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood,” and acquiring, among others, “An Inconvenient Truth,” would count for something. Apparently not.

    Replacing Israel is Guy Stodel, a former exec from New Line. He has some history of acquiring arthouse titles (“The Sea Inside,” “The Upside of Anger”), but worryingly, his most emphasised accomplishment in the press release is having brought the two “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” remakes to fruition. Because that’s the kind of thing we’re looking for, right?

    Israel’s parting statement is diplomatic, but somewhat ominous:

    I’m proud of having been a part of building Paramount Vantage from the ground up under John Lesher, making great films. I love the company we built. It’s not the same company. (It) is evolving a different direction.

    Truthfully, we all knew this was coming. When Vantage was incorporated into the main body of the studio last month, it was pretty obvious they wanted to broaden their focus to more commercial genre projects. Vantage president Nicholas Meyer insists specialty films will remain a priority:

    Although the moves signal that Vantage is moving more in the genre direction, Meyer insists the studio is pursuing a more “eclectic and elastic” slate. “We are not abandoning the specialty business. We are too committed to it,” Meyer said. “As the company evolves, we need to morph and mutate in order to survive in a challenging environment.”

    (more…)

  • Ridiculous

    You know, I enjoy Bill Maher’s work very much. More often than not, despite adamant opinions, he has the ability to come down in an even-handed manner on more than a few issues, hot button and otherwise. But one thing that has always driven me mad has been his absolute ignorance and over-dependence on hyperbole when addressing issues of religion.

    I respect feelings of atheism. I’ve been there. I’m no religious fruitcake that gets pissy when someone denounces religion, either. Indeed, agnosticism has never been unattractive to me. But I have my spirituality and I respect and admire what is actually inherent and shared in religions across the world (something I think plenty would benefit from simply noticing, rather than quarreling over differences).

    Maher has never been capable of this. Ever. And when he really digs into religion, he generally does it in the safety of a left-leaning panel on “Real Time” who wouldn’t exactly see fit to disagree with him (though there have been precious few exceptions).

    With that in mind, does anyone expect Maher and Larry Charles’s “Religulous” to be anything more than a surface level dissection of beliefs with clever editing to make people look like morons? Kind of like, oh, portions of the Larry Charles-directed “Borat?” My anticipation for this film has frankly been victimized by a sense of dread for some time because of all of this.

    Here’s the trailer:

    httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=kSa2j6UoU78

  • ‘The Road’ on page and screen

    (from left) Kodi Scott-McPhee and Viggo Mortensen in The RoadThis weekend I opened Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel “The Road.” For whatever reason –- fright perhaps -– I’d hadn’t read it before now despite accolades from critics and friends.

    In June, Guy Lodge wrote a thoughtful entry about Dennis Lehane and how his books have easily transitioned to the screen. He likened him to Jane Austen. Mr. Lodge accurately noted that “it seems the studios are snapping up his titles faster than he can write them.”

    And for good reason. “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone” were exceptional (and successful) adaptations. “Shutter Island,” which will open in 2009 as “Ashcliff,” attracted the eye of Martin Scorsese along with an exceptional cast featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Max Von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley and Patricia Clarkson, to name a few. But I wonder if similar consideration might be given to Mr. McCarthy.

    John Hillcoat’s adaptation of “The Road” will hit theaters this November — just after thanksgiving. Unlike “No Country for Old Men,” the Coen brothers’ Academy Award-winning adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel, this film enters the market with far less fanfare. To date, it hasn’t screened for audiences or critics. It didn’t show at Cannes or Tribeca and, as of this writing, hasn’t been announced as part of the Toronto International Film Festival line-up.

    The film stars Viggo Mortensen, fresh off an Oscar nomination for “Eastern Promises,” David Cronenberg’s moody and dark film about the Russian mafia in London. Mortensen seems to have this genre down. While he was thrilling in Cronenberg’s haunting drama “A History of Violence,” the actor arguably made his name as Aragorn in those miserable elf movies from Peter Jackson. Five pages into the novel, his casting made perfect sense.

    In 2005, Hillcoat directed “The Proposition,” a brilliant western starring Guy Pearce and Ray Winstone. I found it to be one of the year’s best.

    “The Road” also stars Oscar winners Charlize Theron and Robert Duvall as well as Mr. Pearce and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee, an 11-year-old boy who might just steal the film. Charles McGrath, writing in The New York Times earlier this year, noted that screenwriter Joe Penhall is “for the most part extremely faithful” to the story.

    The Oscar season is crowded with adaptations of books and plays. “Revolutionary Road,” “The Reader,” “Doubt,” “Frost/Nixon,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “House of Lies,” “Defiance” and “Miracle at St. Anna” are just a few. But if there’s such a thing as McCarthy fatigue, audiences may have it this year. Where “No Country for Old Men was violent and scary to a disturbing degree, “The Road” is – -210 pages in -– chilling and lonely. They are both beautiful works of literature, but how much stomach will the Academy have for another bleak story, particularly one set in a post-apocalyptic world?

    The critical success of “No Country for Old Men” may also work against Mr. Hillcoat. The Coens set the bar high — much higher than Billy Bob Thornton and Ted Talley when they adapted “All the Pretty Horses” in 2000. But I’m hoping that isn’t the case.

    Then again, if “The Road” isn’t enough to satisfy McCarthy fans and film lovers alike, in 2009 Ridley Scott will direct “Blood Meridian,” an adaptation of another one of his novels, with a script penned by William Monahan.

  • RIP Charles H. Joffe

    We sure are losing a lot of valuable talents this year.

    You have probably already heard about the passing of Charles H. Joffe, the veteran comic manager best known as Woody Allen’s longtime producer, and the co-winner of the 1977 Best Picture Oscar for “Annie Hall.” (Not as well known is that he guided the early careers of such other comic giants as Billy Crystal and Robin Williams.)

    There isn’t much to add to what has already been said elsewhere, but as a devoted fan of Allen’s films (all of which Joffe, with partner Jack Rollins, produced or executive-produced), I can only state my admiration for his loyalty and longevity within that working relationship. Not many producer-director teams can claim a five-decade span. Allen himself has paid tribute with the following statement: “When he was at the top of his game, nobody was better.”

    Of course, Joffe and Rollins were executive producers of Allen’s latest, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Here’s hoping the largely positive word on the film so far means Joffe’s career ends on a high note.

  • Kate Hudson joins ‘Nine’

    I wrote back in May about the embarrassment of riches that is the cast of “Nine” – Rob Marshall’s upcoming filmization of the hit Broadway musical based, in turn, in Fellini’s “8½.”

    Now, as if Daniel Day-Lewis, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard weren’t enough names to fit on the marquee, word is out that room must be made for another – Kate Hudson. (I must have missed the memo when Day-Lewis was confirmed for the project, but it appears he’s definitely in.)

    You could say that she’s the least accomplished thesp on the list so far, but nevertheless, I’ve always liked Hudson, and it sure would be nice to see her in a good (or at least promising) film again. (“Almost Famous” is starting to seem awfully long ago.) The role – a Yank fashion reporter abroad – has reportedly been created especially for the film adaptation to showcase what Marshall describes as Hudson’s “revelatory skills as a singer and dancer.”

    Finally, an interesting detail that I hadn’t heard before: credit for the screenplay is shared by Michael Tolkin (already interesting enough, no?) and none other than the late Anthony Minghella. Shooting begins in the UK on October 10; sounds like The Weinstein Company have a very hot property on their hands here.

  • James Dean: over-appreciated icon?

    James Dean in GiantLet me state that I am aware of how much trouble I am going get myself into by writing this.

    With all the praise for Heath Ledger and his apparently electrifying performance in “The Dark Knight,” comparisons have been drawn to 50s method actor James Dean.  Great at his trade, a troubled social life, an early death, what might have been, etc.

    Ledger was a great actor, he should have won the Academy Award for his stunning performance in “Brokeback Mountain” and no doubt will be nominated for his turn as the Joker.  But Ledger’s body of work, though small, was superb and demonstrated a range that vastly surpasses that of James Dean, who was frankly similar in every role.

    The first time I saw James Dean on screen I too was stunned by performer, but for reasons you might not expect. Having heard so much about him, having read everything I could get my hands on, the film “East of Eden” was playing on the late show one night in the days before home video. I set my alarm and went to the cinema, and over two hours later I went back to bed wondering what all the fuss about.

    Later of course I watched “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant,” and still to this day I cannot understand those who believe Dean was one of the greatest American actors, so much so that he was elevated to the status of an icon.

    (more…)

  • Leavin’ on a jet plane…

    Alright, no more updates from me this afternoon.  I’m off to Heathrow in about an hour and then it’s 660 minutes in the air until I’m back in Los Angeles around 6:45 PST.  See you on the other side.

  • Wells joins the guessing game

    In response to Tom O’Neil’s contender shortlist that I discussed yesterday, Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has come up with his own list of Best Picture frontrunners – and predicted also-rans. (O’Neil has since significantly amended his list, by the way – wisely removing “Blindness” and “Synecdoche, New York” from Best Picture consideration, and adding some titles including, bizarrely, “Mamma Mia!” Meanwhile, names like Tommy Lee Jones, Rachel McAdams and Kristin Scott Thomas enter the actors’ mix.)

    Wells’ top choices include “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (which he describes as “not the front-runner,  but the contender with the best script”), “Milk,” “Doubt,” “Gran Torino,” “Frost/Nixon,” “W” and “The Visitor.” “W” is a predictably contentious selection; I certainly know a few people who would disagree with his assertion that it “works on the page.”

    Rather more fun is Wells’ rundown of the titles that he thinks don’t have a prayer, which he breaks down as follows:

    “Appaloosa” (possibly worthy Ed Harris western but New Line leftover status dooms it); “Burn After Reading” (a dry Coen brothers goof, not an Oscar film); “Body of Lies” (I know nothing about this brilliant Middle Eastern spy thriller that would qualify it as Oscar bait); “Changeling” (Best Actress nom for Angelina Jolie but the film, while dramatically solid and well made, just isn’t stratospheric enough); “The Dark Knight” (are Tom and Pete having us off?); “Defiance” (an Ed Zwick World War II movie about Russian-Jewish resistance guerillas…hello?); “Mamma Mia!” (all right, that’s enough); “Miracle at St. Anna” (a Spike Lee movie in which a bank teller is shot by an old guy having a memory seizure?) and “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” (can’t and won’t happen).

    I must say I agree with him on most counts there – in particular, I’ll be somewhat surprised if “Miracle at St. Anna” and “Defiance” even turn out to be good films, let alone Best Picture possibilities. I can’t help thinking, though, that some little picture that’s slipped through all these lists will sneak up on us later this year. We sure weren’t talking about “Juno” a year ago.

  • This has had me concerned for a while…

    From New York Magazine’s David Edelstein, re: “The Dark Knight”:

    The tumult is spectacularly incoherent. Nolan appears to have no clue how to stage or shoot action. He got away with the chopped-up fights in Batman Begins because his hero was a barely glimpsed ninja, coming at villains from all angles in stroboscopic flashes. There are more variables here, which means more opportunities to say ‘What the f— just happened?’

  • What will be the Bat’s final haul?

    Warner Bros. Pictures' The Dark KnightI’m frankly surprised so many people seem to expect a $100-115 million opening weekend for “The Dark Knight.”  That is, admittedly, where I placed my vote, but I didn’t expect so much company.

    I’ll probably put an actual number to my guess in that light some time this week (all these stories about blasting away advance ticket sales records have me wondering if we’re underestimating the thing).  But for now, I’m curious what readers think the final box office tally of the flick will be.

    So, have your say in this week’s poll.  The final total for “Batman Begins” was right around $205 million, so I think it’s safe to say most people expect that bar to be hurdled.  But I’m including good cross-section of choices, in case some folks want to be brazen.

    And again, if you want to put an actual number to it, let us know below.

  • What’s with actors getting arrested in the South?

    Vince Vaughn\'s mugshot from 2001Remember back in 2001 when Vince Vaughn was arrested in North Carolina following a bar brawl in New Hanover county?  Poor Steve Buscemi was even stabbed several times in the process.  All in the service of “Domestic Disturbance.”

    Well now it turns out Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright have been taken to the slammer in Shreveport, Louisiana after refusing to leave a bar after closing time.  Refusing to leave a bar after closing time?  THAT’s what gets you yanked in the Bayou?  If they were going to go, they should’ve gone out swinging, I say.

    The actors were in the middle of production on Oliver Stone’s “W” and will probably be out of the big house in no time and back to work.  Brolin’s mug shot isn’t as stellar as Mr. Vaughn’s was seven years back, but he’s sporting a bald head that probably fit him right in at the Stray Cat bar (which sounds like countless dives I’ve frequented in my time…oh the South).

    I’m sorry, but every time I hear about an actor getting charged with “interfering with police” arrest, I get kind of irritated.  Doesn’t it always turn out this way?  Has a cop ever yielded to a movie star before?  Let alone those of the middle (but admittedly rising) stature of Brolin and Wright.

  • Gold Derby backs ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’

    All us awards-watchers know that Tom O’Neil’s Oscar prognostications can be a little wacky (let’s just forget that he predicted “Sweeney Todd” would sweep the top four awards last year, shall we?). Still, he knows the game better than most, and his mid-year list of frontrunners (with assistance from Pete Hammond) in the top three categories makes for interesting reading.

    All the usual suspects (“Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Revolutionary Road,” etc) are present, though there are some surprising choices – he still has “Blindness” and “Synecdoche, New York” (still without a distributor) in his Best Picture shortlist, and “W” crops up there too.

    O’Neil clearly isn’t buying into “The Road,” though Viggo Mortensen makes an appearance in his Best Actor list. Meanwhile, two unexpected choices stood out for me in his acting lists: Eric Bana in the bestseller adaptation “The Time Traveller’s Wife” (a fairly unknown quantity that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere), and the terrific Melissa Leo in Sundance champ “Frozen River.”

    What interested me the most, however, is that O’Neil singles out “Happy-Go-Lucky” for discussion, calling it:

    (The) film you may be most underestimating … Mike Leigh’s little flix are often big players (“Vera Drake,” “Secrets and Lies”) and this perky one could be the next “Little Miss Sunshine” or “Juno.” Sally Hawkins already won the Best Actress trophy at the Berlin Film Festival.

    I’ve been predicting big things for Leigh’s delightful film (which, incidentally, gets better the more I contemplate it) for a while now, so I’m pleased to see O’Neil shares my faith in it – though I’m not sure I quite agree with his comparison. It’s certainly a warm and very funny film, but there’s more melancholy and bite to it than either “Juno” or “Little Miss Sunshine.”

    Back in June, Kris wondered where “Happy-Go-Lucky” would land in Miramax’s awards priorities. Since then, the picture has cleared a little bit. With “Doubt” now seemingly the only other prestige contender on Miramax’s slate, Leigh’s film looks well-positioned to get an awards push from the studio – particularly in the event of “Doubt” disappointing. (I still don’t buy the latter as a Best Picture contender.) And with its profile further raised by its inclusion in the Toronto Film Festival lineup, the prospects for “Happy-Go-Lucky” are starting to look as sunny as its title.

  • Exclusive ‘Dark Knight’ clip from MTV

    For some reason this clip isn’t working on the MTV’s site (where it originated), but I found it on YouTube.  Holy, holy:

    httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=RFUFHepGu-g

  • Batman through the years

    Michael Keaton in Warner Bros. Pictures' BatmanDominic Wells of The Times has written a cross-section of Batman as seen on film through the past five decades.  I can’t believe I didn’t know this was being written under my nose.

    He takes us back to the serials of the mid-to-late 1940s and into the “Pow!” and “Bam!” psychedeliq of the 1960s TV series, through the Michael Keaton protests of Tim Burton’s re-imagining as well as Joel Schumacher’s disintegration of the franchise, before bringing us up to speed with Christopher Nolan’s vision of the character.

    I especially liked this bit of insight following an aside on Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” (and the subsequent push for a film adaptation):

    The book was a critical and commercial smash, and plans were laid for a film. Adam West, now 58, lobbied to reprise the role, which would have suited the Dark Knight Returns storyline. I met him in 1988, when Britain was again gripped by Batmania (TV-am’s ratings leapt 25 per cent after screening the Sixties episodes), and he sounded as though he’d given it considerable thought: “In the final scenes of the film, if it’s bizarre and mysterious, you can still have Alfred the butler driving the old Batmobile to the rescue. We’d have been using all hi-tech, wonderful slick new stuff, and at the critical moment, there’s Alfred, driving the old Batmobile. People would stand up and cheer.”

    But he kind of gets testy with me on this assessment of Burton’s 1989 elseworld take:

    Even so, it’s not particularly good. There are strange holes in the plot where the producer Jon Peters and Tim Burton didn’t see eye to eye, and Kim Basinger, then the producer’s real-life girlfriend, is a waste of space.

    Easy now, Dom.

    Read the rest here.  One of the commenters mentions Sandy Collora’s “Batman: Dead End,” which has always been a fun watch.  If you’ve never seen it, have a look:

    httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=Hjp0I_okX0w

  • Clint Eastwood: the unlikely Oscar favorite

    Clint Eastwood at the Academy Awards in 2005Had anyone said to me in the 1970s that Clint Eastwood would in time become one of the finest and most important American directors in modern cinema, I would have laughed — quite loudly — in their collective faces.

    The star of “Dirty Harry” and “Every Which But Loose?”  The guy who shares the screen with apes?  Are you kidding???  Yet here we are, 37 years after he first pulled that 44-Magnum (“The most powerful hand gun in the world”), and things have changed.  He has won four Academy Awards — two as director, two as producer.  He has been nominated for each on two other occasions and has two Best Actor nominations to his credit as well. He has twice been honored by the Directors Guild of America for and won countless critics awards.

    Eastwood is indeed among the filmmaking elite.  And with the upcoming releases of “Changeling” and “Gran Torino,” he looks primed to flirt with the film awards season yet again.

    While researching my book “Clint Eastwood: Evolution of a Filmmaker,” my respect and admiration for the man has grown considerably. Obviously there was a great deal of admiration to start, otherwise I wouldn’t even begin a bhook on the subject.  But leanring more and more about Eastwood and his work has, understandably, taken things up a level.

    Eastwood challenges himself each time he makes a film.  His choices to act in films such as “Any Which Way You Can” were driven by the fact that he knew the studio would then finance a personal project such as “Bronco Billy.”  What really astounds me, though, is his growth as an actor through the years.

    (more…)

  • Bond song battle goes on… and on

    Alicia KeysI’m taking yesterday’s news that Alicia Keys is the “top contender” to sing the theme song for “Quantum of Solace” with a grain of salt. I’ve had my eye on this story for a while, and since initial frontrunner Amy Winehouse became a hazy prospect, any number of names have been thrown into the pot.

    First it was (God help us) Beyonce. Then the Bond producers were apparently “set on” Leona Lewis. Then Duffy, a soul revivalist in the Winehouse vein, began dropping hints that she had the gig. Then Duran Duran. (You tell me why.) Then Annie Lennox. Even Jack White’s name has been bandied around. Now Keys.

    The Keys rumour appears moderately more credible than some of the others, but if so, she strikes me as an odd choice. All the best Bond themes (“Goldfinger,” “You Only Live Twice,” “Nobody Does It Better,” since you asked) project a sense of danger, sex appeal even, amid the lush arrangements. Keys’ edgeless, uber-earnest R&B just doesn’t fit the bill, to my mind.

    The names put forward so far suggest that the producers are looking for more of a throwback sound after the last two attempts at modernising the formula (Chris Cornell’s oddly dated-sounding “You Know My Name” and Madonna’s plain dismal “Die Another Day”) didn’t exactly set the world alight. The arrival of the Bond theme used to be an event in itself – the amount of press over this installment’s vocalist suggests the producers are trying to recapture that level of anticipation.

    You’d expect the year’s most discussed movie song to be a cinch for an Oscar nomination, whoever lands the gig, but history suggests otherwise. Only three Bond themes (“Live and Let Die,” “Nobody Does It Better,” and – ugh – “For Your Eyes Only”) have ever been nominated, all unsuccessfully. But with the slate of Best Song contenders this year looking sparser than usual, and “Casino Royale” having given the franchise a major boost in cred, the odds of a nomination look better than usual. The producers should therefore be especially canny about who they choose.

    (more…)

  • Funniest part of ‘Inglorious Bastards’ so far

    Poor Tarantino keeps mistaking “mein Fuhrer” for “mine Fuhrer,” in addition to all the other 4th grade-level typos.  Maybe Jeff Wells is right about the “borderline illiterate” thing.  But Vulture really should have included this follow-up gem of a retarded segment in their recent reaction to the Nazi scalps bit:

    Excerpt from Quentin Tarantino\'s Inglorious Bastards

    Gold for the gold, QT.  Oh, and Adolf Hitler (yes, that Adolf Hitler) is reading on the page like Kim Jong-il in “Team America.”

    Try to stay open minded…that’s what I have to keep telling myself.