In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Focus gets animated

    I caught an uber-early screening of Focus Feature’s “9” tonight, one of two animated films they have coming out in 2008 – the other being Henry Selick’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline.”

    While it would be a disservice to comment much on the film (at least 10% of it was still storyboards — in fact, I highly doubt I saw a single frame of finished animation) giving that it’s still deep in production, I will say that one thing has become clear: Focus Features are certainly dedicated to making much darker animated films than anyone else in the market. I’ve heard “Coraline” is a PG-13, and I can’t imagine “9” getting a PG.

    It will be interesting to see if Focus can become an animation powerhouse.

    Regarding “9,” I will say this much: we all know what’s going to win Best Animated at the Oscars this year, and it’s not “9.”

  • Teasing it out…

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LirIKbsVCkM

    Tune in 2011, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

  • Greatest non-nominated perfs: too many to count…

    …but I’ll try.  A sprint of sorts through deacades of deserving contenders (in my opinion, of course).

    I ask you this: How did those lovable characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” portrayed so brilliantly by Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), Bert Lahr (Lion) and Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch), fail to be nominated in any of the supporting categories? Any one of them should have won the damned thing let alone be nominated, but in 1939, each and every one of them was snubbed.

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  • Is Dennis Lehane the new Jane Austen?

    Okay, perhaps not. Maybe more like the new Elmore Leonard. But the quintessential Boston writer is clearly Hollywood’s favourite author du jour. After the adaptations of “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone” reignited the careers of Clint Eastwood and Ben Affleck, respectively, it seems the studios are snapping up his titles faster than he can write them.

    I hardly need to remind you about a little film coming up next year called “Shutter Island,” based on Lehane’s 1950’s-set suspenser. With Scorsese hoping for lightning to strike twice for him in Beantown, and Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Max von Sydow and Michelle Williams just some of the names on board, who isn’t excited about that?

    With less fanfare, but interesting nonetheless, we also have an upcoming adaptation of Lehane’s brilliant short story “Until Gwen,” with Josh Olson, the Oscar-nominated writer of “A History of Violence,” taking both scripting and directing duties on the project.

    Now Variety reports that the latest filmmaker to take on Lehane is Sam Raimi. Columbia has got in early and nabbed the author’s yet-to-be-published “The Given Day” for Raimi to direct.

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  • Curious about ‘Hulk’ opinions…

    With the weekend behind us, I never got a real assessment (and computer problems have made communication a bit difficult).  What did everyone think?

  • Hitch reigns

    Well it seems Alfred Hitchcock won out in a squeaker against Stanely Kubrick in last week’s poll for the most deserving Oscarless director.  After a heated 16-way competition, it seemed obvious these two would stand out from the fray, and in the end we shouldn’t be too surprised that the master of suspense was the readers’ favorite.

    I’ll say only this, to echo the words of a colleague recently: Kubrick never made a meaningless movie, where as Hitcock made several.  Just to play devil’s advocate.

    As for the new poll, I’m learning of Stan Winston’s passing this morning from my own Web site of all places (that’s a first — thanks to Brian).  It’s completely surprising, I have to say, and has me thinking back to his greatest work over the years.  So I’ll put it to the readers: What film boasted Winston’s greatest work as an effects wizard?  Tell us in the poll.

  • Heartbroken.

    I truly believe Stan Winston was one of the greatest artists of all time. Ugh.

  • Hammond on ‘Frost/Nixon’

    Apologies for digging up a nearly three-week old article – somehow this escaped my notice until now. Buried in Pete Hammond’s typically thorough Cannes review is this very positive aside about Ron Howard’s much-anticipated “Frost/Nixon:”

    Howard could, and probably will, find himself in competition with Eastwood in the directing category. His funny, complicated and fascinating film (we’ve seen it – it’s completed but so far avoiding the fest circuit and bypassing election season) is brilliant, even matching his Oscar-winning “A Beautiful Mind.”

    Frank Langella as Nixon and Michael Sheen as David Frost, the man who conducts a series of TV interviews with the former president, are equally superb re-creating their Broadway and West End triumphs. Both are best actor candidates unless the studio decides to try to squeeze one or the other into supporting, which really seems unlikely. 

    I wasn’t aware that cat had been let out of the bag on that prospect, but there you go. I admit I’ve been sceptical that Howard was the right man to realize Peter Morgan’s play, but if Hammond’s views are indicative of the critical reception to come, this could be a watershed film for him.

    Hammond also echoes Kris’ prediction chart on the issue of category placement for the two leads – though if I were Michael Sheen, I’d find a way to wriggle into supporting, fast. 

  • Early predix: Nat Rogers pipes in

    So the ever-worthwhile Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience has joined in the predictions game – check out his thoughts here. Like many others, his list has “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” ruling the roost with eight nominations, with “Defiance,” “Doubt,” “Milk” and “Miracle at St Anna” rounding out the Best Picture list.

    The latter is a particularly interesting choice – one wonders whether the controversy-shy Academy voters will be put off by Spike Lee’s increasingly ridiculous quarrel with Clint Eastwood. Of course, January is a long way off, and if “Miracle at St Anna” turns out to be great, chances are this whole debacle will be forgotten by then. I fear it will not – but with “Changeling” not making his Best Picture list, Nat clearly sees Spike having the last laugh here.

    Elsewhere in Nat’s list, most of the usual suspects are present. I’m particularly pleased to see that he shares my faith in a Best Actress nomination for Sally Hawkins (“Happy-Go-Lucky”) – I’m going to be banging this drum all year, so get used to it. Nat, meanwhile, is evidently beginning the campaigning early for Michelle Pfeiffer in “Cheri,” going so far as to call her a “legendary actress.” I admit there won’t be any complaining from me if she finally cops a statuette.

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  • Oh, and FYI…

    I swear I’m done with Batman talk after this, but I know there’s an insider screening of “The Dark Knight” happening tonight on the Warner lot. If any sort of “review” pops up somewhere, it’s going to be from someone who gets checks signed by studio brass. That said, I’m anticipating a report from a trustworthy acquaintance and my fingers are SO crossed.

  • Favorite shot yet

  • Spike Lee = the Jesse Jackson of film?

    Roger Simon seems to think so:

    Why would Lee pick this fight?

    Unfortunately, it couldn’t be more obvious. Like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, time has been passing Spike Lee by. His worldview comes from another era and he has never really sought to revise it, to open his eyes. Proof of that is that for more than a decade Spike has barely made a film any of us can remember. Compare that to Eastwood, who, although some twenty-seven years Lee’s senior, is at the top of his career, having scored big in 2003-2004 with Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby.

    No wonder Spike’s jealous. So what does he do? He reaches back to an era when he was more successful. He plays the old identity/race card. Now we could all laugh and say this is just another case of an (prematurely) aging artist grasping for attention, but these times are more complex than that. We don’t know which way we are going – toward a post-racial future or back to a racist past.

    His argument is interesting because it is equal parts over-simplified and shrewd. The Lee/Eastwood dispute has been talked to death…and again…and again, but the overriding feeling I had following the initial Cannes fracas was sadness — sadness that Lee has shown yet again that he is unable to prove his (at times justified) contradictory opinions without the stench of clichéd rhetoric and steadily outdated reason.

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  • Rachel Dawes believes in Harvey Dent

    You’ll have to forgive me, folks.  I’m on one of those obssessive “Dark Knight” kicks today.  Back to normal soon, I assure you.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D15iHxCvjBs

    By the way, this site has an exhaustive analysis of the news bits, viral marketing and studio promotion of the film that reads like a full blown discourse revealing major secrets throughout…and with nothing in the way of “inside” information.  I like the way Michael Moran put it in his link here at The Times: The film ruined for your pleasure.

    There are also some sweet new banner images that hit a little over a week ago, but I’m only seeing for the first time today for some reason.

    Also, “Batman Begins” and “Dark Knight” production designer Nathan Crowley is apparently behind the set designs of a superhero costume exhibit that has been at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York.  Very cool.  Meanwhile, the milk people are up to it once again with “Dark Knight” marketing.

    And I want this motorcycle.  Bad.

    Alright…I think I got it out of my system.  I think.

  • ‘Hulk’ pan

    From someone in this building, who saw a completely different film than I did:

    The greatest sin for a comic-book movie adaptation such as The Incredible Hulk is for it to be average. But this is more of a disheartened plod down the path of least resistance than the building-pummelling riot of ideas that it needed to be.

    Ide sings the praises of Ang Lee’s film at the top, so you get the idea immediately that she wasn’t going to be on board for this one.

  • ‘Dark Knight’ soundtrack listing

    1. Why So Serious? 09:14
    2. I’m Not A Hero 06:34
    3. Harvey Two-Face 06:16
    4. Aggressive Expansion 04:35
    5. Always A Catch 01:39
    6. Blood On My Hands 02:16
    7. A Little Push 02:42
    8. Like A Dog Chasing Cars 05:02
    9. I Am The Batman 01:59
    10. And I Thought My Jokes Were Bad 02:28
    11. Agent Of Chaos 06:55
    12. Introduce A Little Anarchy 03:42
    13. Watch The World Burn 03:47
    14. A Dark Knight 16:15

    Source

    By the way, Warners is releasing this thing on vinyl (!). It’ll actually be landing in four configurations, one of them being a collector’s edition with exclusive artwork post-release.

  • Will there be any other format worth watching this thing in?

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6bCIMccbwQ

  • Not diggin’ it…

    But I hear Liev Schreiber is the one to watch in this one:

  • Stone on ‘Polanski’

    Sasha Stone recently caught up with the doc “Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” which I believed bowed on HBO this week (I miss TV). She takes the middle road in assessing the film’s Oscar potential as follows:

    I found the movie convincing, breathtaking at times and above all, sad. The Academy might like it since it is a sympathetic portrayal of the hell celebrities must live in day in and day out. On the other hand, the Oscar voters who “see every documentary” aren’t likely the kind who have a swarm of photogs following them everywhere.

    Touché. Check out the rest here.