In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Why we should be watching Kristin Scott Thomas

    Hey, did you know I’m something of a Kristin Scott Thomas fan? If you didn’t, chances are you only just met me. Welcome. The precis version is that I think she’s one of the few great contemporary actresses currently working on career-peak form, and in two languages to boot. The non-precis version — well, dig around.

    It’s been nearly 14 years since her lone Oscar nomination for “The English Patient”; she’s more than due for her second, and while she narrowly missed it in 2008 for her French-speaking turn in “I’ve Loved You So Long,” I’m wondering if this year’s wide-open Best Supporting Actress race might prove more conducive.

    I’m referring, of course, to her expertly brittle but moving performance as John Lennon’s aunt (and guardian) Mimi Smith in Sam Taylor Wood’s biopic “Nowhere Boy,” which opens Stateside tomorrow. US moviegoers are getting quite a fix of Scott Thomas lately. Last week, French romantic thriller “Leaving” — showcasing even more impressive work by the actress as a neglected housewife in an updated “Madame Bovary”-style melodrama — hit theaters, drawing mixed reviews but further critical huzzahs for her performance.

    (more…)

  • ‘127 Hours’ trailer

    Interesting. For some reason I wasn’t anticipating another trailer for Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours,” but I suppose that teaser we got a few months back was bound to be updated with something more robust. The new trailer landed today via Apple and is, I’d say, well structured, framed by one of the film’s more abstract moments with Best Actor contender James Franco. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch the embed after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘Conviction’ on ABC’s Nightline

    Tony Goldwyn’s “Conviction” will open in limited release next Friday, October 15.  I’m a fan.  It “never feels manipulative even though it’s painting in extremely familiar dramatic strokes,” I wrote last week.

    The film was featured on ABC’s Nightline Monday night. Once you get past the unfortunate spelling out of the title’s double meaning, there are interviews with Hilary Swank and the real-life Betty Anne Waters, among others, and a brief mention of the unfortunate ending that was left out of the film.

    “In real life, the Hollywood ending was undercut by a tragic accident,” David Wright narrates. As Waters says, yes, it’s tragic, but Kenny Waters died free. I still think that could have served the film quite well thematically.  Meanwhile, Swank says, “This movie is the reason why I’m an actor.  These types of stories are what inspire me and move me and give me hope.”

    Check out the full video of the segment after the jump.

    (more…)

  • 10/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: O’Neil relaunches Gold Derby, sticking up for ‘Let Me In,’ remaking ‘The Secret in Their Eyes’

    • Tom O’Neil takes back Gold Derby, prepares re-launch of GoldDerby.com on November 1. [Gold Derby]

    • Grilling a Harvard grad on the accuracy of final club depictions in “The Social Network.” [Vulture]

    • Cole Abaius chats with Armie Hammer about his performance(s) in the film. [Film School Rejects]

    (more…)

  • Metacritic scrutinizes the ‘Social Network’ critics

    Confession: since their utterly senseless redesign, Metacritic has gone from a daily (many times daily, often) stop on my web rounds to a place I barely visit. “It’s like walking through my old high school,” wrote my friend Nick, echoing my thoughts precisely. “I used to live here, now I can’t even find the bathroom.”

    It’s all for the best, probably: the less brain space I devote to the numerical quantification of critical opinion that, for some folks, now seems to stand in the place of critical opinion itself, the better for my sanity. I know which critics I like and/or which ones matter, and I can just as easily visit them in their own online living rooms.

    That said, I remain fascinated by how the advent of review-scoring has made the media (the new media, in particular) unprecedentedly obsessed with the role of critics — at a time when their opinion seemingly couldn’t have less influence on the paying public. This year alone, we’ve already seen flare-ups on the blogosphere over the critics who dared to sully the Rotten Tomatoes scores for “Toy Story 3” or “Inception”; the notoriously hard-to-please Armond White has become the critic that everyone claims not to care about, yet the arrival of one of his against-consensus pans is now greeted with mass re-Tweeting.

    (more…)

  • Taking questions for Oscar Talk

    Someone suggested this a few weeks back and I forgot to implement it in the last podcast, but we’d like to open it up for questions.  Maybe have a Q&A segment at the end of the show Friday, so if you have a query or something to throw out there for Anne and I to chew on, have at it here and we’ll try to address as many as we can.  It should be a great way to keep you guys involved rather than just listening to us talk out into the great open void of the Oscarweb.  I’ll try to have a post up each Wednesday for this.

  • ‘Welcome to the Rileys’ poster

    I haven’t seen “Welcome to the Rileys,” which opened at Sundance earlier this year and was a part of the downward spiraling Apparition stable before being shifted over to Samuel Goldwyn Films.  Starring James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart, as well as Melissa Leo (quite busy this year), the film may or may not have an impact this season.  How’s that for insight?  It hits theaters October 29.  Have a look at the new poster, courtesy of Movieline, after the jump.

    (more…)

  • 10/6 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Making the case for dual ‘Kids’ nods, FX nabs ‘Social’ rights, Stone up for Stacey

    • On the hunt for “Catfish”‘s Angela Wesselman-Pierce. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes write up the beginnings of the season (with a little quotage from yours truly). [New York Times]

    • Scott Feinberg makes the case for both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore getting nominated for “The Kids Are All Right.” [ScottFeinberg.com]

    (more…)

  • Leigh and Manville on their 30-year collaboration

    As you probably know, I’m rooting hard for seasoned character actress Lesley Manville to get her first Oscar nod this year for Mike Leigh’s “Another Year” — and the quality of her piercing tragicomic performance isn’t the only reason.

    For a director renowned for his close relationship with a regular, rotating crew of actors, the Academy’s response to his films thus far hasn’t really reflected that loyalty. Only three thesps (all women) have been Oscar-nominated for their work in a Leigh film — a number far smaller than it should be — and all of them, oddly enough, were tapped for their first collaboration with the director. (Moreover, only one of them has since returned to Leigh: that’d be “Vera Drake” lead Imelda Staunton, who has a striking cameo in his latest.)

    Should Lesley Manville manage a nomination, then, she’ll be the first of Leigh’s regular posse to be thus rewarded. Indeed, Manville is Leigh’s longest-serving ally. She first collaborated with the director on a 1979 radio play before going on to star in six of his feature films, climaxing with a stunning lead turn in 2002’s “All or Nothing” that was shamefully ignored by awards bodies on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s sweet to see the middle-aged actress  finally having her moment in the sun with “Another Year” — she’s earned it.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Tempest’ trailer

    Julie Taymor’s “The Tempest” has been getting knocked around ever since it hit the festival circuit last month. You’ll recall Guy was no fan at Venice (to put it lightly). But now a trailer for the film has hit, and indeed, while it looks like a crafts showcase, it has more than its share of red flags. Check it out for yourself via Apple by clicking the image below or watch the embed after the jump.

    (more…)

  • Peter Weir and ‘The Way Back’ set to enter the race

    Good news for Peter Weir fans.  I’m hearing a press release announcing that the Aussie director’s first film in seven years will be given a fighting chance in this year’s film awards season is imminent.

    The film, of course, is “The Way Back.” Newmarket Films was announced as the distributor on opening day of this year’s Telluride Film Festival (where Weir was in attendance for a tribute and the film saw its world premiere). It was immediately slated for a January 21, 2011 wide release date, but there was no indication that it would have a presence in the Oscar season.

    Just last week, Newmarket president and co-founder Chris Ball pulled back from the company to form a new shingle, Wrekin Hill Entertainment, and “The Way Back” was announced as one of the company’s first releases (jointly with Newmarket). And today it looks like the film will be slated for a one-week Oscar qualifying run in December.

    (more…)

  • ‘All Good Things’ poster

    Andrew Jarecki’s “All Good Things” has been patiently waiting a release for quite a while now.  I heard some great things about Kirsten Dunst last year but all eyes may be on Ryan Gosling (who is also pitch-perfect in “Blue Valentine,” which I finally saw last night — more later).  I’ll be seeing Jarecki’s film next week, but today we get a look at the poster courtesy of Vulture.  Check out the full image after the jump.

    (more…)

  • 10/5 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Moving the show to January, CGI gaffes, toasting Mirren

    • The Academy considers moving the Oscars up to late January or early February.  Same old song and dance.  It would begin in 2012 and is dependent on the NFL’s plans. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Tom Shone talks to “Nowhere Boy” director Sam Taylor-Wood. [New York Magazine]

    • Monika Bartyzel toasts Helen Mirren’s rise from sexpot to Oscar winner. [Cinematical]

    (more…)

  • Cholodenko: Hollywood “lopsided” against female directors

    In Oscar-watching, causes can be seasonal things: there’s no guarantee that what the industry and the media jointly declare a crucial issue one year will last to the next. In 1991, “Beauty and the Beast” earned applause for breaking the animation ceiling in Best Picture, but it took 18 years (and a format change) for the Academy to go there again. The year after voters redressed the balance by handing both their lead acting Oscars to African-American actors in 2001, not a single black face featured in either category. Every year has its own story.

    We might well be learning that again this year. In many quarters, 2009 was dubbed “the year of the woman” as a string of successes for female filmmakers culminated in Kathryn Bigelow’s history-making Oscar win.

    This year, however, that level of cheerleading has been largely absent, despite another strong year for women in the field: Debra Granik and Sofia Coppola were the toast of Sundance and Venice, respectively, box-office titan Pixar announced its first female-helmed feature and Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right” was the crossover arthouse story of the summer.

    (more…)

  • Zack Snyder tapped for Nolan-produced ‘Superman’

    How’s that for an SEO-baiting headline?  You’ll find them everywhere today.

    And the thing is, I strangely have little to no comment on the matter.  Snyder is a good guy.  He’s done well by Warner Bros.  It makes sense for a lot of people involved but there’s still something insular and unimaginative about it all.  And moving in a direction I don’t see as a fan, but what do I matter?  (The villain will be General Zod, by the way.)

    Anyway, I had my say on all of this once — no, twice, actually.  I wish the production well.  Why don’t you just tell me what you think already?

    Oh, speaking of Nolan, nifty “Inception” trailer, re-imagined for the 1950s, after the jump.

    (more…)

  • The ‘Social Network’ generation split

    Last week, I mused on the possibility of “The Social Network”‘s highly youth-oriented narrative proving a bit of an obstacle to older audiences, Academy members among them. So far, it seems not to be a problem: judging on reactions I’ve skimmed and conversations I’ve had, interest in the film spans a broad demographic range, as the media saturation has ensured even people who wouldn’t dream of opening a Facebook account are aware of its existence.

    Nevertheless, a couple of articles published over the weekend suggest that the film does still expose a generational divide — just not in simple “will see/won’t see” terms. Rather, as the NYT’s David Carr writes, it’s the way audiences respond to the film and its characters that is likely to differ across age groups, with some seeing it as a cautionary tale and others as a success story:

    “When you talk to people afterward, it was as if they were seeing two different films,” said Scott Rudin, one of the producers. “The older audiences see Zuckerberg as a tragic figure who comes out of the film with less of himself than when he went in, while young people see him as completely enhanced, a rock star, who did what he needed to do to protect the thing that he had created.”

    (more…)

  • POLL: What is your favorite David Fincher film?

    As mentioned over the weekend, I’ll have a David Fincher-themed list coming your way tomorrow.  In the meantime, however, I thought I’d update the poll with a new query.

    Fincher has offered up eight feature films in the last 18 years.  It’s a healthy portfolio and, I think it’s fair to say, a singular one.  I’ve had a blast digging back into his work over the past week or so but I don’t even think I could answer this question fully at the moment.  Still a few more re-viewings to go.

    Now that “The Social Network” is in theaters, I’ll just put it out to you: What’s your favorite film from the director?  Check the left sidebar and pencil in your vote.  And feel free to use this space to discuss your pick and others’.

    Be sure to check back some time tomorrow for that list, our first in, jeez, three months?  We really should knock the dust off that feature.

  • ‘True Grit’ trailer

    Last week we got our first look at the Coen brothers’ “True Grit” via a crafty teaser trailer with no shortage of visual flourish. Friday a teaser poster hit and over the weekend a fuller version of the trailer was attached to a number of new releases. Today, via Yahoo! Movies, we get an online look…and yes, it’s AWESOME (though structured more commercially than like a Coen film). We get a good look at Matt Damon’s performance here, which I hear is a highlight of the film. Have a look at the trailer by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

    (more…)