In Contention

Category: Daily

  • ‘Scott Pilgrim’ vs. the sound

    I want to take a moment to note that, regardless of my feelings on the film, I’m really bummed about the box office performance of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” not least of all because Edgar Wright is one of the good guys.  He’s making movies for all the right reasons.

    In any case, it’s left to be seen whether the film editing, visual effects or sound elements from the film can make a dent in the Oscar season, but the latter has received a SoundWorks Collection profile worth your look and listen.  The film is obviously alive in ways few films are and the below-the-line aspects are key to that.

    The crew includes re-recording mixers Chris Burdon and Doug Cooper with effects editors James Harrison, Ben Meechan and Julian Slater.  Have a look at the profile after the jump.

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  • For Your Consideration: ‘Piranha 3D’

    “Golden Globes are for movies where Ving Rhames doesn’t rip a motor off a boat and wield it as a weapon.”

  • Fall festivals ready for their close-up

    In the last couple of weeks the major fall film festivals have unveiled aggressively competitive line-ups, and the amount of potential awards product landing at Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York is, as usual, vast.

    There are plenty of overlapping exhibitions but as for firsties, Venice will get dibs on Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” Julie Taymor’s “The Tempest,” Julian Schnabel’s “Miral,” Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” and Richard J. Lewis’s “Barney’s Version” before the films make their way to other fests.  Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere” will be exclusive to the Lido.

    New York, meanwhile, landed a real coup by boasting the world premiere of David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” which will not be at the other fests.

    Toronto is again packed to the gills with product (too much, if you ask me, but it’s a media circus after all).  Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” will see its first bow there before heading off to New York in October.  Tony Goldwyn’s “Conviction” will also debut, as well as John Madden’s “The Debt,” Rowan Joffe’s “Brighton Rock,” Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” and Nigel Cole’s “Made in Dagenham.” World premieres searching for distributors at the fest include Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator,” John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole” and Dustin Lance Black’s “What’s Wrong with Virginia,” any of which could end up being awards season possibilities.

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  • ‘I’m Still Here’ trailer

    In case you’re interested in the Casey Affleck documentary about his brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix’s attempt at a rap career and either serious-as-cancer or totally put-on downward spiral, the trailer for “I’m Still Here” has landed at Yaho0! Movies.  But is it just me or is this whole thing all a bit stale already?  How long ago was the Letterman appearance, anyway?  And the weird red carpet interview?  Oh well, check out the trailer by clicking the image below or watch the embed after the jump.

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  • UK poster for ‘Winter’s Bone’

    The British quad for “Winter’s Bone,” which finally bows in the UK on September 17, isn’t an especially distinguished bit of design — it’s certainly cruder than the American one-sheet and the tagline, though a pithy line in the film, doesn’t sit quite right. More interesting, however, is that it seems to have conceived as a veritable For Your Consideration ad for star Jennifer Lawrence: her lovely (and scrubbed-clean) face pushed to the foreground, with a critic’s quote that directly invokes Oscar recognition while emphasizing her impressive youth. It’s almost as if the marketers know how much BAFTA voters depend on Oscar buzz to guide them these days. Check out the poster (courtesy of Empire) after the cut.

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  • Undressing ‘Inception’

    Happy anniversary, Cobb! Today makes it exactly one month since “Inception” first hit theaters — I bring this up not to make any point, but as an excuse to those readers who cry foul over each new post about the film. May I continue?

    Anyway, while most discussion on the film is largely played out, I did want to draw attention to this interesting interview with the film’s costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, on the excellent, self-explanatory website Clothes on Film. (To be fair, the piece appeared over a fortnight ago — I’m the one behind the beat here.)

    As Gerard noted in his Tech Support column, costume design is the least likely technical area (Best Original Song excepted, of course) for the film to receive Oscar notice — though it’s probably a shoo-in for a nod in the Guild’s contemporary category. Still, Kurland’s stylish, subtly defined threads remain, for me, one of the film’s most intelligent visual cues. They’re easy to write off as a bunch of sharp suits and shimmery gowns until one notices the considered differences in tailoring that distinguish the male characters in particular: Cobb’s cautious American classics versus Arthur’s fussier three-pieces, or Eames’s rumpled, anachronistic linen verus Fischer’s severe corporate uniform.

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  • Boyle on ‘127 Hours’: “We want it to be a challenge to you.”

    As much as I’ve remained interested in Danny Boyle’s work through thick and thin, I’m struggling to pinpoint why I’m not more excited about his well-buzzed “127 Hours.”

    The story of Aron Ralston — better known to some as “that mountain climber dude who cut off his arm” — is a remarkable one, and yet I question how many potential avenues of discovery it presents on a big screen. Boyle will need to be at his least fussy, and James Franco galvanizing, to make the film more than a gruelling technical exercise.

    The trailer premiered this weekend at London’s Movie-Con, so it will surely surface online soon enough. Empire has posted an extract from Boyle’s onstage interview accompanying the trailer — from which it seems that the film’s makers and handlers are well aware of the marketing challenges posed by a film that centers on a single immobile character over the titular period of time.

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  • ‘Toy Story 3’ reaches box office milestone, MovieMaker remembers ‘Tin Toy’

    Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” is pretty much the only sure-thing contender for Oscar’s 10 at this stage, and with good reason.  It was the high mark of the summer movie season, a beautiful send-off to a beloved franchise that just got better and better.  Fitting, then, that the film has become not only Pixar’s reigning box office champ, but the highest grossing animated feature film of all time.

    With $920 million in the bank and climbing, the film sits at the top of that perch, just a few days after passing what I still believe to be Pixar’s most accomplished effort, “Finding Nemo,” and leaving other films like “Shrek 2” and “The Lion King” in the dust.  It will also surely be one of only six $400 million earners from the last decade (though talk to our resident box office analyst Chad Hartigan and you’ll get a different story, as he prefers figures adjusted for inflation).  Combined with nearly blanket critical approval, you have a perfect awards storm.

    While on vacation last week I read a piece by Eric Kohn in the latest issue MovieMaker Magazine that ties in nicely here.  It was a look back at Pixar’s Oscar-winning 1988 animated short “Tin Toy,” which of course planted the seeds for the “Toy Story” franchise.  Unfortunately, it’s not available online, but I’ve transcribed a section after the jump that I felt was worth passing along.

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  • Tell us what you thought of ‘The Expendables’

    As Chad noted in this week’s Friday Forecast column, the film likely to own the weekend box office is “The Expendables,” from esteemed auteur Sylvester Stallone.  For me, this is the real capper of the summer movie months (haven’t seen it yet, as the reviews have taken that sting out a bit, but I will).  I’m eager to hear your thoughts though, so, you know the drill.

  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’

    I’m feeling like pretty much the only guy on the block not losing my shit over Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” and as always, I’m fine with that.  But it hits theaters as part of summer 2010’s last gasps and I’d like to hear your thoughts, so cut loose with them in the comments section below when you get a chance to see the film.

  • ‘Avatar: Special Edition’ trailer

    You didn’t think you were out of the 2009 awards season woods yet, did you?  No way.  James Cameron and 20th Century Fox are gonna squeeze the “Avatar” cash cow until the milk stops flowing, surely.  And with a big junket for “Avatar: Special Edition” in Los Angeles yesterday, and a new just-released trailer, it seems August 27 is the new “Avatar Day” with the theatrical re-release, including more footage, set to bow.  Check out the teaser trailer on the jump.

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  • ‘Love & Other Drugs’ trailer

    Sure enough, not long after posting that Entertainment Tonight first look at Edward Zwick’s “Love & Other Drugs,” the trailer has launched via Apple.  I stand by what I said in the original post and may even been anticipating it a bit more now.  Check out the trailer by clicking on the image below or watch the embed on the jump.

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  • First still from ‘True Grit’ and a plea on the western’s behalf

    A few weeks ago I was having coffee with a director, a recent awards season success story who shall remain nameless, who told me in meeting after meeting with acting talent, it seems one thing is consistent: actors want to make westerns.  The obvious catch?  Studios don’t.

    It’s hardly new news that Hollywood brass shies away from period budget, low-yield filmmaking.  It’s partly the reason the genre all but completely died out, that and a failure of western filmmakers to shift with changing socio-political climates and see the genre as one of flux, not stagnated morals and Americana.  But given tax incentives in neighboring states and any number of ghost towns ready and willing to play host to Hollywood crews, the number-crunchers have stayed away.

    It says a lot that a masterpiece of the medium (decade’s best “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) was left to fight alone at a time when it needed help the most, while second and third string comic book franchises are greenlit daily.  To me, the fiscal bottom line on westerns has become more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than anything else.  Granted, the public isn’t showing up, but a little shove couldn’t hurt.

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  • First look at Zwick’s ‘Love & Other Drugs’

    When I took an initial stab at forecasting the Oscar season back in March, I hung my hat on the prospect of Edward Zwick, a perennial also-ran in Oscar’s years of five, and a promising true-story comedy “Love & Other Drugs.” I’ve been steadily pulling back on that punch, though, and while 20th Century Fox has little else in the hunt this season, it’s starting to look like Golden Globe territory more than anything else.  Which is hardly a bad thing, mind you.

    Then again, in a first look recently revealed by Entertainment Tonight (courtesy of The Playlist), the chemistry between stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway (reunited five years after “Brokeback Mountain”) is sharp and electric, while their performances separately seem to have a confidence and precision that might get them places in the season.

    Based on the book “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman,” the film stars Gyllenhaal as the Jerry Maguire of the pharmaceutical business who meets Hathaway’s Parkinson’s suffering free spirit on a drug call.  Cue romantic comedy stylings.  Check out the ET first look (which likely foreshadows a trailer debut any day now) after the jump.

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  • ‘127 Hours’ to close London Film Festival

    Last year, London Film Festival organizers managed to secure a pair of world premieres — “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and the John Lennon bio “Nowhere Boy” — to open and close proceedings. This year, they haven’t been so lucky, bookending the festival’s 54th edition with two hot tickets from Toronto instead.

    With that said, they’re still thoroughly respectable, and suitably British, picks. We already knew that Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go” would kick off the festival; now comes confirmation that the closing night gala is Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours,” which stars James Franco in the well-known survival story of mountaineer Aron Ralston. The film reunites Boyle with producer Christian Colson and writer Simon Beaufoy; you may recall that a certain other collaboration between the trio closed out the London fest two years ago.

    Both films will be making their European premieres at the festival, which runs from October 13 to 28. The news suggests that, after luring out a number of American journos last year, the LFF is setting its sights a little closer to home. Statements from Boyle and LFF director Sandra Hebron after the cut.

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  • ‘How Do You Know’ trailer

    It’s difficult to discount someone from the Oscar race when he has a 60% track record with the Academy.  Then again, James L. Brooks has only directed five films to date and his last, 2004’s “Spanglish” (which, full disclosure, I’ve always quite liked) went nowhere.  His sixth is set to hit theaters this fall from Columbia Pictures and may be a return to awards season form or not, but a new trailer from Yahoo! Movies reveals it as frothy and harmless with a fun performance from Paul Rudd, if nothing else.  Click on the image below to have a look or watch the embed on the jump.

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  • Vague ‘Hereafter’ praise

    I don’t know much about Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” and I don’t know why Warner Bros. felt the need to screen it uber early to Big Picture columnist Patrick Goldstein, but if you’re interested in a “first!” reaction to the film, here’s what he had to say:

    On Tuesday, I caught an early screening of Clint Eastwood’s upcoming film, “Hereafter,” and though it’s too early for a mini-review, let’s just say that Eastwood, who turned 80 this year, is still The Man when it comes to making movies, showing off a range and depth that puts him right up there with John Huston, Robert Altman and the other great old masters from past ages.

    “Hereafter” is set for release October 22.  It comes from an original script by Peter Morgan and stars Matt Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jay Mohr.  We’ll see.

    [Photo: nkohk]

  • ‘The Town’ poster

    Ben Affleck’s “The Town” may or may not be an awards play for Warner Bros.  “Gone Baby Gone” was seen as an exceptional debut and I hear this one is as solid an outing (watch the trailer here), but the priority, as always, will be business.  That said, the recently released one-sheet, save for the boxed-in heads at the bottom, is kind of awesome in an irreverent kind of way.  Check it out in full, courtesy of iTunes, after the jump.

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