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  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: 1939 and 1940

    Catch up with the idea behind this series here.

    We’ve come to the year that is generally referred to as the greatest in Hollywood history. Why? As far as I can tell, it’s because somebody said it once and nobody has put up much of a fight since. Plus, there was “Gone With the Wind,” a film that changed cinema and Guy Lodge forever. It also saw the birth of the Visual Effects category, with “The Rains Came” defeating “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz,” in an early example of the Academy’s pathetic short-sightedness.

    We also saw our first African American winner and Bob Hope handle the mic for the first time. David O. Selznick took home the big prize both years, with “Rebecca” earning Best Picture in 1940. No complaints there, but what other treasures were overlooked?

    1939 – “The Rules of the Game” (Jean Renoir)

    Derided by the French public and government upon release, the film didn’t hit the States until 1950 and didn’t achieve masterpiece status until the 1960’s. Now, it commonly sits at the top of Sight & Sound’s list of the greatest films of all time behind “Citizen Kane” and “Vertigo.” Jean Renoir’s classic comedy of manners has influenced everyone from Woody Allen to Paul Thomas Anderson to, most famously, Robert Altman and his Best Picture nominee, “Gosford Park.”

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  • I am Tilda

    Has any actor in recent years put an Oscar to quite such good use as Tilda Swinton? I admit I wasn’t quite behind her win two years ago for “Michael Clayton,” but I’ve enjoyed watching how, after two decades as a kind of alien fringe goddess, she’s recently morphed into a movie star of sorts — still reassuringly batty in her decisions but now capable of propelling a foreign-language arthouse curio like “I Am Love” to healthy box-office returns in the UK. (The film hits US theaters in June.)

    It’s interesting, then, to see an array of lustrous poster designs for the film all playing on the “Tilda Swinton, movie star” meme, placing her front, center and glammed-up to the hilt. Take this unused concept from UK designers All City:

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  • Carter Burwell on musical inspiration for ‘True Grit’

    Amid his coverage of the Nashville Film Festival, Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience served up a nice little nugget on composer Carter Burwell, the subject of a much-deserved individual tribute at the fest. Naturally, there was much emphasis on his ongoing collaboration with the Brothers Coen, which will continue this year with “True Grit.”

    His score for the film is still in the conceptual stages, but his current source of inspiration suggests something typically singular is in the works:

    “We don’t always see eye to eye.” Burwell noted when discussing his 14th collaboration with Joel and Ethan Coen. But when it came to the conception of the True Grit score “We both had the same idea at the same time: Protestant hymns.” The composer went on to explain that the lead character, Mattie Ross (to be played by Hailee Steinfeld) was so convinced of her own righteousness that they all thought Protestant hymns would be a fine way to play with her misplaced rectitude … He’s currently looking for appropriate hymn recordings but griped that “they all sound too sweet.”

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  • ‘Get Low’ trailer

    Hey, remember when an unheralded indie called “Get Low” debuted to standing ovations at Toronto last September? And remember the accompanying talk that Robert Duvall’s second Oscar could be in the bag? And remember when all such talk died as soon as the movie was pushed back to 2010? Such is the give-and-take nature of the festival circuit.

    Anyway, it’s baaaaaack. And so, I suspect, will be the Duvall Oscar talk. The trailer sets my Twee Alarm ringing something fierce, but others seem impressed.

  • And you thought awards season was over…

    Well, you were right. But for the true completists among you — we do promise awards coverage “this deep,” after all — here’s a suitably obscure nugget to wrap up the 2009 parade.

    The Ivor Novello Awards supposedly honor the finest in British music composition, and while they receive a reasonable amount of press in the UK for their pop music citations, many aren’t aware that they have a film score category too. With that in mind, the nominees for Best Original Film Score are:

    John Powell, “Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
    Helene Muddiman, “Skin”
    Ilan Eshkeri, “The Young Victoria”

    Well, now you know. I’d say the nominating committee clearly didn’t see “Moon,” but hell, they saw “Skin.” Curious. Still, any organisation that recognises the songwriting skillz of both Lily Allen and The Duckworth Lewis Method ain’t all bad.

  • Because it made me laugh

    Is “Iron Man 2” really just 10 days away? This is the buzziest thing I’ve seen about it.

  • SUNDAY CENTS: New releases ‘Dragon’ behind

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Internet nerds once again failed to make their presence known at the multiplex as “Kick Ass” surrendered to the runner-up spot on a relatively weak frame. As significant as online and fanboy buzz can be, time and again it has led to disappointing debuts more than bank-breaking grosses. “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” “Grindhouse,” and “Snakes on a Plane” are just a few of the recent examples. If it wasn’t for the success of “Sin City” and “300,” Hollywood would probably disregard the internet all together.

    But let’s start at the top. “How to Train Your Dragon” becomes the first film since “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” to return to the summit of the box office after a hiatus. A slim drop of 20% earned the animated comedy $20.0 million and ups the cume to $158.6 million after four weeks. The $229.8 million it would need to become the highest grossing non-“Shrek” film for DreamWorks Animation is not out of the question, although still a bit unlikely.

    “Kick Ass” debuts with $19.8 million and will still end up profitable for Lionsgate and the filmmakers, but reiterates the ceiling for R-rated comic book adaptations. Coincidentally, the debut is almost identical to another R-rated action flick that Lionsgate bought after fanboys went nuts at preview footage- “Rambo.” It may have suffered from some younger kids buying tickets to “Dragon” and sneaking in, but it may have also suffered from the amount of people who get boners thinking about pre-teen girls with guns being significantly lower than expected.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: ‘Ass’ vs. crass

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Ever since it unveiled footage at Comic-Con last year, fanboys and internet hounds have been frothing at the mouth for Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick Ass” and now it has finally arrived. Internet buzz is deafening, but also misleading as it’s never quite clear whether we are looking at a “300” or a “Snakes on a Plane.” Lionsgate doesn’t have a whole lot at stake, picking up distribution rights after the film was nearly complete and only really needs to recoup their marketing costs, which still seem to be a pretty penny.

    The R-rating and the lack of a huge studio behind it limits the potential, as does the fact that it celebrates children inflicting violence. Of course that’s also the very thing that makes it so appealing to the target audience. So if you think that above photo is awesome and totally subversive, then you’ve probably already bought your ticket. I think there will be roughly $23 million worth of you.

    Fresh off of remaking Eric Rohmer, Chris Rock takes on Frank Oz. That transition is only natural. “Death at a Funeral” only came out two and a half years ago, but that version didn’t have bloated Luke Wilson or bloated Martin Lawrence. For those that do need a sense of continuity, a non-bloated Peter Dinklage returns.

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  • Schnabel holds ‘Miral’ for Venice

    One of the more eyebrow-raising omissions from the Cannes official selection announced this morning was Julian Schnabel’s “Miral.” The New York artist’s biopic of Hind Husseini, with a cast including Hiam Abbass, Willem Dafoe and Freida Pinto, had been widely deemed a good bet for the competition lineup, given its lofty arthouse profile and the Cannes success of Schnabel’s last feature, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” for which he won the Best Director award.

    Roger Friedman reports, however, that this year Schnabel was offered only an out-of-competition slot by festival organizers. The director declined the offer, choosing instead to unveil the film on the fall festival circuit: “Miral” will therefore premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, before moving on to Toronto.Venice, of course, is where Schnabel premiered “Before Night Falls” in 2000 — he has form in both festivals.

    If the film turns out well, it won’t be the first time Venice has successfully fed off the bigger festival’s leftovers: both “Vera Drake” and “Brokeback Mountain” debuted on the Lido (and went on to win the Golden Lion) after being turned down by the Cannes selection committee.

  • Cannes official selection unveiled, includes Leigh, Iñárritu

    Okay, before you ask, “The Tree of Life” is reportedly not ready — though the Cannes selection has apparently seen a cut, so never say never. Four slots in the competition lineup have yet to be filled.

    That aside, many of the expected names are present and correct, including former Cannes champs Leigh, Kiarostami, Mikhalkov, Tavernier, Weerasethakul and González Iñárritu. (Beefing up the veteran auteur quotient, Jean-Luc Godard shows up in the very appetizing Un Certain Regard strand, as does 101 year-old Manoel de Oliveira.)

    On paper — which is all we have at the moment, after all — it’s the first two of the aforementioned directors that I’m most excited to see in competition: “Another Year” will mark Leigh’s first trip to Croisette since the undervalued “All or Nothing” in 2002, and boasts the almost unfeasibly Leigh-ian cast of Imelda Staunton, Jim Broadbent, Phil Davis and Lesley Manville.

    Meanwhile, Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy” — a romantic drama starring Juliette Binoche, and the director’s first film to be shot outside his native Iran — has had me curious for the better part of two years now. I sensed this might be afoot when Binoche was revealed as the official face of this year’s festival.

    (More thoughts, and a complete list of films in the official selection, after the cut.)

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  • Hurry, only 319 days until…

    We have less than a month left until Cannes likely triggers the first mass Oscar chatter of the year. (More so if Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” is included in tomorrow’s Official Selection announcement.) These are precious days, then … enjoy them while they last.

    Of course, if my “precious” is your “miserable,” and you’ve spent the last five weeks suffering Oscar-talk withdrawal, the indefatigable Nathaniel Rogers over at The Film Experience has your fix. You’ll remember that Kris decided against doing year-in-advance nomination predictions this year, which makes this very thorough Oscar forecast the first of its kind I’ve seen this year.

    Needless to say, a hefty pinch of salt is required at this foetal stage in the competition — Nathaniel himself headlines his predictions with the caveat “for fun and discussion.” Still, his lists raise some interesting possibilities: most notably, a Best Picture slate with a very different populist-specialist balance to last year’s ten.

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  • Scorsese and Herzog venture into 3D

    If you can’t fix it, you’ve got to stand it. And so it is, apparently, with me and 3D.

    As I’ve written before, I’m not a big fan of Hollywood’s favorite rediscovered gimmick. As a gee-whiz novelty — expertly embellishing the odd genuine event film like “Avatar” — it works a treat. As a now-regular moviegoing ritual — awkwardly grafted onto dreary blockbusters like “Clash of the Titans” and “Alice in Wonderland,” making them even more invasive and exhausting than they need to be — it’s rapidly becoming an irritant. And until some genius fashions 3D glasses that can fit comfortably over an existing pair of spectacles, I’ll remain hostile.

    Clearly, however, I’m going to have to find a way to love the third dimension, as it continues to seep outside the effects-driven blockbuster box, and even into the arthouse. The gentrification, if you will, of 3D took a forward leap this week with the news that both Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog will be shooting their next projects in 3D.

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  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: 1937 and 1938

    Catch up with the idea behind this series here.

    1937 saw Spencer Tracy win the first of his back-to-back Best Actor Oscars and Luise Rainer win the second of her back-to-back Best Actress Oscars. The Academy wasn’t as in to spreading the wealth in those days as it is now. Just ask Meryl Streep. In fact, 1938 saw Frank Capra win his third Best Director trophy in five years, Walter Brennan win his second Best Supporting Actor gong in three years and Walt Disney took home his seventh consecutive bald guy for Best Animated Short.

    1938 was also notable for the Best Picture nomination of “Grand Illusion,” the first foreign film to ever be nominated in that category. It wouldn’t happen again for 31 years and is still far too rare an occurrence. If the Academy had been able to look past their nose, they would have noticed these choices.

    1937 – “Confession” (Joe May)

    Sorry to get all obscure on you guys, but I don’t think this film is available on DVD or even VHS. I can’t even remember why I saw it, but I watched it taped off of Turner Classic Movies onto a VHS and buried in my film school’s archives. I think perhaps my Critical Studies professor was trying to get me pumped about Kay Francis. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t have been happier to stumble upon such a wildly schizophrenic, experimental melodrama.

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  • WB going mo-cap for ‘Green Lantern’ threads

    Remember all that talk last year about how actors saw “Avatar” as a threat to the future of their profession?  Well, it seems the costume designers should be shaking in their boots as well.

    Thanks to Peter Sciretta at /Film, news has trickled down that the reason we haven’t gotten a glimpse of Ryan Reynolds in full dress from Martin Cambell’s “Green Lantern” is that there isn’t a practical costume in effect.  Writes Sciretta:

    The suit that Ryan wears on set is a grey tracking motion/performance capture suit with led lights. I’ve heard that Ryan Reynolds has been joking on set that Warner Bros is going to make him into a Na’vi when the final cut is released. His joke, not mine. The Green Lantern suit you will see in the final film will be almost entirely created using computers.

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  • Streep elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters

    Any Meryl Streep fans still sulking over over her twelfth consecutive Oscar loss last month should dry their eyes right about now. This morning brings the news that the actress has just been honored by a rather tonier Academy, as the American Academy of Arts and Letters has appointed Streep to their ranks.

    Streep joins former honorees like Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen in the American Honorary class of membership, reserved for individuals whose work fall outside the institution’s traditional remit of music, art and literature. She is, however, the first person to be named solely for her achievements in acting.

    If that’s not better than a little gold statue, I don’t know what is.

    A quick glance through the list of the Academy’s living members (ranging from Philip Glass to Frank Gehry, Toni Morrison to Stephen Sondheim, Sam Shepard to Philip Roth) drives home the stunning scale of this honor.

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  • New production photos further reveal Nolan’s ‘Inception’ as a design spectacle

    Production designer Guy Dyas has always associated himself with films that boast elaborate art direction.  Even during his early years as a concept artist, the films were design-heavy.  “Men in Black,” “Wild Wild West” and “Galaxy Quest” are examples.  Later: Tim Burton’s “Planet of the Apes” and elements of the Wachowski brothers’ “The Matrix Reloaded” benefited from his imagination.

    Dyas has only completed six films at the head of the art department, but they all carry a stamp of scale in their design — most notably in “Superman Returns” — that seem to indicate a first Oscar nomination is likely on the horizon.  (He has four guild nods, mind you.)  And as I slowly (keyword) begin to saddle up to the new season’s offerings across various categories, I must say, I am and have been intrigued with the design opportunity presented in Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.”

    Of course, most are looking forward to a mind-bending story with equally outrageous visual effects, but if we know anything about Nolan, it is that he is a monk when it comes to preserving practical filmmaking wizardry as much as possible.  So while “Inception” is sure to showcase innovative CGI, I imagine its set designs will be just as awe-inspiring — certainly if a recently released quartet of production stills and behind-the-scenes shots are any indication.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Date’ and ‘Titans’ clash

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Every studio but Fox is reporting that “Clash of the Titans” won the box office this weekend, but Rupert Murdoch and co. insist it was, in fact, “Date Night.” Final results won’t be unveiled until tomorrow, but for now, we have to take their word for it. And if Rupert Murdoch’s word isn’t valuable, I don’t know what is.

    So, “Date Night” is number one with $27.1 million smackers. As I mentioned on Friday, that’s below the $29.9 million of “Mean Girls,” but better than the $18.4 million debut of “Baby Mama,” both of which also opened in April. Lesson here is that Lindsay Lohan circa 2004 or Steve Carell > Amy Poehler and Dax Shepherd. I don’t see how Fox can not be disappointed with this figure. There was no other new films opening, “Clash of the Titans” was always going to capsize, and “Obsessed” opened with $29.2 million last April. Raise your hand if you even remember “Obsessed?”

    Reviewers weren’t great but it’s word of mouth that counts here and I’m not sure that was so great either. As an action/comedy hybrid, it doesn’t help that next week sees the release of an action film and a comedy so it could be a quick exit to DVD for “Date Night,” where couples won’t actually need to make one to see it.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Save the ‘Date’

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    The one and only new studio release this weekend is “Date Night” from Fox. The film stars Steve Carell and Tina Fey, who both have legions of fans from their Thursday night NBC television shows, and a number of decent box office hits under their belt as well. Still, it’s always a bit of a risk asking audiences to pay $10 for a pairing that they more or less see every week at home for free. Granted, here they are together, but there needs to be a little more to it. The concept here is standard paper-thin studio comedy fare and I’m a little surprised at the way this has been marketed.

    Action/comedies/romances can really strike a chord with audiences of all ages, as seen with Fox’s own “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” but the studio seems to be content purely selling this as a comedy. The posters are a snooze and the trailers only half-heartedly advertise the amazing supporting cast, which includes Mark Wahlberg, James Franco and Mila Kunis.

    But again, the posters only want you to know that Steve Carell and Tina Fey are in a movie together and you should see it. I can’t help but see missed opportunity all over this thing and a $30 million debut is about the best it can hope for. $25 million might be more like the final result though, which wouldn’t even match the $29.9 million April 2004 debut of “Mean Girls.” Incidentally, if you want to see a date movie but think Shawn Levy is an artistic void, check out “Luke and Brie Are on a First Date,” now streaming for free on Babelgum. And that’s the last plug I’ll ever do, I swear.

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