In Contention

Blog

  • Greece and Poland first to enter foreign Oscar race

    The Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Film — or, to use its formal title, Most Inoffensively Socially Conscious Non-English-Language Feature To Pass Through The Academy’s Narrow Qualifying Hoops Whilst Remaining Sufficiently Low-Profile For Voters To Feel Like They Discovered It For Themselves — is truly the gift that gives all year round.

    Scarcely have the previous year’s nominees finally trickled out to US theaters, to a chorus of polite indifference, than countries begin formally submitting their chosen contenders for the next year’s award — and the baseless speculation and generally befuddled head-scratching begins anew. In the past few weeks, Greece and Poland have become the first countries to enter the race ahead of the Academy’s October 1 deadline — and while such early birds are rarely heard from again in the game, these two films (both from female directors, and one of which I’ve seen) are rather higher on the radar.

    Poland, in particular, appears to have intensively focus-grouped the Academy’s foreign-language branch and subsequently created their Oscar entry in a purpose-built lab: Agnieszka Holland’s “In Darkness” is a true-life Holocaust drama about a Leopold Socha, a reformed petty criminal who heroically helped numerous Jewish refugees hide in the sewers of Nazi-occupied Lvov.

    (more…)

  • COMIC-CON: ‘The Avengers’ teaser poster

    If you’re a diligent get-spoiled-ASAP type, you’ve probably already seen the teaser trailer for “The Avengers” (which plays as a button on the end of “Captain America: The First Avengers”). Marvel may not have a presence here in San Diego this year, but of course they’ll take advantage of the assembled (no pun intended) by dropping a little material from the film. So, the teaser poster will do. Check out the full image after the jump.

    (more…)

  • Another year, another Con…

    …and a thinner Con, at that.

    There was very little on the convention schedule that grabbed my attention when it was released last week. I’ll be on hand for the Fox panel tomorrow, hoping to get some good vibes from Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus.” I’ll be there for Paramount and Steven Spielberg on Friday when we all get a glimpse of “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.” I’ll definitely be on hand for Francis Ford Coppola’s first appearance here on Saturday when he brings a slice of “Twixt,” and, of course, I’ll saddle up to the Entertainment Weekly “Visionaries” panel, this year featuring Jon Favreau and Guillermo Del Toro.

    Speaking of Del Toro, I’m intrigued by “Pacific Rim” enough to poke into the Legendary Pictures panel (which won’t be in Hall H, interestingly enough). I also feel the need to check out the “Beavis and Butt-Head” event (as the terrible twosome will be back on MTV later this year and I am, I must confess, a die-hard). Maybe I’ll make it to Relativity’s “Immortals” event, maybe I’ll head to the Hilton Bayfront tomorrow morning for a focus on makeup artist Rick Baker, but I’ve literally just given you my role call of interests this year, easily half the amount of events on my list in years past.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ trailer

    One more treat before I head down the coast: the trailer for Marc Webb’s “The Amazing Spider-Man.” I’d like to be excited for this, but even with the tonal shift to the incredibly sincere, the whole enterprise just feels so painfully redundant. That’s what happens when you leach on to a proven property so you don’t lose the rights, I guess. I do dig the POV stuff at the end, though. Sony’s fourth stab at the character hits next summer. The panel is Friday (I’ll miss it — no big loss). So I imagine you’ll all be hearing more about this one in the coming days. Check out the full trailer via Yahoo! Movies after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘Captain America’ keeps the summer sizzling

    So, “Captain America: The First Avenger” wraps up the summer’s superhero slate this week. Yes, we have “Cowboys & Aliens” on the way to keep the general comic book flow going, but Marvel’s other bookend to the summer hits Friday, and, well, I thought it was just (yankee doodle) dandy.

    “Robust” is the word that kept coming to mind while watching the film. You get a lot of bang for your buck here, with action set pieces galore, beefy production values (which might as well include Chris Evans’s physique) and a generous splash of pulp 40s fun to keep it unique throughout.

    I always thought Joe Johnston was the most interesting choice of Marvel’s stable of directors leading up to “The Avengers” next summer. He’s kept an even genre keel all of his career and “The Rocketeer” (20 years old and getting the anniversary treatment soon) is probably the nostalgia hook that really cinched it as a nice call.

    (more…)

  • Listen to Alan Menken’s ‘Star Spangled Man’ from ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’

    When Alan Menken was tapped last year to provide an original song for Joe Johnston’s “Captain America: The First Avenger,” I had no idea how that made any sense. Not that Menken isn’t able to branch out of his typical milieu, but it just didn’t really compute for this material.

    When I finally saw the film (more when the embargo lifts tomorrow), it all clicked perfectly. “Star Spangled Man” is a rah-rah U.S.O. tune akin to something like “Over There” or what have you, and it’s right up Menken’s alley. So, as it turned out, they wanted him for what he’s best at: song and dance numbers.

    The song — which could earn Menken a record-tying 20th Oscar nomination if the Academy’s music branch thinks it’s deserving — plays over a montage in the film and, given that, will be a stand-out exhibition when they screen the eligible tracks in the context of the various films at year’s end. So, watch out.

    (more…)

  • ‘First Class’ Friday

    Which will you choose? Via press release:

    LOS ANGELES (July 19, 2011) – Before they were superheroes, the fate of humanity depended on an extraordinary group of youngsters who went on to become X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. Based on the international bestselling Marvel Comics franchise, this box office hit bursts onto Blu-ray and DVD Friday, September 9 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. For the first time ever, “X-Men” fans will have the power to choose a side between Professor X and Magneto with two versions of premium collectible Blu-ray packaging. Also exclusively on Blu-ray, fans receive access to over two hours of special interactive features PLUS ten Marvel “X-Men” Digital Comics including a never-before-seen “X-Men: First Class” backstory— redeemable through each Blu-ray’s unique packaging code…

    The first 1,000 fans to pre-order their Blu-ray or DVD copy of X-MEN: FIRST CLASS during San Diego Comic-Con (July 21 – 24) will receive a free limited edition T-shirt, showing their support for either “Team Charles” or “Team Erik.” Fans can pre-order their copy in person at the Fox booth #4313 or online at www.FoxConnect.com. During this time, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS will be available on Blu-ray and DVD at the exclusive price of $25.00 for Blu-ray and $18.00 for DVD.

    More on specs after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ poster

    Yes, another poster — but it’s a good one, and for a film many of us are awaiting rather eagerly, so hopefully you’ll let it slide. The teaser trailer for Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John le Carré’s classic spy novel (previously, and very successfully, filmed for television with Alec Guinness in 1979) debuted to a warm response a few weeks ago, and this tastefully sober one-sheet, playing up the more cerebral qualities of the material,  further supports expectations of a classy package. (Spot the release date, by the way.) Also nice to see Gary Oldman given lone above-the-title billing, despite the presence of supporting names that might currently be more marketable. Full poster, courtesy of Empire, after the cut.

    (more…)

  • Surrounded

    I would love to have attended last week’s Dolby seminar “Surrounded: 7.1 Cinema and Beyond.” I’ve been eager to read more about it, but unfortunately it seems the press that did attend haven’t bothered covering it in any real fashion (unless I’m missing something). Leave it to the folks at SoundWorks Collection to cut out the middle man and give us a direct hook-up.

    As more and more movies begin to use 7.1 mixing, the conversation is worth amping up (no pun intended). This year’s “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is the sterling recent example of the dynamic possibilities at hand. While everyone is obsessed with 3D and candy for the eyes, there is a lot of candy for the ears with stuff like this.

    I haven’t been able to set aside an hour to watch the panel myself yet, but I will as soon as I can. For now, I’ll offer it up for you here. Again, thanks to the SoundWorks Collection for great legwork, as usual. Check it out for yourself after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘Tyrannosaur’ poster

    I’ve just come from a screening of “Tyrannosaur,” Paddy Considine’s feature directing debut that made something of a splash at Sundance in January, winning awards for Considine and stars Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan. I’ll discuss the film in more detail soon, but I’m happy to report that the early festival hype is thoroughly justified — it’s a startlingly severe but compassionate character study broken open by a tremendous pair of lead performances that merit major awards consideration. Strand Releasing have the US rights, though a release date hasn’t been confirmed; for now, however, the film’s cryptic UK one-sheet ranks as one of 2011’s finest. (No, it’s not about dinosaurs.) Check out the full poster after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ teaser trailer

    ZOMG! Okay, here it is, in official form. I have to fess up and admit I watched the sketchy bootleg last week. But it’s nice to finally get a clear gander, and really, it’s nicely achieved, I think, given that there likely wasn’t a lot of footage to pull from and this raises the stakes for the series with just a brief exchange. I have no idea what is up with that chant, though. Anyway, check out the teaser trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises,” via the film’s Facebook page, by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

    (more…)

  • The hidden voice of ‘Blue Valentine’

    Fans of “Blue Valentine” — and I know there are many of us around these parts — should be tickled by this little discovery: the previously unidentified singer of “You and Me,” the obscure 1970 soul cut picked out by star Ryan Gosling for a key scene in the film, has been named as Nannie Sharpe, a then 22 year-old church choir member who recorded the demo with her brothers in a single take.

    The song was never released, Sharpe was never signed and she went on to work as a mail sorter for 30 years — so no one is more surprised than her that her 40 year-old recording surfaced on a cassette-tape compilation, happened to catch the collective ear of the “Blue Valentine” team and is now garnering a kind of cult status. It’s a lovely story which you can read in detail at The Other Paper (via The Guardian), and of course, a good excuse to revisit the gorgeous, woozily yearning song:

  • Nolan’s Batman trilogy as a single poster

    Just had to pass this along. Kind of dig it. Courtesy David Chen:

  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Harry Potter’ and the Record-Breaking Hit

    We all saw this coming. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the culmination of 10 years of filmmaking that racked up tons of dollars along the way, won the box office this weekend. Things started with the highest opening day gross of all time ($92 million, blasting away the record previously held by “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” by $20 million), before the film zipped past “The Dark Knight”‘s opening weekend record and settled at a whopping $168.5 million for the weekend. In other news, at a more modest $41.7 million, “Midnight in Paris” popped back into the top 10 and became Woody Allen’s highest grossing film to date, while “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is now the year’s first $300 million grosser. It’s now a battle between the boy wizard and the robots for the year’s domestic crown. It just depends on how front-loaded the former is. We’ll keep an eye on it throughout the rest of the summer.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Emmy goes to the movies

    We don’t normally pay much attention to the Emmy Awards, this being a site primarily devoted to the bigger screen. But when the recently unveiled nomination list contains such film heavyweights as Todd Haynes, Olivier Assayas and (twice) Martin Scorsese, it’d be remiss not to mention it — and the fact that the line between cinema and television is becoming an increasingly pliable one.

    Indeed, there’s still disagreement over which category one of yesterday’s nominees falls into. Assayas’ five-hour stunner “Carlos” may have been produced for French television, but it’s a bit difficult to define a vast work from one of world cinema’s leading auteurs, one that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was theatrically released on the arthouse circuit, as merely a TV miniseries.

    Most haven’t — it won a slew of film critics’ awards last year (and indeed made my 2010 Top 10) before more finicky eligibility rules kept it out of the Oscar race (I know, I know, as if) and in the TV races at the Globe and SAG Awards.

    (more…)

  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’

    I’ve already given my take on this weekend’s big release, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” People have been lining up for hours, days, whatever, to see this closing installment, so it’s time to offer a place for you to have your say on the film. Let us know when you get around to it. And keep an eye on that box office.

  • ‘Hugo’ trailer

    Annnnddd…another trailer. This one for the hotly anticipated “Hugo,” from Martin Scorsese. And a film that really should have had some sort of presence at Comic-Con, I think, especially with folks like Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg making the trip. It just would’ve been a treat. In any case, some have awards doubts on this one due to the children’s movie aspect, but I’m not sure that’s real cause to doubt just yet. One thing we can certainly tell by the trailer, which just hit Apple, is that the design elements are off the chain. I can’t wait to see this one in 3D, and I don’t say that often (if ever). Check out the trailer by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘John Carter’ teaser trailer

    Tons of trailers in the lead-up to Comic-Con this week. Today, it’s Andrew Stanton’s live-action debut, “John Carter” (which won’t have a presence at Comic-Con because Disney wants to be competitive with its D23 event). I’m not too sure about this one, and I think the reasoning for diminishing the brand appeal by shortening the title from “John Carter of Mars” is flimsy at best. But this will certainly be unique against the fray next year. Check out the new teaser trailer, via Apple, by clicking the image below, or watch an embed after the jump.

    (more…)