In Contention

Blog

  • U2 enters the race for Best Original Song with ‘Winter’ from Jim Sheridan’s ‘Brothers’

    U2Last week when canvassing the various FYC sites that are hitting the web as of late, I misspoke (er, mistyped) when I disregarded the eligibility of a certain original song contender in this year’s race.  Allow me to explain.

    U2’s “Winter” did indeed show up on Anton Corbijn’s “Linear,” a short film that accompanied the album “No Line on the Horizon” (which the band is touring vigorously across the US right now).  But I’m told the song was, in fact, written specifically for Jim Sheridan’s “Brothers” and that it will indeed be eligible for consideration in the Best Original Song category.

    The film has been completed for quite some time, mind you.  It took a while for it to secure distribution (though I have no idea why — it’s a fine film).  MGM picked it up maybe a year ago, and over the summer, Lionsgate bought the film in a three-picture distribution deal.  So just because “No Line on the Horizon” has been in stores for a number of months doesn’t mean “Winter” (which isn’t an official track inclusion on the album, by the way) wasn’t conceived far in advance of its release.

    (more…)

  • Hal Holbrook’s awards season play, take two

    Hal Holbrook in That Evening SunOver the weekend, “That Evening Sun” star Hal Holbrook took the Excellence in Acting award at the Starz Denver Film Festival over the weekend.  When the press release landed in my inbox, it reminded me that, while I’ve been a pretty strong proponent of Patterson Hood’s original song from the film, I haven’t written about Holbrook’s performance all that much.

    It’s a beautiful piece of work.  Holbrook adds every ounce of texture, nuance, authenticity and depth that Clint Eastwood was woefully lacking in the similarly themed “Gran Torino” last year, but it’s unfair to start with a comparison, I guess.  Holbrook nails ornery to a T, and he seems to be able to work the natural rhythms of southern conversation better than anyone other than maybe Robert Duvall.

    Susan King recently talked to the actor, who said working on Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” gave him confidence.  And not to be SO 2007, but he offers some high praise for the actor/director in the piece.

    (more…)

  • ‘New Moon’ director says he might hang it up

    Chris WeitzGeez, are the “Twilight” films really so bad that poor Chris Weitz would call it quits?

    Of course I’m being facetious.  The real reason Weitz is giving for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” being his penultimate film, according to MovieMaker Magazine, is the heavy studio influence on “The Golden Compass,” a film the director says he wanted to be his masterpiece, during post-production.

    (P.S.: I loved that movie, Chris.)

    Anyway, MovieMaker has even sent out a “look what we have!” press release, turning idle conversation into cut-and-dry fact.  At the end of the day, maybe Weitz will keep chugging along.  Then again, it’s difficult to argue with what Weitz actually says about his next project, I guess.

    (more…)

  • Someone who actually gets this year’s lead actress field

    Charlize Theron in The Burning PlainLeave it to a woman to understand the virtues of leading ladies on screen this year.

    Yesterday we linked to Steven Zeitchik’s join-the-misguided-masses piece on the “thin” Best Actress race.  I just got into this debate Monday night with another proponent of the theory (who has been similarly rebuffed here in the past).

    The point I keep coming to is that, yeah, if everything is seen through the prism of what makes an Oscar contender (which is, frankly, such a manipulative pursuit it shouldn’t be the gauge), then yeah, maybe a case can be made for a “weak” year for lead actresses.  But that does not necessarily translate to a dearth of quality work that isn’t destined to be recognized during the awards season.

    Of course I’ve made this point emphatically and in black and white before.  But it’s oh so nice to read Women & Hollywood’s Melissa Silverstein catching the point as well.

    (more…)

  • French ‘Avatar’ poster, footage leaks

    “Avatar” news and notes really seem to be picking up lately.  Before long the December 10 London premiere will be here (I don’t know if a press screening will be held the same day here in the states or beforehand or what).  Today, thanks to Coming Soon, we get a look at the French poster for the film:

    Avatar

    Meanwhile, courtesy of Market Saw (via Ain’t It Cool), a four minute sequence from the film has made its way online. It was apparently captured through XBOX 360 playback so the assumption is it may be available through XBOX Live overseas or something. So I don’t feel too conflicted about posting it.

    It’s part of the same footage that was shown at Comic-Con and obviously isnt an ideal way to view it, but if you’re interested, check it out after the jump.

    (more…)

  • Behind the scenes of ‘The Blind Side’

    (Courtesy: MakingOf)

  • 11/18 Oscarweb Round-up

    Philip Seymour Hoffman in Pirate Radio• The swashbuckling spirit behind “Pirate Radio.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Anne Thompson wants to know where the screeners of “The Hurt Locker” are.  Probably waiting on “New Moon” box office receipts. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • The gall: Why Roger Corman doesn’t deserve an Oscar.  Apparently there’s a “pro” side on the way. [Cinematical]

    (more…)

  • Jennifer Hudson boards Winnie Mandela biopic

    Jennifer Hudson at the 2006 Academy AwardsThe current vogue for South African-focused cinema continues apace. With Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman applying A-list Hollywood polish to the figure of former president Nelson Mandela, Jennifer Hudson is now set to do the same for his ex-wife.

    Rumors about this have been circling for some time, but yesterday Variety confirmed that Hudson has signed on for “Winnie,” a full-scale biopic of the controversial politician, most notorious for her alleged (ahem) involvement in the murder of a 14 year-old activist in 1989.

    South African director Darrell James Roodt (an Oscar nominee for 2004’s “Yesterday”) is at the helm. He also co-wrote the screenplay, based on Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob’s 2003 biography “Winnie Mandela: A Life.” (Emma Gilbey’s superb “The Lady” would be a better starting point, in my opinion.)

    (more…)

  • Weinsteins promote Mélanie Laurent to lead

    Melanie Laurent in Inglourious BasterdsSome of you have already mentioned this in another thread, but The Weinstein Company, in their apparent wisdom, have decided to campaign “Inglourious Basterds” star Mélanie Laurent for Best Actress.

    Far be it from me to question the judgment of one of the greatest strategists in Oscar history, but … what?

    Laurent was, admittedly, a very dark horse in the supporting category, but as far as I can see, promoting her to lead reduces her nomination chances to nil — unless voters take the category decision into their own hands, as they did with Kate Winslet this year.

    Perhaps Weinstein is simply buying into the popular myth that Best Actress is a weakly contested category this year. But with only one slot seemingly up for grabs, and her compatriot (and fellow Weinstein Company property) Marion Cotillard muscling in on the race, the odds are firmly stacked against Laurent getting it.

    (more…)

  • Long day

    Jeff Bridges at the Four Seasons.  Woody Harrelson at the London.  Jim Sheridan’s latest.  Slow on content.  Back in force tomorrow.  Now, for no reason whatsoever:

  • Copycat alert: Globes switch to five animated nominees

    UpAs with the PGA’s switch to 10 Best Picture nominees, the ‘Simon Says’ power of the Academy continues to prove irresistible. Shortly after definite confirmation that the Oscars will be expanding the Best Animated Feature category from three nominees to five, comes news that the Golden Globes are following suit:

    Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association voted last week to expand this year’s number of nominations for Best Animated Feature to five.

    The amended rule now reads: Eligible films must be feature-length (70 minutes or longer) with no more than 25% live action. If less than eight animated films qualify, the award will not be given, in which case the films would be eligible for Best Picture. If less than twelve animated films qualify, the category will be limited to three nominations per year.

    (more…)

  • ‘Star Trek’ under the stars

    Griffith ObservatoryThe swank, spare-no-expense shin-dig last night at the historic Griffith Observatory was officially a DVD release party for one of the summer’s biggest critical and fiscal hits.  But with nearly the entire Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s membership on hand, the general vibe of awards season in the air and the obvious implications of a fall DVD release for an early-year hopeful, it’s fair to say it was ostensibly a call to Oscar arms for a film that has a pretty good shot at one of this year’s 10 Best Picture slots.

    Most of the “Star Trek” cast was on hand — Zachary Quinto, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, John Cho, Clifton Collins Jr. — but Leonard Nimoy and Walter Koenig were the ones causing the biggest stir, as of course they would.  A specialty drink menu (Spock’s Mind Meld Mojito, Red Matter, Romulan Ale), little red matter balls in giant flower vases, telescopes trained on Jupiter, bright in the Southwest sky (including one of the big ones in the Observatory), the Observatory itself lit up by projected galactic imagery, the whole thing had a nifty, novel, interstellar vibe.

    And it might pay off.  After all, it only takes a little wining and dining to get the HFPA on your side, right?  But seriously speaking, there are a couple of Best Picture slots that, to my mind, are up for grabs.  Should the big anticipated films miss with the awards constituencies, then it’s just as well for a film like “Star Trek,” still one of the year’s best films.

    (more…)

  • Alexandre Desplat: Hollywood’s most prolific composer

    A quick glance at Alexandre Desplat’s 2009 resume reveals a whopping seven titles.  That’s pretty prolific for someone who offers up quality work each and every time out, rather than coasting on simplicity like a few other hard-working film music composers out there.  This weekend alone there are two films bearing Desplat’s musical signature — “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — and he already has a few lingering entries on screen in “Julie & Julia” and “Coco Before Chanel.”

    Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” lands on US screens in February, though it looks to figure in this year’s foreign film Oscar race, while perhaps the most anticipated film of Desplat’s upcoming projects is Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life.” Desplat recently addressed an audience at the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival about working with Malick on the film:

    Meanwhile, as part of Variety’s Eye on the Oscars coverage (at a spiffy, newly designed Award Central page), Jon Burlingame talks with Desplat about the volume of work he’s been cranking out as of late.

    (more…)

  • Kickoff for The Auteurs World Cup

    TheAuteurs.comI must say, The Auteurs is rapidly becoming one of my favorite film-related sites out there. I can take or leave the social-networking side of it, but it’s an increasingly useful (and beautifully designed) source of world cinema and critical discussion, not least in the must-read Auteurs Daily blog.

    Recently, they also launched a fun novelty exercise, The Auteurs World Cup. Structured like the football tournament for which it is named, it’s a cinematic knockdown contest between the world’s assorted filmmaking nations. Each represented by three film classics selected by a team captain, countries go head-to-head in a series of match-ups — the results determined by the votes of Auteurs users.

    (more…)

  • 11/17 Oscarweb Round-up

    Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean• “Avatar” to hold its world premiere in Leicester Square, London, December 10. [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

    • Nathaniel Rogers isn’t phased by his signed non-disclosure agreement, breathlessly (but briefly) enthuses about “Nine.” [The Film Experience]

    • Johnny Depp becomes Hollywood’s highest paid actor with a £21 million ($42 million) salary for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.” [Daily Telegraph]

    (more…)

  • ‘Crazy Heart’ trailer

    An absolutely beautiful collection of images and moments from the film. Pitch-perfect, really. And featuring the original track “The Weary Kind,” by the way:

    Check it out in HD at Apple.

  • Kate Hudson sings in new ‘Nine ‘trailer

    The song “Cinema Italiano,” by the way, is one of the film’s original compositions vying for Oscar glory. Based on this snippet, I think some melody wouldn’t have gone amiss. But that’s me.

  • And the lists just keep on coming

    Russell Crowe in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldBetween now and December 31, we’re probably going to read more “best ____ of the 2000s” lists than we know what to do with. But we like lists, don’t we? And this only happens once every 10 years. Let’s not get blasé already.

    So with the floodgates already open on “films of the decade” talk, there’s plenty more to fuel the discussion. Paste Magazine has a nicely balanced Top 50 that puts “City of God” in pole position, and wins extra cinephile points for putting Claire Denis alongside Peter Jackson in the top 10.

    Meanwhile, The Times supplements their own collective with a (impossibly formatted) selection of Top Tens from assorted British industry figures, including Julian Fellowes and Richard Eyre. “An Education” scribe Nick Hornby wins top marks from me for a list that includes “Lantana,” “The Beat That My Heart Skipped” and “I’m Not There.”

    But for my money, no list I’ve seen so far is as rich and well thought-out as Telegraph critic Tim Robey’s personal Top 100 — a corrective of sorts to the “films that defined the decade” list he compiled with his Telegraph colleagues, which took some flak on the web, these pages included.

    (more…)