In Contention

Blog

  • Spielberg to make first-ever Comic-Con appearance

    I’m still wishy-washy on Comic-Con this year. I’ll be there for this and that, but I’m not that jazzed about extensive coverage. But this nugget is worth noting. Via the LA Times’ Hero Complex:

    The Oscar-winning director who ushered in the blockbuster film era with “Jaws” and brought sci-fi to the masses with movies such as “E.T: the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Minority Report,” will make his first appearance at Comic-Con International when he takes the stage in Hall H July 22.

    The 64-year-old filmmaker will receive an Inkpot Award, which has been presented since 1974 to signature figures in comics and genre entertainment, among them Ray Bradbury, Jack Kirby, Hayao Miyazaki and R. Crumb.

    Naturally, he’ll also be screening footage from “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.”

    Coppola and Spielberg at Comic-Con. Paramount should have cooked something up for “Hugo” and got Scorsese in on the action, too.

    [Photo: Forbes]

  • ‘Contagion’ trailer

    Warner Bros. showed Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” to a handful of journalists a few weeks ago. I wasn’t on the cool-kids list for that, but I hear the film is a cross between “Traffic” and the first half of “The Stand,” or whatever happened before “The Road,” or some such. That’s basically the vibe we get from the trailer, which just landed at Apple. The film is set for a September 9 release and looks to be a commercial play more than anything else, but personally, I can’t get Wolfgang Peterson’s “Outbreak” out of my head every time I think of it. Anyway, check out the trailer by clicking on the image below, or watch an embed after the jump.

    (more…)

  • Simply brilliant

    (Courtesy: Daily Blam via /Film)

  • Twigs off ‘The Tree of Life’

    After two internet-free weeks in the Italian countryside, I’m gradually sifting through recent film news and coming to the conclusion that I chose as good a fortnight as any to drop out of the world. (File “Cars 2” and “Transformers Trois” under Things That Can Wait; ditto the Oscar-motivated fang-sharpening of rival Glenn Close and Meryl Streep camps.)

    The fact that I returned home days after “The Tree of Life” finally hit UK theaters, prompting a fresh gust of ooh-ing, aah-ing and arguing, only enhanced my sense that Terrence Malick’s arthouse blockbuster is the only true movie event of the summer thus far, so forgive me for making it the subject of yet another post, but I thought it was worth drawing attention to two unrelated snippets on the film.

    Particularly welcome is this LA Times piece that delves into the film’s spectacular soundtrack — where Alexandre Desplat’s typically intelligent original contributions nonetheless take a back seat to the dense collage of interpolations of existing classical music that is customary for a Malick film.

    (more…)

  • ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ trailer

    I dug Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” enough two years back. I thought it had the best production design of that year and a brilliant score to boot. Both were recognized at the Oscars. Judging by the trailer for “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” just-premiered at Apple, the design is richly detailed once again. I’m left a bit cold overall, mainly because I have literally no idea what’s going on (beyond the fact that Jared Harris looks predictably awesome as Moriarty). Not that I need the plot rolled out in full or something, but anyway, check out the trailer by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘50/50’ poster

    One comedy that could light up the awards circuit later this year is Jonathan Levine’s “50/50.” I noted some potential awards prospects when the trailer hit two months ago (and I think we can add Anna Kendrick to the list of possibilities, too). Today, courtesy of /Film, we get a look at the poster for the film. Check it out in full after the jump.

    (more…)

  • My only friend, the end

    I’ll make this brief.

    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” hits this weekend. It will be massive. The devoted will turn out and love it. The sense of grand closure will settle for many. But I’ll just have to cop here at the beginning to the fact that I cannot connect the dots on this series and likely never will.

    I suppose I’ll just focus on what I did enjoy about the latest film, which I saw last night, rather than wallow in the overall displeasure. Who wants to be a spoilsport? A party-pooper? A wet blanket? A kill-joy? A fuddy-duddy?

    Mercifully, the film clocks in at just over two hours, rather than blowing right on past the two-and-a-half-hour mark like most of the other films in the franchise. And since it’s largely built around action sequences and an overall vibe of suspense, it moved along nicely. I liked that.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ teaser poster

    Nailed it. This is a fantastic image. It kind of recalls the poster for “Batman Begins” with the Caped Crusader dropping from above, it carries in the urban nature of “The Dark Knight” and gives the overall vibe that all hell is gonna break loose. Check out the full teaser poster for “The Dark Knight Rises” after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’ international trailer

    Last week’s Oscar Talk podcast dug into the possibilities of “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” in the Best Animated Feature Film category, while last Monday’s Off the Carpet column spent plenty of time mulling over 2011 as the year of Steve Spielberg. Today, a full international trailer for the film has been released via Yahoo! Movies. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

    (more…)

  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Horrible,’ ‘Zookeeper’ can’t stop ‘Transformers’

    Not much to say. “Super 8” had another good drop, while Woody Allen fell out of the top 10, but continues to chase himself (he’ll be on the heels of “Hannah and Her Sisters” next week). And finally something takes “The Hangover: Part II” off the top of the domestic chart this year.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Oprah tops AMPAS wish list for Oscarcast host(ess)?

    UPDATE (6:40pm): Naturally, the Academy denies all this. Why would they confirm even if it was true? Why kill the suspense now? Anyway…

    EARLIER: Sasha Stone Twirected (get it? Tweet + directed?) me to a Chicago Sun-Times story that says Oprah Winfrey, fresh off her final daytime talk show stint, could be at the top of the Academy’s list of proposed hosts for the 84th annual Academy Awards. And, naturally, it would be a mutually beneficial kind of thing. Writes Bill Zwecker:

    If the widely seen gig is accompanied by a behind-the-scenes special and a post-Oscars show airing only on the Oprah Winfrey Network, it would give the struggling cable channel some added exposure. But I’m hearing that is a very separate potential deal.

    Furthermore, Zwecker says the feeling is that Winfrey would greatly expand the audience potential for the show, a continuous issue of debate and consideration behind the scenes.

    (more…)

  • ‘Dark Knight Rises’ trailer attached to final ‘Harry Potter’

    Nothing much going on today, so why not toss up a good ole’ fashioned SEO-baiting post? Those of you planning to take in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” next weekend (which I imagine is most of you), you’ll be delighted to know that, according to Superhero Hype, Warner Bros. will attach the first teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” to prints of the film. Enjoy.

    Also hitting next weekend, the story says, will be the teaser poster. I don’t remember there being any teaser posters for “Batman Begins” (unless I’m mistaken), but “The Dark Knight” had that face-paint-on-a-brick-wall thing and the frosted glass Joker image. This could be where they tease the inclusion of Catwoman (and maybe a catch phrase a la “Why So Serious?”). Guessing.

    I had an exchange with a friend recently regarding the anticipation for this film. He argued that it’s at a higher fever pitch than any film since “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” but I don’t feel that way. Sure, it’s huge amongst the geek set (given the blurred footage of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that floated around two weeks ago). But I still think “Avatar” was a bigger deal. The media (not just online choir-preaching) was pushing the issue on that one pretty hard.

    (more…)

  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 57 — SPECIAL EDITION! — Oscar’s rule change, prospects at the mid-way point, Spielberg hitting the zeitgeist, lead actress race already looking contentious

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk.

    In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

    A month and a half since the last off-season podcast, we take the temperature one more time this summer, right at the year’s mid-way point. There have been some Academy rule changes and some news and notes in the interim, so let’s see what’s on the docket today…

    (more…)

  • Happy trails (1981 – 2011)

  • Taking questions for Oscar Talk

    Anne and I will be recording Oscar Talk this evening for publication tomorrow. I failed to solicit queries last time for our post-Cannes installment, though I imagine we covered whatever you were curious about. But let’s see if there are any burning questions here at the mid-way point of the year. Ask as many as you want. I suppose it’s time to get this conversation going.

  • ‘The Iron Lady’ international teaser trailer

    The Weinstein Company has a handful of possibilities in this year’s Oscar season. As usual, we can expect the boys to sit back and wait for a contender to survive Darwin-style before doubling down, but one element of “The Iron Lady” everyone expects to have no trouble finding a nomination is Meryl Streep’s performance as Margaret Thatcher. The recent teaser trailer (launched at The Guardian) builds on the expectation that it’s a transformative turn. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump. (And note to The Guardian: You’re a giant corporation. Get an embed code and/or find a more handsome way to publish these exclusive trailers you get. Seriously)

    (more…)

  • Roadside/Liddell pick up ‘Albert Nobbs’ for Fall release

    It figures the day after I offer up my first set of Oscar predictions, a film I have an eye on as a potential awards vehicle finds distribution.

    Roadside Attractions and Liddell Entertainment have picked up Rodrigo García’s “Albert Nobbs” for a fall release, and with it, you can bet a campaign for actress Glenn Close will be wind in the sails. On paper, the role seems to be the sort that could get Close that elusive first statue (much to the chagrin of Meryl Streep fans the world over, I imagine), but let’s see if the film has the goods, first.

    It’s interesting to note that Close originally portrayed the character — a woman who poses as a male butler in a Dublin hotel in the 1860s — 30 years ago on Broadway in a stage adaptation of George Moore’s short story “The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs.” She won an Obie for her performance and this is a film project she’s been developing for a decade. She even co-wrote the screenplay and served as producer. Maybe an Oscar is next.

    (more…)

  • OFF THE CARPET: The year of The Beard?

    It felt really good to duck out of the looking-ahead business after last year’s fairly contentious (both amongst the films and their supporters) Oscar season. I didn’t saddle up to the upcoming season until a few weeks ago, hammering out preparations for this column, and even this, most would tell you, is too early.

    But at the start of July, in the midst of an interesting (critically speaking) summer movie season, and with half the year behind us, it seems a decent time to take stock of 2011’s Oscar business. And Disney may have gotten the conversation going just in time with last week’s debut of the trailer for Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse.”

    With the influx of film awards coverage this last decade, Oscar strategists have switched gears in how they campaign for the gold. With a cycle that chews and chews and chews on whatever is available to digest, being the early frontrunner has become the kiss of death. Films like “The Aviator,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Dreamgirls,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Up in the Air” failed to reach the winner’s circle in recent years after being hailed as tough cookies early on. Some of them put up better fights than others, some of them didn’t even manage to rise up to a nomination, but all of them looked formidable at one point or another before having their legs knocked out from underneath them.

    (more…)