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  • Cameron to be honored by Visual Effects Society

    AvatarHoly crap, how many lifetime achievement awards are there in Hollywood? More than there are people, apparently, since they’re now having to share recipients.

    Anyway, mere hours after the announcement that James Cameron is to receive the Lucky Brand™ Modern Master Award at the Santa Barbara fest (it’s the ™ that makes it special, in my opinion) comes the news that Cameron will also receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Visual Effects Society at their annual awards shindig on February 28. Previous recipients include George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

    Fair enough, given all Cameron has done to advance the effects artform over the last quarter-century. But if “Avatar” storms the awards anyway, might it not seem like overkill? (I’m standing by “District 9” for the Oscar, mind.) More here.

  • Megan Fox: “I don’t want to live that character.”

    Megan FoxAs someone who is neither a fan nor a detractor of Megan Fox, Lynn Hirschberg’s mammoth profile of the actress in yesterday’s New York Times made for fascinating, and rather upsetting, reading.

    Less a straightforward interview than a scientific deconstruction of her star persona, the picture it paints is of a savvy career woman who has invested so much time and effort in building her public image that her own personality has been obscured — even to herself.

    I have no real opinion of Fox as an actress, as we haven’t been given enough to judge her on: she is precisely as good (or bad, according to taste) as her roles demand in “Transformers” or “Jennifer’s Body.” Physically, she’s obviously attractive, but not sparky or distinctive enough to interest me personally.

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  • Martin Scorsese to receive DeMille Award at Golden Globes

    Martin ScorseseThe Hollywood Foreign Press Association has just revealed that the annual Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement will be presented to Martin Scorsese at the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony on January 17.

    Anyone, anywhere, have a problem with this? Didn’t think so.

    You may remember that Scorsese himself presented Steven Spielberg with the award earlier this year, so they’re not exactly digging very deep for their honorees, but sometimes the obvious choices are the right ones. In any case, the Globes have quite a few names to catch up on: prior to Spielberg’s citation, the last full-time filmmaker (as opposed to actor-turned-director) to receive the honor was Alfred Hitchcock in 1975.

    So congratulations to Scorsese, whose DeMille Award will join his Golden Globe bookends for “Gangs of New York” and “The Departed.” His presentation joins Ricky Gervais’s hosting on the list of reasons to look forward to the ceremony even more than usual. (And hey, kudos to the Globes for still actually, uh, televising their honorary awards.)

    Full press release after the cut.

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  • Listen to Patterson Hood’s ‘Depression Era’ from ‘That Evening Sun’

    Patterson HoodA number of weeks ago I wrote about the original song “Depression Era” from Scott Teems’s “That Evening Sun.” It’s a breathy southern soul tune that, for my money, bests all other original song contenders this year.  But considering the fact that the film will struggle to be seen, and the music branch isn’t likely to appreciate the song’s placement in the film (closing credits), I doubt an original song nomination is on the horizon.

    Regardless, it’s a wonderful piece of work from Drive-By Truckers front man Patterson Hood.  It really captures the atmosphere and sense of catharsis (that word won’t go away this season) that the film establishes (rather modestly, I might add — refreshingly so).

    The Truckers are an Athens, Georgia-based southern rock band, though Hood hails from northern Alabama.  Teems has said the singer/songwriter’s involvement in “That Evening Sun” was a “stamp of approval” to the film’s cultural authenticity.

    Have a listen to “Depression Era” below and tell us what you think.

    [display_podcast]

  • Oren Moverman talks ‘The Messenger’

    One of these days I’m going to be getting Woody Harrelson on the horn to talk about his riveting work in Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger,” but schedules haven’t dovetailed precisely enough yet.  I don’t mind saying I’m eager, because it’s one of the year’s best films.

    The New Yorker’s David Denby has called the film “neither dutiful nor solemn…a fully felt, morally alert, marvellously (sic) acted piece of work,” one that “joins the group of strong Iraq-war movies that, like rejected suitors, stand hat in hand, waiting for an audience to notice their virtues.”  I couldn’t agree more.  And on cue, courtesy of MakingOf, here’s Moverman discussing the piece:

  • Cameron to receive Santa Barbara’s Modern Master Award

    James CameronThis went to Clint Eastwood last year.  The press release, in part:

    James Cameron has been selected to receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s highest honor, The Lucky Brand™ Modern Master Award, it was announced by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. The Tribute will take place on Saturday, February 6, 2010, at the historic Arlington Theatre.

    The Lucky Brand™ Modern Master Award is the highest honor presented by SBIFF. Established in 1995, it was created to honor an individual who has enriched our culture through his/her multi-faceted accomplishments in the motion picture industry. Cameron joins an illustrious group of past recipients including Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Diane Keaton, Sean Penn, Jeff Bridges, Peter Jackson, George Clooney, Will Smith, Cate Blanchett and Clint Eastwood.

    “James Cameron is one of the most visceral storytellers working in cinema today and AVATAR is one of the most ambitious projects ever,” comments SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. “Because of his high aspirations and film achievements, James Cameron is not only the perfect Modern Master for our 25th anniversary, but one for the ages.”

  • 11/12 Oscarweb Round-up

    Avatar• Steve Pond shrewdly catches a Twitter leak from Oscarcast producer Adam Shankman: David Rockwell will be back on production design duties. [The Odds]

    • The Gurus o’ Gold chime in with supporting predictions. [Movie City News]

    • Charting the reasons “Avatar” will defy the odds and succeed at the box office. [Hollywood.com]

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  • Stanley Tucci on his “multiple personalities”

    Stanley Tucci in Julie & JuliaI recently rewatched “Julie & Julia” at an industry screening, and came to a pair of conclusions that I hadn’t quite reached the first time. The first is that, as grandly as Meryl Streep holds up her end of the film, it’s Amy Adams’s half of the story, curiously enough, that I found more compelling.

    The second is that the truly great performance of the film is given by Stanley Tucci.

    Tucci’s dry-sweet delineation of Paul Child is an actor’s masterclass in making a silk purse from a sow’s ear of a character: it’s difficult to imagine any of his lines or gestures popping on the scripted page, but he listens to Streep’s performance with such intelligence and compassion that his listening becomes compelling in and of itself.

    And his crisp, unexpected exclamation of “Fuck them!” deserves a line-delivery award of its own.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Don’t look back in anger

    Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback MountainFor all the movement in the awards game this week – Jeff Bridges leap-frogging into contention, the animation race swelling to five nominees, “Precious” continuing to gather momentum – my head hasn’t really been in it this week.

    That’s partly because we’re all still making blind prognoses until four unseen juggernauts – “Nine,” “Avatar,” “The Lovely Bones,” and “Invictus” – finally deign to show their faces. And partly because I’m only looking forward to one of those titles with sincere movie-fan enthusiasm, as opposed to professional curiosity. Sometimes you just get the wholly subjective feeling that it isn’t going to be ‘your’ Oscar season – and while I’m not there yet, the fear is setting in.

    So, with no current awards developments getting me particularly enthralled or incensed, I’ve spent most of my time lately in a reflective state. With ‘best of the 2000s’ lists already coming thick and fast, and my DVD trawl through the decade’s leftovers for my own list in full swing, Oscar’s own performance over the last 10 years has been on my mind.

    As I discussed in this space a few weeks ago, it’s been a slightly schizophrenic decade of Oscar winners, one that has blurred long-held definitions of “Oscar-bait.” One does have to wonder about the identity or cultural relevance of any group that can alternately celebrate such disparate achievements as “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Gladiator” and “No Country for Old Men.” Who are these people, and what do they know?

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  • Maggie Gyllenhaal joins the race for Best Actress

    Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy HeartIf I were a betting man, I’d have said Maggie Gyllenhaal’s performance opposite Jeff Bridges in Scott Cooper’s “Crazy Heart” was a sure-fire Best Supporting Actress contender.  The role, after all, fits that unfortunately reductive “suffering spouse” template to a T, the sort that has fared well in this category in years past (Michelle Williams, Sophie Okonedo, Marcia Gay Harden — twice, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jennifer Connelly, etc.).

    Well I’d have lost that bet.  Fox Searchlight, perhaps due to that ever-present (and overstated) sense that the Best Actress field is “weak,” will be pushing Gyllenhaal as a lead for the film.  And despite my reservations, I think she should be taken seriously.

    This isn’t blatant category fraud, in my opinion, because Gyllenhaal has a healthy amount of screen time, we get plenty of her story — even if it’s always through the prism of Bridges’s Bad Blake character — and the truth is, it’s a pretty complex role.

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  • Strike that, make it 20 — AMPAS announces list of animated feature contenders

    Alvin and the Chipmunks: The SqueakquelJust moments after I posted about the animated feature Oscar race pushing 18 entrants, the Academy goes and corrects me by releasing the full slate, including Fox’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” (I have to think way too hard about how to spell that damn title) and “The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer,” bringing the total up to 20 titles in competition and the very real possibility that five nominees will make the cut.

    The full list of qualifying titles (which you can also find in our Contenders section):

    “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”
    “Astro Boy”
    “Battle for Terra”
    “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
    “Coraline”
    “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
    “The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer”
    “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
    “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
    “Mary and Max”
    “The Missing Lynx”
    “Monsters vs. Aliens”
    “9”
    “Planet 51”
    “Ponyo”
    “The Princess and the Frog”
    “The Secret of Kells”
    “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure”
    “A Town Called Panic”
    “Up”

  • Weinstein teams with Disney/ABC for ‘Nine’ attack

    Penelope Cruz in NineHarvey Weinstein’s publicity campaign for “Nine” was never going to be a subtle affair, was it?

    Variety reports that The Weinstein Company has turned to Disney/ABC Unlimited for a cross-platform promotional pact that will see the Oscar-baiting musical saturating ABC’s programming, from “Dancing With the Stars” to daytime soap operas:

    Under the arrangement, a themed dance number on the Nov. 17 episode of “Stars” will be set to the “Nine” song “Be Italian.” Dancers will also wear outfits from the movie.

    Meanwhile, throughout the month of December, “Nine” will be written into episodes of “All My Children,” “One Life to Live” and “General Hospital.”

    Also, on Nov. 22, a two-minute “Nine” trailer will run simultaneously “road-block” style on Lifetime, ABC Family, SoapNet, A&E and Bio. That same night, the trailer is set to run on ABC during the “American Music Awards.”

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  • Behind the scenes of ‘The Hurt Locker’

    (Couretsy: MakingOf)

  • Studio FYC sites on the march

    A Serious ManIt’s that time of year, when studios roll out their awards-centric websites for films in play.  You get screening info, news and notes, reminders of how AMAZING their films are (with critical quotes to back it up), goodies like screenplays and such, etc.  It’s a good way to see how wide the net is cast during the season (since any and everything gets a “For Your Consideration” blurb), but I’ve always found it’s a good way to revisit the year’s films.

    First up, Universal Pictures has put together its standard assemblage hawking “Public Enemies,” “Bruno,” “Funny People” and “It’s Complicated.” Skimming through the “Public Enemies” section I was instantly reminded that Elliot Goldenthal’s score was actually quite wonderful and could be a sleeper to watch in a field that is notorious for its insularity.  You can even skim through tracks in a dedicated section and download the screenplay.

    “Funny People” has a similar set-up, with score toggling, the script, etc., while “Bruno” has no script to offer.  But you can listen to the raved out score again if you wish.  The “It’s Complicated” section has material to come and only mentions “in all categories” as it pertains to FYC business.

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  • Animated feature contenders pushing 18 now

    The Secret of KellsOne of the titles we mentioned a couple of weeks ago that could slide in and help rescue the animated feature category (as in, push the field of qualifying contenders closer to 16, which would yield the potential for five, rather than three nominees) was something called “The Secret of Kells.”

    Since then, “The Missing Lynx: Paws on the Run” has come to the category’s aid, as has the stop-motion “A Town Called Panic,” so we’ve got 17 contenders before this news, but 19 gives a nice cushion.

    Peter Debruge reports at Variety:

    GKIDS picked up U.S. rights to “The Secret of Kells” just three days before the Oscar submission deadline and plans to open the 2D toon for a one-week qualifying run on Dec. 4 at the AMC Burbank 8 in Los Angeles, followed by a wider release in March 2010.

    The story of a ninth-century boy who rebels against his guardian’s orders and helps to illuminate a famous Irish manuscript, pic garnered numerous accolades abroad, including an audience award at the Annecy toon fest and a nomination for the European Film Awards’ animated feature prize.

    Also worth noting: the film won the audience award at the Edinburgh Film Festival in June.

  • Annie Leibowitz’s ‘Nine’ photo shoot for Vogue

    (Courtesy: Thompson on Hollywood)

  • 11/11 Oscarweb Round-up

    Up• Steven Zeitchik plays things from the other side of the coin, says a high Best Picture profile for “Up” could cause the film in the animated feature category. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Jeffrey Wells takes aim and fires heavily on “Precious.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • The People’s Choice Award nominations are here.  I KNOW you care.  So go ahead and vote. [PeoplesChoice.com]

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  • And the Oscar for Best Cinematography goes to…

    Seriously, I feel like Dion Beebe is going to walk away with this thing this year.  The usual competition isn’t as apparent, even if there are more modest artistic victories throughout the contenders.  Still, I think the annual list of the year’s greatest shots is going to be a bit of a menagerie this year.

    Daniel Day-Lewis in Nine

    More new shots (new to me, anyway) here.