In Contention

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  • Daniel Battsek leaves Miramax

    Daniel BattsekThis seemed to be in the offing for a while, but it’s always disconcerting to hear of major upheaval at a Hollywood institution like Miramax. The studio is folding its New York office, while Daniel Battsek, who has headed the Weinstein brothers’ former empire since 2005, will leave the company in January.

    Battsek announced the news in this rather terse email:

    After further reflection and discussion about the change in direction for Miramax, Rich Ross and I have agreed that I will step down as President of Miramax, effective the end of January, 2010.

    With this decision, we have also agreed that the best chance of success for Miramax is for the company to be located in Los Angeles, and I will work with the group on a transition plan.

    I’m very proud of all the great work we have accomplished here at Miramax and equally proud of my overall career at Disney.

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  • The Great Performances: 1998

    Edward Norton in American History XFor all my bitching about Roberto Benigni winning Best Actor in 1998 for his incessant mugging in “Life is Beautiful,” I was also thrilled the Academy watched enough films and paid enough attention to realize that Edward Norton was deserving for his magnetic turn as a neo-Nazi who sees the light in “American History X.” Norton was electrifying as Derek, the charismatic leader of a group of skinheads, handpicked by the older gentleman, played with menace and sleaze by Stacey Keach, who believes in what Hitler taught and seeks to spread the word to the youth of California.

    Norton gave the best performance by an actor I saw in 1998, but the Academy got caught up in the groundswell of support of Benigni’s movie, a fable set in a death camp. I’m not a fan, either of his overwrought, over the top performance, or the film itself. No rant, you all know what I think there.

    That said, there was a bounty of great male performances in 1998, many of which went unnoticed by the Academy. They did their best to get it right, though.  Joining Norton and Benigni for nominations were Nick Nolte in “Affliction,” Ian McKellen, superb in “Gods and Monsters,” and Tom Hanks as the weary soldier in Steven Spielberg’s magnificent “Saving Private Ryan.”

    Not even nominated, however, were Warren Beatty for his brilliant turn as the truth-talking senator in “Bulworth,” Joseph Fiennes in Best Picture winner “Shakespeare in Love,” Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show,” George Clooney in “Out of Sight,” Brendan Gleason in “The General” and John Travolta in “Primary Colors” or “A Civil Action,” take your pick.  And perhaps the most deserving of all: Jeff Bridges as The Dude in “The Big Lebowski,” the actor’s finest work, in my opinion.

    Each of the aforemenetioned men gave stronger performances than the eventual Oscar winner, yet failed to nab a nomination.  Jeez!

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  • INTERVIEW: ‘The Informant!’ writer Scott Z. Burns

    Scott Z. BurnsFor Scott Z. Burns, the best way to tell the story of a compulsive liar was to take some liberties with the truth himself.

    “I’ve always been fascinated by lies … we all are,” the cheerfully forthright screenwriter tells me of his attraction to the story behind “The Informant!,” Steven Soderbergh’s playfully comic biopic of corporate whistleblower Mark Whitacre, who helped the FBI bust price fixing in America’s agribusiness sector, but wound up in federal prison for his own extreme indiscretions.

    “That’s kind of what watching movies is about – we’re delighted to be lied to for two or three hours. So Mark’s story was such obvious movie material.”

    We are sitting at a corner table in the bustling bar of London’s Soho Hotel, the afternoon ahead of the film’s UK premiere at the London Film Festival. Following a month of promoting the film in Venice, Toronto and the U.S., Burns is a touch dazed, unaccustomed to this level of individual attention: “The Informant!” represents his first solo feature credit, following producing and co-writing efforts on “An Inconvenient Truth” and “The Bourne Ultimatum” respectively, and a 2006 writing-directing debut with the HBO TV movie “Pu-239.”

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  • No Oscar Talk today

    I find myself back east for my grandmother’s funeral this afternoon, so Anne and I have postponed this week’s podcast. We hope to have it for you Sunday. FYI.

  • Calling the Best Picture wild cards

    Emily Blunt in The Young VictoriaTom O’Neil has pooled the thoughts of 16 awards-watchers on which 10 films will make the Best Picture cut, and the results make for ominously predictable reading.

    All 16 agree that “The Hurt Locker” and “Invictus” are in (I guess it’s just me holding out on the latter then), while there’s near-consensus on the likes of “Precious,” “Up in the Air,” “Up” … you get the idea. Yawn. At this rate, the switch to 10 nominees looks to sap any excitement from this stage of the race whatsoever.

    More interesting, then, is to venture further down the list to see what the pundits’ more out-on-a-limb picks are. One would like to think at least one of the slots has to be filled with something slightly less expected — otherwise what’s the point? So I turned my attention to the films receiving a solitary vote from one of O’Neil’s posse.

    Those hoping for a foreign-language contender in the mix (no, “Inglourious Basterds” does not count) might want to look away, as not a single punter has one on their list, while things look similarly grim for documentaries.

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  • 10/30 Oscarweb Round-up

    Sotigui Kouyate and Brenda Blethyn in London River• Brian Lowry on how The Ten is an Oscarcast producer’s nightmare. [Variety]

    • With Hugh Jackman out, Jeff Wells thinks the Oscars need to skew younger with their host. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • The producers of “London River” launch a deserved Oscar campaign for Brenda Blethyn, despite still lacking US distribution. [Notes on a Season]

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  • Jackman turns down Oscar gig

    Hugh Jackman at the 81st Annual Academy AwardsAs the annual guessing game of who will host the Academy Awards continues to go in circles, there’s at least one name we can remove from consideration: a certain Mr. Hugh Jackman.

    Variety confirms that the previous Oscar emcee was invited to repeat, but “quietly” turned down the opportunity sometime in the last few weeks, not wanting to do the task in consecutive years. (He may host again in the future, in other words.)

    This largely puts paid to the speculation that the hiring of choreographer Adam Shankman to produce the show meant we were essentially in for a rerun of last year’s show, which is fine by me.

    The previous Oscarcast format was very much the singular vision of Bill Condon and Laurence Mark, while Jackman’s song-and-dance stylings will stay fresher if used on an irregular basis.

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  • Renner, Stuhlbarg, Waltz among Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch

    Jeremy RennerVariety’s annual list of 10 Actors to Watch may occasionally raise questions of what constitutes a career “breakthrough” — particularly in the case of established actors who those in the know have been watching all along.

    Still, it always makes for interesting reading, not least because, in some cases, it highlights names that Variety’s editors expect to show up in the coming awards season. Last year’s list featured four actors (Melissa Leo, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson and Michael Shannon) who ultimately wound up in the Oscar circle. This year’s list looks unlikely to match that number (nor does it match the feminine bent of last year’s crop), but there’s some undeniably worthy talent in there:

    Laz Alonso
    Maggie Grace
    Tom Hardy
    Nicholas Hoult
    Rachelle Lefevre
    Jeremy Renner
    Alia Shawkat
    Emma Stone
    Michael Stuhlbarg
    Christoph Waltz

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  • SHORT TAKE: “Nowhere Boy” (**1/2)

    Nowhere BoyLondon Film Festival

    A bright, slight, mostly enjoyable portrait of the formative years of John Lennon, artist-turned-filmmaker Sam Taylor-Wood’s “Nowhere Boy” opens with a nudge-nudge tease, as the singular opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night” reverberates through the theater over a shot of the 18 year-old Lennon running to school.

    That single-second strum, however, is all we get of the ubiquitous Beatles songbook, as Taylor-Wood and screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh (“Control”) go out of their way to distance their story from Fab Four iconography, even coyly dancing around any mention of the “B” word. “What do you call yourselves now?” Lennon’s weary Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) asks her nephew over breakfast, after he announces the band’s plans to travel to Hamburg. “Do you care?” is his tart reply.

    Even if this is a little too cute, it’s cause for commendation that the film largely avoids the contrived “inspiration” cues that usually plague the musical-biopic genre. A fleeting glimpse of the original Strawberry Fields house in Liverpool is about as on-the-nose as things get; we’re spared the mandatory montages of the artist scribbling lyrics in a battered notebook, and even the Beatles cuts performed towards the film’s end are authentic fledgling efforts. (Over-familiar 1950s rock n’ roll standards comprise the bulk of the soundtrack, while Goldfrapp’s incidental score hardly registers.)

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Film Editing — Volume II

    (from left) Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard in NineAs I wrote in August, “Best Achievement in Film Editing” can be a difficult thing to define. Traditionally, we most notice film editing that is showy, usually in action films, musicals or movies that are not told chronologically. But does that make the editing better? If done well, it undoubtedly can add to the quality and innovation in a film.

    At the same time, however, a well-paced and effective film is often one where the transitions are seamless and I maintain that the best editing is often that which you don’t notice.  We will never know what “could have made it into the film,” which makes judging editing difficult at times. What is certain, however, is that in the absence of editors, our films would all be significantly too long, likely incoherent and/or tremendously boring.

    Personally speaking, I’m intrigued by this category this year. he editing field has historically displayed a strong correlation to the Best Picture line-up. Last year marked a return to a typical situation which we had seen from the mid-90s until early this decade: four of the five films nominated for Best Film Editing were also nominated for Best Picture, with the fifth being an action film. However, from 2005 through 2007, only two of the five nominees crossed over to the Best Picture category. This raises the question…what to expect this year?

    Some of the films I thought were contenders back in the summer have clearly fallen out of the running. Oscar winners Stephen Mirrione and Thelma Schoonmaker are now out the race as “Biutiful” and “Shutter Island” have been delayed until 2010. Allyson C. Johnson, on the other hand, is certainly not going to find herself nominated for “Amelia,” which is not getting near awards are far as anyone is concerned.

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  • New ‘Avatar’ trailer and featurette

    Yahoo! Movies has debuted the new “Avatar” trailer. Take a look at it in HD here or via the embed below. After the jump, get a load of a new behind-the-scenes featurette for the film.

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  • Best scares in film

    Janet Leigh in PsychoIt’s only hitting me today that we haven’t offered up any Halloween-y content yet.  Strange.  This is my favorite time of year, though season-less Southern California certainly does it no favors.

    Last year we got the contributors together to name the top 20 horror films of all time, an installment of The Lists I’m quite proud of.  This year I’ve been settling in each night to a new perennial favorite.  Last night it was “Beetle Juice.” I took another look at Carpenter’s “Halloween” earlier in the week and I expect Ill be tossing in the “Coraline” Blu-ray once again, maybe a little Romero.  “White Zombie” with Bela Lugosi was a novel distraction the other night.

    I don’t worship at the altar of genre, but I do enjoy getting in the spirit, so to speak.  Rather than cook something up for the holiday, I figured I’d point you to a pair of UK stories spotlighting the best in horror.  The first, in the Daily Telegraph, announces Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho” theme as the scariest horror theme of all time.

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  • 10/29 Oscarweb Round-up

    John Cusack in 2012• John Horn dutifully writes up the pre-release buzz of “2012.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Pete Hammond on how legends Orson Welles and Tennessee Williams could figure into this year’s Oscar race. [Notes on a Season]

    • Years that could have used 10 Best Picture nominees. [Variety]

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  • ‘Nowhere Boy’ trailer

    Sam Taylor-Wood’s debut feature has its world premiere tonight as it closes out the London Film Festival. I’ll have a short take up for you later today, but for now, here’s the trailer. (I’ll say this much: Kristin Scott Thomas’s recent run of form remains unbroken.)

  • “We’re going to be fine.”

    Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious ManThose of you who enjoy it when Kris and I butt heads over one film or another — as on the two occasions this past week alone that I’ve been unceremoniously fired — will be disappointed to hear that an entente cordiale has arrived in the shape of “A Serious Man.” (Ironic, really — since when did the Coen Brothers make movies designed to bring people together?)

    Anyway, while I don’t know yet whether my passion for the film will run quite as deep as Kris’s by the year’s end, I have no qualms whatsoever about echoing his sentiments that “A Serious Man” is an extraordinary feat.

    Novelistic in its reach and rhythms, but intrinsically cinematic in the way Roger Deakins’s calmly predatory camera investigates physical and personal space, it seems a direct (if deliciously perverse) rebuttal to claims made by the duo’s detractors that their films are overly hermetic, unwilling to engage with the world around them.

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  • Tweeting for Oscar

    We Live in PublicThe few of you who do follow my Twitter account will have gathered by now that, compared to some, I’m not the most active correspondent in that medium — limiting my thoughts to 140 characters is a trial more often that not. However, should I ever find myself in the hunt for an Oscar (hey, I have dreams too!), I’ll be sure to step up my tweet count.

    You’ve all heard by now about “Moon” director Duncan Jones’s admirably enthusiastic Twitter campaign for Sam Rockwell’s Best Actor chances, which so far has worked a treat.

    No, not because Rockwell isn’t still the darkest of horses for Oscar consideration, but because the quirky nature of the campaign has proved something of a talking point in an otherwise quiet week — generating a fresh wave of viewer interest in a small, long-gone summer release. As nice as this press is for Rockwell, “Moon” is the real winner here.

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  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Michael Jackson’s This Is It’

    Michael Jackson's This Is It

    I’ve committed some thoughts on “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” to print already, but since this thing is going to be a blockbuster, I figured it would be great to get some reader reaction.  Let us know what you think after you give it a look either this week or over the weekend.

  • Listen to Sad Brad Smith’s ‘Help Yourself’ from ‘Up in the Air’

    Sad Brad SmithIt looks like others are finally coming around to what we reported here over a month ago: Sad Brad Smith’s “Help Yourself” from the film “Up in the Air” is a formidable contender in this year’s Best Original Song race.  EW’s Adam Markovitz does note something we haven’t conveyed yet, however — that director Jason Reitman caught Smith’s act at a Chicago coffee shop on a recommendation and asked him to write something up for the film.  “Help Yourself” is the result, and it’s a fantastic track.

    No, really, I don’t usually dig on this sort of melody.  It seems so dangerously close to being too precious for it’s own good, but pulls back just enough to be a pretty profound piece unto itself.  The tune plays in a marriage sequence that is, really, the emotional heart of the film.  I would love to see Smith nominated and performing on that stage, but you just never can tell with the music branch.

    Anyway, we provided Mary J. Blige’s “I Can See in Color” from “Precious” earlier in the week, so it seemed only right to pass Sad Brad Smith’s track along also.  As always, we’ll continue to keep an eye on this race as it unfolds.

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