In Contention

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  • Animated slate still in limbo

    The Missing LynxEarlier today Tom O’Neil reported that “Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone” will not qualify for the animated feature Oscar race because it was released in Japan in 2007.  That would bring the number of qualifying titles from 16 down to 15.

    However, there seem to be films in play that we hadn’t previously considered.  According to a commenter at the website Cartoon Brew, an Antonio Banderas-produced film called “The Missing Lynx: Paws on the Run” will receive a qualifying run on November 13.  I haven’t verified that info yet but it’s something to keep an eye on.  Here’s a quick profile of the project.  There is also the outside chance of “The Secret of Kells” making it’s way at the last minute.

    Nevertheless, for the moment, without “Evangelion,” we’re looking at a three-nominee race once again, unless something comes along to save the day.  Does Disney have anything else it would like to randomly shuffle from home video to theatrical run?

    More coverage of the category here, here and here.

  • Rat attack

    Sometimes you come across a blog post that pretty much says it with more precision than you ever could.  One of the day’s joys when they come along.

  • 65 countries in the foreign film hunt

    We’ve been keeping you up to speed on all of the foreign language film submissions, so the official AMPAS press release is something of an afterthought at this point.  But here’s the news from Wilshire Blvd.

    We have 66 films on our list, including Mongolia’s “By the Will of Genghis Khan.”  I’m not sure why it’s not on the release but perhaps something happened under our radar.

  • Sendak doc makes for a beautiful portrait of an artist

    Maurice SendakI sat down this morning to watch Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze’s “Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak,” which originally aired on HBO last night, expecting little more than a swift, arbitrary look at the author and perhaps a nice companion piece to Jonze’s adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are.” Boy was I in for a surprise.

    The film (which is on Oscar’s short list for documentary shorts) is instantly one of the 2009’s great joys, a compelling, insightful study from the perspective of the genuine article.  And Sendak is indeed the genuine article, a directly honest man who has transformed his take on the world into profound art for most of his 81 years.  And at that healthy old age, he seems equally awed by, and bored with, the realities of the world.

    Filming began in 2003 at Sendak’s home in Connecticut.  The seasons zip back and forth, spring sunshine to winter snowdrift, as Bangs and Jonze piece together the meat of Jonze’s conversations with the author.  The title stems from Sendak’s opinion that there should be no demarcation when it comes to age.  “I don’t believe in childhood,” he says.  “Like, ‘You mustn’t tell them that,’ ‘You mustn’t tell them that.’  You tell them anything you want…If it’s true, you tell them.”

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  • ‘Tree of Life’ won’t be hitting theaters this year

    Perhaps the most predictable news of the season comes today by way of Anne Thompson at indieWIRE.  She reports that Terrence Malick’s heavily anticipated film “The Tree of Life” will not be ready for release this year:

    Apparition had tentatively scheduled a December 25 release for River Road’s 50s period film, which stars Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. But Apparition chief Bob Berney says that a year-end opening was “wishful. It’s definitely not going to come out this year.” That’s because it won’t be finished in time. Berney still hasn’t seen the film.

    And…onward…

  • 10 years ago today…

  • 10/15 Oscarweb Round-up

    Antichrist• Pete Hammond digs into the truth about “Amelia” and potential new found hope in a recent re-edit. [Notes on a Season]

    • The Rome film fest gets with it, structures a “women in contemporary cinema” theme around this year’s festivities. [The Independent]

    • Variety’s Peter Debruge has a bit of mash-up fun with the “Antichrist” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” trailers. [YouTube]

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  • Woman’s touch

    We’ve seen a lot of posters for “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” highlighting its starry male cast, and they’ve mostly left me cold. So is it a coincidence that this new design — which places relative newcomer Lily Cole in the spotlight — is the one that finally does it for me? Or am I just being a man about this?

    The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

  • Ridley Scott takes on ‘Red Riding’ remake

    Rebecca Hall in Red RidingYou may remember that back in March I raved about “Red Riding,” the British TV adaptation of David Peace’s quartet of Yorkshire-set crime novels that IFC will soon be distributing theatrically in the U.S.

    Specifically, I flipped for the first installment of the three-film series, Julian Jarrold’s “1974” — an exquisitely textured mood piece, with vivid turns from Andrew Garfield and Rebecca Hall, that remains one of the best films I’ve seen this year on any size screen.

    Six months later, Americans got to see what British critics had been gushing about since the spring (David Thomson overexcitedly stated that the films excelled “The Godfather” in the pantheon of crime cinema), as “Red Riding” played to a very warm reception in Telluride. (Even if Kris wasn’t entirely won over.)

    Now the buzz continues with the announcement that Columbia has acquired remake rights to the project, with director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steven Zaillian in line to compress Peace’s mammoth narrative into a single feature film. (As a feat of adaptation, expect comparisons to what Curtis Hanson and Brian Helegeland took on James Ellroy’s L.A. Quartet.)  Scott will also produce via his Scott Free production company.

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  • Netherlands switches Oscar submission to ‘Wartime’

    Winter in WartimeThanks to regular reader Jonathan for alerting us yesterday to the news that the Dutch have backtracked on their Best Foreign Language Film award, after their first selection, “The Silent Army,” was disqualified by the Academy. Martin Koolhoven’s well-regarded Second World War drama “Winter in Wartime” will compete in its place.

    “The Silent Army” was an unpopular selection in the first place, having been extensively recut after an initial critical mauling, and prompting complaints from Dutch industry insiders that it had too much English dialogue to qualify. In the end, however, it was the former rather than the latter issue that led to its disqualification — the initial cut of “Army” was released in 2008, and Academy rules forbid new edits of previous years’ releases from competing.

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  • ‘Me and Orson Welles’ poster

    Me and Orson Welles

    (Courtesy: Cinematical)

  • Mel Gibson in front of the camera for the first time in seven years

  • REVIEW: “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (***)

    Fantastic Mr. FoxLondon Film Festival

    Rather like two well-matched friends that one sets up on a failed blind date, Roald Dahl and Hollywood really ought to have got along better over the years. Taken at face value, Dahl’s rightly beloved children’s books should be a cinch to film: the concepts are high, the imagery vivid, the storytelling swift and snappy.

    Yet for all these virtues, and for no lack of trying on Hollywood’s part, a stone-cold classic filmization of one of his novels still awaits us. Some stand by Mel Stuart’s irony-deficient “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”; others will put in a word for Henry Selick’s vividly textured but emotionally inert take on “James and the Giant Peach.” No filmmaker has exhibited more understanding of Dahl’s cruel streak than Nicolas Roeg, but his largely dazzling “The Witches” still loses its nerve in the final reel with a facile ending.

    Though the men share a broad eccentricity, Wes Anderson’s fey, faintly solipsistic creative touch once more seems a less-than-perfect match for the nastier, more arch sensibility of Dahl – and there are a few glib missteps in his otherwise appealingly ragged riff on “Fantastic Mr. Fox” that show up the disconnect.

    But Anderson has at least been savvy in picking one of Dahl’s youngest-skewing, most sweet-natured narratives for his first ever adaptation. The brevity and elemental simplicity of the book’s survival-themed tale provides a lot more room for Anderson’s trademark affectations and diversions – be it the familiar 1970s-style duds or a jangly nonsense ditty from Jarvis Cocker – than Dahl’s later, darker work would.

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  • AFI Fest announces line-up, Mortensen and Plummer tributes, ‘Single Man’ closer

    Christopher PlummerAFI Fest is right around the corner here in Los Angeles.  Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” has already been announced as the opening night gala.  Today’s release reveals that Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” will close out the fest.

    Additionally, tributes have been announced for Viggo Mortensen (his second festival tribute of the season, FYI) and Christopher Plummer (shrewd move by Sony Classics to get that).  Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” will be the centerpiece gala.

    The film schedule has been revealed, which is the usual blend of other festival titles that have played elsewhere throughout the year, but one key screening for me is a 50th anniversary celebration of Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest.” William Friedkin will be moderating a Q&A with the film’s stars, Eva Marie Saint and Martin Landau.  That’s a priority.

    The stop-motioned animated “A Town Called Panic” is on the docket, a film we told you last week won’t be qualified for this year’s animated feature film Oscar race.  Devin Faraci at CHUD recently flipped for the film.

    “City of Life and Death,” “Fish Tank,” “The Hole,” “Mother,” “Looking for Eric,” “Vincere,” and “Youth in Revolt” will be my catch-up titles, stuff I’ve missed along the way.  Other selections include “Precious,” “The Road” and “The Last Station.”

    Read the full press release after the jump…

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  • ‘Precious’ iPhone scribble

    The two posters released for Lee Daniels’s “Precious” so far have been, most seem to agree, top tier stuff.  Beautiful artistic renderings of the film’s themes and atmosphere.  Here is the teaser one-sheet and then the follow-up.

    But Lionsgate would be savvy to throw down some bones for this iPhone doodle Nathaniel Rogers put together while waiting on a screening of the film last night and, I don’t know, find a place for it in the marketing.  It’s gorgeous.  Just saying.  Nat says he was nervous going in because being a blog straggler on a flick that has been praised to the high heavens can be weirdly stressful.  Thankfully, it seems the film withstood the hype for him.

    By the way — what the heck app is this?

    Precious

  • Hilary Swank tapped for lead actress award by Hollywood fest

    Hilary Swank in AmeliaWe’re slowly rounding out the list of honorees at this year’s Hollywood Film Festival, a slate of “winners” that I’d be inclined to call the result of, well, hard-working publicists getting the word out on their clients rather than honest-to-God consideration of artistic merit, but hey, tis the season.

    Today, Hilary Swank has been announced as the recipient of the Hollywood Actress Award for her work in the upcoming (and, nine days before released, still unscreened outside of a handful of people) “Amelia.” She joins Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore in the major acting awards camp.  We’re still waiting on the announcement of the Hollywood Supporting Actor Award.

    The gala ceremony will take place October 26 in Beverly Hills.  Also right around the corner is the Gotham Awards.  We’re wading out into it now.  Check out the full list of presently announced Hollywood Film Fest winners after the jump.

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  • R.I.P. Al Martino

    Your moment of movie infamy:

  • 10/14 Oscarweb Round-up

    The Hangover• Dave Karger, in a slow news week, digs up the old “‘Hangover’ for Best Pic” notion.  No. [Oscar Watch]

    • Jeff Wells face-to-face with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” director Wes Anderson. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Susan King talks to editing legend Anne V. Coates, whose career was showcased at the Academy last night. [Los Angeles Times]

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