In Contention

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  • We can officially add ‘A Christmas Carol’ to the animated list

    Gary Oldman in A Christmas CarolYesterday we covered the animated feature film race and the potential for the category to have five nominees this year, largely dependent on Robert Zemeckis’s “A Christmas Carol” being submitted as animation (a decision completely in his hands).  As it turns out, the film will indeed be submitted for consideration.

    That, along with “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure” brings the tally up to 16 titles.  Some are expressing doubts that “Tinker Bell” can qualify, but I’m told the film “looks great, is made professionally, and will receive a theatrical run in LA, so those are the criteria.”  Still, being right on the edge, this thing could go either way.

    I’m still waiting on confirmation that the French film “A Town Called Panic” had a qualifying run or will have one (mass confusion), and ditto Summit’s “Astro Boy,” but that would be 17 and the absolute ceiling (by my calculation) on the number of submitted titles.

    Assuming five nominees, here’s what I’m thinking…

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  • ‘Nine’ to December

    Brad Brevet at Rope of Silicon is reporting something I seriously thought had already happened.  Maybe that says something about how predictable the move is, given that, ever since The Weinstein Company announced a November release for “The Road,” everyone has been expecting “Nine” to move further into the holiday season.  And so it has.

  • ‘The Lovely Bones’ poster

    Not entirely appealing, I must say.  And what’s up with the file Yahoo! is using?  Seems a bit distorted or rough around the edges something.  Anyway, here it is:

    The Lovely Bones

    I imagine this is a teaser and there will be another one-sheet later on down the line.

  • [Considers]

    For my money, one of the single greatest line deliveries ever:

  • ‘Three Kings,’ 10 years on

    (from left) George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube in Three Kings2009 has been a bit of a nostalgia point all year long because it marks 10 years removed from one of the finest years of cinema ever.  There has already been commentary regarding a number of 1999’s releases.  We remembered the death of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick back in March and his final release, “Eyes Wide Shut,” a few months later in July.

    There was also our introductory installment of The Lists: a remembrance of the films of 1999 from last year, in case you missed it.  That covers a lot of my feelings of the movie year that was.

    One film I look back on fondly is David O. Russell’s “Three Kings.” It was the beginning of the fall.  The film was in theaters along with another film I and a number of my film school friends wanted to see, something called “American Beauty” with Kevin Spacey.  We decided to make a double feature out of it and Russell was up first.

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  • US ‘Imaginarium’ trailer

  • 10/8 Oscarweb Round-up

    Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious Man• Jamie Foxx wants “Ray” director Taylor Hackford to tackle the actor’s planned Mike Tyson biopic. [MTV Movies Blog]

    • Jeffrey M. Anderson talks to “A Serious Man” star Michael Stuhlbarg. [Green Cine Daily]

    • Patrick Goldstein wants to know why Michael Moore got dolled up for Sean Hannity. [The Big Picture]

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  • How the animated category could go to five

    Tinker Bell and the Lost TreasurePete Hammond has gone ahead and written the column I was going to write today, but you snooze you lose.

    Recently there was some discussion about the animated feature film category in our comments section.  The number of potential submissions is right on the edge.  By my count in the Contenders section, there are 16 films listed, which is the magic number that would yield a five-nominee slate.

    The field was widened recently with a planned qualifying run from Disney for “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure” at the El Capitan prior to DVD release.  To me, that smells like a studio trying to inflate the number of qualifying titles in order to get a wider field of contenders, because “Tinker Bell?”  Really?  One would expect it to just hit shelves as an afterthought.

    Anyway, there is one other title that could possibly be submitted: Zeitgeist Films’ “A Town Called Panic.” I called Zeitgeist yesterday to find out whether the company had run the film or would attempt to do so to qualify it, and the gist I got was that they just weren’t interested.  I expect a phone call if things change on that front, but for now, it’s unlikely.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Post early for Christmas

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt LockerLondon is in the midst of a postal strike. No mail, be it far-flung postcard or electricity bill, has popped through my front door for over a month. I recently had to stroll into Soho to pick up my London Film Festival accreditation pack by hand. And rather discouragingly, my local post office today put a hastily scrawled sign in the window: “Post NOW for delivery by Christmas.”

    If you’re wondering why I’ve started this week’s column with this fascinating tidbit from my domestic life – apart from the fact that, as Kris noted, the crickets are chirping in awardsville this week – it’s because, as I stared disbelievingly at the sign, it occurred to me that a similar memo should be sent to several specialty studios hoping for a stake in this awards season. (Yes, my mind works in curious ways.)

    In short: you have a little package that needs to deliver in time for Oscar consideration? Don’t wait until December. Send it out now.

    This may seem like crazy advice given Oscar voters’ ever-growing love affair with winter releases. Just last year, no pre-November release made the Best Picture cut. And Harvey Weinstein has proved time and again that substantial rewards can be reaped if you spring a film upon the Academy without giving them too much time to think about it – from “The Cider House Rules” to “Chocolat” to “The Reader,” he knows which films won’t survive a few months of critical and industry scrutiny.

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  • James Horner’s “epic” and “hugely cinematic” score for ‘Avatar’

    James HornerOne of the contenders we’ve certainly had an eye on in this year’s Oscar race is James Horner, composer of the score for James Cameron’s “Avatar.” The last time the duo worked together was the last time Cameron made a movie, and 1997’s “Titanic” brought in a massive Oscar haul that included a statue for Horner’s contribution.

    Over at MovieScore Magazine, Mikael Carlsson is calling the score, which is unheard as of this point, “the film music event of the year,” and he gets a quote from Fox music executive VP Mike Knobloch:

    It’s a brilliantly unique blend of traditional and contemporary, electronic elements and spans the entire spectrum of attitude and energy – from bombastic action to the delicate, romantic discovery of a new world.

    That’s fine and good and generally empty as a quote of substance.  You could say that about the score to “The Rock.”

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  • In a nutshell

    Onward…

    (Ill Doctrine via Women & Hollywood)

  • ‘Up in the Air’: round two

    George Clooney in Up in the AirI have to confess that I’ve been a bit hesitant to watch Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” a second time.  When a movie hits me as perfectly as this one did, gets so much right, seems like such a gift of the season, my reaction is to let it lie for a long time.

    What if I see it again and it lands flat?  What if the emotion of the first viewing has somehow been compromised by my life in between viewings?  I don’t want to lose the high a film puts me on and reconciling that with a need to further investigate can be really tough.

    I’m glad I went back to the well on “Up in the Air,” though, because it illuminated so many textures I didn’t pick up on initially.  Dana Glauberman’s sharp editing, for instance, which, scene for scene, adds so much to Reitman’s script.  The way real life interview footage with laid-off employees is seamlessly integrated into the narrative.  The timing in comedic moments.  It’s very precise.  She’s more than deserving of the Hollywood Film Fest award she’ll receive on October 26.

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  • 10/7 Oscarweb Round-up

    Tyler Perry• As “Up” gears up for release in the UK, it is revealed the film was inspired by British photographer Adrian Warren. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Tyler Perry gets personal regarding “Precious.” [TylerPerry.com]

    • Enter for a chance to win Max’s wolf costume from “Where the Wild Things Are.” [Warner Bros.]

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  • London Film Festival shortlists nine titles for top prize

    Fantastic Mr. Fox I mentioned recently that the London Film Festival is upping its profile by adding a couple of new awards to its roster, including a crowning Best Film prize. This, I felt, was a positive development for a festival that becomes a richer, more rewarding cinematic showcase by the year. However, I must admit to being disappointed by the conservative approach they’ve taken to their new premier prize.

    Festival director Sandra Hebron yesterday unveiled a shortlist of nine contenders for the inaugural Best Film award, and a mostly familiar bunch of titles it is:

    “Balibo” (Robert Connolly)
    “Bright Star”     (Jane Campion)
    “Fantastic Mr. Fox”     (Wes Anderson)
    “Micmacs”     (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
    “Nowhere Boy”     (Sam Taylor-Wood)
    “A Prophet”     (Jacques Audiard)
    “The Road”     (John Hillcoat)
    “A Serious Man”     (Joel and Ethan Coen)
    “The White Ribbon”     (Michael Haneke)

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  • Foreign watch: UK enters ‘Afghan Star,’ ‘Reykjavik’ remake

    Afghan StarTwo interesting news tidbits relating to the Best Foreign Language Film race surfaced yesterday, the first of which is the United Kingdom’s bold, wholly unexpected decision to submit Havana Marking’s acclaimed documentary “Afghan Star” as their entry.

    The news is surprising for a number of reasons. It’s the first time the UK has submitted a documentary in the race — perhaps the selectors were inspired by the groundbreaking nomination of “Waltz With Bashir” in the category earlier this year.

    Moreover, the Afghanistan-centered film — which contains dialogue in English, Dari and Pashtun — marks a dramatic change from the Welsh-language features that BAFTA almost always puts forward for Oscar consideration. (Few people give the Brits much thought in this category, but they’ve actually been nominated twice before: for “Hedd Wyn” in 1993 and “Solomon and Gaenor” in 1999.)

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  • Pretty neat

    Around the 17-second mark.  Thanks to reader John Young for drawing my attention to this:

  • Brody-V-P

    Yeah, not Oscar related at all (well, kinda), but you tell me.  Can you see Adrien Brody as a badass dude fighting some predators?  Really?

  • Animated feature forecast: could be ‘Cloudy’

    Cloudy with a Chance of MeatballsOver at The Odds (The Wrap’s new Oscar blog, in case you haven’t been reading), Steve Pond brings up the fierce competition of this year’s animated feature category and brings up an intriguing tidbit worth considering.

    In looking through Time Out London’s list of the 50 greatest animated films of all time, collected by the magazine’s editors and filmmaker Terry Gilliam, Pond takes note of the complete absence of both “Up” and “Ponyo.” These are two films considered very much in the thick of this year’s toon Oscar race, of course.

    However, after that aside, he comes to the two animated films from 2009 that did make the list.  The first is Henry Selick’s “Coraline,” but, well, hopefully the other note will provide some insight to those puzzled over my animated feature film predictions.

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