In Contention

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Cinematography – Volume I

    Saoirse Ronan in The Lovely BonesLIGHTS…CAMERA…you were probably waiting for the word “action,” no? Action is, after all, what many individuals go to a film to see. But the “lights” and the “camera” in this classic phrase bring a film beyond a book or a radio show…and capture the “action.”

    The individuals who paint the images of cinema with light and composition are rewarded in the Oscar category of Best Cinematography. Cinematographers are pivotal in the making of any film and it is thus unsurprising that directors often continuously work with the similar camera heads.

    Like many cinephiles, I must say this is my favorite of the so-called “technical” categories and I eagerly anticipate the race every year.  This year is no exception.

    Australian D.P. Dion Beebe might seem to be leading this year’s lenser race with his third collaboration with Rob Marshall, the musical adaptation “Nine.” Despite not being cited by the Academy for some of his more innovative work (see Michael Mann’s “Collateral”), Beebe has been previously nominated for 2002’s “Chicago” and won the Oscar in 2005 for “Memoirs of a Geisha.” “Nine” will give him the opportunity to pay homage to Federico Fellini while also capturing sprawling musical numbers, a feat this category tends to reward.

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  • Miss January

    Kris already drew your attention to today’s Emmy nominations, and since we don’t really do TV here at InContention — and since the Emmys are quite possibly the most eternally frustrating of all major showbiz awards — we won’t go into a detailed bitching session about how the voters cocked this or that up. Anyway, there were pleasant surprises to be had: “The Flight of the Conchords!” Sarah Silverman! Hope Davis!

    Kris highlighted Denis Leary as his pet snub of the morning, but I can’t be the only one baffled that, amid the 16 well-deserved nominations for the best show on TV, there was no room for its standout performer of the season. Hell, make that the standout performer of the season. January Jones, we salute you.

    January Jones in Mad Men

  • Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut,’ 10 years on

    Eyes Wide ShutToday marks the 10th anniversary of the US theatrical release of Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut.”  It was, of course, to be his final film, the last statement from what so many agree to be the finest filmmaker to ever try his hand at the trade.  It was daring, it was unique…it was a Kubrick film through and through.  It was a 20-month-long shoot that had film enthusiasts chomping at the bit for nearly two years, and when it finally landed, the reaction was, again, classic Kubrick: divisiveness.

    I touched upon the film and its impact back in March on the anniversary of Kubrick’s untimely passing, so I’ll leave it at that from my end.  But Jamie Stuart over at The Mutiny Company has re-published his 2002 essay on the film to mark the occasion.  It is a thorough, passionate, committed dissection of the film, paying particular attention to aesthetic choices and the director’s color palette.  It’s fascinating stuff for Kubrick and film buffs the world over and deserves a glance.

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  • ‘Whip It’ trailer, starring Ellen Page, lots of chicks

  • 7/16 Web Round-up

    Emma Watson• Emmy nominations unleashed, Denis Leary robbed again. [Emmys.tv]

    • Xan Brooks and the “Antichrist” debate.  One more time around. [The Guardian]

    • Jonathan Romney, meanwhile, tries to break down the mind of Lars Von Trier. [The Independent]

    • 25 new faces of independent film. [Filmmaker Magazine]

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  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’

    Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

    I haven’t seen it, so I have no opinion.  But seeing as this thing has already taken down the midnight box office record, I think it’s safe to say plenty have.  So tell us what you thought in the comments section below.

  • PAGE TO SCREEN: “Push” by Sapphire

    Push by SapphireAs is clear from their determination to cling to the ungainly handle “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire,” the team behind the upcoming big-screen adaptation of New York poet Sapphire’s well-regarded 1996 novella are keen to acknowledge the film’s literary heritage. (And not just because a lousy February release stole their original title.)

    It’s not surprising. “Push” was a minor publishing phenomenon in the 1990s that has since become a solid modern entry in the canons of both African-American and youth literature – the book wears its debt to Toni Morrison and Alice Walker proudly on its sleeve – so the film obviously wants to announce itself to Sapphire’s devoted readership.

    More subliminally, however, I suspect the film’s prominently advertised literary cache aims to differentiate it from any number of urban-leaning titles with similar themes but minimal artistic cred – and to lend it a varnish of prestige to awards voters wary of the subject matter.

    A glance at the bare-bones synopsis for “Push” or “Precious” – illiterate, physically and emotionally abused Harlem girl recovers sense of self-worth thanks to inspirational teacher – offers little indication of how the final work will be superior to Hollywood schlock of the “Dangerous Minds” ilk, or even Lifetime TV territory. (On the surface, this could easily turn into a facsimile of “Life is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story,” minus the eventual fame and fortune.)

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  • ‘Antichrist’ vs ‘True Lies’

    Jamie Lee Curtis in True LiesOver at the Guardian, Michael Hann is rehashing an argument that, over the last two months, has become a very tired one indeed: that Lars von Trier hates women, that “Antichrist” is his most overtly misogynistic expression yet of said hate, shock, outrage, blah blah blah.

    As you know, the “misogyny” complaint is not one I have any time for, given that a) Von Trier is one of the few auteurs out there evincing a clear fascination with women in his work, b) the sympathies of “Antichrist” lie more with its emotionally riven female protagonist than her passive-aggressive husband, and c) the film’s gender politics serve principally to reinvigorate horror-film tropes.

    It’s something I discussed at greater length in my review of the film last month, but you can expect to hear the “m” word bandied about a lot more as the film bows in the UK next week.

    That said, even as he calls it “an expression of fear about female sexuality, with no greater purpose than the “Saw” or “Hostel” films,” Hann allows that greater offenders exist within the Hollywood system, with James Cameron’s 1994 actioner “True Lies” as his prime example.

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  • Catching up with Ari Gold, er, Emanuel

    Ari EmanuelIt’s exciting times in my house these days, what with “Entourage” hitting the small screen for season number six Sunday night.  The series makes for my weekly dose of Hollywood escapism, paradoxically right here at ground zero.  The obsession is, of course, owed in no small part to Jeremy Piven’s Emmy-winning portrayal of super agent Ari Gold, a composite sketch of real life player Ari Emanuel.

    Emanuel has been getting plenty of media attention lately (well, more than his usual helathy dose of press limelight).  The merger of his Endeavor agency with William Morris a few months ago (forming mega-conglomerate WME) led to a front-page New York Times profile last month, chocked full of the usual array of anonymous sources and, it should figure, no comment from Emanuel.  And now in the pages of London’s Independent newspaper (a number of weeks behind the curve) comes a new look at the Hollywood maestro.

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  • Sneek peek at the ‘Coraline’ DVD

    Neil Miller over at Film School Rejects has an exclusive clip from one of the special features on the forthcoming “Coraline” Blu-ray/DVD. “This little sequence is called ‘Wrapping Up Coraline,’” Miller writes, “and it focuses on director Henry Selick talking about the final stages of work that went into creating this wonderful little film. He also speaks a bit about the incredible amount of work that was turned in by countless artists and animators.”  Take a look below.  The disc hits shelves July 21:

  • 7/15 Web Round-up

    Quentin Tarantino• Alex Pappademas talks “Inglourious Basterds” with Quentin Tarantino the day following David Carradine’s death. [GQ]

    • How producer Don Murphy turned and online tiff into a novel option. [The Big Picture]

    • Eight blatantly misleading movie posters.  Hear, hear on “Reign of Fire.”  Never felt so burned… [Empire]

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  • ‘An Education’ trailer

    Yesterday we got the poster, today we get the trailer:

  • Got blood?

    When a milkshake arrived on my doorstep two years ago, that was one thing.  But shipping me a pouch of O positive to herald the forthcoming vampire flick “Thirst” from director Park Chan-Wook?  That’s crossing the line.

    Okay, I’m only kidding.  It’s fruit punch or something, with a straw.  But it’s a pretty nifty swag campaign from Focus Features (which already sent out neat-o satchels full of this and that for Shane Acker’s “9”).  Getting in the Comic-Con spirit, just over a week away…

    Thirst

  • ‘Fame’ trailer

  • ‘Bright Star,’ ‘Precious,’ ‘Informant’ and 19 more to play TIFF

    Matt Damon in The Informant!The Co-Directors of the Toronto International Film Festival took to the stage this morning at the first of three summer press conferences to begin announcing the slate of films that will comprise this, the 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival.

    This morning’s announcement of 22 titles brought some pleasant surprises, as well as some expected announcements.

    The Opening Night Gala will be Jon Amiel’s “Creation” featuring Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin and Jennifer Connelly as his wife.

    There were several Gala Presentations announced, among them “Get Low,” a film featuring the great Robert Duvall as Felix Breazeale, a backwoods eccentric who exiles himself from society for more than 40 years. Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek co-star with Oscar winner Duvall.

    As expected, Lee Daniels’s festival circuit hit “Precious” will land in Toronto, already an Oscar contender, as well as “The Invention of Lying,” directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson.

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  • Zowie Bowie talks more ‘Moon’ across the pond

    Duncan JonesIf you happen to be in one of the select markets carrying Duncan Jones’s (aka Zowie Bowie) “Moon” and still haven’t made it out to see it, you don’t know what you’re missing.  The film recently crossed the $1 million mark.  Here’s to many more.

    The film is just landing over in the UK and Jones is owning the publicity thing with his story.  The next stop appears to be this Vicki Reid article in London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, which does a fine job of spotlighting what it is about this film that makes it register so profoundly: it’s focus on character amid all the familiar tropes of the genre.

    With the anniversary of a sci-fi classic already coming this year, and the hope that James Cameron is set to change the game for everyone in December, it’s still so refreshing that a film like this has found a spot between the extremes, destined to be, at the very least, a cult-admired staple of thinking man’s sci-fi.

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  • Amazon to buy Netflix?

    Amazon/NetflixIf you don’t have a Roku player and you’re a movie lover, you’re missing out.  It’s a $99 item (also built in to the XBOX 360) that allows you to stream your instant Netflix cue directly.  Seriously, your movie mecca is limited only by the Netflix catalog.  Bliss.

    Another feature of the Roku, however, is the ability to log on to your Amazon.com account and stream content from there as well, which could come in quite handy with some of these VOD releases that pop up on Amazon for purchase prior to theatrical release, like Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience” did recently.

    Now there is talk that Amazon, already devouring everything in its path (and in most cases, for the better), might actually buy Netflix.  Speaking as a consumer, I’m all for it.

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  • Butterflies

    Neither here nor there, I guess, but this morning’s random bit of anxiety concerns the forthcoming remake of “Let the Right One In,” Matt Reeves’s “Let Me In.”  These concept posters at /Film got the ole’ stomach churning again this morning.  I’m scared to death of this project, and not in a good way.