Hey guys. Sorry to the IE users out there who had trouble over the weekend. We narrowed it down to one of the ads screwing things up. Hopefully you can see the site properly now. Apologies once again.
Blog
-
Pedro Almodovar starts the buzz on Penelope Cruz in 2009
Writing in the weekend’s New York Times Magazine, filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar becomes one of the first to begin spitballing the efforts of an actress we’re likely to be talking about this time next year:Last year she finally came into her own in America, as she had already done in the rest of the world. Penélope is one of the most versatile actresses with whom I’ve worked. And this season she has proved it, with two performances in very different keys: the hysterical, very funny painter in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and the young, neatly coiffed student in “Elegy.”
What will 2009 bring? For starters, “Broken Embraces,” a hard-nosed drama with the feel of a thriller, and Rob Marshall’s “Nine,” a remake of Fellini’s “8½.” My film is finished, and I’ve seen images from “Nine,” and I can tell you that this year Penélope Cruz will continue to plumb depths we haven’t seen before.
Check out the rest here.
-
UK press forgives Winslet
Good. After weeks of mean-spirited mockery for her admittedly messy Golden Globe acceptance speeches, it appears that Winslet-baiting has finally gone out of style in the British press. UK media can demonstrate a weird tall-poppy syndrome when it comes to homegrown successes, but judging by this Independent article, they obviously approved of her restrained, clipped acceptance speech at last night’s BAFTAs:Rushing to the stage with a whoop, she started her speech with businesslike briskness, thanking her family and friends with just the faintest of quivers to her voice, adding that if she looked in the direction of her parents “I really will burst into tears”. “To be given this award at home really means a great deal to me. Thank you, Bafta,” Winslet added. She paid tribute to the producers of The Reader, Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, who both died last year, saying: “I can’t believe they are no longer with us. You are much missed today and you will be much missed for many years to come.”
The Guardian, meanwhile, deemed her “a model of composure,” while the Telegraph adds that “it was a relief Kate Winslet has finally put her acceptance speeches behind her.” As I said last night, though, I couldn’t help feeling that Winslet appeared a little too browbeaten on stage; I wouldn’t mind a little more sponteneity from her when she (almost) inevitably wins on Oscar night.
It seems the Telegraph’s David Gritten was particularly pleased with the BAFTAs overall, calling them “by far more interesting” than the Oscars — a curious and somewhat premature conclusion, given that the Oscars look likely to unfold very similarly in a fortnight’s time.
-
Solid proof Condon/Mark is the right call
“Dreagirls” was on HBO last night and even though I’m long on the record for not being a fan, I still give it a look from time to time. I caught the last act or so and the closing credits sequence, and I had forgotten how dazzling that sequence is. You probably remember it: every single aspect of the production, form the costume design to the film editing, the coreography and sound to the art direction, each element was treated to its own bit of razzle dazzle over the credits.
Multiple angles for the editor, sketches for production and costume design, appropriate visuals throughout. It’s a really special sequence, I think, and one that exhibits Condon’s clear affinity for the medium. I’m sure he’ll bring every ounce of that passion into the Oscar cast in just under two weeks’ time, and no matter how boring the eventual outcome (for those bored by things like, I don’t know, the best film of the year winning Best Picture), I think we’ll all be in for a treat.
I tried to find a YouTube clip of that “Dreamgirls” credits sequence, by the way, but no luck. Go check it out again if you have a chance, though. Lots of heart in that bit.
-
‘Mammoth,’ ‘Rage’ land with a thud at Berlin
Oh dear. Colour me very disappointed indeed. “Mammoth,” Lukas Moodysson’s would-be entry into the mainstream, had me so hopeful — not least because it features Gael Garcia Barnal and Michelle Williams, arguably the two most exciting actors of their generation. But judging from a hostile crowd reception and cool-to-icy reviews, it appears the film isn’t likely to join Moodysson’s “Fucking Amal” or “Together” in the pantheon of greatness.IndieWire’s Eugene Hernandez reports that the film actually elicited boos at its screening — something that should always be taken with a pinch of salt, given the weird, unnecessarily cruel crowd mentality that often reigns at European festivals. (Just ask Sofia Coppola.) But Screen International’s trustworthy Jonathan Romney’s review isn’t much more merciful:
Mammoth is an elephantine dud from a director who has plenty to say about the state of the world – and not a whit of new insight to offer nor artistic invention to express it … Moodysson’s humourless, finger-wagging script ticks every expected box, and he’s not averse to heavy visual underlining … The film’s title (alludes) – geddit? – to the capitalist global system, a wasteful titan doomed to extinction, though it applies equally well to the lumbering shaggy monster that Moodysson has created here.
-
2/9 Oscarweb Round-up
• Thom Yorke and Gustavo Santaolalla to join forces on “Terminator Salvation” tunes?? [The Playlist]• Tom O’Neil spotlights the BAFTA voting process. [Gold Derby]
• T.L. Stanley on the politics of Dustin Lance Black’s WGA acceptance speech. [Gold Rush]
• David Poland says Universal dropped the ball on “Frost/Nixon,” as represented by its incredibly weak box office showing. [The Hot Blog]
• Along a similar line of thought, and in an increasingly popular column idea the past week or so, Peter Sciretta comments on three of this year’s Best Picture nominees being among the lowest grossers in Academy history. [/Film]
• Presumably out of ideas for the time being, Jeff Wells goes seeking advanced word on “The Road” at…IMDb. [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• Barry Levinson writes a love letter to Mickey Rourke. Did they kick the tires and light the fires in the nick of time for this campaign to push on ahead? [New York Times]
• Bolt and the other characters who transformed cinema. [The Independent]
• Roger Ebert predicts a handful of the categories, steps out on a limb for Viola Davis. [Chicago Sun-Times]
• Across the pond, newly minted BAFTA winner Penelope Cruz explains why she can’t stop crying. [The Sunday Times]
• Richard Brody spots a mole on the set of Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island.” Well, not really — it’s actually a Cahiers du Cinema-sponsored Argentinian filmmaker/mentee. [The New Yorker]
-
“It’s such a pleasure to be here, back out of the darkness.”
If you didn’t catch Mickey Rourke’s marvellous BAFTA acceptance speech, here it is in all its (bleeped) glory. For me, it’s moments like this that awards season is all about. (And I love the Richard Harris dedication — from one rebel talent to another.)
-
POLL: Who deserves it? — BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tell us in the sidebar poll and, as usual, feel free to tell us why below.
-
‘Slumdog’ takes 7 BAFTAs as Rourke, Winslet triumph
For an awards body renowned for its frequently contrarian bent, the most surprising thing about this year’s BAFTA awards was, well, just how unsurprising they were.As the evening unfolded, not a single result emerged that could be classified as a major upset, even if the winners (“Man on Wire” helmer James Marsh in particular) occasionally looked more astonished than anyone else. Yours truly got 16 out of 21 predictions correct (a personal BAFTA record, I think) and even then, most of those errors came from trying to second-guess their usually far less predictable tech categories, and slightly underestimating the across-the-board love for “Slumdog Millionaire.”
For love it they did, awarding it 7 trophies in the biggest BAFTA sweep since “Schindler’s List” matched that tally fifteen years ago. There really is very little to say about the “Slumdog” phenomenon at this stage, other than to admire the grace, modesty and genuinely endearing excitement that Danny Boyle, et al, still manage to convey at these ceremonies, all the while concealing the fact that they can no longer be surprised when their names are called.
The other major story of the ceremony, however, was Mickey Rourke, whose outrageous but nonetheless slyly self-deprecating speech was the evening’s clear highlight. (His hilarious shout-out to his agent for “telling me who to fuck” is surely a soundbite for the ages.) I think it was clear to anyone in the UK that Rourke would win this – “The Wrestler” appears to be attaining cult status here, while the buzz around “Milk” has been eerily quiet – but it does nevertheless prove that he’s still very much in the Oscar race. Taking his wonderful performance aside for a moment, Rourke has now twice proved that he makes for great TV – and assuming they can handle some salty language, his knockout speech tonight may well win over some undecided AMPAS voters.
(More thoughts, and a full list of winners, after the cut.)
-
BAFTA Awards — live from London
BEST FILM: “Slumdog Millionaire”
I bow to no one in my love for the Rolling Stones, but even so, what the hell is Mick Jagger doing presenting this award? Anyway, as if you hadn’t guessed already, “Slumdog” inevitably takes the gold, completing what I think must be the largest BAFTA sweep in some years. (Or one of the largest ever? I’ll need to check the books on that.)
BEST ACTOR: Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
I was confident Rourke would win here, given that “The Wrestler” has built such a surprisingly high profile on these shores. (“Milk,” on the other hand, couldn’t be less visible.) Even so, there’s always a little thrill of the unexpected about seeing Rourke in contexts like this.
He rocks the house once again with another wonderful speech — funny, off-the-cuff, just the right side of lewd, and best of all, he’s comfortably, completely himself. And he squeezes in a few F-bombs in for good measure. Great, great stuff. I’m not a begging man, AMPAS, but please, for the sake of both art and entertainment, please give the man an Oscar.
BEST ACTRESS: Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
Daniel Craig barely bothered to enunciate which film she’d won for. I assume it was “The Reader,” since she’s thanking Minghella and Pollack. I feel a little bad for Winslet — she’s so obviously trying to rein it in here, she comes off a little stiff and over-rehearsed. This is the damage the merciless British press can do. But she’s clearly pleased, so … good job, I guess. (What was with that clip choice, though? Is “I’ll have what you have” really one of her best lines?)
-
‘Milk’ wins WGA’s original screenplay award…
UPDATE: Yep, done deal. Carr reports once again:
The final award of the night, for motion picture original screenplay, went to “Milk.” Thomas Krever, executive director of the Harvey Milk High School in New York, along with two of his students accepted the award on behalf of “Milk”” screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.
EARLIER: That’s what it says at Variety, in any case (though not in the body of the piece it links to). But if it’s a done deal, then that, as they say, is that. No big surprises, not twisted turns of fate. Just the usual.
I still think “WALL-E” can win the Oscar over Dustin Lance Black, but I’d have been more convinced if, say, “The Wrestler” had won tonight instead. But there we have it.
-
‘Slumdog’ wins WGA’s adapted screenplay award…
Anyone surprised? David Carr reports:
After listing the nominees – Eric Roth for “Button,” Christopher Nolan for “Dark Knight”, John Patrick Shanley for “Doubt,” Peter Morgan for “Frost/Nixon” and Simon Beaufoy for “Slumdog”, [presenter Terry George] made the unsurprising announcement that “Slumdog” had won.
Mr. Beaufoy examined the winged sculpture thingie that the WGA gives out and pronounced it “beautiful., and there are many awards out there that are not genuinely beautiful.”
-
Hey voters — screw it, vote ‘Saya’ anyway
We linked to Tom O’Neil’s story in the Oscarweb Round-up this morning, you know, the one reporting that Fox Searchlight is actually trying to get voters to spring for “Jai Ho” over “O…Saya” for fear of vote splitting. The sad thing is the latter is the better track, and indeed, the best of the nominees. So hey voters, don’t pay attention to what has to be considered a borderline insulting strategy (if you’re M.I.A.) and vote “O…Saya” anyway!
-
Predicting BAFTA, part two — main categories
Continuing yesterday’s not-so-educated guesses at tomorrow’s BAFTA Awards, we move on the main categories. In many ways, they’re easier to predict than the frequently confounding technical categories, but that’s no reason to get complacent – as we saw last year with then-unexpected wins for Tilda Swinton and Marion Cotillard, BAFTA is more than capable of throwing a significant spanner in the works in the top races.By the way, be sure to tune in tomorrow, when I’ll be liveblogging the ceremony, beginning with the red carpet coverage at 11 a.m. PST (that’s 7 p.m. London time).
BAFTA bizarrely issues a press release revealing the winners before the ceremony begins. (I told you they haven’t a clue how to organise the event.) I’ll be ignoring that, for my part – the ceremony can be dull enough without having every last drop of suspense extricated from the proceedings. But the info will be available. I leave the choice up to you.
Moving on to the predictions…
Best Film
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”There really is terribly little to discuss here. The truth is that “Slumdog” would likely be a BAFTA favourite even if it weren’t primed for Oscar glory – a true British success story, from a popular but largely unsung hometown filmmaker, featuring a British lead actor from a high-profile Channel 4 TV drama, it’s been a massive local box-office success, and has enjoyed nearly the same level of critical adulation here as in the States. BAFTA has celebrated homegrown product in this category for the last two years, and will do so for a third time running. If anything were to derail the Mumbai express, it would be the very British-flavoured “The Reader” … but it won’t.
-
A year ago…
I totally forgot to tabulate my year-in-advance prowess (or lack thereof) when the nominations landed over a week ago, but according to the old site, I guess I nailed 34 nominees correctly. None of them particularly impressive, I guess. Most of them we probably all saw coming.
Speaking of year-in-advance predictions, I might as well take a moment to remind everyone that this year’s slate, as always, will be revealed the day after the Oscars (Monday, Feb. 23), as usual. Be sure to check back for those (which will be as wrong as any year, I imagine, but hey — it’s fun).
-
POLL: Who deserves it? — BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Who should win for the best threads of the year? Tell us in the sidebar poll.
-
‘Dark Knight’ snub puts it in great company
While I, too, am tired of the carping and griping about this years Academy Award nominations, I still have not been able to wrap my head around how this group could have snubbed “The Dark Knight” and Christopher Nolan. They obviously liked the film, something akin to “Dreamgirls” two years ago, landing many nominations but lacking best film and director.But “The Dark Knight” is in pretty fine company in terms of great films not nominated for the big prize. I have always found it incredible that a group of people so close to the industry (working within it, actually) could miss films that we as critics and audience members know to be great films. How does that happen? Are the Academy Awards truly elitist? Are they wrong-headed? Or are they that political and so controlled by the studio campaigning system that they really can be swayed like the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association?
Yes I am still smarting about “The Reader,” whether it really was #5 or not, because I share Kris’s opinion of the film: sloppy, not very well put together, not particularly moving, and aside from Kate Winslet, in a SUPPORTING role, the film did not not seem to have very much going for it. Yes I have heard all those nasty rumors and theories about Holocaust films getting nominated, and until now, I have never put much stock in them, but I have to tell you, this one stunned me.
Would I be so miffed if it was “Gran Torino” or “Revolutionary Road?” No, because with the former I would understand the Eastwood love, and with the latter I believe it should have been nominated, but “The Reader” has left me in a spin.
Mr. Nolan, you made a great film, something the Directors Guild of America (God bless them) recognized, and legions of admirers anxiously await your next work, Batman or not. And rest assured you are in good company, here are some of the great films that the Academy chose not to nominate for Best Picture:
-
2/7 Oscarweb Round-up
• Rochona Majumdar and Satyam Khanna discuss the “Slumdog Millionaire” controversy. [NPR]• Kim Voynar spotlights the Best Director category. [Movie City News]
• David Poland spends 30 minutes with “WALL-E” writer and director Andrew Stanton. [The Hot Blog]
• Five Oscar night surprises Mark Lisanti would like to see. [Little Gold Men]
• Searchlight may be making a wise business decision, but they’re still abandoning the best of the nominated songs in the process. [Gold Derby]
• Yet another “meet the Oscarcast producers” piece. [Associated Press]