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Celebrating Heath’s accomplishment

When Johnny Depp first read the role of Captain Jack Sparrow, there was nothing in the script to suggest the performance he would eventually give. That bizarre manner of speaking, sounding slightly stoned, the crazy off-kilter walk, and the way he moved his arms, all but flailing them about. That was an actor’s artistry, plain and simple, and it was something to behold. That is the genius of Johnny Depp.

When Heath Ledger was given the role of the Joker I was mildly surprised, not because I did not think he could do it. On the contrary. It just never occurred to me to consider him for the role. Obviously Christopher Nolan knew something I did not. Then consider the obstacles facing Ledger, the largest being a performance from one of the greatest and most beloved actors in the history of the cinema in the same role back in 1989. “Batman” was still a hot DVD, plenty fresh in the minds of viewers. Jack Nicholson’s Joker was, at the time, critically acclaimed. He stole the movie right from under Michael Keaton’s nose — even had top billing. Yet Tim Burton’s “Batman” was a fantasy, and Christopher Nolan has gone in an entirely different direction with his “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.”

Ledger understood this and made the decision to portray the Joker as realistically as possible, as a terrorist, as a murderous maniac with a mind that was pure evil and twisted genius. He walked differently, he moved differently, he spoke differently. The licking of the lips to soothe the scars of his mouth, the manner of speaking slowly as to challenge the other person, all of this was Ledger. He created something rather extraordinary in the film and that should be celebrated.

I believe he gave the best performance of the year in 2005 for his breathtaking work in “Brokeback Mountain,” but the Academy thought otherwise. But I don’t think that will happen this year. This is one of those performances like Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront,” Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull” and recently, Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland” that is so brilliant, so stunning to watch (and watch again), the Academy has to honor it. This is one for the ages, to be discussed and reviewed for years to come.

Tom O’Neil is tossing the supporting actor race around with a couple of colleagues over at Gold Derby. Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger brings up the issue of winds of changing, the “dynamic changes in momentum,” as O’Neil puts it. But let’s face it. The Academy will look like fools if they don’t hand Ledger this trophy, because this is the most discussed performance of the year.

The best directors, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, they hire their actors and trust them to do the job, to come to the set prepared and having created something for the film that will work for the director’s vision. Nolan did this with Ledger He smartly stood out of the way and let him go, allowing the actor to enhance the film, give it an edge, bring to it a dark brilliance. And what could “The Dark Knight” be without the darkest of villains?

January 7, 2009
Mickey Rourke featurette at Awards Daily

“I don’t know if I could ever do it again,” Mickey Rourke says in this just-up exclusive featurette at Awards Daily. “Just something magical happened.” I love that. And I must say, Fox Searchlight is really working this thing hard this year. The studio’s passion is always evident, but this season, with considerably less funds and certainly not-so-typical awards bait to work, I have to say the hard work is REALLY showing. I just spent an hour or so with Marisa Tomei yesterday and she couldn’t agree more, of course. She’s on the bubble right now, but as she told me, “it’s nice to be in the mix.” I’ll have that interview up in due time, but here’s AD’s Rourke piece:

And in case you missed it, here’s our Marisa Tomei featurette from last month.

January 7, 2009
ASC nominees

The American Society of Cinematographers have announced their annual list of nominees, which are:

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Claudio Miranda)
“The Dark Knight” (Wally Pfister)
“The Reader” (Roger Deakins and Chris Menges)
“Revolutionary Road” (Roger Deakins)
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Anthony Dod Mantle)

I’m pleasantly surprised by the “Reader” inclusion. Though I didn’t care for the film, one of the first things I noted was the sublime photography. This could carry over to Oscar, but I must say I’m somewhat surprised Eduardo Serra’s beautiful work in “Defiance” was excluded. Harris Savides, meanwhile, continues to come up short with his peers despite being the best in the game (and many of his peers would say the same thing, which makes it all the more baffling). And the “Australia” snub is hardly surprising since Mandy Walker’s work never reached the level many anticipated.

But all this brings me to a question I’ve had racing through my head for some time now: could Claudio Miranda be the one of this lot snubbed of an Oscar nod? The Academy has shown a bias against digital photography where the guild hasn’t. “Apocalypto” and “Collateral,” you’ll recall, failed to translate their ASC nomiantions into AMPAS love, so it’s certainly something to consider.

WGA on the way…

January 7, 2009
1/7 Oscarweb Round-up

• Noah Forrest talks with “Che” scribe Peter Buchman. [Movie City News]

• David S. Cohen takes a deeper look at the visual effects bake-off. [Thompson on Hollywood]

• Tom O’Neil chats with Dave Karger and Michael Musto about the seemingly Oscar-locked Heath Ledger. [Gold Derby]

• Reed Johnson talks to the descendents of “Defiance”‘s Bielski brothers. [Los Angeles Times]

• Yet another “what’s up with all the movie Nazs” piece. [The Independent]

• Christopher Goodwin talks to Daniel Craig about his experimentalism. [The Times]

• Anthony Breznican profiles “Rachel Getting Married” star Anne Hathaway. [USA Today]

January 7, 2009
Daylight robbery

Thanks to some living, breathing piece of shit who thinks it’s somehow acceptable to break into people’s houses and help themselves, I have been relieved of my laptop. So I’m afraid I’m going to be pretty scarce around here for a little while. See y’all soon.

January 7, 2009
Guessing the WGA: the adaptations

(Original screenplay predictions here.)

The adapted field is a little easier to manage. But I wouldn’t look to USC’s typically road-less-traveled nominees for much of a barometer for the adapted screenplay race, however. That’s folly of a different sort. So we’re left to our own devices.

Once again, foreign and animated films are not eligible here. This probably affects “The Class” and “Gomorrah” more than anything else. I doubt “The Tale of Despereaux” has much in the way of screenplay hopes this season. Ditto “Let the Right One In,” however vile the idea.

As mentioned in the originals discussion, the WGA likes its comedies. “Mean Girls,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “High Fidelity” are a few examples of adaptations to make the cut here while missing with the Academy. The only problem is…there isn’t really an applicable comedy adaptation in the mix. Had, say, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” or “Yes Man” been somewhat more memorable, then maybe. But that’s about all we have to pull from. So maybe it isn’t a bad thing. Anything that makes the guessing game a little easier is fine by me.

I’d say the safest bets here are the two Best Picture frontrunners: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (written by Eric Roth) and “Slumdog Millionaire” (Simon Beaufoy). And even though I just finished telling you the Scripter nominees shouldn’t matter, I nonetheless think David Hare’s adaptation of “The Reader” might have a strong foothold here, even if it misses with Oscar (which it might not). Ditto Justin Haythe’s “Revolutionary Road.”

That leaves a battle of the plays: “Doubt” versus “Frost/Nixon.” As I said earlier, there is always at least one eventual Best Picture nominee left off the guild’s slate, even if it manages a nomination with AMPAS writers. My bet is that’s going to be “Frost/Nixon” this year, so chalk one up for “Doubt.” But I’m not solid on that either, because…

…the big question mark is “The Dark Knight.” I think the PGA nomination was a given and I don’t think a SAG ensemble nod should have really been expected. The Scripter snub was odd, but meaningless in the face of the awards landscape, because it isn’t an industry organization. So the first real, true, honest-to-God test for this film and its Oscar hopes comes with tomorrow’s announcement. I’m strangely expecting a snub, one that might carry over to Oscar even if a Best Picture nomination stays in the cards. But even so, that’s shaky ground to be on. Only a DGA nomiantion Thursday could right the ship if WGA takes a pass.

My predictions:

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Eric Roth; based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
“Doubt” (John Patrick Shanley; based on his play)
“The Reader” (David Hare; based on the nivel by Bernhard Schlink)
“Revolutionary Road” (Justin Haythe; based on the novel by Richard Yates)
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Simon Beaufoy; based on the novel “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup)

Other possibilities:
“The Dark Knight” (Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan; based on characters appearing in DC Comics)
“Defiance” (Clay Frohman, Edward Zwick; based on the book by Nechama Tec)
“Frost/Nixon” (Peter Morgan; based on his play)

What about you?

January 6, 2009
Guessing the WGA: the originals

I almost let this one slip by without taking a stab at it. It’s all happening!

Anyway, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) will be announcing its list of screen nominees tomorrow. I figured I’d take an in-depth look at both categories, starting with the original scripts, which provide a much broader field than the adaptations.

Understand that foreign films and animated films are not eligible with the WGA, so you won’t be seeing nominations for “I’ve Loved You So Long” or “WALL-E.” The former probably didn’t have much of a shot, but with Andrew Stanton and company out of the picture, it helps to narrow things a bit…but not by much.

Looking deeper at the equation, Mike Leigh has only been nominated by the guild once, way back in 1996 for “Secrets & Lies.” My hunch is the guild doesn’t much respect his penchant for improvisation as opposed to proper screenwriting, even if the Academy’s writing branch has allowed for it in recent years.

Woody Allen’s whopping 18 nominations would make him a seeming lock but then again, his last guild nod was back in 1995 for “Mighty Aphrodite.” The Academy has nominated him for “Deconstructing Harry” and “Match Point” since that time, but “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” is probably his most well-liked film in over a decade, so it’s probably secure.

Next, it’s worth noting that the WGA likes its comedies. “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “Garden State,” “The Station Agent,” “Bend It Like Beckham” and “Best in Show” represent a handful of original screenplays that have been nominated here even if they managed to be left out of the Academy’s tally. So something tells me a shocker like “Pineapple Express” or “Tropic Thunder” showing up shouldn’t be much of a shock at all, but I’m more tempted to go with Martin McDonagh’s brutally dark “In Bruges” instead.

I see no real reason to bet against Jenny Lumet’s “Rachel Getting Married” (though I could be on autopilot with that assumption) or Thomas McCarthy’s “The Visitor” (as mentioned, recognized here in 2003 for “The Station Agent”). So that leaves one more spot to fill.

There is always one Best Picture nominee left out of this guild’s slate of nominees even if it manages to find love with the Academy’s writing branch. Examples have included “Atonement,” “Letters from Iwo Jima,” “Munich” and “Finding Neverland.” My guess is it’s a toss-up between “Frost/Nixon” in the adaptations and “Milk” here in the originals for that unfortunate designation this year. But I’m going to go ahead with the assumption that Dustin Lance Black is on sturdy ground with his work on the Harvey Milk biopic.

One quick note before I get to my predictions, however: I have no idea how any industry guild or organization will respond to Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York.” If the WGA sees the brilliance, great, grand…but I’m not counting on it.

I’m going with this set:

“In Bruges” (Martin McDonagh)
“Milk” (Dustin Lance Black)
“Rachel Getting Married” (Jenny Lumet)
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (Woody Allen)
“The Visitor” (Thomas McCarthy)

Other possibilities:
“Burn After Reading” (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)
“Pineapple Express” (Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg)
“Tropic Thunder” (Etan Cohen, Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux)
“The Wrestler” (Robert D. Siegel)

What about you?

January 6, 2009
Japanese ‘Watchmen’ trailer lays it on thick

Tricky Dick AND the Kennedy assassination? Boy, they’re really going for it. And my vote is the Japanese trailer dude should narrate all trailers from now on:

January 6, 2009
Go get it

January 6, 2009
BAFTA longlist

I’ll wait until this slate of contenders is a wee bit narrower before I start really digging into it, but it looks like the BAFTA favorites are “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Frost/Nixon.”

January 6, 2009
AMPAS narrows the visual effects field to seven

Last month, the Academy whittled the contenders for Best Visual Effects down to 15 hopefuls. Today, the branch has chipped away at it further.

And then there were seven:

“Australia”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
“Iron Man”
“Journey to the Center of the Earth”
“The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”

And from the press release:

On Thursday, January 15, all members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

The most surprising omissions are probably “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and “The Incredible Hulk.” Maybe “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” if you want to go there, but I don’t. I can’t believe it made the list of 15, frankly. And after watching “Hancock” again over the holiday, as well as the visual effects featurette, I was beginning to think it might have a decent shot. But my guess is that we’re still looking at “Button” and “Iron Man” as sure bets with “The Dark Knight” likely filling in the third and final slot.

Then again, this show of love for “Hellboy II” could translate to somewhat unexpected nominations both here and in the makeup field. And I feel like “Journey to the Center of the Earth” has more stroke with this group than many are assuming.

January 6, 2009
‘Dark Knight’ tops our list of the year’s best

In lieu of a proper Tuesday list, I thought I’d do something a little different this year, since we have a slew of contributors and In Contention is no longer the brain space of just one person. I polled all our writers for their individual top 10 lists, which you can find detailed after the jump. But with the lists in hand, I pulled out the trusty abacus and went about the painstakingly in-depth analysis of each to surmise a collective top 10. The results were interesting.

No film appeared on all five lists, which is already an accomplishment, I’d say. Four films appeared on four lists and four on three. The remaining two films on the collective appeared on two lists. No film popping up on just one list was taken into account, so you don’t get to march with torches over a “Bolt” inclusion.

“The Dark Knight” became the obvious victor early on, but Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” came a lot closer than you might think. I used a simple point system per ranking, but in all scenarios, the number of lists featuring a film was given precedence over points. This made for a good tie-breaker here and there and, in some cases, caused for this film or that to leap-frog another.

Consider this my ultimate salute to our contributors who, I doubt I’m alone here, did a bang-up job in 2008. Here’s to an equally splendid 2009.

In Contention’s top 10 films of 2008:

1. “The Dark Knight”
2. “Synecdoche, New York”
3. “Slumdog Millionaire”
4. “WALL-E”
5. “Milk”
6. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
7. “The Wrestler”
8. “Let the Right One In”
9. “Rachel Getting Married”
10. “In Bruges”

Honorable mention: “Gomorrah,” “Hunger,” “Pineapple Express”

(Individual lists after the jump.)

(more…)

January 6, 2009
When Cedar Rapids ain’t good enough, light out for the territories

I was going to include this David Frank Rope of Silicon op-ed in today’s round-up, but it’s just too good not to spotlight separately. I laughed out loud a number of times because I understand this guy’s pain. I’ve been there before. And I’m sure plenty in the readership can relate.

The piece is a week old, so you may have already come across it, but the central idea is the annual top 10 list/best of the year online frenzy and how it makes Frank, sitting helplessly in 33-screen Cedar Rapids, Iowa (two hours away from Des Moines, the closest market for limited releases), want to pull his hair out. He compares his annual out-of-the-know agony to being “[t]hat one guy at your college roommate’s sexy art student girlfriend’s party who hasn’t illegally downloaded the latest Bright Eyes album that everyone around him is raving about.”

Frank “gets it,” of course. “Why give an auditorium to a movie that sells 5 tickets a day,” he asks, “when you can cram it full of old people who must see Marley and Me per their bucket lists?” But eventually he comes around to the all-too-familiar “movie road trip,” that splendid ritual of trekking it however many miles it takes to see the films that simply aren’t making it to the multiplexes (or single-plexes) in those smaller markets:

To me, the movie road trip is how you earn your stripes in the film fiend brigade. You can say you love fine cinema and blah blah blah. But save it for Flowery Film Theory 101. The physical, monetary, time-consuming act of seeking out one small, great film in a far away land (like Des Moines) says a lot more about your dedication to movies than wordy adoration.

This brings back plenty of memories, because like I said, I’ve been there. I certainly haven’t had these year-end prestige flicks at my disposal here in Los Angeles all my life, and if you have, consider yourself lucky.

I grew up in a little burg called Salisbury, North Carolina, maybe an hour or so north of Charlotte. I remember making that journey in 1997 to see “Jackie Brown” and a year later to see “The Thin Red Line.” The Manor art house theater over on Providence Road became a destination for the really small stuff, like “The Red Violin” or “Limbo.”

When I pushed off to college in Winston-Salem (another half-hour north) in 1999, there were times I’d still have to make that journey: “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “Amelie,” etc. And by that time I was already running a site, so the necessity went beyond desire. But as I look back on it, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It recalls those pre-jaded years when films were just films and the curtain had yet to be pulled back.

So I hear you, David. Way to keep the spirit alive. You’ve more than earned your stripes in my book.

What about you guys? What’s the farthest you’ve ever traveled to see a film that wasn’t playing in your area? Have you ever made the journey knowing the film would be in your town in a few weeks, figuring, ‘Screw it, I have to see this movie RIGHT NOW?” Tell us your story in the comments section below.

January 6, 2009
1/6 Oscarweb Round-up

• Patrick Goldstein busts Miramax’s balls for fudging a “Doubt” praise quote. [The Big Picture]

• David Poland analyzes the top 10 collective for Oscar tea leaves. [The Hot Blog]

• Sam Thielman reports from the NYC Lincoln Center Q&A with David Fincher… [Variety]

• …and Lane Brown gives the director some more grief for his “charm offensive.” [Vulture]

• Alex Billington has Jamie Callum’s “Gran Torino” music video (and the balls to state “those of you that have seen this by now know that it’s actually a great movie.”) [First Showing]

• Paula Schwartz reports from the New York Film Critics Circle awards with a few embarrassing quotes from the always entertaining Rex Reed. [The Carpetbagger]

• Todd Martens touches on Bruce Springsteen’s favor to Mickey Rourke and Darren Aronofsky. [Pop & Hiss]

• Anita Singh sits down with “Slumdog Millionaire” star Dev Patel. [Daily Telegraph]

• Susan King previews the Palm Springs International Film Festival. [The Envelope]

• Chrissy Iley chats it up with Frank Langella. [The Sunday Times]

January 6, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: Best Makeup contenders narrow to seven

The first bake-off of the season is here, narrowing the Oscar contenders for Best Makeup down to seven. The finalists are:

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
“The Reader”
“Synecdoche, New York”
“Tropic Thunder”
“The Wrestler”

No major surprises here. My predicted three are still in the mix. In fact, I missed the top seven in my chart by just one, “The Reader” in favor of “Frost/Nixon.” But the show of support for “The Wrestler” is certainly telling, and perhaps a worthy inclusion, given the attention to brutal battle detail in the pro wrestling flick.

If there are any surprise omissions, it might be the aforementioned “Frost/Nixon,” or perhaps “W.” Oh, and “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.” I believe the first installment made it this far. No go on the considerably less popular sequel. But on the whole, this process seems to have been organic enough, leaving us with a solid septet. I could see any combination of three making it in.

January 5, 2009
USC Scripter nominees — ‘Iron Man’ surprises!

Now THAT’s what I call crashing the party. I don’t know how you nominate “Iron Man” over “The Dark Knight” in a category such as this, but nice to see someone standing up and being original.

The 2008 USC Scripter nominees are:

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Iron Man”
“The Reader”
“Revolutionary Road”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

I kind of expect Mr. Roth to win here, even if “Button” is beaten out by “Slumdog” at the Oscars. But we’ll see. The winner will be announced at the Jan. 30 gala, which I’ll be attending. If you recall, this will be the first year the USC Libraries will unveil the winner at the actual show.

As for Oscar, the WGA will be the first true road to the adapted screenplay category. The guild that stirred up a storm a year ago will announce its nominees on Thursday. Could “Iron Man” pop up here again? Time will tell.

January 5, 2009
You’re kidding me with the surprise, right?

David Carr says the film “crashed the Producers Guild nomination list.” Susan King says it was “perhaps the biggest surprise of the nominees.” The guys at HitFix put the film in both the headline and the lead, indicating some level of surpassed expectation (though that is admittedly my own reading of the editorial choices).

Help me out here. Am I the only one who thought “The Dark Knight” was guaranteed a PGA nomination this morning? It was probably the film’s most likely mention in the entire precursor circuit, and that includes any nomination Heath Ledger has received. This is a group that respects the dollar, folks. “Harry Potter,” “Shrek,” “The Incredibles.” Hell, there were even those expecting “Spider-Man” might crack the list in 2002. So it’s kind of easy to anticipate a $500 million behemoth like this making it in, no?

Am I crazy?

January 5, 2009
Don’t go changin’

Typically Monday is “Off the Carpet” day, but I see absolutely zero reason to touch the charts this week. The only races that are shaping up to be interesting are a couple of the performance fields, and the technical categories will be up in the air until we start hearing from the guilds (ADG kicks it off on Friday, ACE a week from today).

In the meantime, my predicted five Best Picture nominees have not changed in over a month. Coincidentally (or fatefully) they are the same five films chalked up for nods by the PGA this morning, and most likely, the same films that will pop up Thursday when the DGA announces.

So, no column or chart update this week.

January 5, 2009