In Contention

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Memo to the Academy

    The Academy Awards–MEMO–

    TO: Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
    FROM: Kristopher Tapley

    RE: The ballot you recently received

    Ladies and gentleman,

    As you sit to ponder the year’s best in your various fields of professional expertise, you might find yourself strong-armed into the consensus view 2008’s film product has been whittled down to over the last 30 days.  You might even find yourself at a loss, cramming as much as you can after a year of constantly working with nary a moment to spare a trip to the cinema.  Such last minute jitters can yield an unconsidered and, certainly, lackadaisical approach to your annual responsibilities as AMPAS members.  But I implore you to take your time with this, be measured, and above all, take pen to paper with a level of seriousness.

    While I would never presume to tell you how to go about filling in your respective ballots, I hope you don’t find it too bold of me to offer a few closing words of encouragement and suggestion as we close the book on 2008.  The glut of film awards season fades into a numbing hum you’d perhaps rather ignore until the holidays have run their course, so come back to these words at a later date if you must.  They merely represent the humble opinion of one passionate film lover who believes in the potential of your organization and the ideals it stands for.

    (more…)

  • 12/29 Oscarweb Round-up

    Scarlett Johansson• Anita Singh looks at the upcoming year of the dog for British movie-goers, including “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” “Bolt,” “Marley and Me” and “Wendy and Lucy.” [Daily Telegraph]

    • “A Christmas Tale” tops Andrew O’Hehir’s list of the 10 best indie films of 2008. [Beyond the Multiplex]

    • Jonathan Miles talks to newly minted Oscar host Hugh Jackman about “Australia” down under in Sydney. [The Times]

    • “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” screenwriter Eric Roth sues his investment manager for “losing a bundle” in businessman Bernie Madoff’s ill-fated Ponzi scheme. [New York Daily News]

    • Speaking of “Button,” Brad Brevet takes a deeper look at two negative assessments of the film. [Rope of Silicon]

    • James Rocchi chats with “Reader” director Stephen Daldry. [Cinematical]

    • Scarlett Johansson: the reluctant sex symbol. [The Times]

    • Susan King chats with Zoe Kazan about her role in “Revolutionary Road.” [Los Angeles Times]

  • Remembering Michael Crichton at year’s end

    Michael CrichtonOne of my wish list items that happened to be under the tree this Christmas was Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear,” an anti-global warming thriller that is likely to both infuriate (given the politics) and keep me turning the page (given Crichton’s story-telling skill).

    It’s been a while since I flipped through a Crichton book, but I’ve been in a somewhat nostalgic mood for his work ever since the author’s untimely death last month.  I’ve always found myself sharing an opinion of him similar to New York Times writer Charles McGrath’s, who noted in his obituary, “As a writer he was a kind of cyborg, tirelessly turning out novels that were intricately engineered entertainment systems. No one — except possibly Mr. Crichton himself — ever confused them with great literature, but very few readers who started a Crichton novel ever put it down.”

    As we move closer and closer to the end of the year, In Memoriam installments will fly fast and furious for the entertainers we lost in 2008.  With that in mind, Rachel Abramowitz has penned an appreciation in the Los Angeles Times for the departed scribe: “Michael Crichton’s Hollywood legacy.”  She opens the 11-page photo gallery with the following words of remembrance:

    It’s hard to imagine modern-day Hollywood without provocative potboiler author Michael Crichton, the Harvard-trained doctor whose fertile imagination fused science and fear in heart-stopping fashion, launching upon unsuspecting moviegoers extraterrestrial killer micro-organisms (“The Andromeda Strain”), the black-market trade in organs (“Coma”), an amusement park full of fantasy-fulfilling androids (“Westworld”), Adrenalin-junkie tornado chasers (“Twister”) and of course, genetically recreated dinosaurs running amok (“The Jurassic Park” franchise).

    In his spare time, the 6-foot-9 author who could churn out 10,000 words a day, tackled the murky politics of sexual harassment (“Disclosure”), questionable Japanese business practices (“Rising Sun”), and created “ER”, one of the most popular television series of all time. He’s probably the only person in America ever to have a No. 1 book, No. 1 movie and No. 1 TV show all at the same time.

    Take a trip down memory lane here.  And here’s one of Crichton’s last in-depth interviews, an hour-long discussion with Charlie Rose last year as he was making the publicity rounds on “Next,” including maybe a 20-minute chunk on Crichton’s controversial views on global warming:

  • Blast from the past

    Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel review the first Fincher/Pitt collaboration in September of 1995:

  • Sorry for the slow loading…

    It seems some ad servers were acting up this morning, causing some turmoil for quite a few sites.  Everything should be in order now.

  • THR’s film music composer roundtable

    Alexandre DesplatI’m a few weeks late getting to this.  The Hollywood Reporter just isn’t one of my frequent visits anymore (sadly).  But the trade’s annual Oscar Roundtable series is in full swing and the recent composers session makes for a fascinating read.

    The composers who participated were Alexandre Desplat (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Danny Elfman (“Hellboy II,” “Milk,” “Standard Operating Procedure,” “Wanted”), Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (“The Visitor”), A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and Howard Shore (“Doubt”).  Here’s an excerpt that stood out to me:

    Kaczmarek: Well there is this great era of composers that we always site, like Herrmann and (Erich) Korngold. But as much as I like bold strokes and the great scope of that era, it is, in a sense, useless today because we can’t write that way. As much as I admire that craft, we are living in different times. There is a much more subtle language being used now.

    Rahman: I am so much in love with scores that have great melodies, but nowadays if you have a great melody they say, “Oh, it’s distracting from my film.”

    Shore: Film music is changing all the time. From year to year, the styles are changing, and frankly, they are all of interest. I find it an interesting, fascinating process seeing this art form evolve over a hundred years. I think this year is the 100th anniversary of film music. If you look at the history of it, and where we are in it, it’s such a young art form steeped in music tradition. It started with classical music and then opera and then evolved into the great scores of the ’30s, the experimentation of the ’50s and ’60s. It has just been an interesting process. Film music is a fascinating art form and there is still great work to be done. We have the benefit of all these great works of the past to build on, and there is a future ahead.

    Desplat: The field is so wide open in front of us. That’s why I like to create music for movies, because you can try anything.

    Check out the rest here.

    Meanwhile, over at Variety’s Award Central (in full swing as well this season), various writers get some face time with the year’s music branch hopefuls.  The section is kicked off by this Jon Burlingame feature on the music of “Australia.”

  • 12/28 Oscarweb Round-up

    Viggo Mortensen in Appaloosa• Joe Morgenstern wraps up the year. [Wall Street Journal]

    • Michael Lerman on the most misunderstood films of 2008. [Spout Blog]

    • Jeffrey Wells tries to draw some parallels between the year’s Best Picture hopefuls and the presidential contenders of 2008. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • James Rocchi podcasts it up with yours truly on year-end top 10s, the season’s critical kudos and some lighter fare on a Boxing Day edition of The Rocchi Review. [Cinematical]

    • Rachel Abramowitz corners the “Valkyrie” trio. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Jenny Miller, meanwhile, spends some time with Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer. [Premiere]

    • Leonard Klady charts the year’s best with a rare “Appaloosa” inclusion. [Movie City News]

    • Speaking of top 10s, Paige Newman considers a few of the year’s lists with a much appreciated shout-out to In Contention. [MSNBC]

  • Day of rest…a few requests of the football gods

    Chad PenningtonObviously, my guys are out of the mix.  Thank you very much Atlanta.  But for those who’ve followed my quasi-coverage of the NFL season, I have a few hopes to toss out there for the final day of the regular season:

    1) Shine down on Rod Marinelli.  It would be two birds with one stone for me if the Lions can come out on top of the Packers today, since I can’t very well stand Aaron Rodgers and I don’t really want to see any team (save maybe the Cowboys) go winless.  Plus, Marinelli could have clocked that ass-hat Detroit Free-Press reporter and no one would have held it against him, but he’s a stand-up guy.  I hope they pull out a miracle.

    2) Breathe some wind into the Eagles’ wings.  The only thing better than rooting for the Skins in my world is rooting against the Cowboys.  Just call it good ole’ fashioned bad blood rivalry.

    3) End the “no one could’ve written it” Dolphins/Jets chapter with a Miami “W.”  I don’t hate the Jets or Brett Favre.  To the contrary.  But the Dolphins have always been my AFC favorite and they have a shot at true redemption this season.  I’d love to see both in the playoffs, but New York had their chances the last couple of weeks.  Chad Pennington deserves this one.

    4) Win one for the Gipper, a.k.a., Jerry Richardson.  It’s hard to grow up in North Carolina and not find yourself on the Panthers’ side, and this year, they’ve played like champions.  The best belated Christmas present for their ailing owner (Richardson was placed on the heart donor list just weeks ago) would be a second seed berth and a rematch with the Giants in the conferance championship.  Let’s start the road there with a victory over the Saints today.

    5) Finally, speaking of the Saints, much as I love Drew Brees, let him fall short of Dan Marino’s godlike single season yardage record.  It’s bad enough that Favre stayed in the league long enough to chip away at all the others, but this one needs to stand.  The poor bastard never got a ring.  Leave him a little piece of history.

    Now, back to Oscar talk…

  • That dude who wrote ‘The Usual Suspects’ makes the rounds

    Christopher McQuarrieAlright, I’m only joshing Christopher McQuarrie with the “that dude” quip.  Count me in the “Usual Suspects” boat, a film I’ve been in the tank for ever since it sparked something in me 13 years ago (along with Michael Mann’s “Heat”).  Both movies played a serious part in forging the film lover before you.

    McQuarrie’s latest project is another Bryan Singer effort, the Tom Cruise starrer “Valkyrie.”  AP writer Jake Coyle cornered the scribe recently to discuss McQuarrie’s Oscar-winning work over a decade later as he and Singer make the press rounds on their somewhat under-reported reunion.

    In an interesting anecdote toward the end of the piece, McQuarrie notes that only after finishing production on “Suspects” did he and Singer realize they had completely different conceptions of the film’s narrative:

    “I pulled Bryan aside the night before press began and I said, ‘We need to get our stories straight because people are starting to ask what happened and what didn’t,’” recalls McQuarrie. “And we got into the biggest argument we’ve ever had in our lives.”

    He continues: “One of us believed that the story was all lies, peppered with little bits of the truth. And the other one believed it was all true, peppered with tiny, little lies. … We each thought we were making a movie that was completely different from what the other one thought.”

    So who believed what?

    With a broad grin, McQuarrie responds: “I’ll never tell.”

    Meanwhile, over at Cinematical, James Rocchi speaks with McQuarrie from New York concerning the project at hand, “working alongside the German government, how producing a mega-million [dollar] war film was like ‘drinking from a firehose,’ forgoing German accents, his possible future take on superheroic franchise ‘The Champions’ and much more.”  Listen to Rocchi’s podcast here.

  • ‘WALL-E,’ ‘Red Balloon’ head up top 10 list compilations

    Once upon a time there was a great website run by a fella named Engin that tracked top 10 lists at this time of year.  It was one hell of a comprehensive collective, but I haven’t heard from him in a few years.

    David Poland at Movie City News has done a nice enough job of picking up the slack in this regard with his annual compilation, which has Pixar’s “WALL-E” sitting at the top with 69 mentions among the 125 lists taken into account so far.  “Milk,” “The Dark Knight,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Wrestler” round out the top 5:

    Movie City News top tens chart

    Meanwhile, indieWIRE’s annual critics poll tells a much different story.  Hou Hsiao-hsien’s “The Flight of the Red Balloon” leads the charge in a survey of more than 100 North American critics.  “A Christmas Tale,” “WALL-E,” “Wendy and Lucy” and “Happy-Go-Lucky” fill out the top five.  “The Dark Knight” is way down at #22:

    indieWIRE critics poll

  • December winner predictions

    Kate Winslet in Revolutionary RoadBefore we get to the end of the month here I thought I’d go ahead and toss up another set of winner predictions.  This’ll be the last pre-nom set.  I’ll go back to them next month, probably the day of the nominations announcement.  But for now, it’s really all blind guessing, as always.

    For last month’s set, click here.

    Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Actor: Clint Eastwood, “Gran Torino”
    Best Actress: Kate Winslet, “Revolutionary Road”
    Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
    Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Original Screenplay: “Milk”
    Best Art Direction: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Cinematography: “Defiance”
    Best Costume Design: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Film Editing: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Makeup: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Music – Original Score: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button””
    Best Music – Original Song: “The Wrestler”
    Best Sound Editing: “The Dark Knight”
    Best Sound Mixing: “The Dark Knight”
    Best Visual Effects: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Animated Feature Film: “WALL-E”
    Best Documentary Feature: “Man on Wire”
    Best Foreign Language Film: “Waltz with Bashir”

  • 12/27 Oscarweb Round-up

    Emma Thompson• Lou Lumenick thinks “Revolutionary Road” might be too grim to resonate this Oscar season. [Lumenick on Film]

    • Tom O’Neil chats with “Last Chance Harvey” star Emma Thompson. [Gold Derby]

    • Todd Leopold wraps up the year in a meandering piece that touches on Heath Ledger, Sarah Palin and…Niels Bohr. [CNN]

    • Steve Weintraub sits down with “Wrestler” star Mickey Rourke, thankfully puts a leash on his itchy “exclusive” trigger finger. [Collider]

    • The 50 films that defined the year, across the pond. [Empire]

    • “Anyone Who Doesn’t Choose This As The Best Movie of the Year is Just Being a Jerk” [Premiere]

    • Dave White wonders why we love movie Nazis. [MSNBC]

    • Andrew O’Hehir talks to Ari Folman about the “bad acid trip” of “Waltz with Bashir.” [Beyond the Multiplex]

  • Blu-ray query for the readership…

    After much deliberation, I settled on a PS3 a few weeks ago and began building a Blu-ray collection (finally) in earnest.  But I’m curious now if anyone here has some immediate “you must buy this” disc ideas.  First out of the gate was “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” followed by “Casino Royale,” “The Incredible Hulk” And “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.”  I have a big wish list underway, but curious what you guys think are cream of the crop Blu-ray flicks.

  • Correction!

    I knew when I tapped out my “year in superlatives” post last week that something was bugging me about my Best Poster pick.  I had forgotten something, I just knew it.  And as much as I loved the “W.” one-sheet I picked, I don’t know, it didn’t feel right.

    Then I was reading through this list of the year’s best posters and it clicked.  Even though I despised Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games” remake with every fiber of my being, this was a brilliant piece of work.

    So, correction appended.

  • 105 new AMPAS members receive their first Oscar ballots

    Yes, the Academy mailed out Oscar ballots today.  Nikki Finke is wondering whether it’s a foregone conclusion, claiming that “this year’s Oscars is shaping up as rather suspense-less.”  Well, live and learn this season, Nikki, because nothing is ever foregone with this bunch.

    Meanwhile, Sandy Cohen of the Associated Press got on the horn with a handful of the Academy’s 105 newest additions.  Here’s an excerpt from her story:

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mailed 5,810 official Oscar nominations ballots to voting members Friday, and perhaps no one was more excited — or more daunted — to cast votes than its 105 newest members.

    “It’s like ‘Wayne’s World.’ I’m not worthy,” said Doug Cooper, 35, who just joined the short films and feature animation branch. “Basically, it’s fear. You have to make a decision.”

    Cinematographer Jonathan Brown said he and his industry pals have been doing their own Oscar polling for years — but this time, his vote really counts.

    “The idea that now it matters is so cool,” he said. “We can, in a small way, have an influence in people getting recognized.”

    Yes you can, Mr. Brown.  Please take your role seriously.

    Check out the rest here.

  • INTERVIEW: Dustin Hoffman

    Dustin HoffmanHe doesn’t seem like Dustin Hoffman for some reason.  He sounds like Dustin Hoffman.  He looks like him.  But there aren’t really any traces of his decades-long assemblage of characters.  And he’s got an approachability that seems somehow uncommon for a star of his stature.

    But there he is, piecing together a sandwich with arugula, veggie cheese, spicy mustard and wheat bread as he recalls his first major interview with Studs Terkel over 40 years ago.  Terkel has passed recently, which brought the topic to the fore.

    “It was Chicago, right after ‘The Graduate,’” Hoffman says.  “I went into his office and he had floor-to-ceiling books and everything, you know.  The office looked like him.  He turns the tape recorder on and it was an intricate and intensive interview that probably went on for over two hours.  We shook hands and he said, ‘Let me just check’ — and the tape didn’t work.  It had been blanked for some reason.  So he says, ‘You wouldn’t mind doing it again?”

    So it was that we kicked off our own two-hour conversation, one steering in and out of his legendary career, briefly touching on the particulars of his latest film, “Last Chance Harvey” (now playing in limited release and for which Hoffman received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor), but mostly wandering from this mundane particular to that.

    He has a fondness for iron furniture, a number of antiques peppering his Brentwood offices.  A large Italian “Midnight Cowboy” poster hangs in the lobby, but I’m caught off guard by the food and drink spread in the hallway as we move into his personal office.  The dainty dishes and cutlery seem to clash with the casual air of the actor before me.

    (more…)

  • Listen to Fox Searchlight’s original song contenders

    We featured Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” a few weeks back.  It was a feature I wanted to keep up with but I never came back to it for some reason.

    Anyway, Fox Searchlight has made the track available along with A.R. Rahman’s “Jaiho” for your listening pleasure.  Enjoy!

  • 45? Holy…

    Brad PittI never really keep up with actors’ ages or anything, but jeez, Brad Pitt is five years away from the half century mark?  Amazing.

    Anyway, Reed Johnson recently profiled the actor for the Los Angles Times regarding his role in David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”  Here’s a bit from the actor on growing older:

    “Once you hit 40, you start reexamining the math of it all,” says the actor, who turned 45 on Dec. 18. So far, he indicates, the pluses and minuses are adding up just fine. “I’ll trade wisdom for youth any day,” Pitt says.

    And digging at the heart of the film’s thesis:

    “[The film is] a tragedy in the sense that any love involves loss, and that’s the risk you take,” Pitt responds. “And the greater the love, the greater the loss. I certainly feel that now with the woman I’m with, and the children that I have. But whatever the course may be, this time together is extraordinary.”

    A nice piece.  Check out the rest here.