…are the actress categories leaving anyone else for a loss? Six to seven contenders with clear shots at a nod in each field. Flip a coin.
Blog
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Clint Eastwood’s potential Best Actor win
It could happen…but it shouldn’t.My admiration and love of Clint Eastwood’s work as a director was enough to send me on an 18-month research and writing spree, piecing together a study of the man that should be in bookstores in a week’s time. In the forward, I make clear that had anyone suggested to me in the 1970s that Eastwood would one day be an Oscar-winning director and producer, one of the best directors working in modern cinema, and a two-time Best Actor nominee, I would have laughed, long and loudly in their face. Certainly there could be no question about his star power…he had that. But he was hardly a great actor.
Earlier this year his film “Changeling” was released to strong reviews, but doesn’t seem poised to do much for him come Oscar time (a shame). But there is talk of a Best Actor nomination for his performance as crusty, cranky, tough-as-nails Walt Kowalski in “Gran Torino.”
Actors have won Oscars masquerading as a career achievement in the past. Hell Al Pacino must know as do we that “Scent of a Woman” is not his best work, yet he won the Oscar for it. Henry Fonda won for “On Golden Pond,” though he should have won years before for “The Grapes of Wrath,” while James Stewart took home the gold for “The Philadelphia Story,” one of his lightest performances.
Guy put together a smart list of similar AMPAS atrocities a few weeks ago, so I won’t go into them here. Suffice it to say, the “career achievement” Oscar is a staple of a dubious Academy year in and year out.
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Nice to be wrong: actresses who changed my mind
Having been a film critic for more than a quarter of a century now (my God) and a film junkie for more than 40 years, I have never gotten over the joy of surprise when an actor or actress comes out of left field with a performance of such brilliance it eliminates every single bad performance or bad film they have ever been associated with.As a critic and a journalist, I tend to call it as I see it, sometimes to a fault. I remember a stunned Al Pacino looking at me flabbergasted when I asked why the devil an all powerful evil being would have to shout so much as he did in “The Devil’s Advocate.” He eyed me up and down for a few uncomfortable seconds before answering, beginning with, “So your one of the honest guys.”
And there have been those delicious moments when I have been forced to eat my words. And you you know what? I love it. I love seeing an actor I had written off or dissed deliver a breathtaking portrayal to the point that I can scarcely believe what I’ve seen.
It happened this year for me with Kristen Scott Thomas in “I’ve Loved You So Long,” a stunning piece of acting from a thesp I had previously loathed. I remember being at press screening for “The English Patient” in the fall of 1996, after barely enduring the film. Thomas was ice cold, leaving me to wonder who could love this woman, and worse, why would they? Nothing else she has done since impressed me much until now, and frankly, her performance left me in awe.
There have been others, of course. Sally Field had been written off as “The Flying Nun” and Burt Reynolds’s latest squeeze in those goofy “Smokey and the Bandit” films in the late 1970s. She gave a remarkable performance on TV in “Sybil” as a woman with multiple personalities, but nothing prepared me for her superb performance in Martin Ritt’s beautiful little film “Norma Rae,” about a woman recognizing her potential amid textile union politics. Field was astounding, winning every major acting award there was, including the Oscar. The performance remains one of the finest ever captured on film.
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Catching up with ‘Milk’ in the Bible belt
In 1977 Harvey Milk was elected to position as city supervisor in San Francisco. Milk, an openly gay man, was the first of his kind. Rather than concealing his sexual orientation, he wore it proudly, and used his influence in a largely gay section of San Francisco to do good. He became an effective advocate for gay rights across the United States until his assassination, in 1978, by Dan White. Mr. Milk and Mr. White are the subjects of the terrific new film, “Milk,” directed by Gus Van Sant.The substantially gifted actor Sean Penn plays the lead role, and he is supported by Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna and James Franco. The film has generated a fair amount of awards buzz, and it should. It’s one of the best of the year.
In November, interestingly, the citizens of the state of California went to the polls to vote on Proposition 8, a measure that would abolish the recognition of same-sex marriage in the Golden State. In my home state of Arkansas, voters were asked to determine whether same-sex couples could adopt children or serve as foster parents. In both instances, supporters of gay rights lost.
If you have seen “Milk” or the exceptional documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk” by Rob Epstein, you know that Milk worked tirelessly to defeat Proposition 6 in 1978, just before his death. Prop. 6 was an effort to prohibit gay people from serving as public school teachers. As I watched “Milk,” after the November elections, I couldn’t help but see the parallels. Both struck at the very foundation of individual liberty.
Writing for The Huffington Post last month, Mr. Epstein observed, “Although Proposition 8 wasn’t exactly a re-make of Proposition 6, it’s the same disaster movie storyline pitch: any recognition of constitutional rights for gay and lesbian citizens will somehow destroy the natural order and as a result America’s institutions — be they schools or marriage — will crumble.”
“Milk” is on course for a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards early next year. It was selected as the best film by the New York Film Critics Circle and yesterday received a best ensemble nomination from the Screen Actors Guild. And no seems to be surprised by it. 2008 has been a bad one for people in same sex relationships, or who support gay rights. Still, it’s plausible that in the same state that recently approved Prop. 8 by generous margins, a film directed by an openly gay man, about a gay man, his gay friends and gay rights in California could win Best Picture. Wouldn’t that be something?
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12/20 Oscarweb Round-up
• Darren Aronofsky interviews Danny Boyle about the technical aspects of “Slumdog Millioniare.” [/Film]• Erik Childress catches up with the season mid-way through the first phase. [eFilmCritic]
• David Carr takes note of the big Universal trade spend. Hey, if you’re going to decide against advertising with the lowly online types, you might as well make it count in traditional media. [The Carpetbagger]
• Tom O’Neil gets together a bunch of us Oscar bozos to talk the Best Picture chances of “WALL-E.” [Gold Derby]
• The film, meanwhile, tops Anne Thompson’s diverse list of the year’s best. Oy. [Thompson on Hollywood]
• Patrick Goldstein gives a few column inches to an under-the-radar documentary short, Leslie Iwerks’s “Downstream.” [The Big Picture]
• The hull is breached!! By the way, that’s Barry Dale JOHNSON. Fact checker needed on aisle three. [Washington Post]
• Noah Forrest podcasts it up with “Gomorrah” helmer Matteo Garrone. [Movie City News]
• Donna Freydkin catches up with increasingly Oscar-likely Amy Adams. [USA Today]
• Somehow this escaped me all week, but rest in peace Sam Bottoms. [Los Angeles Times]
• Brent Simon spends a little quality time with “Nothing But the Truth” star Kate Beckinsale. [Vulture]
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Detroit critics go for ‘Slumdog,’ Tomei neck-and-neck with Cruz with sixth win
(Updated to amend tally error on my part.)
I know I declared a moratorium on these until the dust settles, but I stumbled onto the list of winners for the Detroit Film Critics Society while compiling the master list and didn’t see them reported elsehwere yet, so here you go. This list is significant to me, though, because Marisa Tomei has officially pulled up right along side of Penelope Cruz, winning her sixth critical kudo. SAG sure is looking silly for that slight.
The winners, via the DFCS website (nominees were announced Tuesday):
Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
Best Actress: Kate Winslet, “Revolutionary Road”
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”
Best Ensemble: “Frost/Nixon”
Best Newcomer: Martin McDonough, writer/director, “In Bruges” -
EXCLUSIVE: Marisa Tomei featurette
(The exclusive on this runs out on Monday, so you’ll probably find the video in a few other spots. So I figured I’d revert to YouTube, since I can’t get my Flash embedding to work and the Quicktime file takes a lot of bandwidth. Enjoy.)
Marisa Tomei has put together a nice career renaissance as of late. A few crucial spots on TV’s “Rescue Me” and a brilliant turn in last year’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” made for nice appetizers to her wonderful and more widely accepted work in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” leading to a stretch of accolades that, fingers crossed, will soon lead to an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She’s fared well so far this season, taking down a trio of awards in one day earlier this week and giving “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” star Penélope Cruz a run for her precursor money in the process.
Fox Searchlight has been kind enough to give In Contention a first look at the following featurette, a discussion with Tomei about her vision of her character, Pam (a.k.a. Cassidy), a new, more tangible spin on the classic “hooker (er, stripper) with the heart of gold” archetype and one that the actress elevates to meaningful heights throughout. Despite a SAG snub yesterday morning, I think she could still be on course for a tip of the Oscar hat next month, and taking a look at this video, it’s easy to see why she deserves it.
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Josh Brolin/Netflix announcement?
This just arrived in the ole’ inbox. I have no idea what this is all about unless I’ve missed the boat somewhere along the line here, but my interest is certainly piqued:
WHO: Josh Brolin, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, and Film Independent’s Dawn Hudson.
WHAT: Josh Brolin, Netflix, and Film Independent to announce an exciting endeavor that will inspire the indie art house audience and movie lovers everywhere.
WHEN: Thursday, January 8, 2009; Press check-in: 9:00am; Press conference start: 9:30am
WHERE: W Los Angeles – Westwood, Studio 1 and 2; 930 Hilgard Avenue; Los Angeles, CA 90024
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Song
As I said a few weeks ago, I would not analyze the last “tech” category until the eligible entries had been announced. Now that the Academy has named 49 finalists for Best Original Song, and with the BFCA and HFPA rattling off their list of nominees (though they are, admittedly, not great predictors), the time seems appropriate to have an in depth look into the category.It’s a good mantra to say “there are no locks” in this field. Since the rules were changed three years ago, forcing voters to watch the songs in the context of the movie, some surprises have certainly been in store. Nonetheless, there are two titles this year I’d be very surprised to see miss the cut.
The first is Bruce Springsteen’s title track for Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler.” One of the most deserving winners ever in this category (for “Streets of Philadelphia”), his ends credits track seems poised to bring him his third Oscar nomination. In addition to the song perfectly fitting the film, it is also simply a great tune.
I expect Springsteen to battle it out for the win with “Down to Earth,” the “WALL-E” tune from Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman. Now here is a film whose performance in the precursors has absolutely shocked me (albeit in the best way possible). Gabriel has yet to have a hit with the Academy but he’s never written anything that was so Oscar friendly before either. And while Newman has yet to be nominated for a song, he’s never had a song in contention before and he’s also yet to win for his portfolio of classic scores.
Admittedly, both these tunes only play at the end of the movie, over the credit roll. This seems to have become a disadvantage in recent years. But I still would be surprised if either title failed to make the cut when all is said and done.
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Best in show: the year in superlatives
The year is slowly coming to a close, and after this week’s year-in-review pieces, I’m happy to see so much healthy and spirited discussion on my humble picks for the year’s best films. Today I’m wrapping all of that up with a list of superlatives, some of them in your usual categories, the staples, some of them in a couple of, oh, let’s call it “fun” arenas that I like to mix in year in and year out.I should note, however, that Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience is the king at this stuff. His annual “Film Bitch Awards” are a must-read. Here’s last year’s set.
So with that, let’s get into the awards. I used to call these the “In Contention Awards,” but I don’t think that’s fair anymore now that we have a slew of contributors. So I’ll let them speak to their favorites at their leisure. These reflect my views of the season and mine only. You know the Best Picture champ, of course, but beyond that, I hope you enjoy the rundown. Just keep the (inevitable) disagreement friendly:
Best Picture
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures)Best Director
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”Best Actor
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”Best Supporting Actress
Samantha Morton, “Synecdoche, New York” -
Two years on
Considering it’s written by the editor-in-chief of the foremost entertainment news publication in Hollywood, Peter Bart’s Variety blog continues (for this reader, at least) to be a disconcertingly slipshod affair. That his pieces frequently appear so rushed and second-hand is enough cause for concern without throwing elementary factual errors into the mix.But his most recent post, on the difficult certain directors experience in following up breakout successes, contained this groaner:
What ever happened to that loveable husband-and-wife team of Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton who gave us “Little Miss Sunshine” four years ago?
Uh, two years ago, Mr Bart. Hardly the longest hiatus in filmmaking history — least of all for indie-oriented filmmakers who have a prolific commercials career, and may need time to gather up funding for a project. It’s pretty well-known that Faris and Dayton have been planning an adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s brilliant novel “The Abstinence Teacher” (not the easiest sell in the world) since 2006, and have been working extensively with Perrotta on the script.
These things don’t happen overnight — why the impatience? (Bart also manages a sideswipe at “The Lives of Others” director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, saying he’s “stalled” since his film came out two years ago, apparently an eternity in Bart’s mind.)
Anyway, the main point of Bart’s post is to say that “The Abstinence Teacher” is set to start rolling for Warner Brothers in early 2009, which is obviously good news. While I found “Little Miss Sunshine” a little too pat for my liking, Dayton and Faris’ jagged visual sensibility and droll line in humour should be a perfect match for Perrotta’s incisive, wickedly funny study of a high school sex-ed teacher at war with a rigidly conservative suburban community. In tone and texture, it sits roughly halfway between Perrotta’s other two novels-turned-films, “Election” and “Little Children,” which bodes well for the new project.
Something to look forward to. If you don’t mind a little wait, that is.
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Best Foreign Language Film: an alternative ballot
Last month, I played devil’s advocate a little with the Best Documentary Feature category, suggesting five less-discussed titles from the shortlist of contenders as a potential counter to the dizzying advance of the clear frontrunner, “Man on Wire” — not as a slight on the film, which is terrific, but in the interests of diversity.Now, as we near the end of a busy first phase of precursors, I feel the need to make a similar effort in the Best Foreign Language Film category. It’s not that the names being mentioned as frontrunners for the Oscar aren’t worthy — oft-mentioned titles like “Gomorrah,” “The Class” and “Waltz With Bashir” are more than credible contenders, with the former two among my favourite films of the year. (More on that in a couple of days.) But we all know the Academy can frequently choose to ignore the obvious in this category — and with that in mind, I’d like to point out a few interesting directions in which they can go.
The critics certainly aren’t helping them out, after all. Excellent film that it is, “Let the Right One In” has stomped all over the precursors almost as comprehensively as “Man on Wire” has: a consensus that strikes me as both surprising and a little disappointing, given what a rich and varied year it’s been for non-American cinema. Share the wealth a little, guys. However, the fact that the Swedish vampire film is ineligible for the Oscar means the Academy’s foreign-language committee is being given very few pointers at this stage.
So, in the interests of rectifying that, I offer an alternative ballot: four under-the-radar titles from the 67-strong shortlist of foreign-language contenders that the voters would do well to consider. There are no doubt more — I’m drawing from the pool of contenders that I’ve actually seen — but any one of these would be a most worthy, and welcome, surprise:
“TONY MANERO” (Chile): Pablo Larrain’s wicked little festival favourite first caught my eye at the London fest in October, and has crawled progressively deeper under my skin ever since. A tightly conceived and wholly unique hybrid of black comedy, serial-killer thriller and socio-political study, it takes its title from the character played by John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever,” a figure worshipped to a disturbing degree by the film’s own protagonist, Raul, a socially inept lowlife eking out a bleak existence in 1978 Santiago, Chile.
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Oh dear
The annihilation of “Seven Pounds” continues apace, with a crucifying NYT review from A.O. Scott:
Frankly, though, I don’t see how any review could really spoil what may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made. I would tell you to go out and see it for yourself, but you might take that as a recommendation rather than a plea for corroboration. Did I really see what I thought I saw?
Ouch. With a Metacritic score hovering at 35, do we have our annual fallen-prestige-film Razzie contender right here? Memo to Gabriele Muccino: return to Italy, strip things back and make another “The Last Kiss” to remind people why Hollywood was excited to have you in the first place.
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Things
As soon as I make it to my destination (the journey has been an epic one…for me to poop on!), I’ll finally get the final post of my week in review up, a list of superlatives in a variety of categories. And Monday, the Oscar column will be back up and running with fresh charts. Yes, it looks like Cate Blanchett has fallen away (despite a BFCA nomination that frankly still means something). To my mind, it’s a bit shocking, and I think many will agre with me once you guys see the film in a few weeks. But it is what it is. The lead actress reace has been a cat fight this year. But otherwise, everything is pretty much steady going, nothing sticking out as particularly disruptive to the season’s progression.
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What movie were you watching?
The last-minute switcheroo suggests, perhaps unintentionally, that Rachel is less a martyr to the cause than a schemer looking to cover her tracks. The muddying of her motives might be truer to life, but it obliterates the movie’s tidy morality play and leaves us wondering whether the bad guys had the right idea after all.
The wrong-headed closer to Sam Adams’s dubious review of Rod Lurie’s “Nothing But the Truth.” Under 500 words? In the L.A. Times? Seriously?
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12/19 Oscarweb Round-up
(This is your “don’t fly Continental — EVER” edition of the In Contention Oscarweb Round-up, brought to you live from Houston’s George Bush International Airport, a.k.a. Satan’s womb.)• Jeff Wells actually thinks there were “stunners” in yesterday’s SAG announcement. [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• David Poland talks with a chin-up Baz Luhrmann. [The Hot Blog]
• Dave Karger and Tom O’Neil dish the season as it stands. [Gold Derby]
• Rebecca Cathcart gets into the “Who would accept for Heath?” question. [The Carpetbagger]
• Daniel Day-Lewis tops a UK list of the year’s greatest lines. [Daily Telegraph]
• Peter Knegt sits down with the newly SAGed Richard Jenkins. [indieWIRE]
• Kira Cochran talks to Kate Winslet about her 2008 one-two punch. [The Guardian]
• Patrick Goldstein kicks “Revolutionary Road” while it’s down, but let’s face it — he’s right. [The Big Picture]
• Anne Thompson on the weird Jeremy Piven news, which, I’m shamed to say, first came across my bow last night on Inside Edition as I sat in a poor excuse for a comped hotel room. [Thompson on Hollywood]
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All in the family: a note on the SAG nods
I know I shouldn’t get upset. As Sasha Stone over at Awards Daily repeatedly intones, when it comes to awards analysis, “the trick is not minding.” You should coolly observe the trends, learn from them and be guided always by your head rather than your heart.But damn it, I’m only human. I can’t help getting invested in certain contenders. And I don’t mind admitting that I was utterly dismayed by this morning’s thoroughly unadventurous and, worse yet, insular set of SAG nominations. Did the voters really carefully consider all the possible options before putting pen to ballot paper? Did they really take time to decide which of the year’s performances and ensembles most moved and challenged them? Or did they simply reel off the five names in each category that they’ve heard the most about, and think are most likely to feature in the Oscar race?
Maybe the answer to the first two questions is “yes.” But I doubt it. I find it hard to imagine that any actor adequately attuned to their own craft could consider all the female supporting performances of the year and somehow decide that Amy Adams’ performance in “Doubt” was more rich and complex than what Rosemarie DeWItt achieved in “Rachel Getting Married,” or Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler.”
I don’t believe (or at least I don’t want to believe) that actors who supposedly have some experience of ensemble work can fail to notice that the ensembles of “Synecdoche, New York,” “The Dark Knight,” “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” or even “Rachel Getting Married” are denser, more intricate and infinitely more integrated than those of “Frost/Nixon” or “Doubt.”
A great ensemble is about more than the prestige of the names within it. You’d expect actors to understand that, and last year’s off-the-wall nominations for “Hairspray” and “3:10 to Yuma” suggested that maybe, just maybe, they did. This year, however, was back to business as usual, as they turn their highest and most unique award into yet another Best Picture-emulating copycat list.
(More thoughts, and predictions, after the cut.)
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‘Slumdog,’ ‘Hunger,’ ‘Happy’ rule London crix nods
Sorry for following up on this so long after Kris’ teaser… what can I say? It’s Christmas party central round these parts.Anyway, the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards are a bit of an odd duck in the kudos calendar, but not an uninteresting one. They tend to try to have their cake and eat it — honouring both British and international achievements in categories that seem segregated at first glance, but actually aren’t. So this year, you’ll see Danny Boyle crop up in both the Director of the Year and British Director of the Year fields. The same goes for Kate Winslet in the actress races. (They also hedge their bets there, nominating her jointly for “Revolutionary Road” and “The Reader.”)
Meanwhile, only one screenwriting category exists, while only British actors are singled out for supporting honours. Which is why non-British supporting players like Heath Ledger and Penelope Cruz are competing in the Actor and Actress of the Year categories, respectively — so don’t get too excited about that. (Meanwhile, the Brit supporting categories are a real stretch… I mean, Toby Jones?)
If you’re confused, I don’t blame you. It’s a haphazard system, but nonetheless, when you dig through the nominations there’s some real gold to be found. The nod for Tilda Swinton’s extraordinary work in Eric Zoncka’s “Julia” is truly inspired, while one has to applaud the anti-herd mentality that leads to such inclusions as Josh Brolin for “W.” or Terence Davies in the British Director category. Compared to the dull-as-dishwater SAG nominees foisted upon us this morning, at least there’s a little initiative at play here.
More commentary, and a full list of nominees, after the cut.