In Contention

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  • Helmers of the English language, the best and why: part one

    David CronenbergMy recent article on Clint Eastwood drew an excellent response from Nathaniel Rogers (a regular commenter) that led me to this article. In that piece, I make clear my admiration for Eastwood, his artistry and the fact I believe him to be among the three finest directors working in movies. I stand by that, because I do not feel every film a director makes needs to be a masterpiece, as long as they are growing and continually trying to reach for something new.  Even the greatest of artists fail, and in fact they learn more from failure than they ever do success.

    Before the knives are drawn and tossed my way I will remind all that this is my list, just an opinion. I have selected what I believe to be the finest 10 directors working in the English language (five today, five tomorrow). I am positive that there will be disagreement, but that’s what keeps the world turning. Bear in mind that one film does not a genius make, and that a body of work (at least four films) was essential for the list.

    With that, the filmmakers…

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  • New ‘Australia’ trailer

    (Thanks to Vlad for the tip.)

  • 11/1 Oscarweb Round-up

    Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky• Mark Olsen goes deep with Soderbergh on “Che.” [The Envelope]

    • Tom O’Neil chats it up with “Happy-Go-Lucky” star Sally Hawkins. [Gold Derby]

    • Jeffrey Wells susses through conflicting running time numbers for “Australia,” which, by the way, 25 days out from release, where the hell is this movie? [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Anne Thompson spends some quality time with Danny Boyle. [Variety]

    • Yeah, wait until you see Newton as Condi — if you can stand it. [The Guardian]

    • Anthony Breznican reports on the twisting and turning Oscar season of 2008. [USA Today]

    • Boy…Karina Longworth really doesn’t like Angelina Jolie’s work in “Changeling.”  [Spout Blog]

  • ‘The Class’ trailer

    Apple has a shiny new trailer for “The Class,” the Cannes Palme d’Or winner that was my favorite film of the London festival, and is surely one of the frontrunners for Best Foreign Language Film. (In a rather barren Best Adapted Screenplay field, I wouldn’t discount its chances of a nomination there either.)

    For me, the trailer doesn’t quite convey the film’s quickfire conversational energy, but it’s a difficult film to sell in two minutes. Watch it in gorgeous HD here, or YouTubed below:

  • Does ‘Rachel’ have Oscar legs?

    One advantage of the hectic festival environment is that, while seeing more movies in a month than is medically advisable, it offers a pretty ruthless method of separating the wheat from the chaff. If a film still sticks in your mind after seeing a million others in such a compressed timeframe, it clearly has something special. (For me, those would be the films in my London Top Ten list.)

    On the other hand, there are a couple of films that, even if they seem quite impressive in the moment, ultimately get lost in the crush. And so it was with me and Jonathan Demme’s much-vaunted “Rachel Getting Married.”

    One of the first films I saw in the festival press screenings, I enjoyed it for the funky looseness of Demme’s direction and a couple of interestingly barbed performances — even if I didn’t quite get the ecstatic wave of praise that greeted it in the US. A month later, however, with numerous other films jostling for attention in my brain, I find it difficult to remember much about the film at all… and that goes for the actors too.

    Of course, that’s an entirely subjective test, one that is largely irrelevant to awards prognostication — there are still plenty of ardent devotees declaring it the best film of the year (huh?), and they will no doubt continue to do so. Still, something caught my attention yesterday which suggested I might not be alone. In their always-interesting Oscar Futures chart, those wicked guys at Vulture sense a downturn in momentum for Anne Hathaway in the Best Actress race:

    This category is getting pretty competitive — was she really as good as everybody thought two weeks ago?

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  • Bond bows, UK critics shrug

    It was probably inevitable. After “Casino Royale,” the first entry in the retooled, Daniel Craig-led James Bond franchise, garnered unprecedented critical acclaim (and even awards attention, on this side of the Atlantic at least) for a 007 pic, the follow-up, “Quantum of Solace,” is having a more muted reaction. The reviews are in, and they’re respectable at best.

    Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian has the best line (“Bond has gone rogue — like Sarah Palin, only with less expensive clothes”), but his three-star review is pretty typical of the mood:

    I have to confess that this second Bond adventure disappointed me a little: it’s not nearly as smart as Craig’s debut. There is not much storyline or romance … (but) what Quantum of Solace does have is Daniel Craig. No one could deny Craig’s charisma, and the effortless way he has inhabited the role … Quantum of Solace isn’t bad, but from now on, Craig’s Bond has to be a real character with something real at stake, however absurd. Otherwise we’re going to return to the franchise production line. That would be an awful shame.

    Tim Robey at the Telegraph is more enthusiastic, even if he also has some reservations about the narrative:

    Quantum of Solace may hurtle through its own (sketchy) plot as if it’s not quite the point – there have been more satisfying narrative pay-offs than we get here – but its best sequences bring you up short in the best way, adding up to the giddiest straight ride since The Living Daylights … It has the compensation of a rock-solid dramatic idea, and the intelligence to run and run with it.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Milk’ unveiled, London winds down, Halloween horror

    It’s been a quieter seven days after the upheaval we’ve seen in the race lately, but here’s how things went down:

    • “Milk” and “Frost/Nixon” finally unspooled for the LA crowd…

    • … and boy, some people don’t take kindly to criticism of either flick.

    • Meanwhile, “Doubt” kicked off the AFI Fest…

    • … while the London Film Festival drew to a close, showcasing “Che” and “The Wrestler” along the way. Check out our assorted reviews and “best in show” wrap-up.

    • ‘Tis the season to be scared shitless… the 20 all-time best horror films, as assembled by our team.

    • Christopher Nolan offers pretty much the final word on “The Dark Knight,” while some wonder if he can complete a Batman hat-trick.

    • The British Independent Film Awards revealed their nominees… “Hunger” and “In Bruges” are sitting pretty.

    • Best Sound Editing gets its week in the sun at Tech Support.

    • Looking at some new blood in this year’s tepid Best Original Song race.

  • Riveting ‘Reader’ trailer

    Is it just me or is this trailer for Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader” firing on all cylinders.  I was glued to it.  I never read Bernhard Schlink’s novel, but I wish I had picked it up somewhere along the line.  Click the image below for a peek at the film:

    The Reader

  • …and I’m all out of bubble gum.

    Happy Halloween from In Contention

  • Glad he said it

    In his opening remarks Thursday night AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale said even though his fest takes place in the heart of Hollywood, it wasn’t about who’s wearing what, or how much money a movie makes or who might get nominated for awards, it’s all about the films and the work. That’s what the AFI Fest is dedicated to highlighting in the next week.

    That’s certainly true, but there was a strategic reason the American Film Institute moved their film festival from spring to November several years ago, landing it smack into the heart of awards season  —   and it wasn’t quite all about purity.

    Like everyone else, AFI Fest  wants to be a part of the Oscar season dialogue.

    No “Doubt” about it.

    From Pete Hammond’s just-up column regarding last night’s opening “Doubt” Gala at the ArcLight.  Personally, I thought Gazzale’s comment reeked of self-aggrandizement, but Pete is too nice to say anything like that.

    By the way, Happy Halloween.

  • LONDON: Gongs for ‘Mice,’ ‘Tulpan’ … and my own awards

    My last post on the London Film Festival brings some happy news, as one of my favourite festival titles was justly rewarded last night. The festival is not a competion-based one, but three prestigious awards are still handed out before the final screening.

    One of these is the global festival staple, the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Award. I’m thrilled to see it went to Australian multi-hyphenate Matthew Newton for his superb debut feature “Three Blind Mice,” which I already gushed over here. At only 31 years of age, I predict big things for Newton, both before and behind the camera.

    Meanwhile, the Sutherland Trophy for best debut feature went to “Tulpan,” the Kazakhstani entry for Best Foreign Language Film, beating such heavyweight contenders as “Ballast” and “Hunger.” It’s an auspicious award with a 50-year history: previous winners include “L’Avventura,” “In the Realm of the Senses,” “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” “You Can Count on Me” and “Persepolis.” I was rather taken with “Tulpan,” so I’m pleased to see this underdog come through — it’s a dark horse to crack the Oscar shortlist.

    Other winners included the Italian character drama “Mid-August Lunch,” which took the Satyajit Ray Award for “artistry, compassion and humanity” in a debut film, and “Victoire Terminus,” a study of female boxing in the Congo that took the Grierson Award for best documentary. I’m afraid to say I missed both films, though I particularly wanted to catch the latter.

    And with that, bearing in mind that I couldn’t see everything, I thought I’d hand out my own inaugural (and no doubt much-prized) awards for the best that I saw at the fest, starting with my own personal Top Ten:

    TEN BEST FILMS OF THE FESTIVAL: 1. “The Class”; 2. “Synecdoche, New York”; 3. “Il Divo”; 4. “Slumdog Millionaire”; 5. “Three Blind Mice”; 6. “Wendy and Lucy”; 7. “The Good, The Bad, The Weird”; 8. “The Wrestler”; 9. “Sugar”; 10. “La Belle Personne”

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  • “That’s much too vulgar a display of power.”

  • Happy

    (It’s creepier in Russian.  Even creepier in backwards Russian.)

  • Memo to Christopher Nolan: Come back!

    The Dark KnightBy now you’ve probably read Geoff Boucher’s substantial interview with Christopher Nolan at the Los Angeles Times. As Kris mentioned, it’s strategically placed to launch “The Dark Knight” into the awards season. And Nolan has, in my view, a very strong claim for a Best Director nomination. Whether or not he receives it has more to do, realistically, with Ron Howard, Sam Mendes, Danny Boyle, Gus Van Sant, Steven Soderberg, Clint Eastwood, David Fincher, Baz Luhrmann and a slew of other directors waiting for their films to arrive.

    There will be plenty of time for Oscar jockeying and opinion slinging, something we all do well here at In Contention. But I write this piece not to lobby for Mr. Nolan, but to plead with him. As “The Dark Knight” nears the $1 billion worldwide mark, it’s become apparent — if not obvious — that Warner Bros. will be looking towards a third installment. How could they not? The question on their mind –- and mine -– is whether Mr. Nolan will return to direct.

    In his interview with Mr. Boucher, Nolan said that he was still considering it, and that he appreciated the studio’s patience in allowing him time to recover from the monumental undertaking of “The Dark Knight.”. But Mr. Nolan also notes something curious. His ambivalence towards making a third Batman film appears to be that there aren’t any good part threes. If you take a trip through cinema history, you’ll see that he’s right, mostly.

    You can start with the Batman franchise. “Batman Forever,” while not nearly as awful its dreadful follow-up, “Batman and Robin,” still stunk, painfully. Everyone who enjoys cinema, of any sort really, has labored through “The Godfather Part III.” Meanwhile, “Back to the Future Part III” was hokey, “The Matrix Revolutions” was incoherent and “Spider-Man 3,” clearly, never should have been made.

    “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” contained none of the mastery or coolness of “El Mariachi,” or even “Desperado.” And then there’s “Superman III,” “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” “Rocky III,” “Blade: Trinity” and “Terminator III: Rise of the Machines.” Gross.

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  • What might have been

    It’s James Bond day here in the UK, and to celebrate the opening of “Quantum of Solace,” The Guardian has a nice little feature: a round-up of several Bond themes that never were. Whether submitted on spec, or commissioned by the producers who then changed their minds, it makes for some fascinating listening.

    Can you believe that Ace of Base were the first choice to do a “GoldenEye” theme? That “For Your Eyes Only” was supposed to be sung by Blondie? (Oh, if only.) That Johnny Cash and Dionne Warwick both submitted brilliant tracks for “Thunderball” but were rejected in favour of Tom Jones?

    Suffice to say that this year’s rejected chanteuse, Amy Winehouse, is in some good company. My favourite, much as I love Nancy Sinatra’s theme, is this sharp little Northern Soul number that singer Lorraine Chandler submitted for “You Only Live Twice”:

  • A slew of new awards sites go live

    Take your pick:

    Fox Searchlight
    Overture Films
    Warner Bros.
    Walt Disney
    The Weinstein Company
    Yari Film Group

  • 10/31 Oscarweb Round-up — HALLOWEEN EDITION!

    WALL-E• Tom O’Neil podcasts it with Rosemarie DeWitt. [Gold Derby]

    • Jeffrey Wells comes back to the “Valkyrie” poster with admiration a few weeks later. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • John Campea is excited about the “WALL-E” Best Picture campaign. [The Movie Blog]

    • Debuting the new “Valkyrie” trailer. [Yahoo! Movies]

    • Anne Thompson takes her first real stab at the season. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Can a Pulitzer Prize winner save the “Spider-Man” franchise? [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • A grown-up’s guide to Halloween movies. [Premiere]

  • ‘Doubt’ lands at AFI

    Meryl Streep in DoubtMiramax honcho Daniel Battsek and actresses Meryl Streep and Amy Adams joined director John Patrick Shanley tonight in introducing the world premiere of “Doubt” as the AFI Fest’s opening gala presentation.  The film, adapted from Shanley’s stage play, has quickly become the lead Oscar pony for a studio that dominated the awards circuit last season.

    The film was projected digitally, as prints haven’t yet been made, and it was deemed “wet behind the ears” at the top by Battsek; Shanley hadn’t even seen the cut in full himself yet.  We’re talking right off the AVID, but it was complete and seemed to capture the respect of the crowd in attendance.

    Watching the film, I was suddenly reminded of one of the year’s developing themes for American cinema: accountability.  It’s front and center in “Frost/Nixon,” a journalist-as-hero yarn about Richard Nixon’s overdue apology to the American people.  It’s certainly lurking beneath the surface of “W,” a character study first but an attempt at explanation on other levels.  “WALL-E” warns of a lack of accounting for our actions, while “The Dark Knight” presents a hero who understands the accountability he owes to himself.  “Gran Torino” will be working on similar levels.

    Anyway, I’ve gone into all of that before, but it stuck out to me again tonight.  Meryl Streep steps in for Cherry Jones as a nun hunting a troubling confession for much of the film’s two hour running time.  The zeitgeist can’t help but insinuate itself into the symbolism and it just reminds, yet again, that 2008 is an amazingly internal year for filmmaking in this country.  Nothing stands out as groundbreaking.  Nothing approaches classic status.  But everything lurks on a sustained, subdued level of reflexivity.  It’s kind of fascinating.

    But the AFI Fest has taken flight.  There are a lot of films showing over the next week that I’m going to try my best to cover.  It seems I’m pulled 10 different ways these days, and I have to tip my hat to Guy for the gusto to really dive into London for us this year.

    I’m eager to finally check out entries like Steve McQueen’s “Hunger” and Ji-woon Kim’s “The Good, the Bad and the Weird.”  I’m really looking forward to the Heath Ledger tribute screening of “Ned Kelly” on Tuesday, as well as the Danny Boyle event at the end of the week.  And, of course, the full monty: “Che” at the Chinese tomorrow night.

    It should be a whirlwind, all roads leading to Edward Zwick’s “Defiance” in the closing night gala.  Tis the season…