In Contention

Blog

  • 10/2 Oscarweb Round-up

    Rosemarie Dewitt in Rachel Getting Married• Jeffrey Wells reports that Jim Sheridan’s “Brothers” has been pushed to 2009. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Patrick Goldstein hypothesizes that the year-end Oscar glut is detrimental to quality films and, in a round about way, that studios should forgo the Oscar spending.  Gasp! [The Big Picture]

    • David Poland apparently missed the qualifier “largely” in disputing a section of Goldstein’s lede. [The Hot Blog]

    • Michael Ordoña talks to the wonderful Rosemarie Dewitt about her work in “Rachel Getting Married.”  Best in show, in my opinion. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Tom O’Neil spotlights the tech crew of “Eagle Eye,” wonders if Oscar might be in their future. [Gold Derby]

    • Karina Longworth reports on the “Wrestler” press conference at the New York fest. [Spout Blog]

    • Andrew O’Hehir talks to Bill Maher — boy is he making the rounds for “Religulous.” [Beyond the Multiplex]

    • Chris Ayers heads over to Ixtlan for a “W.” chat with Oliver Stone. [The Times]

    • The 25 greatest movie posters of all time.  Too heavy ont he vintage stuff, but a fun list. [Premiere]

  • The phone gods have spoken

    My cellphone just told me that Kate Winslet will win next year’s Best Actress Oscar.

    Who am I to argue? My phone is right about a lot of things — the time, my account balance, my friends’ numbers. It couldn’t tell me which film she would win for, but nobody’s perfect.

    Admittedly, the tip didn’t come unprompted, but courtesy of Any Question Answered (AQA), the eerily knowledgable text-message service that comes in mighty handy for settling drunken pub quiz disputes  when the internet is just too complicated for inebriated fingers. With no clear leads to go on in this year’s Oscar race so far, I thought I’d put it to their wisdom.

    According to AQA, “Revolutionary Road” will win Best Picture. I was prepared to believe them until, further into the text, they described it as a “depression-era romance.” So much for the phone gods, then.

    Nobody knows anything, indeed.

  • ‘Elegy’ the second film to go out to AMPAS

    Screeners of Isabel Coixet’s “Elegy” are set to go out to Academy members this week, fresh on the heels of Sony Pictures Classics’ “Frozen River,” which went out over the weekend.

    Key pushes for the film are Best Actor (Ben Kingsley),  Penélope Cruz (Best Actress), Dennis Hopper (Best Supporting Actor), Patricia Clarkson (Best Supporting Actress) and Nicholas Myer (Best Adapted Screenplay).  Let the games begin.

  • Clint to be named Hollywood Director of the Year

    Clint EastwoodFrom The Envelope:

    The 12th Annual Hollywood Awards will honor Clint Eastwood with the Hollywood Director of the Year Award.

    The Oscar-winning director and producer will receive the award at the festival’s Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony in Beverly Hills on Oct. 27.

    “Just when you think Clint Eastwood is about to take a breath, he shoots two films in a year and starts prepping a third, and barely thinks any of that is worth mentioning. He brings dignity, grace, humility, humor, quiet confidence and a sense of ease to a profession that is in sore need of all of those virtues,” said screenwriter, director and Awards co-chair Paul Haggis in a statement.

    Not that Haggis should be doing anything BUT kissing Eastwood’s ass.  Good to hear it, though.  Probably the first step toward Oscar this year.

  • Edward Norton and Vincent Chase in ‘Smoke Jumpers’

    I don’t know if the readership is as in the tank for “Entourage” as I am.  It’s my half-hour fantasy session every Sunday.  For 30 minutes, I get to pretend I’m in “the life.”  Then it’s back to the day-to-day grind of a movie blogger, avoiding the bottle, fighting off suicidal tendencies and otherwise just hating myself constantly.

    Only kidding.  Kind of…

    Anyway, if you’ve been watching this season, it seems a bidding war erupted over Vincent Chase’s latest project, the show runners once again getting Hollywood on the mark.  Edward Norton wants the script, “Smoke Jumpers,” while Ari, having finally read the script, wants it for Chase.  Eric, meanwhile, is caught in the middle, as his new “company” represents the backwoods writers of the script.  Tense stuff.  The last episode left us with the possibility of Chase taking the second role alongside Norton.

    Which brings me to this impressive rendering of the “Smoke Jumpers” poster from the guys at ibored.  Impressive to me, anyway.  We’ve seen the height of my Photoshop prowess.

    Check it out:

    Edward Norton and Vincent Chase in Smoke Jumpers

  • Not like it was

    I watched this again last night after picking up the two-disc version at Target for a mere five bucks.  It’s been close to a decade since I last popped it in the player, and that was probably a VHS it was so far back.

    Can I just say it’s a damn-near flawless actioner and part of a mid-90s stable that I continue to look back on with fondness and nostalgia.  Into the action immediately, never lets up for 115 minutes and as a result, feels like a two-and-a-half-hour urban epic.

    And I’ve always loved that Ebert handed it four stars back in ’94.  Very cool.

  • Hmm…another design contender?

    City of EmberTwo craft category posts in a row, but I just watched this “City of Ember” featurette and suddenly wondered if Martin Laing and former nominee Celia Bobak have a shot at a nomination from the art directors’ branch.

    There’s plenty of talk from producer Tom Hanks and star Bill Murray about the massive sets constructed.  I remember when I was out in Belfast over the summer, the recent rush of film production was a pretty big deal to the community.

    Laing, by the way, was a draugtsman on Tim Burton’s “Batman.”  His designs in “City of Ember” seem to be taking a definite cue from the work of Anton Furst.  He was also a part of the design team on “Titanic,” though he didn’t get to share in the film’s Oscar nomination despite inclusion in the guild win that year.

    Perennial favorite Ruth Myers is also in the mix, having designed the threads for the film.  Keep an eye out, that’s all I’m saying.

  • ‘Set to Screen’ series at Apple spotlights ‘Australia’ techs

    This is actually quite amazing, and take it from those of us who’ve been covering the tech categories for years, it’s refreshing to see a major outlet paying attention as well.

    It seems Apple has started a new series called “Set to Screen,” which focuses on the various behind-the-scenes design elements of a given film.  “Australia” is the first subject, with detailed looks at on-set still photography, production and costume design, location shooting, cinematography and sound recording.  Podcasts about music composition and sound recording are still outstanding, with a “coming in September” notation.  I also assume the music playing over the various clips are snippets of David Hirschfelder’s work, but I’m just guessing.  Sounds lovely.

    Check it all out at Apple.  The clips are on YouTube as well, but I figured the best example would be the cinematography spotlight, where we finally get to meet Ms. Mandy Walker:

    I think it’s obvious by now that this film, regardless of major category potential, will be the tech giant of the year.

  • 10/1 Oscarweb Round-up

    Danny Glover in Blindness• Kim Voynar joins Movie City News.  here’s hoping she gets paid. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Steven Soderbergh will make a third Che Guevera film if “Che” makes at least $100 million at the box office.  A.K.A., Steven Soderbergh won’t be making a third Che Guevera film. [The Playlist]

    • Blind people protest “Blindness.”  I mean, have they even seen the movie yet? [Associated Press]

    • Speaking of blindness, a ranking of the five most plausible doomsday movies. [Spout Blog]

    • The “Dark Knight” fad continues — Michael Bay will shoot some “Transformers 2” stuff in IMAX technology. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Patrick Goldstein gets tangled in the Nikki Finke/Harvey Weinstein bullshit that just won’t go away. [The Big Picture]

    • Susan Wloszczyna digs at the heart of Jonathan Demme: what women want. [USA Today]

    • Susan King, with a nice profile of “W.” star Scott Glenn. [Los Angeles Times]

    • The French box office clash of “The Class” and “Faubourg 36.” [The Independent]

    • Kevin Costner on the “Swing Vote” circuit across the pond. [Daily Telegraph]

  • Garrone on ‘Gomorrah’: “It’s not real, but it’s true.”

    Viva Italia, is all I have to say. In the past 48 hours, I’ve been lucky enough to see the two films that have widely been heralded as marking a renaissance for the Italian film industry, a world cinema titan that had been lying dormant for a couple of years. No more.

    One of them is Paolo Sorrentino’s blistering, return-to-form political thriller “Il Divo,” which I will discuss closer to its appearance at the upcoming London Film Festival. The other is Italy’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film race, “Gomorrah.” Possible masterpieces, both of them — and as solid a case as any for abolishing the silly “one film per country” rule that so plagues this problematic Oscar category.

    Walking out of London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts after Sunday’s UK premiere of “Gomorrah,” which was followed by a lively Q&A with director Matteo Garrone, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I might have just met one of next year’s multiple Academy Award nominees.

    Far-fetched, I know, but the film’s achievement is that staggering and far-reaching. Under the foreign-language committee’s new voting system, a nomination in that category should, by rights, be a slam-dunk, while Best Director and, particularly, Best Adapted Screenplay nominations are, to my mind, well within the realm of possibility. I will resist further gushing until I post a proper review in the next day or two, but for now, I want to share some of the thoughts Garrone offered at the Q&A.

    A modest, thoroughly disarming presence, far younger in demeanor than his 40 years suggest, Garrone himself seems a little bewildered by the film he has made and the discussion it has wrought. For those who don’t know, “Gomorrah” is a documentary-style examination of the Camorra crime syndicate that terrorizes Naples, based on the bestselling non-fiction expose by Roberto Saviano.

    (more…)

  • George Clooney as ‘The Lone Ranger’ alongside Johnny Depp’s Tonto?

    George Clooney to star as The Lone Ranger?Okay, it’s The Sun.  I know.  But a fun rumor nonetheless.  Here’s the juicy aside, via Lumenick On Film:

    George is very keen — he’s been trying to do a movie with Johnny for a long time.  He thinks they’ll make the perfect on-screen partnership.

    Well, personally, I would find it difficult not to laugh hysterically if this came to pass.  I don’t want to say I’d hate it, because let’s face it, a Clooney/Depp team-up would be fun.  And a movie with their names above the title would make boatloads of money — BOATLOADS.  And maybe that’s the ultimate edict of Disney, steering more and more toward the tent pole route like Warner Bros. up the street.

    Anyway, here’s Lumenick’s opinion:

    …it sounds like a truly terrible idea to me. The 75-year-old radio character’s last iteration was in 1981, when Michael Horse played Tonto in one of that decade’s worst movies, “The Legend of the Lone Ranger.” The title role was the first and last film appearance of Klinton Spilsbury, who won Razzies for worst actor and worst newcomer. Let’s just pray Hollywood is celebrating April 1 a few months early.

    There’s also a bit about the Russell Crowe dual “nottingham” casting that was reported over the weekend and, to my mind, remains a bizarre idea to say the least.

  • THE LISTS: Top 10 Paul Newman performances

    Paul Newman in The StingExpected or not, this week’s news that screen legend Paul Newman has broken through to the other side is deeply depressing.  But as I noted over the weekend, it’s best to take moments such as this as an opportunity to celebrate the man and his work.  So it is that this week’s list reflects the very best Newman had to give us…according to me, of course.

    Newman had an undeniable screen presence.  It wasn’t the piercing blue eyes, nor the tall, dark and handsome figure he cut into the celluloid.  It was the attitude.  His character dripped with a sort of soulful aroma that couldn’t quite be considered performance art so much as meditative experiences.  Right out of the gate with “The Silver Chalice” and all the way through to vocal work in “Cars,” Newman’s characters were more genuine than anything surrounding them.  It makes a list of ten nearly impossible to whittle down.

    Any list is going to vary, though a few staples are bound to pop up consistently enough (I’d wager my top four fit that bill).  But it’s ultimately a joy just to go back and revisit these portrayals, regardless of their ranked order.

    (more…)

  • 9/30 Oscarweb Round-up

    Mickey Rourke• Mark Olsen reports on the first U.S. screening of German foreign film Oscar entry “The Baader-Meinhof Complex.” [The Big Picture]

    • Jeffrey Wells passes along a note from an exhibitor acquaintance who thinks “Milk” is a home run, but “Frost/Nixon” is a bit stale. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Then he picks the five likely Best Picture nominees, based on the criteria of stories involving journey and redemption. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • In a truly tasteless display, Elizabeth Snead makes wise cracks alongside 28 photos of Mickey Rourke’s more bizarre fashion decisions through the years. [The Envelope]

    • David Poland responds to the manipulation of Nikki Finke. [The Hot Blog]

    • Nathaniel Rogers doesn’t think any of the “Reader” hub-bub is a big deal at all. [The Film Experience]

    • Anne Thompson runs down the stacked Best Actor category with the potential Downey vs. Foxx “Soloist” showdown in mind. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Tom O’Neil corrals seven pundits for his own predictions chart to light a fire under the collective rear of the Buzzmeter techs. [Gold Derby]

    • James Rocchi chats it up with “Religulous” maestro Bill Maher. [Cinematical]

    • Karina Longworth reviews “Che” and reports from the NYFF Soderbergh press conference. [Spout Blog]

    • Adam Moss corners Woody Allen in the Big Apple. [New York Magazine]

  • “It’s okay son. Everyone screws up a country now and then.”

    (from left) James Cromwell and Josh Brolin in W.

    And plenty more new “W.” photos right here.  I’m really getting excited for this film all of a sudden…

  • ‘Seven Pounds’ trailer removed, BUT…

    …Brad Brevet has his own embedding do-hickey over at Rope of Silicon, so you can still see it there.  Hopefully he won’t get a cease and desist for my linking to him, but there we are.  Sony apparently jerked the YouTube embed down due to “copyright infringement.”

    I finally watched it, by the way (been so busy this morning I couldn’t stop to take a look earlier).  I’m comfortable saying I have no friggin’ idea what the film is about.

  • Foreign film watch: ‘Correction,’ ‘Ploning’

    Two days to go until the deadline for Best Foreign Language Film submissions, and the latest nation to enter the fray is Greece. Seeking their first nomination since 1977 — that’s right, no Theo Angelopoulos film ever made the cut — the Greeks have selected Thanos Anastopoulos’ “Correction,” a racially charged drama about the country’s Albanian immigrant population.

    By all accounts a challenging, defiantly minimalist work, the film bowed at Berlin in February to middling reviews, with both Variety and Screen International predicting it would have a hard time crossing over.

    On another note, The Philippines is seeking their first ever nomination in this category for “Ploning.” This was announced some time ago, and I listed it in one of my updates last week. However, following an enthusiastic recommendation for the film from a reader (see, we do listen), I thought I’d mention it again.

    (more…)

  • POLL: Heading into October, what is the frontrunner for Oscar?

    Bringing things back to the movies at hand, a new poll this week.

    Various prognosticators are finally taking their first stabs at picking the awards season’s frontrunners, and there is a surprising consensus developing.  Of course, it’s a consensus based on films that have not been seen for the most part, 90% of most lists containing stuff coming down the pike.  But it’s a consensus nonetheless.

    So with that in mind, tell us who you think the frontrunner is in the new sidebar poll.  We’re charging into October and this is probably that last chance we have before people actually start seeing the majority of these films.  I’ve arrogantly chosen the 10 contenders from our most recent Best Picture chart to represent the choices, but as always, feel free to chime in here if your pick isn’t represented on the list.

  • OFF THE CARPET: When the movies play second fiddle

    Kate Winslet and Stephen Daldry on the set of The ReaderShort column this time around because there are just a few specific things on my mind.

    It’s been a relatively slow couple of weeks in the wake of the Toronto International Film Festival.  At least on the surface.’

    Behind the scenes, studios are circling their wagons, securing Oscar ad buys, prepping their fall product and gently waiting.  “Hope you had fun at the fests,” they seem to be saying to the independent success stories of the year.  “The main event is about to begin.”

    And yet, the “main event” consistently disappoints.  Downfall can as easily be attributed to hype as it can to poor quality, an idea our own John Foote pondered last week.  Indeed, there are a few productions I expect to be rewarded for their discretion this year, lying in wait while the usual suspects empty their chambers in the loud march to Oscar.

    But it seems like casualties are already presenting themselves.  It pains me to see the Scott Rudin/Harvey Weinstein debate dragged through the mud every single day, right down to the manipulation of Nikki finke in order to make Weinstein look like an outright douche bag.  Whatever the particulars, is there any question that the real loser at the end of all of this isn’t Weinstein, isn’t Rudin, but “The Reader” itself?

    (more…)