In Contention

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  • Newman at his best, ‘Luke’ gets a deluxe edition

    Cool Hand Luke Deluxe EditionWith the news some weeks back that Paul Newman had left the hospital to go home to be with his family as he approached the end, I have found myself watching more and more of his films, perhaps stunned that the world will soon be deprived of his talent.

    Newman, who I had the pleasure of interviewing in 1999, has been able to balance stardom with talent in such films as “The Hustler” and “The Towering Inferno” over and over again in his career.

    There is little doubt he owned the 1960s with a string of performances that should have earned him award after award, and one such portrayal is getting a special edition DVD treatment from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment: “Cool Hand Luke.”

    All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. The chance to see this great film again, with Newman at his very best, was a welcome respite from the barrage of terrible DVDs that have been arriving recently. Cleaned up digitally, the film looks terrific, and Newman is so extraordinary as a petty crook, sent to a hard labor southern prison where he locks horns with the warden. The “failure to communicate” line became important in the 1960s, as the youth of America felt that way towards the establishment

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  • Andrew Sullivan takes Bill Maher to task on religion

    As much as I love and respect every perspective Bill Maher has on current events, I have been and remain skeptical that his upcoming film “Religulous” will represent any effort on his part to open up a bit from his skewed, incredibly insulting and borderline ignorant stance on the subject of faith and religion.

    As a believer in faith if not the organization of same, I’ve expressed these concerns before, but I was so happy to see someone really try to go toe-to-toe with Maher on his show, and doubly happy that the person was The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan.

    Here is a clip from last night’s “Real Time,” which featured a solid panel of Sullivan, Naomi Klein and Will.I.Am.  Around the 6:30 mark, Maher pulls out yesterday’s USA Today and points to an article about believers in guardian angels, and Sullivan takes the opportunity to strike.  It’s a good exchange, though painfully indicative of Maher’s resistance against any gray area where belief in a higher power is concerned.  At one point Sullivan tells Maher, “Bill, don’t describe my faith to me,” and I wanted to give the guy a round of applause.  Sadly that part is cut from the end of the clip below, but maybe it’ll pop up soon on YouTube.

    I’ll be seeing “Religulous” next Wednesday with Maher and director Larry Charles hanging around for a reception following.  I’d love to address some of these concerns in an interview setting, but I just haven’t seen evidence that the guy can get outside of his own head on the matter.

  • 9/20 Oscarweb Round-up

    Philip Seymour Hoffman• Oliver Stone wanted Christian Bale to play Bush in “W?” [GQ]

    • Jeffrey Wells is getting more and more excited about the film, by the way. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • ‘Synecdoche’ and ‘Doubt’ star Philip Seymour Hoffman is set to make his mark on the London theater scene. [The Independent]

    • Patrick Goldstein finishes up his “Express” spotlight with Gary Fielder. [The Big Picture]

    • Wendy Ide spends some quality time with director Walter Salles. [The Times]

    • Perilous times for superstars paves the way for newcomers and has-beens, says Peter Bart. [Peter Bart]

    • And some lists, starting with Glenn Kenny’s 12 hard-to-see films you haven’t seen but should… [Some Came Running]

    • …and Christopher Campbell’s top 10 movie titles of the last 10 years. [Spout Blog]

  • Seeking the real haters

    Addressing Diablo Cody’s bizarre rant against her “haters” (seriously, is there a less worthwhile target than IMDB fanboys?), The Guardian’s Xan Brooks has come up with a witheringly tart response. It amused me, anyway:

    The author also explained that “5-million 12-year-olds think I’m Buck Henry. Accept it”, boasted that “my pilot was so good it got picked up for a series” and (most intriguingly) admitted to “jamming toxic silicon toys up my ass for money.” Ms Cody admits that she is perplexed as to why anyone might dislike her and implies that she has discussed the issue at length with her therapist. Lucky old therapist.

    For those who aren’t fussed about Diablo Cody one way or the other, reading her blog is a disconcerting experience. It’s like being screamed at in the street by a stranger. I don’t know the back-story, if indeed there is one. I’m not sure whether her rage is entirely justified, or whether the “haters” are just the demons of an unbalanced brain, constantly whispering that her pilot stinks and that “5-million 12-year-olds” actually think she’s Buck Rogers.

    So, like I say, I’m slightly at a loss and need this explained to me. Does anyone actively hate Diablo Cody?

    I mean, before they read her blog?

  • “I’ve been very lonely in my isolated tower of indecipherable speech.”

  • Which one should I buy?

    I already own a Wii, and love it, but I’m thinking about adding a new console. I thought I’d toss it out to the gamers out there…which do you prefer?

    XBOX 360 Playstation 3

  • Finally getting excited about 2008…

    Sean Penn in MilkNot a whole lot has piqued my cinematic interest this year. “The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” are the happy pre-festival-season exceptions. But even with Toronto not yielding a whole lot in terms of Oscar frontrunners, I am finding more and more to be excited about in the coming months and expect an intense race for that little golden guy. Here are the six (well, seven…you’ll see) most anticipated of the year for me, at this stage…

    “The Road” (John Hollcoat)
    Is anyone else as pumped for this as I am? After reading the book in three days, imagining Viggo Mortensen in a number of the scenes and Robert Duvall as the old man, I can’t wait. If Mortensen does justice to the character (and I think he will), he is in for an Oscar nod, the second in a row for the actor.  And the film itself could be a dark horse contender for Best Picture and Best Director. The Academy has shown some courage these last few years embracing dark subjects, and this one is certainly dark.  Though the book ends with a ray of hope for humanity. Here’s hoping they capture the intensity and raw realism of the novel.

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  • Busy day

    Heading out to Agoura Hills this afternoon to interview Jeff Beal, composer of Ed Harris’s “Appaloosa.”  Then a “Synecdoche, New York” screening later in the day.  Nothing more out of me until this evening, though the crew might have some odds and ends.  Happy Friday.

  • ‘L.A. Confidential’ gets a deluxe DVD release

    L.A. Confidential Special Edition DVDOne of the greatest experiences I have ever had at a Toronto festival was the North American premiere of Curtis Hanson’s “L.A. Confidential,” which was instantly declared a masterpiece and one of the great film noirs in movie history.

    Dark and entertaining with a twisting and turning narrative that keep viewers guessing throughout, the film was embraced by the critical community in a huge way, topping most of the 10-best lists that year and winning best-of-the-year prizes from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle.

    The film is receiving a shiny new DVD release this year and I couldn’t be more excited.  The package offers a slew of special features: commentaries from film critic Andrew Sarries, author James Ellroy , nearly the entire cast, director of photography Dante Spinotti and production designer Jeannine Oppewall; a new making-of documentary with updated interviews with the players; detailed examination of the look of the film; “From Book to Screen” with Hansen, Brian Helgeland and Ellroy; and a focus on the film’s ensemble.

    As always the star of any re-issue is the film itself,  and “L.A. Confidential” remains one of the great films of the 1990s — a sublime work of art.

    Superbly acted by Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kevin Spacey, Danny Devito, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger and Russell Crowe (in a star-making turn), the picture was a tight ensemble piece.  It fired on all cylinders: direction, cinematography, design elements, and a film score that effortlessly zapped us back to 1950s Los Angeles.

    Kevin Spacey, two years after winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for “The Usual Suspects,” portrayed Jack Vincennes with a Dean Martin sort of cool, an honest cop who had sold his soul to television where he worked as an adviser on a popular series. Spacey was the anchor for the film, giving a marvelous performance that the other actors bounced off of nicely. His swift and shocking end remains one of the most startling moments I have witnessed in a film. I remember gasping out loud when the tables turned so quickly.

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  • France submits ‘Class’ over ‘So Long’ for foreign Oscar

    François Bégaudeau in The ClassOne big question mark floating around since the foreign language film submissions started trickling in has been which film France would submit, the Cannes sensation (and Palm d’Or winner) “The Class” or Philippe Claudel’s “I’ve Loved You So Long.”

    Anchored by a critically acclaimed performance from Kristin Scott Thomas, Claudel’s film is one of the most buzzed films to come out of Telluride and Toronto.  “Best film of the year” has been a typical verdict.

    Then again, it’s hard to argue with Laurent Canet’s Palm d’Or winner, which beat out some thick competition on the Croisette this year.

    Well today we get an answer.  France will be submitting “The Class” as their foreign language film contender in this year’s Oscar race.  The result is similar to last year’s debate when the country had a critical darling and a film packing a performance punch to work with in “Persepolis” and “La Vie en Rose” respeticvely.  The former ended up making the trip before being unceremoniously cut from the competition during the early stages.

  • The LA Times’ comic/genre/superhero blog?

    Did anyone else totally miss the last three months of the Los Angeles Times’ “Hero Complex” blog?  I had no idea it even existed until I stumbled across the Alan Moore story we linked ot this morning in the round-up.  Weird.  Guess I’ve got a new blog to frequent…

  • 9/19 Oscarweb Round-up

    Benicio Del Toro• Peter Sciretta wraps up the Toronto Fest, live from Fantastic Fest.  It’s that time of the year… [/Film]

    • Oscar winner Diablo Cody responds to the haters: “I like my fake name.  It’s engraved on an Oscar.  Yours isn’t.” [MySpace]

    • Mark Olsen apparently reported over a week ago that Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” will not be released by Summit Entertainment until 2009 and no one knew about it. [Los Angeles Times]

    • The news kind of sucks for Sasha Stone’s latest Oscar column thesis… [Awards Daily]

    • …while it seems a questionable move to Jeffrey Wells. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Jeffrey Anderson runs down the best of Keira Knightley’s costume epics. [Cinematical]

    • Kevin Kelly talks to “Waltz with Bashir” star/director Ari Folman. [Spout Blog]

    • Lou Lumenick wonders if Heath Ledger’s legacy can equal that of James Dean beyond the inevitable Oscar nomination and Halloween get-ups (I know that’s my costume this year…the only reason I haven’t cut my hair since May). [Lumenick on Film]

    • Karl Rozemeyer talks to “Appaloosa” star Viggo Mortensen… [Premiere]

    • …as well as “Che” star Benicio Del Toro. [Premiere]

    • Alan Moore will be “spitting venom all over” Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen.” [Hero Complex]

  • Harwood and Oliver share Humanitas Prize

    To revisit some old friends from the 2007 awards season, the Humanitas Prize in the feature film category has been jointly awarded to Ronald Harwood, for “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” and Nancy Oliver for “Lars and the Real Girl.”

    The prize is a screenwriting award aiming to honour achievements that “explore the human condition and reveal our common humanity.” (Previous winners include “Crash,” “You Can Count on Me” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”) Under those criteria, both winners strike me as worthy — even if I find Harwood’s script a rather more substantial achievement.

    Amusingly, the tie leaves Diablo Cody as the lone unrewarded nominee in the category — somewhat appropriate given the lack of maturity or insight she recently displayed in her online hissy-fit. Oh well, to borrow her words, at least she still has her fake name engraved on an Oscar.

    Elsewhere, the Sundance Feature category was awarded to the TV-movie adaptation of “A Raisin in the Sun” over Tom McCarthy’s “The Visitor,” which strikes me as a little odd. But humanity isn’t exactly a quantifiable achievement, is it now?

  • ‘Quantum of Solace’ theme is out

    It’s finally landed. “Another Way to Die,” the theme song recorded by Jack White and Alicia Keys for the latest installment of the Bond franchise, made its radio debut earlier today — listen to it here and see what you think.

    I must say, on first listen, I’m a little disappointed. Perhaps it’s a grower. But for all the gutsy guitar riffs and atmospheric build-up, I found any clear melody — the bedrock of all the best Bond compositions from “You Only Live Twice” to “Nobody Does It Better” — distinctly lacking. And Keys’ presence is so muted, I’m not sure what the point of the duet was.

    I have a feeling we won’t be seeing this performed on Oscar night. Your thoughts?

    (EDIT: Thanks to Bradley Porter for sending me the full song, sans DJ intrusion. I will try and amend the post to include the song, but technical issues fail me at the moment.)

  • More Polish posters

    After this week’s post about Polish movie posters, I received an email from a reader pointing me to MrPoster.com, which he described as “are the world’s largest resource for Polish original vintage movie posters. Over 8,000 different posters are avaialable to the public. Their gallery is in Santa Fe, New Mexico and can be reached through this website.”

    They definitely have a lot of posters, but not all the titles are in English, so you have to play a guessing game here and there.  Here’s a collective of some of my favorites (clockwise from top left: “Blues Brothers,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Children of a Lesser God,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Winchester ’73” and “Cabaret,”):

    MrPoster.com

  • TECH SUPPORT: Fall and Winter Contenders

    Tech Support at In ContentionLast week we took a look at the films that have already been released and now appear to be in contention for crafts nominations come Oscar time.  Now that the dust is settling from the Toronto and Venice Film Festivals, it’s time to look ahead…

    Very often we see films dominate the crafts categories and end up with many nominations.  Recent examples include “The Aviator,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Dreamgirls” though, in all fairness, not to the extent expected.  Such films tend to be set in period, large in scope and contenders in the main categories as well.  And a number of upcoming efforts are aiming for that kind of recognition.

    Baz Lurhmann’s “Australia” seems the obvious example.  Lurhmann is a visual master and this film could be an amazing palette.  Cinematographer Mandy Walker and production designer/costume designer Catherine Martin (Mrs. Lurhmann) strike me as likely nominees.  This is not to mention great opportunities in sound, editing, makeup and a potential return to the game for Aussie composer David Hirschfelder.

    David Fincher has the opportunity to finally break through with Oscar in a major way with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”  His films have — shamefully, in my opinion — received a grand total of three Oscar nominations to date.  While a few hasty bloggers gave some cold knee-jerk assessments of a reel of footage at Telluride, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

    Moreover, “Button” should prove to be visually spectacular.  The cinematography, editing, visual effects and makeup will likely be integral to the plot.  The sets and costumes will span 80 years.  This sounds like the makings of a potential crafts category behemoth.  And don’t forget the score from Alexandre Desplat, my favorite working composer.

    Edward Zwick’s “Defiance” is another film that could be a massive player in the crafts fields.  While Zwick’s films are notorious for their flat critical receptions, they almost always involve themes the Academy loves and “Defiance” should prove no exception in this regard.  Indeed, his films usually take at least three nominations in the crafts categories.

    Zwick has not disappointed in amassing a slew of respected artists who have been recognized by the Academy in the past: cinematographer Eduardo Serra, costume designer Jenny Beavan, film editor Steven Rosenblum and composer James Newton Howard.  Veteran production designer Dan Weil seems bound to be nominated eventually, while the still undocumented sound designers are sure to be top notch.

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  • Tom-O chats up Larry Charles and “gangsta” Bill Maher

    It’s awesome to hear Maher talk about his infamous streak of Emmy losses here. It’s doubtful he’ll break the streak this year, but dammit, give this man the award. I’d say he’s probably deserved it year in and year out, with the exception of a few Jon Stewart victories:

  • The long journey to Searchlight for Boyle’s ‘Slumdog’

    (from left) Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in Slumdog MillionaireThe Envelope’s John Horn does a wonderful job today of reporting on the long, winding road home for director Danny Boyle and his festival hit “Slumdog Millionaire.”  Fox Searchlight has handled the domestic distribution of most of the director’s titles, but “Slumdog” had to face some trials and tribulations to get there.

    Here’s a taste:

    When Warner Bros. announced in early May that it was closing its two specialty film divisions, Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse, other art house distributors immediately starting telephoning around, trying to determine the fate of director Danny Boyle’s film, which Warner Independent had penciled in for a Nov. 7 release.

    So why wasn’t Boyle’s biggest Hollywood benefactor actively chasing the British filmmaker’s latest movie? The studio somehow knew that “Slumdog Millionaire” would eventually make its way from Warners to Fox and that the best strategy (and smartest bargaining tactic) was to sit back and wait.

    It’s a way of thinking not unlike how Boyle shot his rags-to-riches movie in the disorganized sprawl of Mumbai. “If you trust it,” Boyle said of his Zen-like attitude of shooting a movie in the world’s largest city, “it will come back to you.”

    And then the scrambing:

    Rather than wash its hands of “Slumdog Millionaire,” Warners tried to figure out how it could handle the film without using Warner Independent. The studio asked Bob Berney, the head of Picturehouse, to take a look to see if Picturehouse could be reconstituted to distribute the film. “I really loved it,” Berney said. “I think it’s his real home run — it really brings it all together.”

    But the costs of reassembling Berney’s team were prohibitive, especially if “Slumdog Millionaire” wasn’t going to come out until early 2009. “They would essentially have to pay everyone double,” Berney said, “because we had already fired everybody” and had paid them severance.

    Before destiny beckoned:

    Producer Colson said that just as the movie is a fable about fate, so too is the story of “Slumdog Millionaire’s” zigzagging path to the screen.

    “It’s a movie about destiny, and we’ve had some twists and turns ourselves,” Colson said. “Is Fox Searchlight a better distributor for the film today than Warner Independent was 12 months ago? I don’t know. I’d like to think Warner Independent would have done a great job, but they never got a chance to show us what they could do.

    “But is the movie in a better position than it was four months ago? The answer is a categorical yes. Because now it will get a chance at the life it deserves.”

    It’s a great little story.  Read the rest here.