In Contention

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

    This year’s race for Best Adapted Screenplay has seemingly been the most predictable of the year. One script has dominated the precursor circuit and the name behind that script is as worthy as ever given his contributions to the medium over the years.

    I’m not particularly a fan of this slate. One script is an interesting experiment that doesn’t fully land as a piece of screenwriting, another is a near word-for-word adaptation of a novel (which is fine, but credit where it’s due) and another, frankly, made for the most overrated film of the year. But the two that seem to be duking it out for the win are worthy and deserve to be here, in my opinion, so I have little room to complain.

    The nominees are:

    “127 Hours” (Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy)
    “The Social Network” (Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin)
    “Toy Story 3” (Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
    “True Grit” (Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)
    “Winter’s Bone” (Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini)

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  • BAFTA honors ‘Harry Potter’ series

    The penultimate film in the series may only be up for two BAFTAs on Sunday night — ones it probably won’t win — but devoted “Harry Potter” fans have been given an extra reason to tune in, as the entire series is being honored by the British Academy with their Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award.

    This annual honorary award has previously been presented to individuals like Mike Leigh, Derek Jarman and Kenneth Branagh, as well as studios like Pinewood and Working Title, but this is, to my knowledge, the first time it’s been given to an actual film franchise. Author J.K. Rowling and producer David Heyman will accept.

    It’s an appropriate acknowledgement for a cultural phenomenon that has delighted millions for an entire decade, generated a fortune for the UK film industry and kept at least half of Britain’s acting stock in steady employment, but the timing of the award strikes me as odd — why not wait until next year, when the series is complete and running its final victory lap?

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  • 2/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: The country turns to a flawed ‘Grit’ hero, will win/won’t win, Lanthimos talks ‘Dogtooth’

    • “Why, in troubled times, does America turn to a hard-drinking, half-blind US marshal?” [The Guardian]

    • Bob Verini takes the pro/con route on each Best Picture hopeful. [Variety]

    • Larry Rohter chats with “Dogtooth” director (and unlikely Oscar nominee) Yorgos Lanthimos. [The Carpetbagger]

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  • Best in show

  • The Super Bowl spots

    7. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
    Outrageous.  Make it stop.

    6. “Cowboys & Aliens”
    Though cluttered, expands on what we’ve seen.

    5. “Captain America: The First Avenger”
    Not a bad trailer but something lingering still has me on guard.

    4. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
    A true teaser, promising escalation but more contained.

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  • Wayne and Garth make their Oscar picks

  • BOX OFFICE: Is there a game on?

    And with that, “True Grit” crosses $150 million domestic and keeps chugging.  “The King’s Speech” moved up a notch in rank and still has $100 million in its sights (and has also leaped-frogged a few 2011 debuts in the process).  “Black Swan” brings up the rear and one more week will get it across that mark, while “The Fighter” is just on the outside of the top 10, aimed at $90 million for now.  And “Tangled,” I notice, is crawling toward a $200 million mark it’ll likely never reach.

    Now, enough of all that.  Super Bowl.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Bingham on the rise

    You probably notice I write about Ryan Bingham plenty, even though his successful Oscar season has come and gone.  But you know what?  Sometimes you meet guys n this racket who are real and genuine and, above all, kind, and when someone like that has talent like this, you just want to see him succeed.  And if you do what I do, you want to write about it.

    Bingham and his band The Dead Horses played a sold out show last night at the El Rey on Wilshire.  I’ve only seem him perform in a more intimate capacity (and we were robbed of the chance to see him grace the stage at the Kodak Theatre last year), so seeing him shred it to a capacity crowd was a special sight.

    I kind of consider him a latter day Springsteen.  His songwriting has taken huge leaps with the latest album, “Junky Star,” and he brings the energy like few contemporaries.  And the sky could be the limit.  We’re watching a superstar on the rise.

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  • Art Directors’ Guild wins for ‘Swan,’ ‘Speech,’ ‘Inception’

    In a busy night for industry awards, the Art Directors’ Guild also dished out their trophies yesterday. “Inception” claimed its second Guild prize in one night as it triumphed in the Fantasy category — fending off fellow Oscar nominee “Alice in Wonderland,” which would be a surefire winner for “most art direction,” in the process.

    I’m pleased the elaborate-but-ugly stylings of the latter film weren’t rewarded, though I’m struggling to get critic Mike McCahill’s description of “Inception”‘s production design as resembling a “revolving Best Western” out of my head.

    The other two categories were more predictable, as “The King’s Speech” took Period honors, while “Black Swan” triumphed in the Contemporary field — a win that places at least some balm on the wound of last week’s Oscar snub. (Rewatching Darren Aronofsky’s film a few days ago renewed my dismay that the Academy’s bias against modern-day work in this category struck again: I just can’t see how Stuart Craig’s work on the latest “Harry Potter” chapter is more inspired than Thérèse DePrez’s intricately coded melding of stage, domestic and psychological spaces.)

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  • Clean sweep for ‘Dragon’ at Annie Awards

    (Sorry we’re a bit late getting to this — Kris had more exciting plans for the evening and I like to sleep sometimes.)

    It’s a shame one can’t talk about “How to Train Your Dragon”‘s success at the Annie Awards without dragging politics into it. There are those of us who think it legitimately deserves to beat “Toy Story 3” on its own merits, and the sense of entitlement that comes from many of the protests on Pixar’s behalf isn’t appealing.

    But as when DreamWorks’s “Kung Fu Panda” upended “WALL-E” at the awards two years ago, there’s no way not to view this, to a large extent, as an anti-Pixar vote. If you’re not aware of the behind-the-scenes drama, this is it in a nutshell: last summer, Disney and Pixar withdrew from the International Animation Film Society-Hollywood, which organizes the awards, in protest at the voting procedures that enabled that aforementioned 2008 upset. (That Disney/Pixar had still taken the top prize in 13 out of 18 years, including last year’s win for “Up,” didn’t make them any less huffy.)

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  • WGA awards ‘Inception,’ ‘Social Network’

    I’ve been a bit tied up this afternoon and haven’t gotten to this yet, but indeed, the WGA has awarded “Inception” and “The Social Network” with its screenplay honors this year.  Color me a little surprised by the original screenplay win for Christopher Nolan, but Aaron Sorkin had a pretty clear ride to this win, I think.

    No, I don’t think Nolan’s win means anything for Oscar.  Seidler has that in the bag and would have had this if the work was eligible, BUT, I’m very happy for Nolan.  It’s a much better ending than if the indie had swooped in for some love, as most were expecting.  And I still think said indie is the one in Seidler’s rear view.  But for now, I raise a glass to ingenuity through spectacle.

    The Art Directors Guild awards are also tonight, but I have to run out.  So I imagine you’ll come across the news at some point.  No guild awards next weekend, but the following week will bring the CAS, ACE and ASC.  It’s almost over.

  • CINEJABBER: The test of time

    Catch up with the idea behind these weekend posts here.

    I was talking with a friend this week about “the test of time,” as it were.  She posited, as have many, that “The King’s Speech” is not the film we’ll remember 10 years from now.  I don’t know that “The Social Network” is either, frankly, but I also don’t subscribe to the law of time’s judgment when it comes to these things, either.

    The film I’m likely to remember most this year?  The one that occupies my mind more than most?  If I’m being honest?  “Biutiful.” I have a lot of respect for what’s going on with that film, but I still believe it has inherent flaws that keep it from a certain pristine quality.  Flaws that won’t take on new characteristics with time.

    I think it’s become a bit facile to go there so quickly.  “Time will tell.”  Etc.  I actually think time can kill a film.  Just look at the revisionism of films that lost the Best Picture Oscar to admittedly greater works.  The haze of hindsight is not always a great lens to look through, and the inherent subjectivity of this stuff means, to me, you’re best bet is an educated take in the moment.

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  • Boyle and Beaufoy and werewolves, oh my

    The best part of this evening for me wasn’t Aaron Sorkin and Ben Mezrich winning an award for “the best adaptation of the printed word into film” (for a work that is debatable as an adaptation in the first place).  It was probably talking with finalist Simon Beaufoy about his latest script.

    Some of this has made the rounds in the UK, but apparently it’s a werewolves-in-gangland-LA script adapted from an epic poem, “Sharp Teeth,” about same from Toby Barlow.  Seriously.  Picture “Boyz N the Hood” where Doughboy and his crew turn into savage dogs at night.  And it’s a potential project for Danny Boyle to direct.

    Beaufoy told me about ride-alongs he has taken with LAPD officers in Compton and Watts in the way of preparation.  As a screenwriter, he says he prefers to observe quietly, but the cops he was riding with would insist, quite comically (as he describes it), on perpetrators spending a couple of minutes chatting with him at every bust.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘King’s Speech’ marches on

    • “The King’s Speech” continued its cruise through phase two of the season with a widely unexpected Directors’ Guild victory…

    • … and scooped top honors at a surprise-free Screen Actors’ Guild Awards ceremony.

    • Following this brace of wins, this week’s Off the Carpet column said what we were all thinking: the race is over.

    • Meanwhile, in his Long Shot column, Guy concluded that the royal biopic was likely the film to beat all along.

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  • Predict the WGA and Scripter winners

    This weekend brings a couple of screenwriting competitions: the WGA Awards and the USC Scripter Award ceremony.  I might as well give you some space to predict.

    My bet on WGA is “The Kids Are All Right” for original, but it does seem like an open race.  I consider it the spoiler possibility for Oscar, but if “The King’s Speech” were eligible here we all know it would likely win.

    Meanwhile, the adapted field is a little easier.  I think Aaron Sorkin will coast to a win for “The Social Network.” These are writers voting, after all (and not a mish-mash of disciplines like the DGA).  It won’t be as easy on Oscar night, given the broader spectrum of voters, but I think tomorrow night should be simple enough.

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 51 — The new frontrunner, Santa Barbara tributes and panels, potential Oscar upsets

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk.

    In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

    It’s been a little over a week since last we left you, and to say the least, plenty has happened in that stretch. We’re both back in Los Angeles after some festival bouncing and have a number of things to chew on so let’s see what’s on the docket today…

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  • Joyce Carol Oates on ‘The Fighter’

    On the occasions that they donate some space to the medium, the New York Review of Books can be a source of pretty world-beating film criticism — and from some unexpected voices, at that. A few months ago, I featured Zadie Smith’s matchless essay on “The Social Network,” but if that film’s media ubiquity made it an obvious topic for an intellectual outsider, it’s a delightful surprise to see the venerable American Joyce Carol Oates (herself the author of pugilism tome “On Boxing”) taking on “The Fighter.”

    Better yet, she addresses David O. Russell’s boxing biopic with more seriousness and sensitivity than many a well-versed film critic; the film opens today in the UK, and has been greeted by a disappointingly large number of polite but unenthused reviews, many of them carelessly citing a TV aesthetic.

    Oates argues for “The Fighter” as a “directorial homage” of sorts to “Raging Bull,” but sees an elegiac conflict in an underdog story that more have likened to the straight-up feelgood storytelling of “Rocky.”

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  • Phase two campaign messages give it their best shot

    I’ve been, unintentionally, taking note of the various tactics this year’s Best Picture hopefuls have been using as phase two barrels ahead and members have ballots in hand.

    The smartest stroke, I think, was The Weinstein Company following up the “Some Movies You See, Others You Feel” campaign with a “Find Your Voice” push for “The King’s Speech.” It’s obviously two-fold.  Yes, it indicates the narrative of the film, but it also works wonderfully in a “don’t let anyone tell you what to vote for” kind of way.

    Meanwhile, Sony is perhaps reaching a bit to find its own campaign voice for “The Social Network,” as “One Movie Connects Us All” is a bit faux-profound.  Show of hands of who’s mother isn’t on Facebook?  But that making-of documentary (which is available online, on demand and came in disc form in the trades this week) was certainly a smart play.

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