In Contention

Blog

  • Woody Allen’s latest to open Cannes

    The ever-informed insider Cédric Succivalli broke the news this morning that May’s Cannes Film Festival will kick off with Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” — an ensemble romantic comedy starring, among others, Marion Cotillard, Carla Bruni, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen and Léa Seydoux.

    It’s hardly a surprising choice. Cannes has been good to Allen over the years: recently, “Match Point,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and last year’s “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” all premiered on the Croisette, while “Hollywood Ending” also served as the festival’s curtain-raiser in 2002.

    Moreover, the strong French flavor of his new project all but assured it a Cannes berth, while all that star power — plus the possibility of a certain Mr. Carla Bruni tagging along — guarantees maximum media coverage on opening night.

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  • ‘Inception,’ ‘Dragon’ reign at VES awards

    Four for “Inception,” three for “How to Train Your Dragon” (which beat out “Toy Story 3” every step of the way).  “Hereafter,” meanwhile, took the supporting effects award.

    Key quote from Christopher Nolan, who received the inaugural Visionary Award:

    I know visual effects people pride themselves on doing the impossible.  I’d just like to encourage you to say “no” to the unreasonable.

    (Courtesy: David Cohen)

    Check out the full list of winners at The Circuit.

    [Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures]

  • The In Contention Oscar pool

    You might recall the last few years we’ve used AwardsPicks.com’s Oscar pool.  The site has changed names and is now Picktainment.com, but it’s pretty much the same interface.  We’ve already got this year’s pool up and running, so head on over and make your picks.

    I haven’t settled on a way to weight the categories yet, so I’m open to suggestions.

  • Relatability

    I was talking recently with an Academy member who shall remain nameless and “The King’s Speech” came up.  This is what you’d definitely call a “steak eater” voter, if you will, part of a below-the-line branch, real rank and file type with zero connection to the film.  I thought I’d share his feelings on the movie because I think they might offer some insight for those wondering how or why the film is resonating so much:

    I watched that movie and it made me understand why I love movies.  I don’t know, humanity, I guess, man.  Trusting in another human being and your most vulnerable f***ing thing that you’re the most terrified of and give it to somebody else?  I mean, I come from recovery.  I’ve been sober for 26 years.  The idea to say, “Please help me,” is the transformation of a lifetime if you’re willing and can ever get to that place.  For me that movie resonated in so many f***ing ways.  I came away going, “Well, that’s my movie.  F*** everything else.”

    Sure, it’s a specific guy’s thought process.  But there is nuance built into that heart/head, see/feel debate raging in this year’s race, and I think these comments do a nice job of illuminating some of that.

    [Photo: The Weinstein Company]

  • ‘Incendies’ trailer

    While some pundits are assuming that Javier Bardem’s Best Actor nomination makes “Biutiful” the film to beat in the foreign-language category — despite the fact that recent Oscar history doesn’t favor the biggest name in the contest — my instincts tell me the real race is between Susanne Bier’s “In a Better World” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies,” both of which Sony Pictures Classics will release in April. I haven’t caught up with either yet, though this new trailer for the latter is making me even more annoyed at myself for sleeping past an early-morning screening at Venice last year. Click on the image to watch the trailer at Apple, or check out the embed after the jump.

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  • Someone’s campaigning for Banksy

    Following its semi-surprise Oscar nomination last week, “Exit Through the Gift Shop” has received a nifty publicity boost from this prominent Banksy-honoring mural (pictured right, and in more detail after the jump) that went up recently in Los Angeles. Although some were quick to assume it’s the work of the man himself, all signs point instead to Mr. Brainwash — the Banksy-mentored street artist who emerges as the hapless protagonist of the documentary.

    The resulting is-it-or-isn’t-it discussion neatly echoes the conversation around the film as a whole — and since Banksy can hardly work the campaign circuit himself, at least someone’s doing on behalf of the film.

    Meanwhile, the more I think about this particularly Oscar race, the more I think there’s something to Kris’s prediction that it’s the inevitably absent Banksy who will emerge victorious on February 27. This is, after all, a category on which voters are required to see all five nominees before checking off their ballots — a situation where the film’s eccentricity could work in its favor.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Short Film (Animated)

    Once again this year, Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International are teaming up to bring the Best Short Film nominees to a theater near you on February 11.  It’s the third straight year of this partnership and it remains a stellar way of getting these otherwise fringe categories out to the masses.

    This year’s animated short field features a typically varied mixture of styles and approaches.  But it is, I feel, a less impressive line-up than we’ve seen in recent years.  Nothing really stands out as profound or instantly worthy of awards consideration, but there are certainly particulars of each that warrant praise.  What’s more, it could be perceived as a relatively open race.

    The nominees are:

    “Day & Night” (Teddy Newton)
    “The Gruffalo” (Jakob Schuh and Max Lang)
    “Let’s Pollute” (Geefwee Boedoe)
    “The Lost Thing” (Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann)
    “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” (Bastien Dubois)

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Rush toasted with Montecito Award, ‘King’s Speech’ cast receives ensemble honor

    Last night saw Santa Barbara’s tribute to “The King’s Speech” star Geoffrey Rush.  Looking suave with a cleanly shaved head (for his current role on stage in “Diary of a Mad Man”), Rush held court with trademark affable humor and tales of his comparatively brief Hollywood career thus far.

    I Tweeted this and that from the tribute, but more than anything I was reminded again how much I loved the criminally underrated “The Tailor of Panama.” Discussion naturally flowed from “Shine” to “The King’s Speech” and all points in between, an engrossing reminder of just how rich Rush’s work is no matter the role.

    In a recent interview with The Race’s Tim Appelo (which is, consequently, a great place to start for those who continue to diminish the the directorial attributes of “The King’s Speech”), Tom Hooper had a wonderful take on directing the actor…

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  • Doctage 2010

    As we all know, 2010 was a great year for non-fiction filmmaking. To celebrate that, Joseph Demme put together a montage covering the year in docs. We thank him for sending this in:

  • 2/1 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Wolverine, Iron Man to present, ‘Superman’ snub “reverse McCarthyism,” Franco’s class

    • Greg Ellwood shrewdly notes potential motive to announcing Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) first as presenters at this year’s Academy Awards. [Awards Campaign]

    • Tom Hooper and Geoffrey Rush respond to the notion of cutting “The King’s Speech” to appease a PG-13 rating. [Inside Movies]

    • “Master Class: Editing James Franco…with James Franco meets on Thursday afternoons weekly.” [Movieline]

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  • Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue cover

    Fluffy as it is, this is one of my favorite Oscar-season traditions. While they’ve played around with the formula in past years, this is a straight-up glamor spread, and all the better for it. I’m particularly pleased to see a smooth-looking Anthony Mackie in the mix with the bigger names. On another note, I wonder if the magazine’s editors assumed Robert Duvall was a shoo-in for an Oscar nod when they cast him as the lord of this ensemble.

    You can check out an embiggened version at the VF site. Nathaniel Rogers, meanwhile, has more detailed musings on the matter.

  • Until Oscar do us part

    A few days ago, a reader responded to a trivia note by Steve Pond, about the number of Best Actor nominees whose Christian names begin with the same letter, with the question, “Is this the point at which we are officially over-saturated with Oscar stats?”.

    Well, if we weren’t there then, we might be now.

    Yesterday, the Huffington Post ran an interview with an academic who has invested far too much time looking into the so-called “Oscar Curse” — the unfortunate trend that has seen many a star headed for divorce court shortly after winning the Best Actress Oscar. Recent examples include Sandra Bullock, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Hilary Swank and Halle Berry, but a University of Toronto research project (!) suggests the curse goes further back than that.

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Women in the biz

    I really should take the time to write up Saturday’s women’s panel here in Santa Barbara, not least of all because it seems to have been neglected in most outlets.  It’s an undervalued annual program, always moderated with class by Madelyn Hammond and featuring some of the most formidable female talents working in the industry.

    This year’s group consisted of “Toy Story 3” producer Darla K. Anderson, “Alice in Wonderland” costume designer Colleen Atwood, Skywalker Sound Vice President and general manager Gloria Borders, “Waiting for Superman” producer Lesley Chilcott and “Winter’s Bone” producer Alex Madigan.

    The immediate thing that sticks out is how so many of the panelists are producers, and Borders was quick to note as much.  “You don’t see that many women that are visual effects supervisors or editors or sound mixers,” she said.  “Women are really good producers.  We’re really good at getting people to get along and walk in the same direction.”

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  • The cinematography of ‘True Grit’

    There has been a lingering possibility, I think, of Danny Cohen riding the frontrunner wave to a win for his working shooting “The King’s Speech” lately.  It’s possible “Inception” is lurking as a spoiler, but I think the race will come down to those two films.  And as much as I find myself in the “pro” camp regarding his lensing of that film, I would be lying if I didn’t say I’m ready to see Roger Deakins holding an Oscar, by God.

    I spoke with the “True Grit” cinematographer last month about his approach to the Coen brothers’ western, which differs strikingly from the visual identity of their other collaborations but nevertheless has that Deakins flavor.  More on that in the upcoming Oscar Guide to the Best Cinematography category.

    Paramount has released another featurette on the film’s below-the-line work, this time focused on Deakins’s contribution. It’s a brief but rather enlightening look at his approach. Take a look after the jump.

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  • What will be this year’s Sundance story?

    I must confess, this year’s Sundance Film Festival kind of passed me by. Admittedly, I’ve been distracted by a busy couple of weeks on the awards circuit, but the Sundance coverage I did follow suggested a high-quality if nonetheless rather quiet festival, one with fewer noisy breakout films than usual.

    In the last few years, it’s been worth keeping an eye (or an ear, rather) on the Sundance buzz, as the festival has birthed a number of future critical hits, and even awards-season success stories: recent Best Picture nominees “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Precious,” “An Education” and now “The Kids Are All Right” and “Winter’s Bone” all premiered there, as did “Frozen River,” “Blue Valentine” and a plethora of Oscar-nominated documentaries. (No fewer than four of this year’s Best Documentary Feature nominees are Sundance babies.)

    So it’s easy to assume at least one film from this year’s Sundance crop is something we’ll still be talking about a year from now — but where the crossover potential for a film like “The Kids Are All Right,” or a performance like Jennifer Lawrence’s, was immediately evident, this year’s potential Sundance “stories” don’t seem quite as obvious.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

    The race for Best Original Screenplay is full of worthy competitors this year.  Four Best Picture nominees and the year’s best screenplay period make up the field, and even if there are a few that should have been in the mix, I find it difficult to argue with what squeaked through in the end.

    The writing categories can sometimes be interesting to watch on Oscar night.  The Academy can mix things up, but only within the Best Picture landscape, as these awards have gone to a non-Best Picture competitor just six times in the last 20 years.  Nevertheless, all signs seem to be pointing to one film to dominate the show, and this category is no exception.

    The nominees are:

    “Another Year” (Written by Mike Leigh)
    “The Fighter” (Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson)
    “Inception” (Written by Christopher Nolan)
    “The Kids Are All Right” (Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg)
    “The King’s Speech” (Screenplay by David Seidler)

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  • ‘Black Swan’ effects reel

    This was making the rounds last week but I never got around to it.  A great peak behind the veil on some stellar below-the-line work that was sadly ignored by the Academy next week.

  • OFF THE CARPET: Game over, man

    It’s not really a question anymore, is it?

    I submit that, quite possibly, it never was.  Unfortunately, the shrieking in some quarters this year, under cover of “fighting the good fight,” has led to a mocking at the very notion that any film other than the critics’ champion could win the Oscar for Best Picture.  It’s been unnecessarily nasty in that way.

    At the end of the day, it really goes beyond critics vs. the Academy, though.  It comes down to micro vs. macro, I think.  The critics organizations are a bunch of tiny groups of people.  Get 5,000, 6,000, 10,000 people together, the odds begin to favor “The King’s Speech.” It’s simply the film that survives the scrutiny of a broader spectrum of opinion.  “Most generally agreeable.”  It always was.

    The unfortunate thing now — and if you’re watching, some are already doing an about face on their own positive opinion of Tom Hooper’s film — is that the fallout will be insufferable.  Suddenly “The King’s Speech” will be a blight on Academy history and that talking point will be regurgitated ad nauseam.  It already is.  And that’s just sad, because it’s a very good film that doesn’t deserve to be taken to task in the wake of another film’s failed (and overstated) awards season expectations.

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