In Contention

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  • Catch up with Oscar nominee ‘Dogtooth’

    For those of us who like to make wholly informed decisions when entering our Oscar pools, the Best Foreign Language Film category can be a bit of a thorn in the side. Unless you’re a particularly well-travelled festivalgoer, it’s mighty difficult to see all five nominated films ahead of Oscar night.

    This year is no exception, as two of them — the arguable frontrunners, “In a Better World” and “Incendies” — aren’t opening Stateside until April, while double-nominee “Biutiful” continues to creep out in limited release. The other two have been and gone in US theaters, but unless you’re lucky enough to live in one of a select few cities, chances are you didn’t see “Outside the Law” or “Dogtooth” either.

    Thankfully, for the latter film, Nexflix has come to the rescue. Yorgos Lanthimos’s disquieting adult fable, which has received perhaps the most significant publicity boost in the wake of its eyebrow-raising nomination, is already out on DVD, but curious awards-watchers can now watch it instantly on the streaming site — simplifying at least some of your homework in that category.

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  • Young stars speak out on ‘The Social Network’

    Newly minted Oscar nominee James Franco caused a bit of a ripple in the blogosphere the other day by casually slighting “The Social Network” — claiming the film fails to deal with the communication revolution that (to his mind) it’s supposed to be about, and further suggesting that its approach is too “classical” (read: conservative) for the subject.

    Naturally, given that he’s the star of one of the film’s Best Picture rivals, he couldn’t resist drawing comparisons to his own baby, declaring “127 Hours” both “perfect” and “the most innovative movie this year.”

    I’d take issue with both halves of Franco’s argument — as much as I (and I suspect Franco too) would like David Fincher’s film to focus on the politics of social networking itself, that isn’t its intent. Neither am I convinced that “127 Hours,” which uses familiar, even dated, formal flash to enliven its minimalist narrative, is as innovative as the actor claims it is.

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  • Oscar hosts in training

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Animated Feature Film

    The animated feature field unfortunately fell one film short of the required 16 eligible contenders to expand the category to five nominees this year. As a result of this bewildering and arbitrary “rule,” some great work was left off the list in this, a pretty decent year for animation in general.

    Nevertheless, the animators proved once again that they value the craft and artistry above all else, as a delectable, modest yarn beat out some stiff commercial competition to join two heavyweights that already seemed destined for inclusion. The resulting trio, despite being limited in number, is therefore a vibrant snapshot of the year in animation and one of a few categories that is absolutely stacked this season.

    The nominees are:

    “How to Train Your Dragon” (Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois)
    “The Illusionist” (Sylvain Chomet)
    “Toy Story 3” (Lee Unkrich)

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  • ‘The Conspirator’ trailer

    Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” was kicking up some Oscar buzz before it bowed at Toronto this year. Lukewarm reactions and a March release sealed the deal that it wasn’t going to figure in the awards season.  But it was picked up by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions and could be groomed for a run later this year. The trailer has been released via Yahoo! Movies. Have a look by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

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  • 1/27 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Franco on Gervais, Weinstein may cut ‘King’s Speech’ for PG-13, Gurus like it to win

    • Steve Pond offers up some random observations of the Oscar nominations announcement. [The Odds]

    • James Franco weighs in on Ricky Gervais’s hosting job at the Golden Globes. [MTV Movies Blog]

    • “Unusual number of Oscar nominees feature severed extremities, oral sex.” [The Race]

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  • Debating historical hiccups in ‘The King’s Speech’

    Unless you really haven’t been paying attention, you’ll have noticed by now that a few people have taken issue with the history lesson given by “The King’s Speech.” Or more specifically, with the one not given: that George VI supported British PM Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement towards Adolf Hitler, while his brother Edward VIII was an outright Nazi sympathizer, none of which is acknowledged in the film.

    Writing for The New Republic, Isaac Chotner took the film to task both for “grossly misrepresenting real events and people” and for shortselling its own dramatic potential through these omissions, while none other than Christopher Hitchens raised the same issue in a recent Slate essay, damning the film as “a major desecration of the historical record.”

    Whatever my own issues with the film, its historical filleting hasn’t been high on the list. As much as I think the gray political alliances of the Royal Family would make for a far richer narrative, the bottom line is that screenwriter David Seidler was more interested in George VI’s personal struggles — as a dramatist, it’s his right to frame the story as he wishes, free of the obligation to furnish the audience with every historical detail.

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  • Jon Stewart offers hosting advice to James Franco

    From last night’s “Daily Show.”  He refused to skip poetry class at Yale to be available for interviews in New York.  Love this guy:

    ABC’s promo pics of Franco and co-host Anne Hathaway after the jump.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Supporting Actress

    Like last year, this year’s Best Supporting Actress race was a free-for-all when it came to the last spot.  Potential category confusion almost had two spots up for grabs.  And there was absolutely no shortage of possible spoilers once the BAFTA had spoken up with a slate of formidable possibilities.

    And great work was still left off the ballot.  Mila Kunis was on track to score, but ultimately fell short.  Veterans Barbara Hershey and Miranda Richardson seemed to be making a play for recognition, too.  In the end, an early campaign made all the difference for one indie contender, while another young hopeful managed to keep her grip in the supporting ranks despite giving a lead performance.

    The nominees are:

    Amy Adams, “The Fighter”
    Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”
    Melissa Leo, “The Fighter”
    Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”
    Jacki Weaver, “Animal Kingdom”

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  • Ruffalo finally gets the nod

    Amid the assorted geeky stat-studies I made in the wake of yesterday’s Oscar nominations, I noticed that it hasn’t been a vintage year for first-time nominees in the acting categories. Of the 20 actors selected, 12 are repeat nominees — the highest number since 2002. But among the eight thesps making their Oscar debut are some very gratifying choices indeed.

    The unusually robust Best Supporting Actor category is particularly pleasing in that regard. It’s always cheering when a long-serving character actor identified by most moviegoers as “oh, that guy” finally gets the spotlight, so amid the range of reactions to yesterday’s news, I haven’t heard a single person who isn’t happy for John Hawkes — an actor who deserved more individual plaudits than he got for his 2005 lead turn in “Me and You and Everyone We Know.”

    And Christian Bale’s high-end choices and hard-graft technique placed him on many an Oscar-watcher’s “overdue” list, so I’m glad he finally got the nod for what I regard as his finest hour.

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  • Introducing the 2010 Oscar Guide

    You might recall last year’s Oscar Guide, a daily assessment of each of Oscar’s 24 categories leading up to the big night.  Accompanying each post (which details each nominee and offers up predictions and preferences) is a poll asking for your own personal choice for the category of the day.  The idea is at the end, we’ll have an In Contention readers’ ballot and, hopefully, we’ll have shed as much light on each race as possible along the way.

    As of right now, we’re 33 days away from the 83rd annual Academy Awards.  That leaves 23 business days to handle the first 23 categories.  On Saturday, February 26, the eve of the Oscars, we’ll finish up with the Best Picture category and then Sunday the 27th, we’ll put up your ballot.

    Things will get started later today with the Best Supporting Actress race.  That poll is already up and running, so feel free to go ahead and chalk up your choice in the left sidebar if you like.  Check back later for the first entry in the series.

  • 1/26 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Facebook is over it, ‘Superman’ snub “myths,” an all-white acting class

    • Facebook on the film’s eight-nomination haul: “We’re over it, thanks.  Trying to build the future here.” [Hollywood Reporter]

    • A.J. Schnack attempts to unravel the myths behind the “Waiting for Superman” snub. [All These Wonderful Things]

    • Patrick Goldstein notes the (anticipated) lack of color in this year’s acting categories. [The Big Picture]

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  • “I got beaten out by Fellini!”

    Chad passed this along.  I actually hadn’t seen it in a while.  I wonder if Nolan’s support system blew their stack a la this crowd:

  • Okay, now for the REAL competition

    (UPDATE: Dave Karger reached out and noted that his picks for the screenplay fields were actually in the newsstand issue of Entertainment weekly, and that he got 10/10.  He is noted below, fine, but come on — is it so hard to put it online?)

    I did some poking around in the usual corners to see how the pundits fared in predicting this year’s nominees.  Not everyone predicted everything.  In fact, I think the only ones to predict all 24 categories, from what I can tell, were Nathaniel Rogers, Anne Thompson and myself.  And I’m happy to report I was tops in that range (nailing 92 of 120 nominees).  Anne got 91 correct and Nathaniel got 90.

    I’m sure someone out there did better than me, so don’t mistake that for gloating.  I’m just happy I was right on “Salt” in Best Sound Mixing and “The Way Back” in Best Makeup.  The little things.

    Anyway, speaking of Nathaniel, he did VERY well in the general eight categories that everyone predicts, correctly guessing 40 of 45 nominees.  As did Dave Karger (see note above).  But we all have to bow to Steve Pond in this arena, who missed just three nominees for an impressive 42/45 score.  Bravo.

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  • T-shirt contest winner(s)!

    Would you believe that the only person in our T-shirt giveaway to correctly predict the three stated categories AND nail the tie-breaker was the first person to even enter?

    That is, until the 93rd entry.

    Lots of people got the two acting fields right, but were tripped up on score.  There was just about every combination of picks under the sun in over 100 entries.  So congrats to Yih and David for getting it all correct. The bummer is, I should have asked for a tally along with that tie-breaker question, because I have no idea how to sort this out.  Ideas?

    Meanwhile, if the winners could drop me a line with your mailing address, we’ll definitely get something for you both.

  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 50 — Special Edition! — Nod postmortem with Guy Lodge and Peter Knegt

    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.

    Unless you’ve been under a rock this morning, you’re aware of the day’s big news. Oscar nominations were revealed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 24 categories. And, as is typically, there were enough eyebrow-raisers to give us a ton to talk about. We’ve got IC’s own Guy Lodge and indieWIRE‘s Peter Knegt on board. Also, it’s our 50th episode! Let’s see what’s on the docket today…

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  • Oscar nominations: the good, the good and the good

    Even when they aren’t being read out with gale-force enthusiasm by Mo’Nique, the Oscar nominations tend to attack you with breathless speed that you need at least half an hour to decide how you feel about them at all. As usual, this morning’s announcement found me bouncing from one split-second reaction to another: Yay! No! What? That? Why? Who’s missing? What did she say? That? No! Did I call that? Yay!

    As Kate Winslet would say in such situations: “Gather.” And now that I’ve stepped back, gathered and taken into account that no Oscar nomination slate in history has been without its disappointments, I can honestly say that I’m more happy than not with the list in front of me.

    Some of the day’s biggest surprises didn’t elicit much of an emotional reaction from me. My eyebrows rose as high as anyone’s over Christopher Nolan’s latest failure to secure a Best Director nomination — is he the first man in Oscar history to fall three times at this hurdle after being DGA-nominated? — though I always said he couldn’t be regarded as a sure thing.

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  • Post-nod winner predictions (and a new poll)

    Did you hear?  The Oscar nominations were announced this morning.  And there was a lot to chew on.  (And boy can we be grateful for that.)

    With a full slate of contenders in front of us, it seemed only right to go ahead and offer up the latest set of winner predictions.  They are indicated by asterisk in the sidebar and are listed out in full after the jump.

    After roughly a week of falling into the logic (and blaring rhetoric) suggesting “The Social Network” would turn its critics run into Oscar gold, I’m back to my instincts (and, judging by its nomination haul, the will of the Academy) with a bet on “The King’s Speech.” Not only that, but I think we could see a mini-sweep for the film, as a couple of potentially formidable competitors were ousted from the nominations in a few craft fields.

    Of course, things could change.  But I’m sensing a momentum shift, and it’s frankly one we could have expected was around the corner.

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