In Contention

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part one

    It seems hard to believe that it’s been more than six months since I wrote this year’s introductory Tech Support column ( a dissection of the art direction race). Much has changed since then, naturally, as we are less than a week away from the big day when we find out the nominees for the Oscars this year. Today, I take a final look at the music categories, sound categories and the two categories that have been narrowed down to seven finalists – Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup.

    BEST MAKEUP

    In this utterly bizarre category, virtually any combination of the seven finalists would fail to surprise me as the final three. That said, I’ve had the same top two predicted all year and see no reason to change now: “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wolfman.” The former had massive box office and very noticeable makeup, whereas the latter is exactly the sort of movie that tends to score here and nowhere else.

    Logic may put “True Grit” or “The Fighter” next in line due to their Best Picture contender status. But as much as these films are loved, they don’t have as showy makeup as the other finalists, and this is a category that often doesn’t care how films are received overall.

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  • 1/20 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Portman milestones, Best Director not equal to Best Picture, Sony goes iTunes, too

    • Eight milestones in the evolution of Natalie Portman. [Movieline]

    • Carolyn Giardana notes a rare Best Visual Effects nomination for an animated film at the BAFTAs. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Nathaniel Rogers argues against the notion that Best Director must equal Best Picture. [The Film Experience]

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  • FIRST-HALF FYC: Best Picture

    For the past eight weeks, I’ve been spotlighting nomination-worthy names,  in all major Ocar categories, from the first half of the US release calendar. Today, we close out the series with an alternative January-to-June Best Picture 10, though it comes a week after ballots closed — timing was never my strong suit.

    A look at this category on the Oscar side of things proves why I felt this series of columns necessary in the first place. Of the films currently being mooted for a place on the Academy’s Best Picture list, only two — “Toy Story 3” and “Winter’s Bone” — were released prior to July 2010. If the latter does wind up making the cut, it raises hope that small-scale indies can override voters’ perilously short memories. If it doesn’t, well, we must just accept that the first six months of the year contained no Oscar-worthy adult drama. Or, you know, not.

    There’s no doubting nine of the films on my list below are wild long-shots to show up in Tuesday’s nomination announcement — indeed, several of the titles aren’t present on the Academy’s list of eligible productions.

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  • Behind the scenes of ‘The King’s Speech’

    Hat tip to /Film on this:

  • Sorkin at length

    David Poland has really dived into his long-form interviews this year, more than ever. What’s sacrificed has been some of his more, well, colorful written commentary, and tons of video can be a lot to take in most of the time, but every once in a while I perk up at this or that piece. Like this one, a nearly 40 minute interview with “The Social Network” screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Thought I’d pass it along:

  • Hathaway set for Catwoman in ‘Dark Knight Rises,’ Hardy confirmed as Bane

    I feel compelled to pass this along in the midst of the usual Oscar talk because, well, you know me.

    I looks like Anne Hathaway has been confirmed for the role of Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) in Christopher Nolan’s final Batman chapter, “The Dark Knight Rises.” Tom Hardy, meanwhile, who was cast in an unnamed role a few months back, has been confirmed for the role of Bane.

    Yep, “Batman Returns” and “Batman & Robin” in one movie, despite a bevy of villains that could have been much more intriguing in this new direction the character has taken.  On top of which, as much as I love Hathaway, I don’t like her for Kyle.  At all.  But you know what they say about opinions…

    Anyway, on Hardy (who was speculated for the role of Dr. Hugo Strange in a take on the “Prey” storyline), I’m equal parts intrigued and disappointed by the character choice.  Bane was infamously misused in Joel Schumacher’s 1997 craptastic vision, but if you’re looking to close out your trilogy (and three is as far as Nolan ever planned to take it), Bane is a nice character to use — if you’re faithful.

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  • Greece makes foreign Oscar shortlist, France snubbed

    “Dogtooth.” That’s the title an every Oscar pundit’s lips right now, as Greece’s critically beloved but super-outré submission — which includes inter-sibling sex and feline homicide in its curious bag of tricks — stunned pretty much everyone by showing up on the nine-title shortlist for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. I can hardly believe I’m typing this myself.

    There can be no doubt whatsoever that this is the work of the Academy’s executive committee, which was set up two years ago to give more challenging fare a leg up in the Oscar race by hand-picking an extra three titles to go on the shortlist compiled by general voters in the category. They’ve certainly done their job on this occasion — bravo, guys. (Japan’s reportedly edgy “Confessions” appears to be the second film they saved; the third is open to question.)

    As it turned out, I predicted only four of the nine — not hard in the case of Denmark’s Golden Globe winner “In a Better World,” Canada’s “Incendies” and Mexico’s “Biutiful,” which have been installed as favorites for weeks now.

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  • A look at Oscar’s 15 documentary feature hopefuls

    While Guy has been surveying the foreign field, I’ve been diving in elsewhere.

    It has been considered a banner year for documentary filmmaking. So naturally, the Best Documentary Feature race has been an interesting one to watch since the season’s early days.  Two months ago the Academy announced 15 finalists (whittling it down from 101 eligible titles) still alive in the race for this year’s doc Oscar. Branch members will now select five nominees from the remaining hopefuls, which will be announced as part of the Academy’s big reveal Tuesday.

    Even if there are a number of examples that didn’t make the list but probably should have, those 15 films largely make for a sound representation of a great year for the form. I spent the last couple of weeks revisiting some and saddling up to others for the first time, so it seemed worth it to offer up my thoughts on each and my perspective on the race.

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  • In praise of Reznor/Ross

    This year’s Best Original Score race really has me at a loss.  I freely admit that I have no idea what will happen there.  Some days I think we’ll get a small surprise like Alexandre Desplat sliding in for his best work this year in “The Ghost Writer,” others I think we could just get a massive, happy surprise like Daft Punk slipping in for their brilliant work on “TRON Legacy.”

    Other times, I kind of just bank on it being a boring assemblage of what we’ve been expecting.  Probably option “C” is the wisest expectation.

    One thing has begun to materialize lately for me, though.  And that is the fact that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who I once upon a time thought might not even get a nomination for their wonderfully woven ambient work in “The Social Network,” could be the frontrunners to win in a category that might be filled with less-singular achievements.

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  • Updates to The Circuit

    A couple of things this morning. First, the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association has come out of clear, blue (fabulous) sky to dish out their honors — and “I Am Love,” therefore, joins the minimal chorus of Best Picture critics award winners.

    Meanwhile, “Exit Through the Gift Shop” won the top prize at last night’s Cinema Eye Honors, but Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home” took home the most trophies with three.

    Speaking of which, check back later today as I’ll have an in-depth look at the 15 docs shortlisted for Oscar.

  • 1/19 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Affleck’s favorite heist films, Weinstein loves the Jets, Cameron going deep

    • Ben Affleck’s writes up his 11 favorite heist movies. [Daily Beast]

    • The Jets game was the Weinstein priority on Sunday night, not the Globes. [Page Six]

    • Dave Karger gets frisky and sticks with Hailee Steinfeld in lead for his final predictions. [Inside Movies]

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  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: Chad’s best of 2010

    When it came time to choose a snappy title for my year-end retrospective, the one that seemed to fit best is the one given to all my columns at In Contention this year. Oscar and I have shared a mutual disinterest in what the other feels to be award-worthy for a few years now and it doesn’t look like the trend is going to change much in 2011. For those interested, my top 20 last year garnered a whopping three nominations between them (two coming in the Best Animated Feature category).

    If there was any kind of trend or narrative to my taste this year, I guess it would be the rise of documentaries. Nearly 50% of my top 20 is comprised of the medium (including a few hybrids that blur the line), compared to a single entry last year. My guess it has more to do with a growing disenchantment towards lazy screenwriting than a noticeable uptick in quality non-fiction film. Regardless, truth was truly more interesting than fiction for me in 2010.

    Elsewhere, a number of high ranking films have to do with relationships and their struggles, possibly connected to the fact that breaking up with my girlfriend of four years was probably the defining event of my year, personally. Sometimes a movie hits you when and where you need to be hit.

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  • Predicting the foreign-language Oscar shortlist

    Tomorrow, we get the last of the Academy’s crucial pre-nomination shortlists, as the list of 65 entries for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar is slashed to just nine titles, from which the eventual nominees will be announced in a week’s time. Predicting these nine is a vague and mostly thankless task, but I am nothing if not vague and thankless, so let’s give it a go.

    Remember, here’s the system as it currently stands: six of the nine titles on the shortlist are voted in by the general committee of volunteer voters in the category, based on the scores given at each film’s official Academy screening. The remaining three are selected by a hand-picked executive committee, with the specific intention of “saving” significant and/or challenging titles that didn’t win the approval of the larger, more conservative body of voters.

    This curious system was set up two years ago, following the uproar that greeted the exclusion of critically beloved Palme d’Or winner “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” in the 2007 race.

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  • ‘White Material’ gets the Criterion treatment

    When you’ve been doggedly championing a film for the better part of 18 months, as I have with Claire Denis’s “White Material,” you do start to feel weirdly parental. So I was oddly touched by the raft of emails and tweets I got from assorted readers to inform me that the film has been revealed as one of Criterion’s April titles — it was as if I was being congratulated for someone else’s triumph.

    I’ve said before that I don’t really do the Criterion thing: US import charges making the discs even more of an indulgence for me, after all. If I make an exception for anything, however, it’ll be for the film that further viewings have established (after an already ecstatic first encounter) as my favorite of the last half-decade or so.

    Each revisit opens up both new avenues of political enquiry and an alternative set of possible answers, while the filmmaking also stuns on rotating, mood-dependent levels. One day, it’s Denis’s still-life camera that seems to lead the rich, fever-dream sound design; another, quite the reverse.

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  • POLL: Who gets the fifth supporting actress slot?

    One of the interesting things about this morning’s BAFTA announcement is that it scattered the already fluid Best Supporting Actress category to the winds.  Nominations for Barbara Hershey, Miranda Richardson and Lesley Manville put them in the hunt with contenders like Mila Kunis and Jacki Weaver for what appears to be an up-for-grabs fifth slot.

    Anne and I will probably address this at length in Friday’s final pre-nods Oscar Talk, but it seemed a good bet for a poll update as well.  Surprises happen.  And you risk being crazy to think outside-the-box (as in, last year, when everyone thought I was out to lunch for thinking Maggie Gyllenhaal had a chance).

    In the left sidebar, I’ve listed the five competitors that seem most likely to battle it out for a chance to join Melissa Leo, Amy Adams, Helena Bonham Carter and Hailee Steinfeld (who herself could suddenly fall lead) in the Best Supporting Actress category this year, as well as the NSFC-winning Olivia Williams and an obligatory “other” option thrown in.  Chalk up your vote there and head on back here for your reasoning and hopefully we’ll get some good discussion out of all of this.

    [Photo: Sony Pictures Classics]

  • CONTEST: Win a ‘Black Swan’ music box

    When I got home from holiday vacation two weeks ago, there were a pair of boxes waiting on me.  Both contained handsome music boxes featuring “Black Swan”‘s Nina Sayers on the lid (and I got two because, as usual this time of year, I’m on multiple mailing lists).  Once again, my swag deluge is your gain.  Giveaway!

    Let’s see, what to do?  Hmm……I got it! Darren Aronofsky’s film is very much about duality and the internal struggle of the Yin and the Yang.  So contradict yourself for me.  Tell me why you think the film deserves to win Best Picture and why you think, perhaps, it doesn’t.  Being a true fan is more about balanced consideration than blind acceptance, in my opinion, so give me that Yin and Yang in 50 words or less and the two most well-reasoned entries win.

    They’ll make a nice jewelry case for the special schizophrenic someone in your life.  Images of the prize after the jump.

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  • EXCLUSIVE: The production design of ‘True Grit’ (clip)

    A month ago we offered a week-long series of in-depth interviews with the below-the-line talent of Joel and Ethan Coen’s “True Grit.” One of them was a conversation with production designer Jess Gonchor, who is featured heavily in this brief featurette on the film’s design, provided exclusively to us by Paramount Pictures:

  • Working on Zuck’s “likability”

    Over at The Envelope, Claudia Eller and Jessica Guynn are wondering the same thing I was when I watched Scott Rudin accept his Golden Globe for Best Picture Sunday night: “Rudin’s thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Co. at the Golden Globes suggest that the production’s and company’s relations have improved. But have they?”

    They write:

    Rudin’s comments would suggest that Zuckerberg and his associates at the popular social networking site had done an about-face after having earlier gone on a public campaign saying the film’s portrayal of Facebook’s founder as a soulless, hyper-ambitious entrepreneur who betrayed his Harvard classmates was “fiction.”

    But officials at Facebook refused to say Monday whether Rudin’s words reflected a change in the relationship or a rapprochement with the filmmakers, with whom they refused to cooperate during the making of the movie.

    I’ll offer my opinion: the new mandate on “The Social Network” may well be to work on the “likability” of Zuckerberg.

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