In Contention

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  • 1/18 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Gervais should have been meaner, cut ‘127 Hours’ ending, working class contenders

    • Ricky Gervais on Golden Globes hosting controversy. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Devin Faraci, meanwhile, thinks the comedian wasn’t mean enough. [Baddass Digest]

    • Naomi Serviss hearts seeing Michael Douglas at the show. [The Wrap]

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  • ‘King’s Speech’ leads BAFTA list with 14 nods

    If you’ve been with us for a couple of years, you’ll know that the BAFTA nominations infuriate me on an annual basis. However, my therapist recently advised me that I need to heal my relationship with BAFTA through forgiveness, so I’ll lead with few the things that pleased me about this morning’s announcement.

    For one thing, though the longlists already tipped us off to most of the “surprises” here, I’m happy to see Julianne Moore finally nominated alongside her “The Kids Are All Right” co-star Annette Bening in a serious Best Actress race. Pete Postlethwaite’s posthumous nomination for “The Town” (his first from BAFTA, unbelievably, and the only one for Ben Affleck’s film) is shamelessly rooted in sentiment, but happily, it happens to come for a striking mini-performance anyway.

    While it was inevitable that Brit hit “The King’s Speech” would lead the field, it’s nice to “Black Swan” close behind with 12 nods, including mentions for its contemporary production and costume design.

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  • ‘King’s Speech’ continues to coin it

    It may have lost six of its seven bids at last night’s Golden Globe Awards, but there was consolatory news for “The King’s Speech” in the box office receipts — on both sides of the Atlantic. Nabbing the #4 spot Stateside after upping its screen count was a handy achievement, but it’s in its home country that the film has attained jaw-dropping phenomenon status.

    Not only did the royal biopic hold onto the top spot at the UK box office, comfortably elbowing superhero flick (and US #1) “The Green Hornet” into the runner-up spot, but it actually exceeded its opening-weekend gross, taking £4.72 million compared to “just” £3.52 million a week ago. (Figures filched from the trusty Charles Gant’s Twitter feed.)

    Tom Hooper’s film is currently sitting on a total haul of £10.72 million (roughly $16.69 million, if you like your maths in American English). For the sake of comparison, that’s more in a fortnight than “The Social Network” took in its entire UK theatrical run. Crazy.

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  • Five things I learned from the Golden Globes

    Appropriately enough for the occasion, I watched last night’s Golden Globe awards in a celebratory alcoholic fog (the night having coincided with a friend’s birthday) so thick it took most of today to sleep it off — hence the apologetically late posting.

    My memory of the evening’s finer details is therefore about as clear as, say, Ricky Gervais’s, though I do recall cheering so manically for “Carlos”‘s win in the TV Miniseries category (even if the film is, by its director’s own admission, a work of cinema) that I inadvertently tossed red wine in my hair. That, and so many green dresses on screen that I briefly wondered if the collected stylists of Hollywood had been roped into a particularly gratuitous product placement scheme for the weekend’s box office champ.

    The awards themselves, meanwhile, were both well-judged and helpful, tying (or at least tidying) up a few loose ends remaining on the circuit — and even allowing me some minor bragging rights for calling the widely unfancied Paul Giamatti. (For an hour, at least, until my inevitably doomed prediction of a Best Picture upset missed outright — awards season giveth, and it taketh away.)

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  • Frontrunners stay strong at the Golden Globes

    Zzzzz…huh?, wha?  Oh…

    First and foremost, I have to note Ricky Gervais’s work as emcee. Last year’s stint was a bit stale, I thought, but this year the gloves were off. Way off. Which, for whatever reason, I was okay with tonight. The difference between Gervais and Armond White, though, if you want to go there, is that one is expected (and paid) to act like a clown. The other is not.

    And I have to think “That was my favorite film of the year” was a subtle joke. Not that subtle was in his toolbox.

    Anyway, kicking things off, Christian Bale’s speech in acceptance of yet another Best Supporting Actor trophy slid off the rails a bit toward the end as he rushed an impromptu shout-out to actor Robert De Niro. Apparently in the press room he said the legend was “the shit,” so maybe that’s similar to what was censored from the telecast. Earlier in the speech, though, he paid lovely homage to “The Fighter” actor and producer Mark Wahlberg. “You can only give a loud performance like mine when you have a quiet, stoic anchor,” he said.

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  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Green’ makes green

    The new releases finally took the top spots this week, but “True Grit” is chugging along, “The King’s Speech” went wider and is padding its wallet and “Black Swan” will be one of Fox Searchlight’s top grossers when all is said and done.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Golden Globes: who will win, and who should

    My predictions for tonight’s Golden Globe awards have been in black-and-white over at Gold Derby since the nominations were announced, but I thought I’d make them clear on these pages — along with a note or two on my personal favorites in each category.

    The Globes may get a lot of flak from journos and pundits, but even if they’ve failed to steer the Academy’s eventual Best Picture selection for five of the past six years, they can hold more sway than most people like to credit them with — particularly in races with no clear frontrunner yet. (Case in point: Rachel Weisz’s widely unexpected win at the 2005 Globes, which certainly set the narrative for the rest of season.)

    Bottom line, however: they’re a fun evening, and should be taken as such. I may or may not be Twittering on the evening’s developments — though it seems only right to have a few drinks in solidarity with the stars, so that plan may fall away. Meanwhile, check out my picks after the jump, Kris’s here… and those of many far wiser pundits over at Gold Derby.

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  • “Quentin, I’ve got webbed toes.”

    Dear Academy, please nominate Jacki Weaver for Best Supporting Actress. Quite aside from her terrific performance in “Animal Kingdom,” as long as she continues to be this delightful in person, it’d be nice to have her on the publicity circuit for a few more weeks. From David Poland’s Hot Blog:

  • CINEJABBER: (insert headline here)

    Nothing to say or add this weekend.  I turn the floor fully over to you.  Open thread.  Go!

  • A night at the CCMAs

    It was a good time.  The evening started off with a bit of a surprise as “The Fighter” took in the award for Best Ensemble.  I happened to be seated with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, David O. Russell and, a real treat, Jack McGee, so it was an exciting pop to start things off.  No one at that table expected to win that award so they were quite exhilarated.

    Speaking of Bale, I thought he gave the night’s best speech, a touching, loose monologue that is certain to be repeated throughout the season.  And watching Hailee Steinfeld accept for Best Young Actor/Actress, I couldn’t help but picture her with an Oscar in her hand.  Despite Melissa Leo’s strong showing so far, the Best Supporting Actress category is still somewhat up in the air, I think (which Anne and I discussed in yesterday’s podcast).

    I bounced around here and there during the commercial breaks.  Naturally the first thing Darren Aronofsky said when he saw me was, “I finally made your list!  Next time you’ll listen to me.”  Maybe there’s a future in Oscar prognostication for him.  I also exchanged words with Colin Firth for the first time since our lengthy sit-down in Telluride.  Charming as ever.  But most exciting for me?  Honestly?  Meeting Ice Cube.  No, seriously.

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  • ‘Social Network’ rules BFCA Critics’ Choice Awards

    I’m sure Kris is having entirely too good a time at the post-awards party to huddle over a computer screen — perhaps he’ll have some insider perspective to add later — so let’s run through a couple of the most salient points for now.

    If you need to be told “The Social Network” triumphed in the top categories, well, welcome back from your spiritual retreat in the far reaches of Nepal. I hope you’re well rested. Interesting to see the film’s sway extending to the Best Original Score category, where Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross very coolly upset Hans Zimmer — though “Inception” fans will be pleased to note the film’s impressive haul elsewhere in the techs.

    No surprises whatsoever in the acting races, though I’m pleased to see Melissa Leo holding on to her early-season momentum in the supporting actress race; Hailee Steinfeld had to settle for the Best Young Actor prize.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Guilds galore and season fatigue

    • The Directors’ Guild of America presented few surprises in their award nominations, though some raised eyebrows at “True Grit”‘s omission. (Their documentary nods didn’t move the needle either.)

    • The American Cinema Editors’ nods matched those of the directors; the American Society of Cinematographers didn’t deviate much from the formula either.

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column addressed the growing consensus around a “Social Network” win, days before Kris formally made the prediction himself.

    • The Long Shot, meanwhile, wondered how the field of contenders this season ever got quite so narrow.

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  • IFC takes on ‘Brighton Rock’

    Way back in the autumn festival phase, it seemed like Rowan Joffe’s update of “Brighton Rock” might have some kind of awards presence, as praise trickled out of Toronto for breakout star Andrea Riseborough. Things went deadly quiet around the film, however, when no US distributor stepped forward.

    A month later, when it had its homeland premiere at the London Film Festival, I learned the reason for the silence: Joffe’s film is a badly botched attempt to recast Graham Greene’s stark moral thriller as a swinging youth nostalgia piece. I might have let my disappointment show a little in my review:

    [S]carcely a potential avenue for error has been left unexplored here, as the film’s self-conscious (and technically over-egged) noir stylings bristle against a clearly overworked script that fidgets to no effect with Greene’s plotting, with a cast that never coalesces floating somewhere amid the wreckage.

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  • To the CCMAs

    I need to put my face on for tonight’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.  Follow me on Twitter as I may (or may not) have something clever to say this evening.  And in honor of the critics, the most famous of them all, Roger Ebert, has been busy getting his new show “Ebert Presents at the Movies” off the ground, having tapped Christy Lemire of The Associated Press and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of Mubi.com to be the new hosts.  Today, the Ebert-centric opening titles were revealed, so I’ll pass that along and duck out for now.  Consider this your open thread for the show (which airs on VH1 at 9pm ET).

  • Focus, Paramount also set to issue SAG screeners via iTunes

    Last week it was announced that Fox Searchlight would be issuing screeners of its Oscar contenders to SAG voters online via iTunes.  A brave step forward.  Today comes the news that two other studio have followed suit.  The press releases, in part:

    Focus Features is inviting the nearly 100,000 Screen Actors Guild eligible voting members to screen its movie The Kids Are All Right in HD on iTunes for viewing on an iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac or PC, or with Apple TV on their HD TV.

    The Kids Are All Right, which is nominated for 3 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards®, is available to SAG members – pending confirmation of valid current ID – for a complimentary 24-hour rental any time from Friday, January 14th through Friday, January 28th, when voting for the SAG Awards closes.

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  • Screenplay contest winner!

    With well over 100 entries, the limerick contest was our most popular yet. Either people really dig amphibrachic meter or they really wanted those scripts! Whatever the case, thanks for the deluge.

    It was tough to decide. In the way of honorable mention, I have to give a shout-out to Jim for the commitment to submit so many times, and for his limerick back-and-forth with BobBlake. Also, I have to tip my hat to Joe7827 for finding a way to insert yours truly into his out of competition entry.

    And a pat on the back to John G for attempting to make “cunnilingus” rhyme with “anxious” and “frankness.”  You tried.

    Ultimately, though, I had to tip my hat to SanFranCinema, who cleverly worked the season into his limerick. It doesn’t include aspects of the films’ narratives, of course, but it rang my bell…

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  • Lubezki opens up on ‘Tree of Life’

    If, as is the accepted (if hardly certain) wisdom, the Academy makes up their debt to Roger Deakins next month, it’s tempting to speculate that 2011 could be the year for another shamefully unrewarded lenser: Emmanuel Lubezki.

    The ace Mexican DP, whom pretty much everyone but a majority of AMPAS voters agrees was robbed of the win for “Children of Men” in 2006, earned a nomination for his first collaboration with Terrence Malick on “The New World” — and expectations are already off the charts for their second teaming. (Do I need to give the title?) But while we know, from our glimpses of the loooong-delayed film thus far, to expect some lush imagery, this LA Times interview with Lubezki suggests they’re not making things easy for themselves.

    It seems Malick and Lubezki dispensed with traditional “coverage” of actors, instead taking a more intuitive approach.

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 48 — Armond White vs. Darren Aronofsky, guilds speaking up, ‘True Grit’ box office, awards show/party weekend on the way, supporting actress wide open

    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.

    Today is the final day of phase one this season. Ballots are due by 5pm PT, so everyone needs to pick a chair before the music stops. And we have plenty to discuss as a result, so let’s see what’s on the docket today…

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