In Contention

Blog

  • Searchlight acquires ‘Tree of Life’ for 2011 release

    Well, things just took a turn for the worse if you’re a Terrence Malick fan desperate to feast your eyes on his latest film, “The Tree of Life.” But they took a turn for the absolute best if you want the film to be taken care of by a studio with resources and savvy awards planning.

    Tuesday it was reported that Bill Pohlad was essentially looking to clean house at Apparition by dumping off the film and drastically cutting the staff.  Word was Pohlad was being shown to distributors, looking for a buyer.

    Well, he found one: Fox Searchlight, but the film will be released in 2011.  When you think about it, it’s a smart move to hold it.  They’re just getting into the project and would have only three months to really prime release and awards strategies.  And the studio already has four horses in the race this year as it is.  So, be patient, and maybe next year we’ll have a real stallion on our hands.

    (more…)

  • Eastwood’s “spiritual chick flick”

    You’ve probably read the countless link-backs to Geoff Boucher’s Hero Complex item about Clint Eastwood and how the actor turned down roles like Superman and James Bond in the 1970s.  Well, you wouldn’t know it, but those quotes actually came in the context of an interview concerning “Hereafter,” Eastwood’s 32nd directorial effort which is set to play Toronto this weekend.

    It’s a solid, conventional piece that builds up anticipation for what may or may not be an Oscar play for Warner Bros.  There are no screenings set in LA during the fest (or at least that’s what I’ve been told), though Patrick Goldstein saw the film and had vague praise to offer almost a month ago.

    We get an idea of the film’s plot throughout the piece, which also includes quotes from star Matt Damon.  Writer Peter Morgan was also interviewed but not quoted.  I’ll admit that I haven’t been following its production.  Eastwood burn-out, maybe, but I’m beginning to sense a fire of interest lighting up inside.  Then again, I guess that’s what pieces like Boucher’s are meant to do, so, bravo WB publicity.

    (more…)

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Visual Effects — Volume I

    How often do you go to the movies to escape? To be immersed into a different world, whether it be fantastical, thrilling or action-packed? For many movie-goers, if not most, the answer is “frequently.”

    Visual effects often play a massive role in this experience.  Studios invest heavily in them and frequently try to sell films on the strength of their effects as much as their directors or their stars.  Given this, it is unsurprising that the films that are nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects are almost always big titles, often with huge budgets and almost invariably with massive revenue.

    Dozens if not hundreds of individuals collaborate on the effects work of any given film. Only four supervising members of the crew can share the award, however. While there are certainly many dazzling crafts artists who are embraced in this category year after year, the branch has opened up to newcomers considerably in recent years.

    The visual effects category will be changing its dynamic this year as it will be expanding to five nominees after years of using the traditional bake-off method of determining three nominees. How this will impact trends is a matter that will play out in this year and years to come. But from this vantage point, we can only look to the past.

    Oddly enough, however, if there was one category where I’d put down money on the final nominees from this perch, this would be it. Not that I’m in any way guaranteed to be right. In fact, I doubt I will be. Too much can change. But five titles make the most sense right now.

    (more…)

  • Clips from ‘Never Let Me Go,’ ‘The King’s Speech’

    Clips are coming fast and furious for awards contenders these days.  Last week a pair from “Somewhere” and “Never Let Me Go” hit, and now, one more from the latter (which somehow turned up as an “exclusive” on two sites) and one from Tom Hooper’s “The King’s Speech.”

    The scene from “Never Let Me Go” is actually one of the scenes that bothers me most from the film for a myriad of reasons.  It’s cut here before the real spoiler hits, so I guess it’s safe to view.  “The King’s Speech” clip does a nice job of giving you a sense of the visual style of the piece, which isn’t a tame, vanilla kind of filmmaking.  I think the perception (understandably) has been that this film will be a soft lob kind of vacant filmmaking, but I maintain that Hooper brings an interesting directorial signature to the work.

    Both films are set to play the Toronto Film Festival over the next week or so.  Have a look at the clips after the jump and tell us what you think.

    (more…)

  • 9/9 Oscarweb Round-up

    • James Rocchi previews the Toronto Film Festival with quotes from co-director Cameron Bailey and yours truly. [MSN Movies]

    • Dave Karger writes up the festival’s top 10 Oscar contenders. [Oscar Watch]

    • Regarding Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter,” Brad Brevet wonders if Warner Bros. is hiding a stinker. [Rope of Silicon]

    (more…)

  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: 1973 and 1974

    Catch up with the idea behind this series here.

    “The Sting” swept the 1973 awards and it remains one of the breeziest films to win top honors. The combination of Newman and Redford, working at the top of their game and re-teaming with “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” director George Roy Hill proved irresistible.

    Unbelievably, it was joined in the Best Picture race by films from Best Director nominees George Lucas and Ingmar Bergman. If ever there was a pair that represented polar opposites of the filmmaking spectrum, they were nevertheless cinematic equals for a night here.

    Tatum O’Neal became the youngest winner of a competitive Oscar while 1974 saw Art Carney win over Pacino, Nicholson, Hoffman and Finney in some of the roles of their careers. Try explaining that one to anyone today without having to google Art Carney.

    1974 also gave us the first sequel to ever win Best Picture in “The Godfather Part II” and you’ll find no complaints here, although Coppola’s other Best Picture nominee that year, “The Conversation” is equally good.

    Oh, and Oscar’s one and only instance of full frontal nudity. So far…

    (more…)

  • Website for Daft Punk’s ‘TRON Legacy’ soundtrack launched

    Is it really worth getting excited at the possibility of the Academy’s music branch being progressive enough to make room for Daft Punk in this year’s list of Best Original Score nominees?  Ever since the French electronica duo was announced as the composers on “TRON Legacy,” excitement has been through the roof.

    This is the most problematic branch of the Academy for reasons illuminated year after year.  And despite letting a few new (if traditionalist) names into the Oscar fold over the last few years, the branch remains fiercely insular.  And you don’t get more outside the box than Daft Punk.

    Nevertheless, the score sounds like it could be one of the highlights of a production that has long been rumored to be quite troubled.  And an official site has launched with a taste of what the boys have to offer.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Dark Tower’ to make for epic transmedia production

    Ron Howard on board makes me nervous, but the plan is ambitious enough to give me goosebumps.  Your thoughts?

  • Disney’s double rainbow parody for ‘Tangled’

    There is a giant “Tangled” event on the Disney lot today that I unfortunately couldn’t attend.  A screening of the film as a work-in-progress is going down right now with storyboards here and there.  It would have been nice to get a hold on what they’re cooking up but I’m happy to wait for a finished product.

    Meanwhile, there is a big program of presentations and interviews that I’m sure you’ll see covered at various online outlets in the next few weeks.  The film has a lot to live up to after last year’s glorious return to traditional animation, “The Princess and the Frog.”

    Today I came across a viral marketing stab for the film that parodies the double rainbow YouTube sensation (in case you’ve been under a rock, watch that here).  Adam Quigly at /Film shreds the attempt and says it “reeks of a marketing campaign that’s trying way too hard to be funny, hip and topical.”  I thought it was a bit more harmless than that, but judge for yourself after the jump.

    (more…)

  • Fox and PBS open Scorsese’s ‘Letter to Elia’

    Reviewing “A Letter to Elia,” Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones’s loving documentary tribute to Elia Kazan, out of Venice on Sunday, I wrote that the 60-minute film was “clearly designed for a PBS-style TV airing.”

    Lo and behold, it was announced yesterday that the film, having been acquired by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, will premiere on PBS on October 4 — after having played the Venice-Telluride-Toronto-New York festival track.

    Furthermore, for those of us without the luxury of American television, the documentary will also feature in Fox’s 15-film DVD box set of Kazan’s work, due to hit shelves on November 9. I don’t know about you, but my Christmas list is being updated as we speak.

    Press release extract after the cut.

    (more…)

  • Sony Classics acquires ‘Barney’s Version’

    An awards contender for Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman?  We’ll see.  The press release, in part:

    Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all US rights to BARNEY’S VERSION from producer Robert Lantos (EASTERN PROMISES, BEING JULIA, SUNSHINE). BARNEY’S VERSION is directed by Richard J. Lewis and based upon Mordecai Richler’s prize-winning comic novel. The film is In Competition at the Venice Film Festival and will be featured as a Gala Presentation at this year’s Toronto Film Festival…

    In the film, Barney Panofsky (Giamatti) is a seemingly ordinary man who lives an extraordinary life. Barney’s candid confessional spans three decades and two continents, and includes three wives, one outrageous father and a dangerously dissolute best friend.

    “Very rarely does a major novel come to life so completely and so richly on the screen as it does here with BARNEY’S VERSION. Featuring wonderful performances by Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, Rosamund Pike, and Minnie Driver, producer Robert Lantos more than fulfills his multi year dream of filming Mordecai Richler’s masterpiece. We look forward to presenting the film to the American audience,” says Sony Pictures Classics.

    [Photo: Sony Pictures Classics]

  • 9/8 Oscarweb Round-up

    • Jean-Luc Godard tells the Academy in a “cordial letter” that he may attend the Governor’s Awards if his schedule permits.  AMPAS feels need to convey this to you via press release (because no one wants to look like a stood-up date). [Oscars.org]

    • Launching a new season’s coverage, Steve Pond tries to make his September record 2-0 by predicting “The King’s Speech” for Oscar victory this year. [The Odds]

    • David Poland reassesses the field and warns against getting caught up in festival euphoria. [Movie City News]

    (more…)

  • SHORT TAKE: “The Town” (***)

    Venice Film Festival

    Many actors-turned-directors use their outings behind the camera to express something of themselves that they feel hasn’t been enabled by the filmmakers they’ve worked with thus far: personal passions or preoccupations, social or political responsibilities, alternative thespian workout plans or simply a craven desire for awards they haven’t been able to win on their day job.

    Ben Affleck, however, is not drawn by any of these urges. Ben Affleck just wants to make movies. And with his sophomore feature “The Town” – a crisp, grown-up, tangily written thriller one might call “conventional” if studio entertainments this efficient weren’t so hard to come by these days – he further proves that he can make very good ones indeed.

    Affleck’s directorial debut “Gone Baby Gone,” a solid Dennis Lehane adaptation with a fluffed denouement, arguably received a mite more praise than it warranted due to general surprise at the sheer professionalism on display. “The Town” is a more followed-through genre effort with fewer artsy flourishes, but is perhaps destined to be underrated instead by critics expecting Affleck to develop more of an auteur’s ambition.

    (more…)

  • Apparition looking to secure ‘Tree of Life’ distribution deal

    Boy, the story on Apparition and Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” just keeps stacking up the drama.  Mike Fleming reports this afternoon the company has obliterated much of its staff because “there were no films to distribute,” and that Bill Pohlad has been showing the film to studios and is looking for a distribution deal for the film.

    What a difference a year makes, huh?  Just 12 months ago it seemed like there might be a bright new day for indie distributors.  Companies like Apparition, Overture Films, Summit Entertainment, etc. were beginning to get a foothold in what was looking more and more like an underdog season.  The Best Picture winner was a film that came and went at the box office.  Now a guy like Peter Weir can’t get arrested and a Malick film is looking for a little help.

    I imagine at this point we’re probably looking at a 2010 release for the film after all.  Someone is bound to take the plunge (since it’s been since way back in August of last year that Apparition acquired the title).  Let’s hope so, anyway, lest we have another situation akin to “The Way Back.” Meanwhile, another home for this kind of cinema is slowly biting the dust (a downward spiral initiated with Bob Berney’s abrupt pre-Cannes departure).

    (more…)

  • Hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Really?

    I never did put up a “What did you think of ‘The American?’” post last week but I am very interested what readers thought.  Of course, the film won the box office this weekend, which should be seen as a major victory for Focus Features marketing.  This was a film that needed to go out big on opening weekend because it simply wasn’t the film being sold to general audiences and wasn’t likely to fall in their favor.

    But is it such a crime to protect one’s investment?  Do marketers not have a responsibility?  And are they evil for following through on that?

    Well, Patrick Goldstein (who disliked the film and paints broadly with that brush) tip-toes the line between a “yes” and “no” answer to that question in a recent item asking whether viewers were bamboozled into seeing the film.  I tend to think it was a savvy job in a difficult profession.  Moments like this are when precision is necessary, or an outright disaster could be on your hands.  But then again, I really liked the film, so maybe I’m painting too broadly with THAT brush.

    (more…)

  • TELLURIDE: That’s a wrap on the “Show”

    If you’ve been keeping up with the Telluride coverage then you know my thoughts on the 10 films I was able to catch over that four-day spread.  So I’m not going to bore you with a tedious recap here.  Instead, now that I’m back and relaxed in LA, not looking at the clock and rushing to make this or that event, I think I’ll just take a moment to reflect in general.

    On the way to yesterday afternoon’s Labor Day picnic, as I crossed over the San Miguel River on a quaint wooden bridge, I was struck with the disappointment that has been rotting at the back of my mind during the entire festival: God I wish I could take the time to smell the roses there.

    Telluride is a beautiful place to launch a film festival and its tranquility is reflected in festival-goers’ sensibilities.  There aren’t mobs of people out to see stars.  There aren’t flashbulbs popping off around every other corner.  Everyone is very much here for the movies and the chance to discover something new.  I don’t think it has been tainted, or at the very least, programmers and directors have gone a long way to keep that face out in front.

    (more…)

  • INTERVIEW: Peter Weir

    Telluride Film Festival

    For director Peter Weir, the pacing of his output has become almost as measured as his brand of cinema. The Australian has built a career around art house grandeur, but his work has slowed to a handful of films per decade, in stark contrast to the frequency of the 1970s and 1980s.

    That could be reflective of a professional desire to take his time from project to project, but another hypothesis could be the fact that the general movie-going audience has shown a reluctance to the product Weir and those like him provide. The industry is changing around him, and for his part, the director appears to be a mighty oak in the storm.

    “I’ve sensed this profound change that’s occurring in the industry that’s not purely locked to the Wall Street crisis,” he says in a modest hotel room here at the Telluride Film Festival, where his film, “The Way Back,” saw its world premiere. “That’s obviously a significant part of it, but what I thought was there is a change in taste amongst a growing audience that really likes sequels and likes their films very, very simple and in the area of pure spectacle. They’re not interested in structural character, and I think the studios and others have reacted to that.”

    However, Weir says he thinks it’s all “a bit of baby out with the bath water because they then more or less said, ‘That’s it, that’s the change.’ Well people and audiences don’t change overnight. And I think there’s a large audience left high and dry, the type of people who appreciate a program like here around the world who are saying, ‘What happened? There’s nothing on.’ Everything does change but I think there’s been an over-reaction on the part of distributors and there’s been a kind of deep conservatism that has come in which has led them back to what we call the genres.”

    (more…)

  • 9/7 Oscarweb Round-up

    • The Gurus o’ Gold step up to the plate of a fresh season, each of us picking 15 unranked bets for Best Picture likelihood pre-Toronto. [Movie City News]

    • Jeffrey Wells begs to differ on the notion that Gemma Arterton has a shot at awards success in “Tamara Drewe,” which he calls “the most loathsome film of Stephen Frears’ long and distinguished career.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • “Waiting for Superman” turns up the publicity heat and fuels the public education debate with a big ole’ spread. [New York Magazine]

    (more…)