Tag: announcements

Just a friendly FYI to the readership.  Brian kicks off the “Page to Screen” screenplay review column here at In Contention tomorrow with a look at Rian Johnson’s eagerly anticipated “Brick” follow-up “The Brothers Bloom.”  I’m joining in on the gig with Brian last year and will offer my look at Eric Roth’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” next week, August 12.  The column will hit every Tuesday as we plow toward the Oscar season and should wrap up some time in September.

Many of you may have noticed the Facebook tag in the right sidebar for our modest In Contention group.  A number of you have already joined up, and we love you for it.  We’re just sort of testing the waters of alternate Web communities to spread the IC word, so thanks for helping us out.

Currently there are two groups.  One is the regular In Contention Facebook group, fit with posted items from the site, a message board for spouting off and, of course, a Wall for you to tell us to keep up the good work or shove it, whatever your pleasure.  If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, join up now!

There’s also a blog networks application we added, which will include RSS feeds, rating system, and…of course…a Wall.  Probably over saturating it, but it’ll the feed is a nice touch.  Become a fan today and tell us how much we stink at this!

For lack of a better term (and one I admit to stealing from my friend Sasha Stone…hope she doesn’t skewer me on that front)…but yes, we’ve been slowly working toward crafting separate pages for each of the major films expected to be in Oscar contention within the next few months. You can find a number of them already linked in the predictions sidebar.

In these pages, we’ll be collecting the requisite information (director, cast, writers, etc.), as well as various “buzz” articles from around the web (and, certainly, from within In Contention). The hope is that we can put together a one-stop-shop for each film that will be in contention, and you can just peruse the buzz pages for any stories or blurbs you might miss along the way.

Hey, it’s better than linking to the IMDb pages like we’ve been doing for years upon years. We’re tired of sending you away!

But seriously, hopefully this will keep the masses informed and serve the Web site as a nice hub for all the Oscar information that tickles your fancy. Films will always be linked to the buzz pages in the sidebar and, slowly, we’ll start getting everyone to link to them within the body of our posts as well.

And while I have your attention, a quick FYI: the server change is moving slower than I expected, but as of now, I anticipate the new Oscar update to land on Monday, August 4. Nothing much has changed, really, just some shifting and sliding for the most part. So be on the lookout for that. And Brian’s “Page to Screen” column begins Tuesday, August 5.

We’re gettin’ close!

Things will be slow and/or funky around here for the next couple of days.  The spike in traffic resulting from the switch to daily coverage during the off-season has forced me to change servers.  It’s a good thing, but a process, so bear with us for a few.

With the massive summer tent poles behind us and the last gasps of the season right around the corner, it’s becoming apparent that the contentious months of Oscar are just across the horizon. Here’s a look at our upcoming preparations for the season:

Monday, August 4: “Off the Carpet” Oscar Season Preview
Tuesday, August 5: Brian’s first “Page to Screen” column of the season (“Brothers Bloom”)
Monday September 1: “Off the Carpet” weekly Oscar column launches
Thursday, September 4: Gerard’s first “Tech Support” column of the season

Keep in mind that Brian and I will be hammering out the “Page to Screen” pieces every Tuesday throughout the month of August. This weekly screenplay review column will serve as a primer as we march into the season. Scripts we’ll be looking at include “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Burn After Reading,” “Changeling,” “Body of Lies” and, of course, the infamous “W.”

I can’t believ eit’s almost here. Can you?

I’ve been in Los Angeles now for two days and loving every haze-filled, 90-degree moment.  It’s good to be back.  Futzing around with a new HDTV, putting the pieces of my life back in U.S. order and basically settling back in.  Things ought to be a bit quiet from my end for the next few days…

Alright, no more updates from me this afternoon.  I’m off to Heathrow in about an hour and then it’s 660 minutes in the air until I’m back in Los Angeles around 6:45 PST.  See you on the other side.

And two more days to go before its back to the other side of the pond. Not that the readership is meant to care, but hey, this blog is the victim of my brain leakage from time to time.

I can’t, however, say that time seemed to fly by.  These last two months have been very long indeed. I’m not entirely sure why, and I certainly had my fair share of fun. Sometimes, it’s just time to go home, I guess.  And your mind knows it.

I’ve had a blast at The Times, one laid-back and classy atmosphere in which to work.  If anyone has a passing interest in some of the stuff I cranked out while parked at the desk here at News International, have a look here.  A lot of press release stuff, plenty of entertainment stories (and to think — I had hoped to peel away from that somewhat).  Fun times throughout.

Cheers.

Welcome to In Contention.

Oscar season is breathing down our necks yet again and here I am, finally in Los Angeles, and not a peep out of me yet.

I had planned on ducking out of the Oscar race entirely this season for various reasons, but recent activity has caused me to dip my pen back into the awards prognostication ink.

In Contention will be your one-stop spot for thorough, un-adulterated and above all, objective film awards and Oscar analysis throughout the season, in addition to various film and industry commentary here and there and in between.

That’s right. I’m back.

Thanks to Sasha Stone at Oscarwatch for the leg up.

Starting Monday, August 22, In Contention begins analysis of every category beginning with Best Picture.