In Contention

Tag: Avatar

  • James Cameron talks ‘Avatar’ at E3

    As mentioned in this morning’s round-up, the first look we’re all getting at James Cameron’s “Avatar” comes in the form of screen shots from the accompanying video game.  Quite silly, of course, but anyway, Cameron talked briefly about the film and at length about the game at the on-going Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) yesterday.

    Cameron talked at length about the film’s plot, which I’ve steered clear from elsewhere but if you’re like me, it’s a gold mine of information.  When he begins discussing the “mother of all battles” that closes the film, the geek hairs stood up on the back of my neck.

    You can read a full transcript of Cameron’s lead-in address, right up until he begins discussing the Ubisoft video game, after the jump.  Here’s a video of the presentation, from G4:

    (more…)

  • 6/2 Web Round-up

    Alien• With “The Hangover” on the way next weekend, Dave Itzkoff talks to director Todd Phillips. [New York Times]

    • Tom O’Neil remembers Jay Leno’s 12-year Emmy losing streak as the host exits “The Tonight Show.” [Gold Derby]

    • Hey, proper use of the word “exclusive” for a change (and a few days late linking).  Steve Weintraub talks to Tony Scott about the recently announced “Alien” prequel. [Collider]

    • Another late-to-link piece, but it seems Blockbuster Video will dip into the movie memorabilia racket to steer clear of fiscal life support. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • With “Revolutionary Road” making its way to DVD and Blu-ray, a quick Q&A with Oscar-nominated Michael Shannon. [Premiere]

    • 15 pages of silliness to jack up the traffic numbers: “Where are they now?” with the cast of “Friday.” [New York Daily News]

    • A list of…wait for it…the top 10 best movie punches.  Think that’s terribly specific?  Wait until tomorrow’s requisite arbitrary list link. [Rope of Silicon]

    • “Coraline” makes its way to Broadway, with analysis from the Financial District. [Wall Street Journal]

    • First look at James Cameron’s “Avatar”: screenshots from the accompanying video game?  Lame. [/Film]

    • Glenn Kenny writes up the DVD release of Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point.” [Some Came Running]

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Closing Cannes and opening ‘Up’

    Isabelle Huppert presenting the Palme d'Or at Cannes• The Cannes Film Festival wrapped up, with Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” taking the gold, and “Antichrist” nabbing honors too. (The Ecumenical Jury was less impressed.)

    • In the wake of the festival, we offered an updated survey of the Oscar landscape ahead.

    • With “Up” finally hitting our screens this week, we chatted to director Pete Docter.

    • And with ten features now under their belt, this week’s list ranked the best (and worst) of Pixar.

    • This week’s Page to Screen also returned to childhood, reflecting on the cinematic possibilities of “Where the Wild Things Are.”

    • The nostalgic vein continues with a revisiting of “Apocalypse Now,” thirty years on.

    • Newly released concept art provided a faint glimpse of what’s coming in James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

    • Speaking of Cameron, a look at what went wrong with “Terminator Salvation” at the box office.

    • On a happier note, “Drag Me to Hell” proved an absolute blast.

  • Concept art from Cameron’s ‘Avatar’

    All of this, I imagine, will be appearing in “The Art of Avatar: James Cameron’s Epic Adventure,” which will feature a foreward written by Peter Jackson.  Click the images for higher res:

    Concept art from Avatar

    Concept art from Avatar

    (Courtesy: Marketsaw, via /Film)

  • OFF THE CARPET: Taking the temperature

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt LockerIt’s somewhat surprising that our year-in-advance Oscar coverage is only three months old.  That now ancient list of predictions seems so long ago, and yet, even with Cannes behind us and this or that indication of a few of the contenders, I have no idea how to offer an educated update beyond general housekeeping.  The season, it seems, will remain elusive for just a little while longer.

    Here’s what we know: Critics didn’t respond to Universal’s “The Boat That Rocked” across the pond.  But the Brits hardly have a soft spot for Richard Curtis.  Along similar lines, Stephen Frears’s “Chéri” hasn’t exactly inspired either.  But both films, from awards savvy studios, could find a second wind when they eventually open Stateside.

    The biggest Oscar hopeful to emerge from this year’s Cannes fest is, in my opinion, Jane Campion’s “Bright Star.”  Heralded in some quarters as a return to form for the director, and snatched up by the intrepid Bob Berney (formerly of Picturehouse and now closing in on a name for his distribution company with partner Bill Polhad), the film could be a nominations hog, anywhere from six to 10 possibilities.  You’ll note all of my ponderings in that regard in the latest chart update below.

    (more…)

  • 5/20 Web Round-up

    (from left) James Cameron and Sam Worthington on the set of Avatar• Peter Sciretta asks for your most hated uses of CGI in movie history. [/Film]

    • Charlie Kaufman talks “Synecdoche, New York,” his “mutant horro film,” across the pond. [Daily Telegraph]

    • IMAX plans to cozy up next to James Cameron’s “Avatar” for an extended run. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Donna Freydkin chats up “Terminator Salvation” star Christian Bale. [USA Today]

    • Matt Bradshaw remembers the movie summer of 1980. [Cinematical]

    • Christopher Campbell puts together a casting call for Steven Spielberg’s recently announce Martin Luther King biopic. [Spout Blog]

    • Richard Corliss picks the top 10 Cannes films ever. [Time]

  • Soderbergh offers up expletives in response to ‘Avatar’ footage

    Steven SoderberghI’m a bit behind the curve on getting to this item so apologies if you’ve already read about it.  Back in February, Total Film magazine put together a great feature on James Cameron’s “Avatar,” an anticipated “game changer” set for release later this year and probably the industry’s most anticipated film since, well, Cameron’s last effort, 1997’s “Titanic.”  One of the people interviewed in the piece was filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, who, at the time, couldn’t contain his excitement at the footage he’d seen:

    “Yeah, I went to the set…I can tell you that shit was mindblowing. The shit I saw was crazy. Like, craaaazy. I I think it’s gonna be gigantic. It’s gonna be another one of those benchmarks. There’s gonna be Before that movie and After.”

    Well in a recent interview for “The Girlfriend Experience” with Coming Soon’s Ed Douglas, Soderbergh still had it on his mind:

    We were asking why [Soderbergh] thought recent films didn’t have quite the impact or longevity as the classics, and he gave us a great response about how the volume of movies being made and seen made it hard for anything to have the cultural impact of a movie like The Godfather or be remembered. He was disappointed there weren’t those sorts of benchmarks in the movies being made today, but he surprised us by adding that he thought James Cameron’s Avatar would be one of those benchmarks:

    “I’ve seen some stuff and holy sh*t. It’s the craziest sh*t ever. That could negate everything I just said,” he told us.

    There we are.  The sh*ts have it.  Can any film live up tho this kind of expectation?

  • Cameron to showcase making of ‘Avatar’ at upcoming PGA conference

    James Cameron on the set of AvatarI’m not entirely sure, but I think this is a gigantic ruse to get me to shell out at least 250 bucks for “Produced By” registration.  Not gonna happen.  But in all seriousness, “Avatar” is certainly one of the industry’s most anticipated films in a number of years.  It seems any info, any morsel of information, continues to be devoured, analyzed and spit back out as we await the main course in December.

    From the press release, in part:

    If sinking the Titanic was a filmmaking and storytelling marvel that led to the largest grossing film of all time, then Jim Cameron’s Avatar has the industry buzzing about what the maestro of mega-films has up his sleeve with his next hotly-anticipated holiday season blockbuster.  Attendees at the PGA’s inaugural Produced By Conference will get to hear first-hand from Cameron when he makes a rare appearance to discourse on “Seeing the Future in 3D,” June 6 at Sony Pictures Studios.

    Cameron, a pioneer of digital 3D filmmaking, will unveil the craft behind the making of Avatar with its combination of live action 3D and computer-generated, photo-real visual effects.  Avatar, to be released by 20th Century Fox in December of this year, is one of the most highly-anticipated films ever and is Cameron’s first narrative film since Titanic, the biggest box office hit of all time.

    James Cameron noted, “This is the perfect opportunity for me to share what I’ve learned from making AVATAR about the cutting edge 3-D technology that is re-shaping how people make and view movies.”

    (Full press release after the jump.)

    (more…)

  • Year-in-advance winner predictions

    Yes, I’m insane, but before I leave off this year’s year-in-advance week, by request, I thought I’d throw up a random set of winner predictions and see if I was close to the target next February.  Last year I managed three correct guesses (four if you count Winslet for the wrong movie), two of them in the tech categories, so maybe I can at least up that tally.  I really want to predict Clint’s movie for Best Picture, but I have some weird sense of irritation at predicting an untitled movie.  Oh well, who cares?

    Best Picture: “Nine”
    Best Director: Rob Marshall, “Nine”
    Best Actor: Morgan Freeman, “Untitlted Nelson Mandela Project”
    Best Actress: Michelle Pfeiffer, “Chéri”
    Best Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, “Untitlted Nelson Mandela Project”
    Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “Nine”
    Best Original Screenplay: “Up”
    Best Art Direction: “Amelia”
    Best Cinematography: “Nine”
    Best Costume Design: “Chéri”
    Best Film Editing: “Nine”
    Best Makeup: “The Wolf Man”
    Best Music (Original Score): “Broken Embraces”
    Best Music (Original Song): “Nine”
    Best Sound Editing: “Green Zone”
    Best Sound Mixing: “Nine”
    Best Visual Effects: “Avatar”
    Best Animated Feature Film: “Up”

    Those will all be wrong.  Each and every one of them.

    (And in case you missed it: OFF THE CARPET: Handicapping 2009 a year in advance!?)

  • OFF THE CARPET: Handicapping 2009 a year in advance!?

    Ewan McGregor and Hilary Swank in AmeliaAhh.  The dust is settling.  And on the horizon, just visible through the mist and waiting to drive us all up the wall once again: the 2009 Oscar season.

    I’ve been writing this year-in-advance column for probably six years now, and I always look forward to gazing ahead.  No one dives in so pathetically deep this far out as yours truly, but in exchange for not having a life for the past few months, I get to unload this burden the day after our annual season’s peak and forget about little gold men entirely for a few months.

    It’s quite liberating.

    The most interesting thing about the season to come, from my vantage point, is the lack of a dreaded “frontrunner status” for any of the contenders.  Some might say Clint Eastwood’s Nelson Mandela project (which is not called “The Human Factor,” mind you — the director says the film is currently untitled and is based on John Carlin’s book “Playing the Enemy”).

    Others might say Rob Marshall’s “Nine” (coming from a money-tight company hoping to avoid echoes of “Memoirs of a Geisha”).  But I don’t see a “Geisha” from here, or a “Charlie Wilson’s War,” expected heavies waiting to miss the mark.  The field is curiously flat, and as a result, excitingly broad.

    Let’s get to it, shall we?

    (more…)

  • My top 10 most anticipated films of 2009

    Johnny Depp in Public EnemiesNo explanations, just my annual unfiltered, edge-of-my-seat anticipations.  My tastes tend to skew entertainment from afar; I don’t look forward to the Oscar stuff until later in the year, when the pieces of that crazy puzzle are slowly revealed.

    Here’s what I’m looking forward to:

    1. “Watchmen” (Zack Snyder, Warner Bros. Pictures, March 6)
    2. “Public Enemies” (Michael Mann, Universal Pictures, July 1)
    3. “Avatar” (James Cameron, 20th Century Fox, Dec. 18)
    4. “A Christmas Carol” (Robert Zemeckis, Walt Disney Pictures, Nov. 5)
    5. “Terminator Salvation” (McG, Warner Bros. Pictures, May 22)
    6. “Shutter Island” (Martin Scorsese, Warner Bros. Pictures, Oct. 2)
    7. “Green Zone” (Paul Greengrass, Universal Pictures, TBA)
    8. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (Gavin Hood, 20th Century Fox, May 1)
    9. “State of Play” (Kevin Macdonald, Universal Pictures, April 17)
    10. “2012” (Roland Emmerich, Columbia Pictures, July 10)

    Least anticipated: “Inglorious Bastards”

    You?