In Contention

Tag: Blue Valentine

  • ‘Black Swan’ leads BFCA field with a record 12 nominations

    The most striking thing about this year’s slate of BFCA nominations is that, to go by the films listed in the various categories, apparently there were only 30 or so movies released this year. And most categories were dominated by the same five films, which is disappointing, if a bit predictable.

    When the organization added below-the-line categories last year, though, it was probably asking for this kind of distillation. I’m not sure a great many of the membership knows from quality sound in a motion picture, but this is their (our — I am a member) platform. You’ll see my ballot Wednesday, but it’s considerably different than this.

    Anyway, “Black Swan” led the field with a record 12 nominations. “The King’s Speech” and “True Grit” weren’t far behind with 11 each. “Inception” netted 10, “The Social Network” landed nine and “127 Hours” nailed down eight. Those are clearly the favorites throughout.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: The circuit takes hold, chatting up DiCaprio and Harris, top 10 lists

    • The week started off with “How to Train Your Dragon” predictably dominating the slate of Annie Award nominations.

    • Kris sat down with Leonardo DiCaprio and got Martin Scorsese on the phone for a large two–part piece on the actor and his impressive year.

    • He also caught up with actor Ed Harris to talk “The Way Back” and director Peter Weir.

    • It was good and bad news for The Weinstein Company as “Blue Valentine” won its ratings appeal with the MPAA, while “The King’s Speech”‘s was shot down.

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  • ‘Winter’s Bone’ leads Detroit critics nods with six

    This is a somewhat more interesting set of nominations, even if it is flowing in the general current of the season for the most part.  I like the love for Gosling and even Edgar Wright (despite my feelings on the film).  Have a look at the full slate at The Circuit.

  • ‘Blue Valentine’ wins ratings appeal, ‘King’s Speech’ loses

    It’s justice for “Blue Valentine” today as Harvey Weinstein’s appeal of the MPAA’s NC-17 rating has gone through, allowing for the film to receive an R and continue to reap the benefits of this publicity in the industry.  Weinstein showed up personally (a first) to argue the decision and the board overturned its original rating.

    But he was one-and-one, as “The King’s Speech,” which had been rated R for language (specifically a scene in which Colin Firth spouts of the f-word continuously as part of his character’s speech impediment therapy), will not be getting the preferred PG-13.

    I’m really stoked this went through for Derek Cianfrance and company, though.  It came on the heels of a number of stories concerning double standards with perceptions of oral sex in films like “Blue Valentine” and “Black Swan,” and actor Ryan Gosling has certainly been vocal about his feelings on the matter.  The pressure was on, and rightly so.  All is well.

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  • 12/8 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Karger ranks, Kubrickian directors and Arndy on the genius of the Pixar system

    • Dave Karger takes a stab at ranking the major categories. (Rush above Bale?) [Inside Movies]

    • Anne Thompson talks “Toy Story 3” and the genius of the Pixar system with Michael Arndt. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Which Kubrick-compared director is the most Kubrickian? [Vulture]

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  • 12/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Bridges’s terms for ‘Legacy,’ Coppola on ‘Somewhere,’ Gurus take another stab

    • Jeff Bridges to “TRON Legacy” producers early on: “Tell me the things you are going to do that no one’s ever done before.” [The Wrap]

    • Sofia Coppola talks “Somewhere” across the pond. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Jesse Eisenberg on awards season, narcissism and his feelings about an Oscar nomination. [Movieline]

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Time to flex

    All of the cards (save for the elusive James L. Brooks title “How Do You Know,” which few seem to be expecting much from at this stage — a commodity in Oscar season, actually) are on the table.

    The critics are beginning to speak up with their faves (likely to be “The Social Network” after “The Social Network” after “The Social Network”) and the working (and voting) industry is just now getting its first look at many of the films that have been stirring conversation throughout the festival season via DVDs and Academy screenings. They’ll make their voices heard with guild nominations throughout January. But now is not the time to show weakness.

    The thoroughbreds of the season remain “The King’s Speech” and the aforementioned “The Social Network.” I’m confidant “True Grit” will soon join their ranks, while “The Kids Are All Right” could be fairly considered in that group as well. And “Toy Story 3” is riding sentiment like a champ (with even more campaign strategy to come).

    “The Town” is the only other film that I know has registered in a big way with Academy types (and it’s laid back campaign approach feels like the right call). “The Fighter” screened for AMPAS this weekend and is receiving media attention at just the right time. I think it will soon prove itself to be a formidable contender in the race, if it hasn’t already.

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  • ‘Winter’s Bone’ leads Indie Spirits with 7 nods

    Well, quelle surprise. I’ve been saying for months now that Debra Granik’s solemn Ozark thriller is — even more so than the sunnier, starrier “The Kids Are All Right” — this year’s annointed indie cause in the Oscar race, and this only cements that belief. The film’s impressive showing this morning, coming on the heels of last night’s Gotham Awards triumph, has me more confident than ever that the tiny pic is set to repeat the trajectory “Precious” made last year from Sundance champ to Best Picture nominee.

    A number of its companions in the Best Feature race could join in there too, as the Spirits largely favored big-name fare in the top categories: “The Kids Are All Right” took second place in the nomination count, with five, while “Black Swan” and “Rabbit Hole” (which clearly just missed the cut in the feature race) are just behind with four apiece.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Weinstein takes the gloves off, Hollywood mourns its own, doc and animated fields shortlisted

    • The Academy honored legends Francis Ford Coppola, Eli Wallach, Jean-Luc Godard and Kevin Brownlow at the annual Governors Awards.

    • Kris attended a Summit Entertainment holiday party, chatting with the talent in attendance.

    • Disney revealed a clever plan geared toward presenting “Toy Story 3” as a legitimate Best Picture contender.

    • The Weinstein Company lawyered up on the MPAA rulings on “Blue Valentine” and “The King’s Speech”

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  • INTERVIEW: ‘Blue Valentine’ actress Michelle Williams

    I chatted with “Blue Valentine” star Michelle Williams a few weeks ago and it’s one of a handful of discussions I haven’t yet had a chance to transcribe. But in her case, I think it’s more beneficial to let her answers speak for themselves rather than have them filtered through the perspective and narrative drive of a journalist.

    Williams is a delightful interview subject because she seems to painstakingly search for the honest and fresh answer. She doesn’t naturally lean back on sound bytes and the usual banter even if it does prove impossible not to tread similar water from one interview to the next.

    In the film, she gives a dynamic performance that could well push her into the final five of a lead actress category uncharacteristically competitive this season. Her chemistry with co-star Ryan Gosling, largely a topic of our discussion, is impeccable. Have a listen to our brief chat after the jump.

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  • Weinstein lawyers up on MPAA

    Well, we all knew Harvey Weinstein wasn’t going to take that head-scratching (and commercially damaging) ‘NC-17’ rating for “Blue Valentine” lying down. (While still generating maximum publicity from the unfortunate situation, natch.) The Weinstein Company today announced that it has gathered “a formidable legal team” to challenge the MPAA’s decision — and while they’re about it, they’re contesting that ‘R’ rating for “The King’s Speech” too.

    And Weinstein’s lawyers mean business: Bert Fields, the attorney overseeing the “Valentine” appeal, goes so far as to say the extreme age restriction “violates [the company’s] right to freedom of speech under the state and US constitution.” Alongside the legal speak, the press release issued today by TWC also includes this heartfelt, well-reasoned plea from star Michelle Williams:

    The MPAA’s decision on Blue Valentine unmasks a taboo in our culture, that an honest portrayal of a relationship is more threatening than a sensationalized one… Mainstream films often depict sex and violence in a manner that is disturbing and very far from reality. Yet, the MPAA regularly awards these films with a more audience friendly rating, enabling our culture’s desensitization to violence, rape, torture and brutality. Our film does not depict any of these attributes. It’s simply a candid look at the difficulties couples face in sustaining their relationships over time. Blue Valentine opens a door for couples to have a dialogue about the everyday realities of many relationships. This film was made in the spirit of love, honesty and intimacy. I hope that the MPAA will hear our pleas and reconsider their decision.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Waiting for the miracle

    (From here on out, my nomination predictions will be updated weekly to coincide with this column. Check them out here.)

    Tweed-coated and steam-breathed, winter formally arrived in my corner of the world this week, and with it the slightly grim realization that just over seven weeks remain of this year.

    I say “grim” not so much because I’m unprepared for the rigors of Christmas shopping or because 90% of my year’s to-do list remains undone—though neither of those truths are helping—but because, from a film perspective, 2010 feels to me like it needs at least another couple of months to find itself.

    Yesterday, I found myself battling with two lists of 10 films: the first, my own provisional best-of-year collective, the second, my revised predictions for the Best Picture Oscar nominees. Neither list, in my experience, has ever had much to do with the other (of course, I’ll take that back should the Academy reveal hidden depths of enthusiasm for, say, “White Material” on nomination morning), but both the rough drafts I wound up with had one thing in common: they’re badly in need of a late-breaking great film or two.

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  • ‘Dagenham’ producer protests ‘R’ rating

    The delicate folks at the MPAA have come in for a right old bollocking in the past few weeks, and deservedly so. First came the furore over the baffling ‘NC-17’ rating they awarded “Blue Valentine” — a lemon of a situation that Harvey Weinstein, to judge from the steamy poster unveiled yesterday, has decided to make into lemonade.

    Another of Weinstein’s babies, “The King’s Speech,” also got the brunt of the ratings board’s conservatism when it was slapped with an ‘R’ for a brief torrent of narratively contextualized four-letter words — despite having a fair claim to being the most mild-mannered prestige drama of the year.

    We all know that bad things, like Kardashian sisters, come in threes, so we didn’t have long to wait before the next eruption over MPAA idiocy, and once more, the film at the center of it is a calculatedly inoffensive true-life Britpic. Despite having the kind of cheery inspirational message that young girls and their grandmothers alike can appreciate, feminist dramedy “Made in Dagenham” has received an ‘R’ rating for “language and brief sexuality,” referring respectively to a scattering of f-words and some gentle, clothed innuendo.

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  • ‘Blue Valentine’ poster

    Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine” has been very much in the conversation as of late due to an unfortunate NC-17 rating.  The film saw it’s Los Angeles premiere this week as part of AFI Fest and still has well over a month before it opens.  A trailer recently hit, conjuring a lovely and unique atmosphere, and today, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies, we get a peek at the poster.  Check out the full image after the jump.

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  • 11/9 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Screenwriting hopefuls, Hooper on fugly ‘King’s Speech’ poster, MPAA shamed

    • Sasha Stone on the season’s screenwriting contenders. [Awards Daily]

    • “The King’s Speech” director Tom Hooper also hates the poster everyone has been knocking. [Movieline]

    • David Poland split screens “The Social Network” star Armie Hammer. [The Hot Blog]

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  • 11/2 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Newton on ‘For Colored Girls,’ Godard’s Oscar revives controversy, ratings board drama

    • Jean-Luc Godard’s Honorary Oscar revives controversy over the director’s supposed anti-Semitism. [New York Times]

    • Amy Kaufman sits down with “Love & Other Drugs” director Edward Zwick. [The Envelope]

    • Edward Douglas chats up “For Colored Girls” star Thandie Newton. [Coming Soon]

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Leading men in the spotlight

    About a year ago I took to examining the 2009 Best Actor race.  The frontrunners for five slots seemed to be, in order, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Jeremy Renner, Morgan Freeman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Viggo Mortensen and Robert De Niro.

    A day later press members received their first invites to “Crazy Heart” screenings and were notified that the film would be released in 2009.  Jeff Bridges hit the ground running and never let off the gas until he was past the finish line.

    A year earlier we were looking at a pair of politico-biopic portrayals, either one of which would make a handsome winner: Frank Langella and Sean Penn.  But we were fairly sure the latter would be on his way to the podium one more time.

    But soon after, Mickey Rourke’s festival buzz caught serious fire and forged an atmosphere of doubt.  The season’s narrative seemed to be changing, and yet the early buzz carried through and brought Penn his Oscar.

    So that’s two drastically different directions – in as many years – that a lead actor race can take.  Given the mid-October fulcrum shared here, let’s consider our perspective on the Best Actor category right now.

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  • ‘King’s Speech’ told to mind its language

    Admittedly, this isn’t much of a story, but following last week’s furore over the NC-17 certificate handed to the starkly adult marital drama “Blue Valentine,” it’s amusing to see a rather more milquetoast Oscar hopeful having its own trouble with the ratings board.

    London’s Evening Standard paper reports that “The King’s Speech,” already rated R by the MPAA, has been given a 15 rating (permitting no viewers under that age) by the British censors — not a severe rating, but more restrictive than one might expect for a polite period biopic revolving around speech therapy.

    The reason for the adult rating is the same on both sides of the Atlantic: a short comic scene where Colin Firth’s stuttering King George VI is required to say “fuck” 42 times in quick succession as part of a therapeutic exercise. To be frank, 14 year-olds were unlikely to be queueing around the block to see “The King’s Speech” in the first place, but that’s not really the point: R or 15 ratings could wrongfoot mild-mannered mature viewers who otherwise sit squarely in the film’s sights.

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