In Contention

Tag: Christopher Nolan

  • Hero takes a fall

    In coming up with an idle, pop-related title for this post, I was faced with two choices: the one I eventually went with, or “We don’t need another hero.” I decided against the latter — partly because I’m sure other writers have already exhausted it, partly because The Bangles can always do with another shout-out — but in This Our Summer of the Superhero, it’d certainly be apt. With “Green Lantern” following “Thor,” “X-Men: First Class” and, earlier, its troublesome near-namesake “The Green Hornet” on the 2011 release schedule, and with “Captain America” still to come, casual moviegoers could be forgiven for wondering if their local multiplex has been part-colonized by ComicCon.

    It stands to reason that with so many darts being thrown at the same aesthetic and commercial target, some will hit their mark more squarely than others. If “Thor” managed to widely surpass expectations, the law of averages decrees that at least one of its Spandex-clad rivals will likely fail to meet them — or at least live down to expectations that had already been lowered. Critically, at least, it seems “Green Lantern” is taking that bullet: Kris may have appreciated Martin Campbell’s revival of one of the DC library’s dustier properties, but the first wave of reviews has been largely dismissive, with even the film’s vastly expensive effects work taking a beating from both high-end print critics and more genre-friendly bloggers like Drew McWeeny.

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  • Nolan and Fincher on the impression left by Malick

    Those are three heavyweight names to stuff into one headline, but thanks to some shrewd marketing on the part of Fox Searchlight Pictures, it’s a reality.

    Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” continues to roll out in its platform release, landing in a boatload of new cities this weekend. As the film prepares to go wider, the studio has tapped the thoughts of filmmakers Christopher Nolan and David Fincher to get their perspective on the famed auteur.

    “His work is immediately recognizable, but it’s very tough to put your finger on why that is,” Nolan says in a new featurette launched at Apple. “The technique is not immediately obvious.”

    Fincher, meanwhile, notes that “with Malick, you’re seeing something that was thought about and meditated over. You’re seeing someone who’s making choices that are specifically designed to evoke a feeling.”

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  • 2/22 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Nolan praises snubbed editor, the year’s best film titles, belated Oscar winners

    • Reporting from Saturday night’s ACE Eddies, Carolyn Giardina passes along Christopher Nolan’s appreciative comments of his Oscar-snubbed editor, Lee Smith. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • If there were an Oscar for film titles… [New York Times]

    • Anne Thompson chats with “The Social Network” cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth. [Thompson on Hollywood]

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  • Nolan’s Hughes biopic: I say go meta

    When I spoke to Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas earlier this month at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the discussion of scaling things back with their next film came up.  After all, when it hits theaters next summer, “The Dark Knight Rises” will mark the third blockbuster in a row for Hollywood’s wunderkind.

    You can stretch it back to “Batman Begins” if you want, seeing as “The Prestige” was hardly a modest independent, given the period trappings.  So call it five in a row.

    Back when Leonardo DiCaprio was developing his Howard Hughes biopic, “The Aviator,” with director Michael Mann, Nolan had his own project in development.  Mann opted out of tackling another biopic after “The Insider” and “Ali” and DiCaprio asked his then recent professional acquaintance, Martin Scorsese, to take over the project.

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  • 2/9 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Stewart talks ‘Speech’ sets, McMurtry and Ossana on ‘True Grit,’ Nolan/Del Toro Q&A

    • Steve Pond goes blue in the face trying to explain, again, the preferential ballot to people who just don’t get it. [The Odds]

    • Nathaniel Rogers chats with “The King’s Speech” production designer Eve Stewart. [The Film Experience]

    • Jamie Bell: Oscar prognosticator. [Movieline]

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  • Evening Standard Awards go their own way

    “What is it about the British?” a reader asked in one of last week’s comment threads. “They can’t quite make a film of current topical interest or [sic] lacks some historical or classical literary backdrop to give it a sense of importance.”

    The comment is one of many “typical British film” jabs I’ve read since “The King’s Speech” asserted itself as the Oscar frontrunner, and it would have annoyed me no end even if I wasn’t part-British myself: to boil down an entire national cinema to awards-baiting prestige period fare is as unfair and ill-informed as suggesting that Hollywood only makes Michael Bay movies.

    In the last 24 hours, however, two sets of honors have acted as handy rebuttals to this narrow perception of UK cinema. I’ll devote an individual post to Time Out’s tremendous 100 Best British Films list later today, but last night’s London Evening Standard Film Awards, to which I was lucky enough to be invited, were a welcome celebration of the kind of diverse, adventurous British artistry — ranging from sci-fi to comedy to experimental indies — that idle BAFTA voters can’t be bothered to nominate.

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  • ACE announces career achievement award recipients

    The press release:

    American Cinema Editors (ACE) will honor veteran editors Michael Brown, A.C.E. and Michael Kahn, A.C.E. with the organization’s prestigious Lifetime Career Achievement Award at the 61st Annual ACE Eddie Awards on February 19, 2011 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

    The Lifetime Career Achievement Award honors veteran editors whose body of work and reputation within the industry is outstanding.

    As previously announced, the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award, recognizing a filmmaker of extraordinary vision, will go to Christopher Nolan.

    [Photo: Editors Guild Magazine]

  • WGA awards ‘Inception,’ ‘Social Network’

    I’ve been a bit tied up this afternoon and haven’t gotten to this yet, but indeed, the WGA has awarded “Inception” and “The Social Network” with its screenplay honors this year.  Color me a little surprised by the original screenplay win for Christopher Nolan, but Aaron Sorkin had a pretty clear ride to this win, I think.

    No, I don’t think Nolan’s win means anything for Oscar.  Seidler has that in the bag and would have had this if the work was eligible, BUT, I’m very happy for Nolan.  It’s a much better ending than if the indie had swooped in for some love, as most were expecting.  And I still think said indie is the one in Seidler’s rear view.  But for now, I raise a glass to ingenuity through spectacle.

    The Art Directors Guild awards are also tonight, but I have to run out.  So I imagine you’ll come across the news at some point.  No guild awards next weekend, but the following week will bring the CAS, ACE and ASC.  It’s almost over.

  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘King’s Speech’ marches on

    • “The King’s Speech” continued its cruise through phase two of the season with a widely unexpected Directors’ Guild victory…

    • … and scooped top honors at a surprise-free Screen Actors’ Guild Awards ceremony.

    • Following this brace of wins, this week’s Off the Carpet column said what we were all thinking: the race is over.

    • Meanwhile, in his Long Shot column, Guy concluded that the royal biopic was likely the film to beat all along.

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  • 2/3 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Animated feature speculation, Cameron says Nolan was robbed, ‘Network’ doc online

    • Carolyn Giardina floats the possibility of “How to Train Your Dragon” beating “Toy Story 3” for Best Animated Feature with nothing but those (not unexpected) Visual Effects Society wins to justify it. [The Race]

    • James Cameron thinks Christopher Nolan should have been nominated for Best Director this year. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Steve Pond explains the voting procedure of the five categories not on the ballots that went out yesterday. [The Odds]

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  • ‘Inception,’ ‘Dragon’ reign at VES awards

    Four for “Inception,” three for “How to Train Your Dragon” (which beat out “Toy Story 3” every step of the way).  “Hereafter,” meanwhile, took the supporting effects award.

    Key quote from Christopher Nolan, who received the inaugural Visionary Award:

    I know visual effects people pride themselves on doing the impossible.  I’d just like to encourage you to say “no” to the unreasonable.

    (Courtesy: David Cohen)

    Check out the full list of winners at The Circuit.

    [Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures]

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

    The race for Best Original Screenplay is full of worthy competitors this year.  Four Best Picture nominees and the year’s best screenplay period make up the field, and even if there are a few that should have been in the mix, I find it difficult to argue with what squeaked through in the end.

    The writing categories can sometimes be interesting to watch on Oscar night.  The Academy can mix things up, but only within the Best Picture landscape, as these awards have gone to a non-Best Picture competitor just six times in the last 20 years.  Nevertheless, all signs seem to be pointing to one film to dominate the show, and this category is no exception.

    The nominees are:

    “Another Year” (Written by Mike Leigh)
    “The Fighter” (Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson)
    “Inception” (Written by Christopher Nolan)
    “The Kids Are All Right” (Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg)
    “The King’s Speech” (Screenplay by David Seidler)

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Nolan crowned as Modern Master

    “He no longer challenges our ideas about film,” actor Leonardo DiCaprio said of Christopher Nolan tonight, before presenting him with the Modern Master Award.  “He has helped define them.”

    It was a great bow on a fine evening meant to celebrate the director’s work over the last decade.  The Modern Master designation is Santa Barbara’s highest honor and, despite an unexpected Oscar snub for Best Director from the Academy last Tuesday afternoon, this is certainly the year to single him out in such a light.

    Pete Hammond served as moderator for the evening as he queried Nolan on his brief if dense career to date.  It was shrewd to note that “Following” in 1998, a $6,000 movie that grossed $40,000 and “Inception” in 2010, a $160 million movie that grossed $800 million worldwide, only have 11 years separating them.  The director’s latest “has been successful on its own terms, not on Hollywood’s,” Hammond said by way of introduction.  It’s a good way to put it.

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  • Predict the DGA winner

    I nearly forgot tomorrow brings the DGA awards.  I thought they were next weekend.  Anyway, I guess this can be your place to offer up predictions.  I’ll say this, though.  I don’t think David Fincher has this in the bag.  At all.  Ballots were due in today, by the way, which means the Oscar nominations could have an impact.  Maybe last minute voters want to spring for Christopher Nolan after he was unceremoniously snubbed by the Academy?

    Fincher’s dominance in the critics awards circuit is unmistakable.  But now you’re talking about 10,000 people rather than a 30-person media organization (and, in most cases, much smaller than that).  “Inception” is a populist film, but so, too, is “The King’s Speech.” And I think I’m just brazen enough to predict Tom Hooper to win.

    Yep, I am.  I think Darren Aronofsky deserves it above all comers, but that’s unlikely.  And Fincher would be my second pick.  He could well win, and “The Fighter” could take the SAG ensemble prize, blowing the race wide open (for some).  But no, I’m going to put my chips on a sweep for “The King’s Speech” that started with PGA, will continue tomorrow night and keep going through Sunday with an ensemble win.  What about you?

    [Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures]

  • “I got beaten out by Fellini!”

    Chad passed this along.  I actually hadn’t seen it in a while.  I wonder if Nolan’s support system blew their stack a la this crowd:

  • Oscar nominations: the good, the good and the good

    Even when they aren’t being read out with gale-force enthusiasm by Mo’Nique, the Oscar nominations tend to attack you with breathless speed that you need at least half an hour to decide how you feel about them at all. As usual, this morning’s announcement found me bouncing from one split-second reaction to another: Yay! No! What? That? Why? Who’s missing? What did she say? That? No! Did I call that? Yay!

    As Kate Winslet would say in such situations: “Gather.” And now that I’ve stepped back, gathered and taken into account that no Oscar nomination slate in history has been without its disappointments, I can honestly say that I’m more happy than not with the list in front of me.

    Some of the day’s biggest surprises didn’t elicit much of an emotional reaction from me. My eyebrows rose as high as anyone’s over Christopher Nolan’s latest failure to secure a Best Director nomination — is he the first man in Oscar history to fall three times at this hurdle after being DGA-nominated? — though I always said he couldn’t be regarded as a sure thing.

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  • Predict the DGA nominees

    Monday the guild circuit continues — at the start of what will be a very busy week — as the Directors Guild of America (DGA) unveils its list of nominees.

    The age-old rule of thumb has been that this is perhaps the most consistently foreshadowing precursor, as the five DGA nominees tend to have a good shot at Best Director recognition, and the Best Director nominees tend to line-up with the Best Picture nominees, give or take (though with the 10, I think it might be safe to say that the idea of a “lone director” has been lost to the realities of probability).

    Last year the five DGA nominees represented the perceived top five films of the Oscar race: Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Lee Daniels, Jason Reitman and Quentin Tarantino. The year before that, we all thought it did the same, but alas, Christopher Nolan and his film ultimately missed the mark with Oscar.

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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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