In Contention

Tag: High School Musical 3

  • Again, uh…

    Following yesterday’s thrilling/indifferent/perplexing (adjust according to age) revelation that Robert Pattinson is a likely presenter at Sunday’s Academy Awards, Sasha Stone has excavated some further hints as to who to expect on stage — and it seems Beyoncé Knowles, “High School Musical” tweens Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, as well as young “Mamma Mia!” duo Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper could all be in the mix.

    Beyoncé is a bona fide megastar and has been a regular fixture at the Oscars for some years now, so that at least makes sense. But what’s with the excessive pandering to the (pre)teen demographic? Do that many of them really watch the Oscars? Maybe they do — I’m just asking.

    But isn’t the inclusion of one pretty-but-sexually-unthreatening vampire a sufficient nod to the demographic? Efron on his own could be bearable, but let’s not kid ourselves into pretending that Hudgens, Seyfried and Cooper are movie stars just yet.

    With names like these, perhaps the whole “secret presenters” thing was just a ploy to avoid scaring us off.

  • Academy shortlists 49 original songs

    High School Musical 3… and 11 of them (count ’em) are from “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.” That’s over a fifth of the contenders, so I’m guessing the folks at Disney will be pretty mortified if at least one of them doesn’t make the final five.

    And hell, one of them should. I’m not too snobbish to admit that “HSM3” is an immaculately produced entertainment that succeeds squarely on its own terms, and the same goes for its song score. Those songs are certainly a lot more integral to the film than, say, Peter Gabriel’s track for “WALL-E.” Credit where it’s due.

    Otherwise everything that you’d expect to be on the list is there — including the tracks from “The Wrestler,” “Slumdog Millionaire” (nice to see “O Saya” listed as well as “Jai Ho”) and “Synecdoche, New York,” which I know has a lot of fans (myself included) on this site. Elsewhere, I’m happy to see Jenny Lewis’ cute ditty for “Bolt” contending alongside Miley Cyrus’s composition — though to be honest, I’m just happy to see Jenny Lewis in any context.

    Some will be surprised by the exclusion of Jennifer Hudson’s “Sex and the City” ballad “All Dressed in Love,” but it was closing credits filler, and godawful at that.

    As for predictions, one must bear in mind that the Academy has frequently gone its own way in this category over the last few years, nominating songs that weren’t on anyone’s radar, much less any precursor lists. (Think “Raise It Up” last year, or the French-language “Look to Your Path” in 2005.)

    I’m thinking Norah Jones’ pretty, easygoing “The Story” from the otherwise ill-fated “My Blueberry Nights” will be right up their alley: throwback sound, credible middle-of-the-road artist, story-serving song from a film with a strong musical theme. Bullseye.

    I’ve also been predicting for months that the rousing title song from “Trouble the Water” will surprise in this category, so I’m chuffed to see it crop up here. It’s a terrific hip-hop track with a great story behind it — it’s by Kimberly Rivers Roberts, the struggling rap artist whose remarkable personal narrative, overcoming the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, forms the heart of the film. It’d be pretty damn inspiring to see her perform on the Oscar stage come February, and I have a hunch the Academy’s music branch (who have become more receptive to hip-hop in recent years) will feel the same way.

    Full list after the cut.

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  • 11/22 Oscarweb Round-up

    Tilda Swinton• Jeffrey Wells hangs with the “Revolutionary Road” crew in the Big Apple. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Ditto Glenn Kenny, who moderated the post-screening Q&A. [Some Came Running]

    • David Poland waxes on about how much he thinks “Revolutionary Road” fails, and judging by his charts, clearly hasn’t seen “Australia” yet. [Movie City News]

    • Steve Gaydos reports on a Rod Lurie event at UCLA for “Nothing But the Truth.” [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Peter Sciretta talks to Pixar honcho John Lasseter. [/Film]

    • Pete Hammond thinks there’s a hex on Paramount screenings because of a couple of snafus of late, reports from a “Doubt” reception. [Notes on a Season]

    • Which songs will get the ole’ Oscar shove for “High School Musical 3?” [Gold Derby]

    • Simon Hattenstone meets with the “contradictory” Tilda Swinton. [The Guardian]

    • Eugene Hernandez and Peter Knegt debate the documentary shortlist. [indieWIRE]

  • Variety ponders the season at the mid-way point

    We’ve already been over what a thin year it’s been so far for Oscar candidates – or good films at all, for that matter. Now Variety has come to the same conclusion. In his mid-year awards-season study, Timothy M. Gray goes so far as to say that “the past six months have offered fewer potential contenders than any January-June period in memory,” and wonders if we’re seeing a return to the days when the Oscars were dominated by winter releases from the majors.

    Indeed, Gray only finds one title from the first-half of the year that he thinks has main category potential: Overture Films’ “The Visitor,” the prospects of which I discussed extensively yesterday. I’m not sure I’d boil down an entire half-year to a sole film (“In Bruges,” anyone?), but I agree that “The Visitor” has a real campaigning advantage:

    Keep an eye on Overture’s “The Visitor”: Lead actor Richard Jenkins has rightly earned awards buzz, but the film has many other virtues (Thomas McCarthy’s script and direction, the other performances, etc.). McCarthy, a talented actor in his own right, has crafted an actors’ movie — a character study with current-event concerns — that will play well on DVD, so late-year mailings could pay off.

    (Indeed, the more I think about the film’s position in the awards derby, the more it reminds me of a certain tiny spring release from last year: “Away From Her.”

    Looking forward into the rest of 2008, Gray ends up pondering most of the same questionmarks that we all are, including the following questions:

    Will the early buzz sustain for Disney-Pixar’s “Wall-E” and WB’s “The Dark Knight” and Heath Ledger?

    What effect will the Clint Eastwood double whammy — November’s “Changeling” and the December bow of Warner Bros.-Village Roadshow’s “Gran Torino,” in which he stars as well as directs — have on kudos? Similarly, Scott Rudin, who was in the winner’s circle with “No Country,” has two December openers — but will he have a third with “The Reader,” whose opening date is not yet set?

    Benicio Del Toro won Cannes’ actor award for Steven Soderbergh’s “Che,” but will it find a U.S. distrib this year and, if so, in what form will the two-part film be released?

    And then there are … other questions. In the last few years, the song category has been dominated by tunes that were production numbers (as opposed to those end-credit or background songs). So does this bode well for Disney’s “High School Musical 3” and Focus’ “Hamlet 2”? (If the song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” can win, there may be hope for the latter pic’s “Rock Me Sexy Jesus.”)

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