In Contention

Tag: Inception

  • ‘Social,’ ‘Alice’ win ACE awards

    Alright, so I should have gone with what I said was the safe bet for the ACE drama Eddie.  Rather than making history by awarding a film not nominated for the editing Oscar and giving it to the truly deserving contender, “Inception,” the editors decided to rethink it and go with “The Social Network” instead.  Fair enough.

    I was, however, correct in assuming “Alice in Wonderland” had a better play on the win than the other comedy hopefuls.  “Toy Story 3” triumphed in the animated field as expected, while I was also on the money with “Exit Through the Gift Shop” winning in the doc category.  I’ll take three out of four.

    “Inception” could, however, take the Cinema Audio Society award for sound mixing, which is what most are expecting.  More on that when those awards wrap up shortly.

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  • Predict the weekend in societies

    Anne and I will be briefly previewing the American Cinema Editors and Cinema Audio Society awards in tomorrow’s Oscar Talk, and maybe a little Motion Picture Sound Editors thrown in to boot.  All three will be announcing winners this weekend, while members of the Costume Designers Guild will put a bow on the guild season Tuesday night when they present their awards.

    So, let’s start with the editors.  It’s one of the oldest industry organizations, going all the way back to 1961, and this year marks its 50th anniversary.  In that 50 year existence, the Society has awarded the eventual Oscar winner for Best Film Editing 35 times.

    Additionally, 20 times their choice was also reflected in the Academy’s selection of Best Picture of the year (including four instances where the Society awarded a film that did not win Best Film Editing at the Oscars but still won Best Picture).

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  • Why some BAFTA winners shouldn’t get their hopes up

    A number of people asked about the BAFTA outcome in our solicitation for Oscar Talk queries this week. We’ll be discussing last weekend’s awards on the show, but I thought I’d address those questions separately here.

    A sample:

    With the BAFTA below-the-line awards not all going to The King’s Speech (even things like Art Direction and Costume), as expected, is the extremely well-covered supposed sweep of the film still holding strong?

    My answer: Yes, it is. Something the BAFTA does (which, frankly, the Academy should do, but more on that in a moment) is relegate all categories except Best Picture, Best Foreign Language Film and the acting fields to branch-specific voting. That means production designers decided that “Inception” deserved to win Best Production Design at BAFTA, costume designers decided that “Alice in Wonderland” deserved to win Best Costume Design and, indeed, directors decided David Fincher deserved to win Best Director.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Visual Effects

    This year the visual effects branch of the Academy followed the lead of the sound editing category and widened its net to five nominees. It did not, however, follow suit by eliminating the superfluous bake-off process, which whittles the contenders down to seven before deciding on the ultimate slate of nominees.

    This year the two films that missed the cut after making the bake-off were the inventive “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and, famously, the effects beast of the year “TRON Legacy.” The latter was shunned as a result of shoddy de-aging work despite having quality in spades throughout the rest of the film, but regardless, a drama with a single effects scene of note and a sequel with nothing new to offer managed to slide in instead.

    The nominees are:

    “Alice in Wonderland” (Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips)
    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi)
    “Hereafter” (Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell)
    “Inception” (Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb)
    “Iron Man 2” (Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick)

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Music (Original Score)

    Recently the International Film Music Critics Association were the last critics group to offer their (specialized) thoughts on the 2010 film year. The announcement made for an interesting counter to the year in score awardage. And the eventual nominees for Best Original Score reflected, if nothing else, a continued break with tradition.

    The music branch has been slowly initiating new blood as of late, though it hasn’t completely relinquished its trademark consistency. A big step was made in the recognition of one of the year’s more atypical scores, though a big opportunity was lost with Daft Punk’s failure to register what could have been a truly exciting tip of the Academy’s hat.

    The nominees are:

    “How to Train Your Dragon” (John Powell)
    “Inception” (Hans Zimmer)
    “The King’s Speech” (Alexandre Desplat)
    “127 Hours” (A.R. Rahman)
    “The Social Network” (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

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  • 2/16 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Oscars invade Grand Central, details on Oscarcast opening number, Gurus’ final picks

    • Wes Anderson talks editing “Black Swan” with Andrew Weisblum. [Awards Campaign]

    • Oscars invade New York’s Grand Central terminal. [Oscars.org]

    • Mandi Bierly gets a few Oscarcast details on the Franco-Hathaway chemistry and the opening number. [Inside Movies]

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Cinematography

    The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) dished out its annual kudos this weekend, which makes for a nice segue into a discussion of the year’s nominees for Best Cinematography. But it’s important to keep a few things in mind when it comes to guessing what the Academy at large will spring for in this field.

    First and foremost, technical accomplishment doesn’t get you far with a number of people who don’t really understand what kind of a feat, say, “Children of Men” is. Or “Black Hawk Down,” for another example. It’s all about what looks like a post card, because “cinematography” so quickly translates to “prettiest movie” for a great many voters, unfortunately.

    The nominees are:

    “Black Swan” (Matthew Libatique)
    “Inception” (Wally Pfister)
    “The King’s Speech” (Danny Cohen)
    “The Social Network” (Jeff Cronenweth)
    “True Grit” (Roger Deakins)

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  • Pfister takes the ASC award for ‘Inception’

    I’ve been on the road most of the day, but happy news for Wally Pfister, who won the ASC award for “Inception.” I wouldn’t look to the Society for much in the way of prognostication.  They’ve already seized the opportunity to award Roger Deakins, after all — twice.  And had I thought about it, I likely would have predicted Pfister here, given the group’s history.  But I don’t want to take anything away from this win, which is well-deserved when considering the work this guy has been knocking out of the park for a decade now.

    I still say “True Grit” takes the Oscar, with “The King’s Speech” still as the spoiler.

    Which reminds me: Don’t forget.

  • ‘King’s Speech’ nabs seven BAFTA Awards

    I had more interesting things to do at the Berlinale this evening than watch the BAFTAs, so the only commentary I can offer is on the winners list itself. And, well, it doesn’t make for terribly exciting reading. To the surprise of precisely no one, “The King’s Speech” ruled the night with seven trophies, though as I predicted, “The Social Network” barred its way in the Best Director category — with further wins for Adapted Screenplay and Editing bringing its total to three.

    Clearly, Fincher’s Oscar hopes are still alive, though it would be unwise to read too much into this result: as I noted earlier, BAFTA voters split their top two awards more often than not.

    Two of the wins for “The King’s Speech,” however, were widely unexpected. With Geoffrey Rush beating Christian Bale to the Best Supporting Actor award — and Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter both predictably winning their categories — the film becomes only the third in BAFTA history to scoop three of the four acting categories.

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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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  • Desplat leads International Film Music Critics nods

    Alexandre Desplat has enjoyed a brilliant career in U.S. features as of late (on the back of immense talent, naturally).  2010 was a grand year for the composer as he, once again, balanced scoring duties on a number of notable films.

    Today, the final announcement from the critics awards circuit has landed in the form of the International Film Music Critics Association’s picks, seven of the nominations going to Desplat for his work on “The Ghost Writer,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” and, of course, “The King’s Speech.” It’s highly probably he’ll walk away with an Oscar later this month, capping of one heck of a year.

    John Powell netted five nominations for his work on “How to Train Your Dragon,” while Daft Punk and Hans Zimmer each grabbed three for their respective actioners.  Interesting to note, however, is the complete absence of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their innovative work on “The Social Network.” Your guess is as good as mine as to why the group turned the other cheek there.  Ditto A.R. Rahman’s work on “127 Hours,” which is actually a beloved piece of work among musicians.  In any case, have a look at The Circuit for the full list of film nominees.

    [Photo: Last.fm]

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Sound Editing

    A few years back the sound branch did away with the bake-off process of determining its nominees for Best Sound Editing and the field was expanded to five. The visual effects branch followed suit this year and, maybe some day, the makeup branch will do the same.

    The sound branch is unique in that it nominates in two discipline-specific fields. Often there is a considerable cross-over between Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing as a result. The unfortunate thing is that the Academy at large doesn’t understand what quality editorial and mixing is when it comes to these aural areas. Typically they just pick their favorite film and move on to the next category.

    The nominees are:

    “Inception” (Richard King)
    “Toy Story 3” (Tom Myers and Michael Silvers)
    “TRON Legacy” (Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague)
    “True Grit” (Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey)
    “Unstoppable” (Mark P. Stoeckinger)

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  • 2/10 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Gasland’ director fires back, Wahlberg/Russell on Aronofsky, hoping Banksy stays away

    • Mark Wahlberg and David O. Russell on Darren Aronofsky’s departure from “The Fighter.” [Inside Movies]

    • Eric Kohn writes up the Oscar shorts. [indieWIRE]

    • Josh Fox fires back at gas industry accusations about the accuracy of his documentary, “Gasland.” [Facebook]

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  • ‘Inception’ extended look

    Warner Bros. has passed this along this afternoon.  Interviews with Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Caine, etc.  Way too heavy on the “it’s the bomb!” quotes, though,  More content would have been better, but anyway:

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Art Direction

    The art directors settled on a wonderful quintet to represent their form in 2010. Each of these films (okay, I haven’t seen one of them) manages to showcase art direction in organic ways, even when it comes to the contender with the most robust and vibrant design to offer.

    When it comes to the design categories, though, abundance can be an asset. There’s no question about it. The old joke is “Most Art Direction” or “Most Costume Design,” rather than “Best.” And unfortunately, that extends sometimes into the nominations process as nuanced, subtle work is disregarded each and every year. But even with that caveat, this is a handsome slate.

    The nominees are:

    “Alice in Wonderland” (Robert Stromberg; Karen O’Hara)
    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” (Stuart Craig; Stephanie McMillan)
    “Inception” (Guy Hendrix Dyas; Larry Dias, Doug Mowat)
    “The King’s Speech” (Eve Stewart; Judy Farr)
    “True Grit” (Jess Gonchor; Nancy Haigh)

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  • Art Directors’ Guild wins for ‘Swan,’ ‘Speech,’ ‘Inception’

    In a busy night for industry awards, the Art Directors’ Guild also dished out their trophies yesterday. “Inception” claimed its second Guild prize in one night as it triumphed in the Fantasy category — fending off fellow Oscar nominee “Alice in Wonderland,” which would be a surefire winner for “most art direction,” in the process.

    I’m pleased the elaborate-but-ugly stylings of the latter film weren’t rewarded, though I’m struggling to get critic Mike McCahill’s description of “Inception”‘s production design as resembling a “revolving Best Western” out of my head.

    The other two categories were more predictable, as “The King’s Speech” took Period honors, while “Black Swan” triumphed in the Contemporary field — a win that places at least some balm on the wound of last week’s Oscar snub. (Rewatching Darren Aronofsky’s film a few days ago renewed my dismay that the Academy’s bias against modern-day work in this category struck again: I just can’t see how Stuart Craig’s work on the latest “Harry Potter” chapter is more inspired than Thérèse DePrez’s intricately coded melding of stage, domestic and psychological spaces.)

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  • 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.

  • Phase two campaign messages give it their best shot

    I’ve been, unintentionally, taking note of the various tactics this year’s Best Picture hopefuls have been using as phase two barrels ahead and members have ballots in hand.

    The smartest stroke, I think, was The Weinstein Company following up the “Some Movies You See, Others You Feel” campaign with a “Find Your Voice” push for “The King’s Speech.” It’s obviously two-fold.  Yes, it indicates the narrative of the film, but it also works wonderfully in a “don’t let anyone tell you what to vote for” kind of way.

    Meanwhile, Sony is perhaps reaching a bit to find its own campaign voice for “The Social Network,” as “One Movie Connects Us All” is a bit faux-profound.  Show of hands of who’s mother isn’t on Facebook?  But that making-of documentary (which is available online, on demand and came in disc form in the trades this week) was certainly a smart play.

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