In Contention

Tag: Miracle at St. Anna

  • Early predix: Nat Rogers pipes in

    So the ever-worthwhile Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience has joined in the predictions game – check out his thoughts here. Like many others, his list has “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” ruling the roost with eight nominations, with “Defiance,” “Doubt,” “Milk” and “Miracle at St Anna” rounding out the Best Picture list.

    The latter is a particularly interesting choice – one wonders whether the controversy-shy Academy voters will be put off by Spike Lee’s increasingly ridiculous quarrel with Clint Eastwood. Of course, January is a long way off, and if “Miracle at St Anna” turns out to be great, chances are this whole debacle will be forgotten by then. I fear it will not – but with “Changeling” not making his Best Picture list, Nat clearly sees Spike having the last laugh here.

    Elsewhere in Nat’s list, most of the usual suspects are present. I’m particularly pleased to see that he shares my faith in a Best Actress nomination for Sally Hawkins (“Happy-Go-Lucky”) – I’m going to be banging this drum all year, so get used to it. Nat, meanwhile, is evidently beginning the campaigning early for Michelle Pfeiffer in “Cheri,” going so far as to call her a “legendary actress.” I admit there won’t be any complaining from me if she finally cops a statuette.

    (more…)

  • Spike vs Clint: Round Three

    Oh dear, this really is getting ugly. As we all knew he would, Spike Lee has responded to Clint Eastwood’s instructions that he “shut his face” about the issue of the supposed sidelining of African-Americans in “Flags of Our Fathers.” And, in an interview with ABC News’ Sheila Marikar, it seems Lee hasn’t picked his words any more tactfully than Eastwood:

    First of all, the man is not my father and we’re not on a plantation either. He’s a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn’t personally attack him. And a comment like ‘a guy like that should shut his face’ — come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there.

    If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I’d like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist. I’m not making this up. I know history. I’m a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II. Not everything was John Wayne, baby.

    Now I’m actually more sympathetic to Lee’s views than some, and I think Eastwood could have phrased his remarks more delicately. But the plantation line takes the argument to a place it really doesn’t need to go, and frankly makes me cringe. These are two of the best, most thoughtful filmmakers in the business, and this is the level of discussion they come up with?

    Lee closes the interview with a peace offering that strikes me a somewhat half-hearted, not least because he can’t resist inserting a political barb there too:

    Even though he’s trying to have a Dirty Harry flashback, I’m going to take the Obama high road and end it right here. Peace and love.

    Not cool. I hope Eastwood has enough smarts to let this go. I suspect he won’t. For my part, I hope “Miracle at St Anna” is a terrific enough film to overshadow this squabble.

  • Heavy

    Asked twice by The Times to respond to Lee’s criticism, Eastwood stared out into the audience as the compere refused to accept a question that did not relate to L’Échange.

    LINK