In Contention

Tag: Sandra Bullock

  • An evening at the CCMAs

    Kathryn Bigelow at the 15th annual Critics' Choice Movie AwardsAlright, now that the booze and the hangover have worn off, let’s talk last night’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

    It was a decently produced evening, the venue having shifted from the Santa Monica Civic Center to the Hollywood Palladium, right in the middle of Tinseltown.  The scheme of having 10 tables rounding the stage representing the 10 films nominated for Best Picture was a nice touch.  I was fortunate enough to be at the “Up in the Air” table with Jason Reitman, Vera Farmiga (who I was meeting for the first time) and Anna Kendrick.

    George Clooney was a no-show (working on his upcoming Haiti telethon), though at least that didn’t make for an awkward moment later when Jeff Bridges won the lead actor prize, the first on his way to an eventual Oscar win.

    Anyway, a few notes (since Guy has already given you a thorough rundown of last night’s implications)…

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  • ‘Hurt Locker’ takes top honors at Critics’ Choice Awards

    Best Actress winners Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock at the Critics' Choice AwardsThe BFCA are rarely ones to take an individual stand on the awards trail, and such was the case last night, as they mostly stuck with Oscar frontrunners down the line. In the numbers stakes,  “Avatar” (with six awards) and “Inglourious Basterds” (with three) came out on top.

    But it was “The Hurt Locker” that emerged as the night’s real winner, maintaining its tight season-long grip on the Best Picture and Best Director prizes, even with this more mainstream-oriented group. (It should be stressed that, despite the name, this is not a critics’ award.)

    Is this another “Sideways” — which also managed to parlay critical momentum into a top win here — or is something bigger afoot for the film? I’m starting to suspect the latter.

    Kris can obviously offer more first-hand perspective at a later stage. Still, the sense I get from this is that, for all the claims of it being a level three-horse race, “Up in the Air” is actually trailing “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” — if any major precursor was going to swing the way of Jason Reitman’s film, I’d have expected it to be the sometimes safe-playing BFCA.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Hollywood fights back

    Sharlto Copley in District 9I may be looking out at my snow-caked garden as I write this, but it was in the spirit of spring-cleaning that I revised my nomination predictions this morning, ridding myself of most of the clinging personal hopes and hunches that lingered when I last updated them a month ago.

    It wasn’t the most drastic of revisions (rather to my surprise, I found I’d already predicted a robust haul for “District 9” before the Guilds made it such a strong bet), but it was my most detached one to date, anticipating a race that looks set to be rather passionless on my part.

    Rarely have so many of the leading players in the Best Picture race left me so cold – as “Avatar,” “Invictus,” “Precious,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Up in the Air,” “Star Trek” and even “Up” all failed to arouse any particularly warm feelings in me, I began to wonder if I should just retreat to bed until March 8.

    (Unfortunately, for those of you wishing I’d do just that, a healthy precursor run for “The Hurt Locker,” one contender I love without reservation, is keeping me invested.)

    Still, my individual response to the films in question isn’t the only reason I’m feeling a little distanced from this year’s competition. As it currently stands, Hollywood looks set to enjoy its most homegrown Oscar race in some time.

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  • Blind sided by a charming pair

    (from left) Sandra Bullock and Quenton Aaron in The Blind SideI haven’t been much for “The Blind Side” this year.  I gave it a look pre-release and thought it was somewhat flat, expected it to be a modest hit (but was it much more than that) and maybe stir awards talk for Sandra Bullock but beyond that, I didn’t think it would move the needle much.  Then the film took a life of its own, eventually crossing the $200 million domestic mark, yielding story after story focused on Bullock’s amazing year (the film is the first female-driven film to hit that box office milestone).

    So I thought at best last night’s little event for the film at Il Cielo in Beverly Hills would be a nice opportunity for some free drinks and a brief chat with a likely on-her-press-game Bullock and little else.  But boy was I wrong.  After speaking with both Bullock and star Quenton Aaron for quite a while, I think they’ve made for one of my favorite experiences of the season.

    Aaron, for starters, is absolutely charming, humble, nice as he could be and just a delight to talk to.  I’m not used to looking up at people, but at 6′ 8″, I’m sure Aaron is the same way.  Before getting the role he was working as a security guard at Rockefeller Center in New York.  The first person he told about the news, in fact, was Tina Fey, who was walking by in the hallway when he let loose a scream of joy while on his cell phone.  “What is it?,” she said, startled herself.  “I just got this part,” Aaron told her.

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  • Bullock to present Betty White with SAG honor

    Betty White at the Los Angeles premiere of The ProposalOkay, who is Betty White’s publicist and has he or she slept at all this season?

    Seriously, first there were some scattered web ads pushing White’s performance in “The Proposal” for Best Supporting Actress, then there was this massive spread in the trades gunning for the same.  (That ad was lovingly chided by the cut-ups at Vulture this week.)

    It was announced back in September that White would receive the Screen Actors Guild’s lifetime achievement award, but now comes (perhaps totally anticipated) word that Sandra Bullock, “it” girl of the year, will be presenting White with said honor.

    By the way, in case you missed it when Chad brought it up Sunday, Bullock made history this weekend when “The Blind Side” became the first female-driven vehicle to cross the $200 million mark.

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  • Know your limits, get an Oscar

    Sandra Bullock in The Blind SideVulture’s Bilge Ebiri has written a nice piece on the circumstances that have led to Sandra Bullock becoming the year’s unlikeliest Oscar contender, citing Bullock’s 2009 achievements as a “primer” for comic actors seeking serious Oscar consideration. And the key, it seems, is not taking the word “serious” too much to heart.

    Last month, I wondered why Bullock was gathering Oscar traction this year for a relatively unprestigious film, when a credible dramatic turn in 2005’s Best Picture winner garnered her no awards attention whatsoever.

    But while against-type casting can often reap Oscar benefits, Ebiri argues that actors like Bullock fare better when they don’t veer too far from their established screen persona. Her “Blind Side” character, he claims, does just the right level of tweaking:

    Leigh Anne Tuohy may be a real person, but she’s not the kind of historical or ripped-from-the-headlines figure that usually attracts awards … After misfires like In Love and War, Bullock learned that maybe she wasn’t cut out to play these kinds of parts. So, in The Blind Side, she takes a character who displays some of the all-American spunk and energy of her own onscreen persona and gives it a more serious twist. She doesn’t try to “lose herself” in the part; moviegoers can recognize the Sandra Bullock they know and love in Leigh Anne.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Happy Blue Year

    Avatar*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Okay. What kind of fairy dust is James Cameron sprinkling in his films? Subliminal messages perhaps? There’s no other explanation. “Avatar” is the number one movie again this weekend, raking in $68.3 million, off 10% from last week. It becomes the first film to spend three straight weeks at the top since “Tropic Thunder” and that weekend tally is the all time record for a third weekend by a mile. “Spider-Man” previously held the title with $55.7 million.

    “Avatar” now has a running total of $352.1 million and will almost certainly pass $500 million before it exits theaters. Whether or not it can reach the $533.3 million of “The Dark Knight” is not certain, but with January’s releases looking particularly dismal, who knows? It is certain that Cameron’s film will become the second-highest grossing film of all time worldwide behind “Titanic,” and that is just ridiculous.

    The movie is already #94 all time domestically, and #16 of the decade. It’s the highest grossing non-sequel since “The Passion of the Christ” and should eventually be the highest grossing original property since “Titanic.” Box office figures of that nature are pure flukes and for a director to do it twice with completely different properties is jaw-dropping. James Cameron is, without a doubt, the king of the world.

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  • 12/28 Oscarweb Round-up

    Michael Jackson in Michael Jackson's This Is It• Pete Hammond can’t let go of this notion that “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” is a Best Picture contender.  A bunch of number 10 slots aren’t going to cut it, Pete.  [Notes on a Season]

    • Adam B. Vary notes the curious absence of Gene Hackman from the silver screen since the 2004 bomb “Welcome to Mooseport.” [Pop Watch]

    • Criminally underrated composer Clint Mansell spills a little on his plans for Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” [Little White Lies]

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  • ‘Air,’ ‘Basterds,’ ‘Precious’ lead the way with SAG

    Diane Kruger in Inglourious BasterdsThere wasn’t much in the way of a surprise with this year’s Screen Actors Guild announcement.  The nods that are least likely to translate to Oscar, if I were a betting man, are Diane Kruger’s supporting actress bid for “Inglourious Basterds” and (I guess I just have a feeling) Matt Damon, supporting for “Invictus.” The rest seem like safe bets on down the line.

    I wouldn’t read too much into the ensemble snub of “Up in the Air,” though it’s curious to nominate three actors from the film and then ignore it in that field.  The ensemble category is also where “Nine” got its expected attention, though Penelope Cruz also showed up in supporting for the film.  The BFCA, you’ll recall, went for Marion Cotillard instead.

    “Precious,” “Inglourious Basterds” and “Up in the Air” had the most nominations, with three apiece.  I would have expected “An Education” to have that designation, too, but somehow Alfred Molina was ignored.  Maybe that won’t be the case with Oscar, maybe it will.

    On to the next thing.  Check the full list of nominees after the jump.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: The next best thing

    Diane Kruger in Inglourious BasterdsAs the season hits its stride, and precursors turn murky perceptions of pack leaders and stragglers into harder realities, I find myself wondering how I would fill out my ballot if I were an Academy member.

    That’s not the same as wondering what I would fill my ballot with – as Kris just did today. Unlike many voters in the Academy and precursor ranks alike, who seemingly run out of ideas two slots in (“Hmm, did I see ten movies this year?”) and then reach for the names they’ve heard everyone else mention, I have no shortage of worthy suggestions for inclusion, whether people are talking about them or not.

    No, I’m referring to the how, the method, the strategy. Is it as simple as jotting down the films and individual achievements one admired most over the past 12 months? In a perfect world, yes. But do considerations of which of one’s favorites – and, indeed, least favorites – pose a threat in the race necessitate some compromise?

    Were I an Academy voter, in other words, would I give “35 Shots of Rum” one of my Best Picture slots, knowing full well it doesn’t having a snowball’s chance of a nomination? Or would I be a little craftier, and give the slot to “The Messenger” – a fine film that I love less, but that has slightly more hope of knocking something truly undeserving from the Oscar lineup?

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  • “When it hits the muggles, it can at last be taken seriously.”

    Tip of the hat to Sasha Stone for spotting the new cover of Entertainment Weekly, which I’d say helps shove Sandra Bullock a little bit closer to that revolving-door fifth Best Actress slot:

    Sandra Bullock on the cover of Entertainment Weekly

  • Why now?

    Sandra Bullock in CrashThe progression of “The Blind Side” from sleeper success to bona fide box-office phenomenon has cemented Sandra Bullock’s place in the Best Actress discussion. I don’t know if she’ll actually get a nomination — at this early stage, I’m guessing not — but in a tight race for the fifth spot, she’s currently one of the feistiest outside contenders.

    Having not seen “The Blind Side” yet, I can’t say whether I’m okay with this or not. (She’ll have to be very good to justifiably deprive Abbie Cornish of a nod, that much I know.) But as more pundits speculate that Bullock might be in line for one of those “paid her dues” nominations the Academy sometimes hands popular entertainers for attempting more gravitas than usual, I find myself wondering: why now?

    Where was this groundswell of support for Bullock four years ago, when she gave a strong, against-type performance in a film the Academy plainly loved?

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: NBR winners, Spirit nods and Jeff Bridges

    Jeff Bridges• The National Board of Review offered the season’s first major precursors, with “Up in the Air” sitting pretty.

    • The Independent Spirit Award nominations were topped by “Precious” and, more surprisingly, “The Last Station.”

    • Indie award rivals the Gotham Awards, meanwhile, crowned “The Hurt Locker” as the year’s best.

    • Fresh off his Spirit nomination, we served up an extended interview with the great Jeff Bridges.

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  • Sandra Bullock to be honored at Santa Barbara fest

    Sandra Bullock in The Blind SideI’m told Santa Barbara Film Festival director Roger Durling “flipped’ for Sandra Bullock’s performance in “The Blind Side.” So with that in mind, here’s the press release, in part:

    It was announced today by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling that Sandra Bullock will receive the American Riviera Award Presented By Chopin on Friday, February 5, at the 25th edition of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which runs February 4-14, 2010.

    The American Riviera Award, sponsored by Chopin Vodka, was established to recognize an actor who has had a strong influence on American Cinema. Bullock will join an illustrious group of past recipients: Mickey Rourke (09), Tommy Lee Jones (08), Forrest Whitaker (07), Philip Seymour Hoffman (06), Kevin Bacon (05) and Diane Lane (04).

    “Bullock’s career-capping performance in The Blind Side encompasses everything we have loved about her since the early 90’s, from the deft physical comedy in While You Were Sleeping to the mettle of her role in the Academy Award-winning Crash,” commented Durling. “What a most perfect time to salute this enduring movie star’s lengthy career.”

  • THE LONG SHOT: Popular mechanics

    Chris Pine in Star Trek“My God, they’ve thrown in everything but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

    Quoted by writer Anthony Holden in his gossipy history “The Oscars,” this was one publicist’s dismayed response to the 1990 Academy Award nominations, which included such unusual concessions to popular (as opposed to critical) opinion as a Best Picture nomination for “Ghost” and a Best Actress nod for Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.”

    I remember this year well – I was eight years old, and it was the first Oscar race I followed in detail from burbling Christmas hype to the ceremony itself, digging up and scrapbooking all the press and TV coverage I could find.

    And from what I recall of my fledgling research, the unnamed publicist above wasn’t alone in her discontent. In particular, the “Ghost” nomination attracted levels of critical scorn even higher than those usually reserved for the Oscars – the common line being that the Academy had sold out to commerce rather than art, and that the sky would be falling at any given moment.

    Does this situation sound at all familiar?

    It should do. Though it was a response to an outcome rather than a possibility, the kvetching over the 1990 nods more than slightly resembles the panic that set in among certain pundits and fans alike (including, admittedly, yours truly) when the switch to 10 Best Picture nominees was announced in June.

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  • 11/24 Oscarweb Round-up

    Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side• Pete Hammond, with box office ammunition in hand, keeps banging the gong for Sandra Bullock in a bad movie.  And it just might happen. [Notes on a Season]

    • Speaking of “The Blind Side,” Patrick Goldstein dedicates a great many words to the film’s director, John Lee Hancock. [The Big Picture]

    • “Nine,” the film that seduced Hollywood’s stars. [Daily Telegraph]

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  • 11/5 Oscarweb Round-up

    A Christmas Carol• Anthony Breznican on the opening of “A Christmas Carol” and the early holiday grab. [USA Today]

    • Dissecting “Amelia”‘s troubled road to the screen. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Hugh Jackman gives newly tapped Oscar hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin his blessing. [Vulture]

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  • Not like it was

    I watched this again last night after picking up the two-disc version at Target for a mere five bucks.  It’s been close to a decade since I last popped it in the player, and that was probably a VHS it was so far back.

    Can I just say it’s a damn-near flawless actioner and part of a mid-90s stable that I continue to look back on with fondness and nostalgia.  Into the action immediately, never lets up for 115 minutes and as a result, feels like a two-and-a-half-hour urban epic.

    And I’ve always loved that Ebert handed it four stars back in ’94.  Very cool.