Features
Headlines
Search
Archives
There has been a lot of talk this week about Andy Serkis’ stirring performance-capture portrayal of ape rebellion leader Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” In many quarters, writers are calling for consideration in the Best Supporting Actor category. It’s a song and dance Serkis and those of us who follow the [...]
Forget Best Supporting Actor — it’s time to honor Andy Serkis’ “Special Achievement”
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:14 am · August 4th, 2011
Filed in: Daily
THE LONG SHOT: It was always you
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:52 pm · February 3rd, 2011
“Let me get this straight. The one’s about a precocious computer geek who’s also a bit of an asshole.” “Yeah.” “And the other’s about King George VI.” “Yeah.” “And King George VI has a disability.” “Well, he has a stutter. I mean, it’s not crippling or anything — ” “But it’s an obstacle that needs [...]
Filed in: The Long Shot
THE LISTS: Top 10 below-the-line elements of Fincher films
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:05 pm · October 5th, 2010
With “The Social Network” hitting theaters this weekend, audiences are reminded once again of director David Fincher’s skill and vision as a craftsman. The eight films he has assembled throughout an 18-year career in feature filmmaking have been dazzling showcases for below-the-line talent. As you know, we make an effort to keep the spotlight on [...]
Filed in: The Lists
Hope for Saldana
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:25 pm · January 4th, 2010
The closes to a breakthrough with motion capture, and/or animation being added to an actor’s performance would be Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Most of the acting Pitt did was as the half-animated Button – barely recognizable and a performance that simply couldn’t have been gotten without aided technology. That shows [...]
Filed in: Daily
Alexandre Desplat: Hollywood’s most prolific composer
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:09 am · November 17th, 2009
A quick glance at Alexandre Desplat’s 2009 resume reveals a whopping seven titles. That’s pretty prolific for someone who offers up quality work each and every time out, rather than coasting on simplicity like a few other hard-working film music composers out there. This weekend alone there are two films bearing Desplat’s musical signature — [...]
Filed in: Daily
Desplat wins Composer of the Year award
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:02 pm · October 19th, 2009
You’d be hard pressed to disagree that Alexandre Desplat is pretty much at the top of the game in contemporary film scoring. In addition to his genius (“Birth” looks likely to remain my favorite score of the decade), his prolificity is awe-inspiring. This year alone sees the Frenchman’s name on seven features, running the gamut [...]
Filed in: Daily
TECH SUPPORT: Kicking the tires on a new season
Posted by Gerard Kennedy · 11:52 am · July 11th, 2009
Today marks the beginning of a fourth year of Tech Support here at In Contention. Over the past four years, we’ve sought to bring the otherwise under-reported crafts categories and crafts artists the attention they seldom receive, despite their enormous contributions to the art of cinema. This year, we plan on looking at nine of [...]
Filed in: Tech Support
‘Button’ sparkles on Criterion Blu
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:03 pm · May 4th, 2009
The Criterion release of David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is a superlative piece of home entertainment to say the least, especially on Blu-ray. Claudio Miranda’s photography was absolutely gorgeous as it was in cinemas, but being largely digital, the transition to high definition is seamless and probably belongs in the top tier [...]
Filed in: Daily
Vote on the next Criterion Blu-ray release
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:23 am · May 4th, 2009
I’ve gone head-first into the tank for Blu-ray ever since I broke down and bought a player last year. And despite a high retail tag in most quarters, Amazon.com remains the number one spot for finding the best deals. Criterion has slowly been putting together a rather varied slate of titles on Blu, from Wes [...]
Filed in: Daily
Too much, too soon?
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:28 am · March 21st, 2009
I’m not as outraged as some are by the news that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is to be granted a Criterion Collection DVD release in May — as has been pointed out, if not one but two Michael Bay films have made the cut in the past, the label’s aesthetic standards are a [...]
Filed in: Daily
TECH SUPPORT: Postmortem
Posted by Gerard Kennedy · 11:03 am · February 27th, 2009
What can I say? It was a big night for “Slumdog Millionaire” at the 81st Annual Academy Awards on Sunday. While I do like the film a great deal, I found its dominance this awards season unnecessarily monotonous. For instance, I preferred Thomas Newman’s work in both music categories this year, but I was nonetheless [...]
Filed in: Tech Support
Andy Trudeau reviews the Oscar nominated scores for NPR
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:54 am · February 22nd, 2009
One of my favorite pre-Oscar specials is music critic Andy Trudeau’s analysis of the Oscar nominated original scores on NPR’s weekend edition. He used to stretch the piece over two weekends and discuss the pieces with the show’s host, but this year he both waited until the last minute and did the piece as a [...]
Filed in: Daily
Two more industry awards: MPSE and VES
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:17 am · February 22nd, 2009
We should link to these for closure, so “The Dark Knight,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “WALL-E” won big at the Motion Picture Sound Editors awards, while “Button” took four trophies from the Visual Effects Society. “The Dark Knight” and “WALL-E” also won a few each. Thanks to Awards Daily on [...]
Filed in: Daily
You were right, I was wrong: Guy’s final predictions
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:24 pm · February 21st, 2009
(Expanded thoughts and reasonings on yesterday’s list of predictions.) It’s years like 2008 when I throw my hands up and admit (albeit with great reluctance) that my family and friends have been right for the last two decades. Carla, Tom, Kim, Auntie Mavis: I give up. I am insane to care as much as I [...]
Filed in: Daily
Want to win cinematography? An art direction nod helps.
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:36 am · February 21st, 2009
I’m surprised I completely forgot about this little, some might say meaningless statistic, but with all the predictions for “Slumdog Millionaire” taking the cinematography win at tomorrow night’s Oscar ceremony, the Oscarweb seems to be in the same boat. You have to go back to 1999 and “American Beauty” to find a film that won [...]
Filed in: Daily
Contributors’ picks
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:32 pm · February 20th, 2009
Well, this is it. The big show is Sunday night and we’re pretty much out of things to discuss at this stage, no? But I’ve gone ahead and wrangled up all of our contributors’ predictions in each category. Trust who you must, but really, pray for a surprise. Right? In the realm of “ballsy” calls, [...]
Filed in: Daily
OFF THE CARPET: Taking a final stab
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:05 am · February 20th, 2009
Well, this is what it all boils down to. I almost DON’T want to go on the record, but I kind of have to, right? Anyway, this is the first year I’ve actually seen every single nominated frame of film before the big night so these will either be the most educated guesses I’ve ever [...]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
Who deserves it? Poll results!
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:09 am · February 20th, 2009
The readership of In Contention has spoken. Here’s who you all think deserves to win across the 24 Oscar categories we polled you on. A couple of these races were very close but we didn’t have time to revisit the couple of categories that were decided by less than 10 votes. Anyway, it’ll be interesting [...]
Filed in: Daily
