As we move out of the Toronto fray, Venice and Telluride already a memory, we look to the season ahead. The starting gun echo of those three early fall festivals is beginning to fade away, and with the dust settled or settling, it’s interesting to note the lack of an inarguable emerging player. In fact, […]
OFF THE CARPET: The great, appreciated unknown
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:47 pm · September 19th, 2011
Filed in: Off the Carpet
9/15 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Flamboyant ‘Drive’ strategy, Oscilloscope nabs ‘Heights,’ eight minutes of ‘Dragon Tattoo’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:45 am · September 15th, 2011
• John Horn talks to FilmDistrict honcho Bob Berney about the flamboyant advertising of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive.” [24 Frames] • Dana Harris chats with “Albert Nobbs” stars Glenn Close and Janet McTeer. [indieWIRE] • Oscilloscope picks up Andrea Arnold’s “Wuthering Heights” in Toronto. [Variety]
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OFF THE CARPET: Strong year for double-dippers
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:58 am · September 12th, 2011
We find ourselves right in the middle of the big Toronto press junket, er, film festival, where 200-plus films are landing, many of them as world premieres, and the landscape of this year’s Oscar race is really beginning to take shape. As I looked out at the various films in play this year, it suddenly […]
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THE LISTS: Top 10 most anticipated films of the 2011-2012 Oscar season
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:11 am · August 30th, 2011
If you haven’t noticed, this week has pretty much launched our 2011-2012 Oscar season coverage in earnest. Since it has been ages since we dusted of our lists feature here at In Contention, it seemed a good way to peek into the season was offering up a personal list of anticipations. I’ve seen a few […]
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WTF with the giant fireball thing??
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:05 am · July 4th, 2011
With “The Social Network” picking up yet another award last week (for Best in Show at the Golden Trailer Awards), Ryan Adams at Awards Daily asked for personal picks for favorite trailers. There are a number that spring to mind for me. I maintain that the first “Pearl Harbor” trailer (link), with the score from […]
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‘Beginners’: Plummer’s late Oscar vehicle?
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:17 pm · June 9th, 2011
We may be almost halfway through the 2011 release schedule, and as usual, there’s been little in the theaters to trouble the Oscar-minded obsessives among us. That’s not to say the last six months have wanted for deserving work — in a perfect world, one where all good films are created equal, “Certified Copy” star […]
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‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ teaser poster (NSFW)
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:36 am · June 2nd, 2011
Early this morning, Sony revealed the (official) trailer for David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” The studio has also unveiled the film’s official website, which debuts the first one-sheet for the film. Check out the full image after the jump.
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‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ green band trailer
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:24 am · June 2nd, 2011
Last week, a curious “leak” of the red band trailer for David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” trailer hit the web. Sony left it up until yesterday, when it was promptly pulled, likely in anticipation of the somewhat cleaned up green band trailer that Apple has released today. It’s pretty much the same […]
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‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ red band trailer
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:13 pm · May 29th, 2011
UPDATE (5/31): Sony has pulled the trailer offline, just in time for the official green band version to drop (which it did, in what looks like a legit leak, but we’ll wait for Apple or whatever to deliver before passing it along). I was going to refrain from posting the recently “leaked” trailer for David […]
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Oscar’s foreign race hasn’t found the fix
Posted by Guy Lodge · 12:51 pm · February 25th, 2011
How do you solve a problem like Best Foreign Language Film? I’m not sure you can, but in the Academy’s case, it’s certainly not for lack of trying. The voting process in this eternally dissatisfying ghetto category is now such a Frankenstein’s monster of stages, rules, committees, sub-committees, longlists, shortlists and more committees that it’s […]
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‘King’s Speech’ nabs seven BAFTA Awards
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:28 pm · February 13th, 2011
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 […]
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‘King’s Speech’ leads BAFTA list with 14 nods
Posted by Guy Lodge · 11:53 pm · January 17th, 2011
If you’ve been with us for a couple of years, you’ll know that the BAFTA nominations infuriate me on an annual basis. However, my therapist recently advised me that I need to heal my relationship with BAFTA through forgiveness, so I’ll lead with few the things that pleased me about this morning’s announcement. For one […]
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1/10 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Bridges didn’t give a bleep, Reznor on ‘Tattoo,’ Is Portman overexposed?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:03 am · January 10th, 2011
• Joel Coen says Jeff Bridges didn’t give a BLEEP about living up to John Wayne’s legacy in “True Grit.” [The Race] • Trent Reznor discusses his next scoring gig: David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” [The Playlist] • Gregg Kilday writes up the Best Picture race as he sees it. [Hollywood Reporter]
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BAFTA announce foreign-language nomineezzzzz
Posted by Guy Lodge · 7:22 am · January 7th, 2011
Along with my annual bewilderment as to the reasoning for BAFTA’s longlist announcement, I’ve never really got why they announce their Best Foreign Language Film nominations separately, 11 days ahead of the other categories. To me, it seems merely an additional way to marginalize an already marginalized category, but what else is new? The official […]
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‘Black Swan’ leads BFCA field with a record 12 nominations
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:56 am · December 13th, 2010
The most striking thing about this year’s slate of BFCA nominations is that, to go by the films listed in the various categories, apparently there were only 30 or so movies released this year. And most categories were dominated by the same five films, which is disappointing, if a bit predictable. When the organization added […]
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12/6 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Truth behind ‘Speech,’ Mara on ‘Tattoo’ remake and a new breed of film director
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:07 am · December 6th, 2010
• The real story behind ‘The King’s Speech.’ [Speakeasy] • John Lopex has exclusive video on the making of “Black Swan”‘s production of “Swan Lake.” [Little Gold Men] • How “The Long Walk” became “The Way Back.” [BBC]
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11/29 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Animated short qualifiers, chatting up Sakamoto, forecasting good things for ‘Lincoln’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:14 am · November 29th, 2010
• Todd Gilchrist talks to the Oscar-winning composer of “The Last Emperor,” Ryûichi Sakamoto. [Cinematical] • John Lopez, like everyone else, I imagine, is already forecasting a major Oscar presence for Steve Spielberg’s Abraham Lincoln film. [Little Gold Men] • Exclusively revealing the 33 animated shorts qualifying for this year’s Oscar race. [Cartoon Brew]
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10/27 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Sticking up for Swinton, AMPAS joins Twitter, 15 years of Fox Searchlight
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:11 am · October 27th, 2010
• Jeffrey Wells does his part to re-inject Tilda Swinton’s performance in “I Am Love” back into the Oscar conversation. [Hollywood Elsewhere] • The Academy is ready for its close-up — on Twitter! [Twitter] • Celebrating 15 years of Fox Searchlight Pictures. [/Film]
Filed in: Daily