In Contention

Tag: The Hurt Locker

  • Nut up or shut up: final predictions

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt LockerAs I look over my final predictions for tomorrow night’s Oscar ceremony, I notice that I’ve made only one change — in the Best Live Action Short category — since taking my initial stab the day of the nominations.  And I haven’t made a single change since I started the Oscar Guide series.

    Am I that confidant in my picks?  Not really.  It’s a very unpredictable year all of a sudden (the AP chimes in on that here), even if conventional wisdom would have us believe much of this is a foregone conclusion.  But nothing has really moved the needle during the bulk of phase two and the one controversy that popped up may not be as detrimental as some suspect.  Regardless, I’m frankly bracing myself for having an off year.

    And it kinda sucks because I set a pretty high bar for myself last year, a personal best, as I nailed down a web-leading 21 of the 24 categories (23 of 24 if you count alternates).  That included a call for “Departures” that left me exposed to plenty of “You’re just trying to be different” heckling.  Ahem.

    If I even approach those numbers this time around, I’ll certainly be surprised.  I frankly don’t expect to hit 21 ever again, but who knows?  Many areas of this race are coming right down to the wire.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Picture

    Quenton Aaron in The Blind SideAnd here we are. With one day until the Oscar ceremony, we wrap up our Oscar Guide series with a look at the 10 nominations for Best Picture. Yes, 10. The Academy decided to pump up the intrigue by expanding its Best Picture field this year in an attempt at securing some love for more populist films with a wider audience, and it seems to have worked.

    But let’s face it. The most brilliant irony of the season would be, if after all of its attempts, the field expansion, spiffying up the telecast, etc., the Academy is one-upped by a film that virtually no one saw winning Best Picture. It could happen, but the highest grossing film of all time could also win. No shortage of drama here.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (James Cameron and Jon Landau)
    “The Blind Side” (Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson)
    “District 9    ” (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham)
    “An Education” (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Lawrence Bender)
    “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lee Daniels, Sarah Sidel-Magness and Gary Magness)
    “A Serious Man” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
    “Up” (Jonas Rivera)
    “Up in the Air” (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman)

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

    Woody Harrelson in The MessengerBest Original Screenplay: 2009’s most difficult category to predict. Why? Certainly not because of each contender’s merits (when does that ever come into play with the Academy). No, this field is a hair-puller because you have a vibrant, likable personality up against the Best Picture frontrunner, always a recipe for a close race (and, sometimes, a recipe for upset).

    This year’s nominees contain four Best Picture nominees and one surprise (which thankfully ousted the most overrated indie charmer of the year). Atypically, there are as many Best Picture nominees represented here than in the adapted field, which can’t be a bad thing.

    The nominees are:

    “The Hurt Locker” (Mark Boal)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Quentin Tarantino)
    “The Messenger” (Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman)
    “A Serious Man” (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)
    “Up” (Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter; Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy)

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  • 3/5 Oscarweb Round-up

    Ralph Fiennes in The Hurt Locker• Patrick Goldstein defends his paper’s perceived hit campaign against “The Hurt Locker,” calls quoted second-hand information that wasn’t properly vetted “the most in-depth piece written about the film’s complex mixture of questionable dramatic license and vivid authenticity.”  Ahem, indeed. [The Big Picture]

    • Cathy Yan on Scott Cooper, Neill Blomkamp, Cary Fukunaga, etc. — the Oscar season’s rookies of the year. [Wall Street Journal]

    • How to make an Oscar-winning sci-fi film. [io9]

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  • Over 600 ballots were turned in on the final day of voting

    Nicolas ChartierEarlier in the week, Steve Pond published a story at The Odds that was unfortunately misread by a number of outlets, and an inaccurate stat subsequently spread like wildfire (such as in this Hot Blog post from David Poland).

    “Years ago, one P.R. firm working Oscar campaigns stationed an observer in that lobby to find out just how many voters cast last-minute ballots,” Pond wrote.  “According to what the head of that firm told me, about 500 ballots (almost 10 percent of the vote) were hand-delivered, messengered or FedExed in over the course of the day.”

    Obviously he was talking about a different season.  But it’s all moot, because as it turns out, the tally of this year’s final day of balloting might be much, much (MUCH) larger, if Pete Hammond’s recent Notes on a Season post is to be believed.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Cinematography

    Michael Gambon in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceWelcome to the first of two (and the only two) categories that have me pulling my hair out. The cinematography race is a strange breed this year. There isn’t the usual one or two “pretty” films that turn the Academy on at large, nothing with sweeping vistas and postcard composition, all the stuff that allows voters to stop being analytical and vote for mere aesthetic.

    Meanwhile, the precursor circuit has done little to clear things up. The critical favorite is over-rewarded and probably under-seen. Conventional wisdom favors a gritty film that isn’t the membership’s bag in this field, while the tech giant might be too much too soon. Meanwhile, the “prettiest” film is probably the least likely to win.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (Mauro Fiore)
    “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Bruno Delbonnel)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Barry Ackroyd)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Robert Richardson)
    “The White Ribbon” (Christian Berger)

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  • 3/4 Oscarweb Round-up

    James Cameron• Elvis Mitchell bemoans the fact that the 10 didn’t leave room for a comedy. [CNN]

    • John Horn reminds that the “Oscar boost” isn’t all that prevalent for the films that need it the most: documentaries and foreign language films. [Los Angeles Times]

    • James Cameron says he’d have been just fine with the aborted “Avatar” spoof.  It still wouldn’t have made the bit any funnier. [E! Online]

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Happy Oscar (War Is Over)

    Jeremy Renner and Evangeline Lilly in The Hurt LockerSo this is Oscar. And what have you done?

    Speaking for myself, lately, not a hell of a lot. In the three weeks that this column has been on hiatus – apologies to the handful of you who missed it – it’s remarkable how little the O-word has been on my mind.

    Yes, I’ve been busy: a trip to the Berlinale here, a stretch of scriptwriting there, the occasional interference of an actual personal life in between. But even if I hadn’t been, and even if the estimable Nathaniel Rogers hadn’t borrowed most of my remaining awards-talk energy for his Oscar Symposium, I doubt I would have found much that was fresh or consequential to fill this space.

    I’m not alone. In an awkwardly scheduled season that saw the most crucial precursors announced before Oscar nomination day, and nary a shift in the frontrunners since, Phase Two of the season has amounted to little more than a month of journalistic thumb-twiddling, while most of the nominees wearily float above it all. Remember when the Oscars took place in late March, or even April? Today’s surfeit of Oscar bloggers would have died in wait.

    It’s almost enough to make you admire the brazen transparency with which the L.A. Times attempted to drum up drama in the latter stages of voting, rather like a cranky toddler, bored of behaving himself at the supermarket, throwing a tantrum in the checkout line.

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  • Mark Boal’s ‘The Man in the Bomb Suit’

    The Man in the Bomb Suit by Mark BoalIn this morning’s round-up we mentioned the forthcoming lawsuit against Mark Boal and “The Hurt Locker” that claims the film’s central character, Staff Sergeant William James, is in fact the embodiment of a real soldier named Jeffrey Sarver.  Boal followed Sarver and his team around in the summer of 2004 to observe this new facet of modern warfare, and the result was a Playboy piece titled “The Man in the Bomb Suit,” which ran in the September 2005 issue.

    The takedown of this film is quite hilarious.  First it’s not an accurate depiction of what happened in those trenches.  Now it’s so close to reality that a craven soldier wants his cut.  Only in an Oscar season.

    Anyway, I never actually read Boal’s piece, so I thought I’d do some digging in the Playboy archives to turn it up.  The publication actually republished it online recently (smart move) and as I dug in this morning, I was transported.  As a guy who fancied a career as a magazine journalist once upon a time, I relished in the world Boal painted.  He’s a solid journalist who knows how to put you right smack dab in the middle of the environment he’s describing.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Directing

    (from left) Lee Daniels and Gabourey Sidibe on the set of PreciousThis year’s Best Director category has stirred a media frenzy for featuring, along with Best Picture, a face-to-face duel frequently dubbed “the battle of the exes.” Unfortunately the desire to tout that headline has clouded the discussion of the films, their merits and the actual accomplishments of those at the helm. But who cares about that stuff?

    Seriously, though, this could be a milestone occasion for two of the filmmakers in question, a return to glory for two other former awards season players and is already  the second notch on an exciting young filmmaker’s belt as he continues to make his mark on the industry. Not a bad cross-section.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (James Cameron)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Kathryn Bigelow)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Quentin Tarantino)
    “Precious” (Lee Daniels)
    “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman)

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  • 3/3 Oscarweb Round-up

    (from left) Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock at the 15th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards• Claude Brodesser-Akner reports that a Sacha Baron Cohen Oscarcast sketch has been nixed to spare James Cameron’s feelings.  It was a dumb idea anyway. [Vulture]

    • Steven Zeitchik on what I’ve been saying until I’m blue in the face: Meryl Streep’s silence has done her no favors during phase two, while Team Bullock continues to steamroll. [The Envelope]

    • Steve Pond tells us what happens to the ballots now that the deadline has come and gone. [The Odds]

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  • ‘Hurt Locker’ producer locked out of the Kodak

    (from left) Niolas Chartier and Kathryn Bigelow at the 2009 Gotham AwardsI’ll just let the press release speak for itself, in part:

    Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that, should “The Hurt Locker” be announced as the recipient of the Best Picture award at Sunday’s ceremonies, only three of the picture’s producers will be present for the celebration. The fourth of the film’s credited producers, Nicolas Chartier, has been denied attendance at the 82nd Academy Awards® as a penalty for violating Academy campaigning standards.

    Chartier had recently disseminated an email to certain Academy voters and other film industry figures in which he solicited votes for his own picture and disparaged one of the other contending films. Academy rules prohibit “casting a negative or derogatory light on a competing film.” The executive committee of the Academy’s Producers Branch, at a special session late Monday, ruled that the ethical lapse merited the revocation of Chartier’s invitation to the Awards.

    The group stopped short of recommending that the Academy governors rescind Chartier’s nomination. If “The Hurt Locker” were to be selected as Best Picture, Chartier would receive his Oscar® statuette at some point subsequent to the March 7 ceremonies.

  • Going to war with Oscar

    Willem Dafoe in PlatoonOver at The Big Picture, Patrick Goldstein spent some time revisiting the three “bona fide” war films to win the Oscar for Best Picture (in the last 40 years): “Patton,” “The Deer Hunter” and “Platoon.” He notes that each of those films, when adjusted for inflation, grossed over $300 million, $280 million and $160 million respectively.  We all know where “The Hurt Locker”‘s tally sits.

    What he took away from another look was that each film captures modern day ambivalence toward war, which really, the best of war cinema does.  Which reminds me, I caught “Black Hawk Down” again on cable earlier this week (a brilliant film), and certainly the point is driven home there, though in more camouflaged strokes.  When Tom Sizemore sarcastically quips, “Just get it over with,” in response to a young soldier screaming, “They’re going to get us killed,” any notion that the film uses high octane tropes to drum up a sense of “duty” or American flag-waving quickly flies out the window.

    But I digress.  All of that is kind of inherent in the drive to make a war film, unless you’re talking about a golden age period that saw the likes of John Wayne (who Goldstein reminds “ducked out of the fighting himself”) standing up, larger than life, to the identity-less enemies of a nation.

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  • Stumping for (or against) Mauro Fiore

    AvatarThis year, one of the biggest trip hazards for those filling out their office Oscar pool sheets is the Best Cinematography awards. A race with four potential victors (sorry, “Harry Potter” fans) and wildly mixed signals from the precursors, there’s less consensus over this one than any of the feature categories.

    We’ll put the debate to you when we cover the category in our Oscar Guide series on Thursday. Vanity Fair’s Claire Walla, however, seems to think she has it sussed out, declaring Mauro Fiore’s work on “Avatar” without peer in the race, given that it “completely redefined what it means to make an image.” To this end, she discusses with Fiore the challenges of lighting a film produced mostly by technologies with which the DP was uninvolved:

    “The most difficult part is marrying those two images,” Fiore said of working with a physical set that exists in a virtual world. For a scene that takes place outside a research laboratory on one of Pandora’s floating mountains, for example, the physical set consisted of two structures and scattered Pandoran shrubbery. The entire backdrop—including the light source—was represented on set only by a green screen. Fiore thus had to light the characters and structures on set according to where the sun would be had the characters actually been on Pandora and not on a soundstage in New Zealand … “It was tricky because every scene involved some sort of interactive light,” he added.

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  • Bigelow does 60 Minutes

  • 3/1 Oscarweb Round-up

    Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air• Geoffrey Fletcher writes up what Precious (and “Precious”) means to him. [Huffington Post]

    • Donna Freydkin talks to Vera Farmiga, who, by the way, has a lot of support for her nominated performance in “Up in the Air.”  (Just sayin’…) [USA Today]

    • Maggie Gyllenhaal offers a soundbite concerning the whirlwind campaign behind “Crazy Heart” (the campaign that netted her a nomination, mind you). [Vulture]

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  • CAS springs for ‘Hurt Locker’

    The Hurt Locker

  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Hurt Locker’ BAFTA sweep, minor fracas

    Best Actress winner Carey Mulligan at the 2009 BAFTA Awards• “The Hurt Locker” continued its cruise through the precursors, taking six awards at the BAFTAS.

    • The pile of guild awards grew as the writers, costume designers and sound editors all picked their winners.

    • In our ongoing Oscar Guide series, we broke down the lead actress, documentary feature, documentary short, original score and original song races.

    • Off the Carpet took stock of a quiet season, mainly just counting down the days.

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