In Contention

Tag: The Illusionist

  • Likability: the best films of 2010

    I don’t quite know how to peg 2010.

    On one hand it has felt like a weak year. On the other hand, I’ve enjoyed quite a few films. Maybe the story lies in that sentence: “enjoyed.” There were precious few films that really rocked me, but plenty that were a nice enough experience.

    If you listened to Friday’s Oscar Talk, then you know my top 10. But before publishing it in this space, allow me to walk through the many films that fell short, starting at the top with Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine.” Here is an honest depiction of a relationship in crisis with performances that hit the mark. It wears its soul on its sleeve.

    The Coen brothers’ dip into the western genre, “True Grit,” was a straight-forward piece of flavorful filmmaking much appreciated for its restraint, while similarly, Ben Affleck’s “The Town” didn’t attempt reinvention of the wheel while forging a resonant character study in a genre film’s clothing.

    (more…)

  • Predict the LA and NY critics’ awards

    Tomorrow brings out the big guns in the critics’ awards derby, as the Los Angeles Film Critics’ Circle unveil their picks, with the New York Film Critics’ Circle following on Monday. (I believe the less prestigious but often interesting New York Online crix are announcing tomorrow too.)

    I offered some thoughts on the significance of these awards in this week’s Long Shot column. As for predictions, Kris and I both offered our best guesses in the top six categories over at Tom O’Neil’s Gold Derby site, so check ’em out there.

    I seem to be out on a limb with my LAFCA Best Picture prediction (though at least Sasha Stone thinks I’m onto something) — after last year’s overwhelming consensus among the critics’ groups, I can’t help sensing at least one of the majors will want to assert their individuality.

    (more…)

  • ‘Dragon’ dominates Annie Award nominations

    It was cute of the Annies to throw “Tangled” and “Toy Story 3” a bone in the Best Animated Feature, directing and screenplay categories this year, but the absence of Disney product in virtually every other field is clearly evidence of a reaction to the studio withdrawing from the organization earlier this summer. Credibility: out the window.

    As best as I can tell, “How to Train Your Dragon” led the way considerably with 15 nominations.  And I think we can pretty well expect the film to triumph in quite a few of them, including Best Animated Feature, when the awards are handed out February 5.

    A distant second with seven total bids was Universal’s “Despicable Me,” but fret not, DreamWorks was right back in there at third with six nods for “Shrek Forever After.”

    (more…)

  • Only 15 films qualify for Oscar’s animated feature race

    I honestly didn’t expect the list to hit so soon on the heels of my item earlier this afternoon, but hit it has.  And it actually appears that “The Dreams of Jinsha” was the other title submitted, not “Chico & Rita.”

    Alas, there are only 15 titles that qualified, meaning we will only see three nominees in the category this year.  “Yogi Bear,” predictably, did not qualify, while “Idiots and Angels,” it turns out, did.  I’d LOVE to see Bill Plympton in an Oscar race.

    The rest are the usual suspects, but it’s a real shame we can’t have a full slate this year.  Speaking solely for myself, I’m liking a lot of feature animation in 2010.  TheGolden Globes, however, could still see five nominees as long as 14 titles were submitted to the HFPA for consideration.  Check out Oscar’s field of animated feature contenders after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘Illusionist’ free to go

    Almost two weeks ago, I mentioned an unfortunate charge of “trademark infringement” being levelled against Sylvain Chomet’s animated wonder “The Illusionist” by the purported rights-holders to the 2006 Edward Norton film of the same title, who somehow felt that sharing a title and a magician protagonist amounted to a “Single White Female”-style violation.

    I called the claims ludicrous (or less delicately, “bullshit”) then, and happily, it looks like one Judge Dolly M. Gee agrees. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Judge Gee has thrown the case out of court, citing the First Amendment to defend the newer film’s right to its title, and dismissing the rest as “weak”:

    According to Judge Gee, the trademark enjoyed by Illusionist Distribution is “weak,” describing a movie about an illusionist rather than its particular film. She agrees with Sony that a wide variety of consumer products employ the term “illusionist,” including another 1983 film, 14 books published since 1952, and thousands of magicians who perform under that description.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Ghost Writer’ leads European Film Award noms

    Dear European Film Award nominating members,

    You seem to have suffered some form of collective amnesia in recalling the last 12 months of European cinema. So much so that you had to resort to nominating an Argentinian-Spanish co-production (that, let’s face it, everyone thinks of as Argentinian) as one of the continent’s finest this year, despite mentioning it in no other categories.

    Allow me to help you. The following are all European films superior to the six you shortlisted in your top category: “Another Year,” “The Illusionist,” “How I Ended This Summer,” “Kawasaki’s Rose,” “White Material,” “Dogtooth,” “Certified Copy,” “Mysteries of Lisbon,” “Four Lions,” “The Mouth of the Wolf,” and so on. And hey, I’m not that high on “I Am Love” either, but are you really saying nothing at all stuck out about it to you? (You only have four cinematography nominees, by the way. Just a thought.)

    (More thoughts, and the full list of nominees, after the cut.)

    (more…)

  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘127 Hours’ dissent, BIFA nods, interviews

    • Guy didn’t much care for “127 Hours.” That got you talking.

    • Happily, Kris did, and got talking to director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy.

    • The British Independent Film Award nominations threw some surprises into the mix, handing scads of noms to “The King’s Speech”… and “Kick-Ass.”

    • Chad’s Life Without Oscar column eased into the late 1980s, showcasing one films on either side of the Hollywood border.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Illusionist’ trailer

    Fresh on the heels of a domestic one-sheet for the film, today we get a look at the domestic trailer for Sylvain Chomet’s “The Illusionist.” You get a nice listen to the score (which deserves an Oscar nod it will not likely get).  Check it out via Apple by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

    (more…)

  • ‘The Illusionist’ poster, featuring yours truly

    Hey, have you heard that I kinda like a little animated picture called “The Illusionist?” I may have mentioned it once or twice here. Well, Sony Pictures Classics has unveiled a new one-sheet for the film, and while I normally get quite critical about the design aspects of posters, this one has my full approval — mostly, I admit, for the fact that it gives me my first US poster quote. Interesting that they fillet out the “m” word from my February review, given the related debate Kris recently started, but after multiple viewings of the film, I stand by it. Full poster (courtesy of IMPAwards) after the jump. (Thanks to regular reader Speaking English for the heads-up.)

    (more…)

  • ‘King’s Speech’ leads BIFA nods, ‘Another Year’ snubbed

    Mike Leigh has long bemoaned the fact that he gets more respect from American awards bodies than those in his homeland. He received further proof of that this morning, as his broadly acclaimed new feature, “Another Year,” was snubbed in the top category at the British Independent Film Awards in favor of, among others, Matthew Vaughan’s dismal po-mo superhero movie “Kick-Ass.”

    The BIFAs are, of course, to the BAFTAs what the Indie Spirits are to the Oscars. They can always be relied upon to make some interesting calls, but while some of this year’s surprises are laudable, others are just perverse.

    Leigh receives some compensation in the shape of a Best Director nod, plus a trio of acting bids (which interestingly place Ruth Sheen in lead and the much-fancied Lesley Manville in support). But Leigh’s omission from the Best Screenplay category — when the pleasant but join-the-dots writing of “Made in Dagenham” makes the cut — is, if anything, even more of a jawdropper than the Best Film miss. The BIFAs were similarly cool on “Happy-Go-Lucky” two years ago, somewhat anticipating the film’s BAFTA whiteout — here’s hoping we’re not setting ourselves up for a repeat.

    (More thoughts, and the full list of nominations, after the jump.)

    (more…)

  • ‘Illusionist’ vs. ‘Illusionist’

    I stumbled upon this days-old THR story via Anne Thompson, and while I’m glad to see it hasn’t caught on in the blogosphere, I feel compelled to point out just what bullshit it is. (My bad: Kris alluded to the news before THR did.) It would appear that Sylvain Chomet’s probable animated Oscar contender “The Illusionist” is being hassled by parties attached to the 2006 Ed Norton-starring magician drama of the same title, who curiously feel that some kind of trademark is being violated:

    Illusionist Distribution, LLC, claims to be the rights-holder of that [2006] film, and is upset that Sony intends to release its Illusionist, with a “strikingly similar” storyline about a touring master illusionist who falls in love.

    Illusionist Distribution has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against SPC and Pathe on grounds of trademark infringement and unfair competition, asking a judge to enjoin the November release of The Illusionist. The company is also seeking disgorgement of all profits plus compensatory damages.

    (more…)

  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 37 — The early year forgotten, Michael Douglas’s dueling Oscar campaigns, the animated feature race and more

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk.

    In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

    After a week with four on the mic, it’s back to just Anne and myself as we mull over something of a slow news week. But there’s always some grist for the mill here and there, catch-up screenings, parties, etc., so let’s see what’s on the docket today…

    (more…)

  • Animated titles up to 12

    I’ve been making notes on this in the comments section of yesterday’s Off the Carpet column throughout the morning, but it’s looking more and more like the magic number of 16 won’t be reached in this year’s animated feature film race.  By my count, we have 12 titles.

    One of them, Bill Plympton’s “Idiots and Angels,” may not have submitted the proper paperwork (I’m unsure at the moment).  But it opened last week in New York regardless and will hit Los Angeles screens on October 29.  Wouldn’t it be great to see Plympton in the mix, though?

    I had originally though the Japanese “Tales from Earthsea” would be eligible, but while opening in a foreign territory one year prior is permitted (more of this arbitrary nonsense — it’s scattered throughout AMPAS rules and regs), more than that is not.  The film opened in 2006 in Japan.

    (more…)

  • THE LONG SHOT: When you wish upon a star

    “Mila Kunis is so winning Best Supporting Actress this year,” remarked an independent filmmaker to me over drinks today, referring, of course, to the 27 year-old’s sly breakout turn in Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” This was no idle fan statement. The man knew his Oscar onions – his theory was built upon established Academy affection for hot ingénues in sashaying support roles, as well as the current absence of any obvious frontrunners in the category.

    Still, even as he explained this, my eyebrows must have shot up somewhere past my hairline. As the writer who caught hell from many readers for daring not to predict Natalie Portman among my Best Actress nominees last month, the prospect of Kunis even getting nominated for subtly smoking work in an outré arthouse thriller hadn’t crossed my mind. I told him as much while emphasizing, as an admirer of the performance, how much I’d like to be wrong.

    “That’s what everyone says to me,” he replied. “‘Oh, she’s a revelation, I’d love to see her nominated, but she won’t be.’ Whenever I start hearing that kind of talk about a person or a film, that’s when I go to the bookies and put money on them. If everyone’s seeing the same thing in them, who’s to say the voters aren’t?”

    (more…)

  • Underdog ‘Dagenham’ may have the AMPAS touch

    In Friday’s Oscar Talk, Anne and I pondered the Oscar potential of Sony Pictures Classics’ typically robust stable of contenders.  So far the best bet to have already hit theaters is Aaron Schneider’s “Get Low,” which could be a below-the-line play as well as a Best Actor possibility for Robert Duvall.

    Films from Rodrigo Garcia, Atom Egoyan and Jean-Pierre Jeunet all came and went, while Woody Allen’s didn’t inspire much at Cannes.  And that’s fine, by the way.  The business isn’t all about awards, obviously, and Sony Classics knows how to make money.  (There’s a reason the dependent is still standing tall.)

    If we properly assume “The Illusionist” will have its day in the animated feature category, while “Inside Job” will be relegated to the documentary field, that leaves three possibilities for Oscar success: Mike Leigh’s “Another Year,” the recently acquired “Barney’s Version” and Nigel Cole’s “Made in Dagenham.” The latter is perhaps the one to watch out for.

    This isn’t a revelation, of course.  Guy’s first stab at predicting this year’s Oscar set noted that “the Academy frequently likes its Britpics chirpy and digestible” and that Cole’s film was “getting ‘next Full Monty’ buzz on its way to a prominent launch at Toronto.”  Having seen the film last week, I have to say, I see his point.

    (more…)

  • TIFF: Not so ‘Funny,’ ‘Super’ buyer interest, Redford still looking

    Things are slow moving at the start of this year’s fest.  People are catching up with press screenings of this and that, some of them Venice or Telluride or Cannes, with a few Toronto first-timers thrown in.

    Firstly, Scott Weinberg joins the dogpile on Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” by calling the film “outrageously bad” and noting that its ilk is “best left for the festival circuit — which is where we suffer through the indie-style artifice so you don’t have to.”

    The market is in full swing, particularly around James Gunn’s “Super,” which screened late last night and stirred a lot of interest.  Movieline called the Rainn Wilson starrer an “instant cult classic.”  Buyers are also reportedly showing interest in Rowan Joffe’s “Brighton Rock” (as I imagined they would), so maybe we’ll see Andrea Riseborough popped up once again in that vacant supporting actress category shortly.

    (more…)

  • TELLURIDE: ‘The Illusionist,’ ‘Another Year’

    The final trio of films I caught at this year’s Telluride fest, which is slowly winding down this holiday, were a bit of Cannes catch-up.  The first, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Biutiful,” I responded to yesterday.  The other two come from Sony Pictures Classics, which has a whopping five films in play here, and will have nine at Toronto later in the week.

    Before getting to those reactions, though, I have to say that this year’s program has been absolutely wonderful.  I’m only on my second year, but long-timers seem to concur that festival directors Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer and Julie Huntsinger really outdid themselves this time.

    I’ll talk more in the way of wrapping things up sometime later tonight or tomorrow.  For now, I have just enough time to offer up these capsules, update the predictions sidebar and contenders section, hopefully make it to an interview with Darren Aronofsky (which may have to wait until post-fest) and prepare for a 3:30 departure.  The latest Off the Carpet column will come later.

    Let’s get on with it…

    (more…)

  • TELLURIDE: Settling in with the freshly unveiled line-up

    I’m just settling in here in the Colorado mountainside as the Telluride Film Festival prepares to draw the curtain on its 37th dance tomorrow afternoon.

    As I look over the schedule (I Tweeted the films earlier this morning), I’m seeing plenty to chew on. For starters, the world premiere of Peter Weir’s “The Way Back” is slated for tomorrow night. I was crushed, though, to see it slotted at the exact same time as the world premiere of Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go.” But both will screen plenty throughout the fest, as a tribute to Weir is in store to go along with the former, while Romanek and actress Carey Mulligan are in town to promote the latter.  Author Kazuo Ishiguro will also be here to sign copies of his novel.

    Telluride is preempting Toronto on Romanek’s film, as well as the new Errol Morris documentary, “Tabloid.” Meanwhile, Sylvain Chomet’s animated “The Illusionist” has been playing the festival circuit all year and is definitely near the top of my must-see list.

    (more…)