In Contention

Tag: The King’s Speech

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Cinematography

    The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) dished out its annual kudos this weekend, which makes for a nice segue into a discussion of the year’s nominees for Best Cinematography. But it’s important to keep a few things in mind when it comes to guessing what the Academy at large will spring for in this field.

    First and foremost, technical accomplishment doesn’t get you far with a number of people who don’t really understand what kind of a feat, say, “Children of Men” is. Or “Black Hawk Down,” for another example. It’s all about what looks like a post card, because “cinematography” so quickly translates to “prettiest movie” for a great many voters, unfortunately.

    The nominees are:

    “Black Swan” (Matthew Libatique)
    “Inception” (Wally Pfister)
    “The King’s Speech” (Danny Cohen)
    “The Social Network” (Jeff Cronenweth)
    “True Grit” (Roger Deakins)

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  • 2/15 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Hooper’s conflicting BAFTA emotions, Rodarte on ‘Swan’ controversy, Whoopi is livid

    • Nick Davis’s actress digest moves to the lovely Jennifer Lawrence. [Nick’s Flick Picks]

    • Tom Hooper at the BAFTAs: The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. [The Race]

    • David Poland talks to “Black Swan” costume co-designers Rodarte. [The Hot Blog]

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  • On the sound of ‘The King’s Speech’

    In today’s Oscar Guide, I addressed one of the biggest surprises of this year’s slate of below-the-line Oscar nominees: “The King’s Speech” being recognized for Best Sound Mixing. It’s easily attributable to sweeping love for the film, but I tried to give some context for why sound is actually integral to the experience of the film in some way.

    Today, the good folks at SoundWorks Collection, in lieu of one of their custom profiles on the sonic construction of the film, have offered up a dense interview with production sound mixer John Midgley. Midgley has worked on films such as “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” “Hotel Rwanda” and “Children of Men,” and in the interview, he actually touches on some of the points I made in the piece.

    Head on over to SoundWorks Collection to check out the full interview — a hefty 30 minutes’ worth — or watch the embed after the jump. It provides a lot of insight into a process that, even if it doesn’t appear award-worthy to the layman, deserves a great deal of respect nevertheless.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Sound Mixing

    I feel like we’ve done a pretty decent job of educating some of our readership on the difference between Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing over the last five years here at In Contention. It struck me that we haven’t really covered it in a focused way this season, and the Oscar Guide seems as good a place as any to recap.

    Sound editing, which we covered Friday, concerns the manifestation of artificial sound effects and the overall manipulation of the sonic identity of a film. Sound mixing concerns the balance of those various elements, in addition to music and dialogue, as well as the on-the-set maintenance of production audio. This year’s slate was an eyebrow-raising one to say the least.

    The nominees are:

    “Inception” (Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick)
    “The King’s Speech” (Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley)
    “Salt” (Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin)
    “The Social Network” (Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten)
    “True Grit” (Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland)

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  • ‘King’s Speech’ nabs seven BAFTA Awards

    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 as I predicted, “The Social Network” barred its way in the Best Director category — with further wins for Adapted Screenplay and Editing bringing its total to three.

    Clearly, Fincher’s Oscar hopes are still alive, though it would be unwise to read too much into this result: as I noted earlier, BAFTA voters split their top two awards more often than not.

    Two of the wins for “The King’s Speech,” however, were widely unexpected. With Geoffrey Rush beating Christian Bale to the Best Supporting Actor award — and Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter both predictably winning their categories — the film becomes only the third in BAFTA history to scoop three of the four acting categories.

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  • BOX OFFICE: Bieber fever

    All four at the top are new releases, but “Black Swan” will cross $100 million tomorrow or Tuesday, “The King’s Speech” will get there next weekend, and “True Grit” is at $160 million and climbing.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Previewing BAFTA

    In the 10 years since they moved up in the calendar to pre-Oscar status, the BAFTAs have hovered uncertainly between complying with awards trends across the pond, thereby establishing themselves as a viable precursor, and stubbornly standing by their own – as in 2007, when they opted out of the Coen Brothers-P.T. Anderson faceoff by picking “Atonement,” despite the film’s only other award coming for Best Art Direction.

    This year, however, offers them the best of both worlds. Rewarding “The King’s Speech” will simultaneously allow them to co-sign a heavy Oscar favourite and preserve their national pride.

    Add in the fact that a vote for the film also represents a vote for the much-mourned UK Film Council – oh, and that it just happens to be a smash hit with British audiences – and the royal biopic would likely have been a lock for the top prize even without the support of major US guilds.

    (More, plus predictions, after the jump.)

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  • ‘Social Network’ tops London Critics’ awards

    By having separate categories for British films and individuals — though Brits compete in the general awards too — the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards generally get to have their cake and eat it. So it was this year: “The King’s Speech” received obligatory recognition in the categories for Best British Film and Best British Director, but lost the night’s big prizes to “The Social Network.”

    Some will find it ironic that it took a group of limeys to put some wind back in Team Fincher’s sails, but it’s not that surprising: British or not, this is still a critics’ award, and “The Social Network” wove as a powerful a spell over journos across the pond as in the States. The film took a leading four prizes, including screenwriting honors for Aaron Sorkin and Best British Supporting Actor for Andrew Garfield — the Oscar snubbee’s second home victory of the week.

    No surprise that Colin Firth took Best Actor, while they spread the love by giving Christian Bale the Best British Actor award — I do wonder if that happened entirely organically. Less expected was Annette Bening’s Best Actress victory, breaking Natalie Portman’s recent sweep; I suspect the somewhat mixed critical reaction to “Black Swan” in the UK might account for this, but Bening does seem to be picking up steam lately.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Costume Design

    This year’s race for Best Costume Design became mired in controversy later in the season as a dispute erupted over proper credit in “Black Swan.” Amy Westcott was listed as responsible for the threads, but fashion duo Rodarte had a significant hand in concocting the performance costumes on the film — and were denied credit, per guild regulations.

    That issue has been argued from both sides and is an unfortunate byproduct of unfair rules, but the fact remains, it may have missed a nomination here as a result. Nevertheless, the five films competing make for a vibrant cross-section of visions, styles and periods, the branch even going so far as to give us a big surprise on nomination morning with a selection no one saw coming.

    The nominees are:

    “Alice in Wonderland” (Colleen Atwood)
    “I Am Love” (Antonella Cannarozzi)
    “The King’s Speech” (Jenny Beaven)
    “The Tempest” (Sandy Powell)
    “True Grit” (Mary Zophres)

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Art Direction

    The art directors settled on a wonderful quintet to represent their form in 2010. Each of these films (okay, I haven’t seen one of them) manages to showcase art direction in organic ways, even when it comes to the contender with the most robust and vibrant design to offer.

    When it comes to the design categories, though, abundance can be an asset. There’s no question about it. The old joke is “Most Art Direction” or “Most Costume Design,” rather than “Best.” And unfortunately, that extends sometimes into the nominations process as nuanced, subtle work is disregarded each and every year. But even with that caveat, this is a handsome slate.

    The nominees are:

    “Alice in Wonderland” (Robert Stromberg; Karen O’Hara)
    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” (Stuart Craig; Stephanie McMillan)
    “Inception” (Guy Hendrix Dyas; Larry Dias, Doug Mowat)
    “The King’s Speech” (Eve Stewart; Judy Farr)
    “True Grit” (Jess Gonchor; Nancy Haigh)

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  • 2/9 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Stewart talks ‘Speech’ sets, McMurtry and Ossana on ‘True Grit,’ Nolan/Del Toro Q&A

    • Steve Pond goes blue in the face trying to explain, again, the preferential ballot to people who just don’t get it. [The Odds]

    • Nathaniel Rogers chats with “The King’s Speech” production designer Eve Stewart. [The Film Experience]

    • Jamie Bell: Oscar prognosticator. [Movieline]

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Supporting Actor

    Very few of the 20 actors nominated for Oscars this year (if any) feel like egregious calls. As usual, the lead actor race is the most impressive, but the Best Supporting Actor slate isn’t too shabby, either. Each performance is masterful in its own way, and each serves its respective narrative to the fullest.

    Two of the nominees this year are depictions of real life individuals and three are complete manifestations. But all five of the below actors owned their roles and then some, finding the right flow of eye-catching showmanship without dominating the narrative arc. And though some might argue, I’d say each is perfectly representative of “supporting” in the truest sense of the word.

    The nominees are:

    Christian Bale, “The Fighter”
    John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
    Jeremy Renner, “The Town”
    Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are All Right”
    Geoffrey Rush, “The King’s Speech”

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  • Evening Standard Awards go their own way

    “What is it about the British?” a reader asked in one of last week’s comment threads. “They can’t quite make a film of current topical interest or [sic] lacks some historical or classical literary backdrop to give it a sense of importance.”

    The comment is one of many “typical British film” jabs I’ve read since “The King’s Speech” asserted itself as the Oscar frontrunner, and it would have annoyed me no end even if I wasn’t part-British myself: to boil down an entire national cinema to awards-baiting prestige period fare is as unfair and ill-informed as suggesting that Hollywood only makes Michael Bay movies.

    In the last 24 hours, however, two sets of honors have acted as handy rebuttals to this narrow perception of UK cinema. I’ll devote an individual post to Time Out’s tremendous 100 Best British Films list later today, but last night’s London Evening Standard Film Awards, to which I was lucky enough to be invited, were a welcome celebration of the kind of diverse, adventurous British artistry — ranging from sci-fi to comedy to experimental indies — that idle BAFTA voters can’t be bothered to nominate.

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  • BOX OFFICE: Is there a game on?

    And with that, “True Grit” crosses $150 million domestic and keeps chugging.  “The King’s Speech” moved up a notch in rank and still has $100 million in its sights (and has also leaped-frogged a few 2011 debuts in the process).  “Black Swan” brings up the rear and one more week will get it across that mark, while “The Fighter” is just on the outside of the top 10, aimed at $90 million for now.  And “Tangled,” I notice, is crawling toward a $200 million mark it’ll likely never reach.

    Now, enough of all that.  Super Bowl.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Art Directors’ Guild wins for ‘Swan,’ ‘Speech,’ ‘Inception’

    In a busy night for industry awards, the Art Directors’ Guild also dished out their trophies yesterday. “Inception” claimed its second Guild prize in one night as it triumphed in the Fantasy category — fending off fellow Oscar nominee “Alice in Wonderland,” which would be a surefire winner for “most art direction,” in the process.

    I’m pleased the elaborate-but-ugly stylings of the latter film weren’t rewarded, though I’m struggling to get critic Mike McCahill’s description of “Inception”‘s production design as resembling a “revolving Best Western” out of my head.

    The other two categories were more predictable, as “The King’s Speech” took Period honors, while “Black Swan” triumphed in the Contemporary field — a win that places at least some balm on the wound of last week’s Oscar snub. (Rewatching Darren Aronofsky’s film a few days ago renewed my dismay that the Academy’s bias against modern-day work in this category struck again: I just can’t see how Stuart Craig’s work on the latest “Harry Potter” chapter is more inspired than Thérèse DePrez’s intricately coded melding of stage, domestic and psychological spaces.)

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  • CINEJABBER: The test of time

    Catch up with the idea behind these weekend posts here.

    I was talking with a friend this week about “the test of time,” as it were.  She posited, as have many, that “The King’s Speech” is not the film we’ll remember 10 years from now.  I don’t know that “The Social Network” is either, frankly, but I also don’t subscribe to the law of time’s judgment when it comes to these things, either.

    The film I’m likely to remember most this year?  The one that occupies my mind more than most?  If I’m being honest?  “Biutiful.” I have a lot of respect for what’s going on with that film, but I still believe it has inherent flaws that keep it from a certain pristine quality.  Flaws that won’t take on new characteristics with time.

    I think it’s become a bit facile to go there so quickly.  “Time will tell.”  Etc.  I actually think time can kill a film.  Just look at the revisionism of films that lost the Best Picture Oscar to admittedly greater works.  The haze of hindsight is not always a great lens to look through, and the inherent subjectivity of this stuff means, to me, you’re best bet is an educated take in the moment.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘King’s Speech’ marches on

    • “The King’s Speech” continued its cruise through phase two of the season with a widely unexpected Directors’ Guild victory…

    • … and scooped top honors at a surprise-free Screen Actors’ Guild Awards ceremony.

    • Following this brace of wins, this week’s Off the Carpet column said what we were all thinking: the race is over.

    • Meanwhile, in his Long Shot column, Guy concluded that the royal biopic was likely the film to beat all along.

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  • Predict the WGA and Scripter winners

    This weekend brings a couple of screenwriting competitions: the WGA Awards and the USC Scripter Award ceremony.  I might as well give you some space to predict.

    My bet on WGA is “The Kids Are All Right” for original, but it does seem like an open race.  I consider it the spoiler possibility for Oscar, but if “The King’s Speech” were eligible here we all know it would likely win.

    Meanwhile, the adapted field is a little easier.  I think Aaron Sorkin will coast to a win for “The Social Network.” These are writers voting, after all (and not a mish-mash of disciplines like the DGA).  It won’t be as easy on Oscar night, given the broader spectrum of voters, but I think tomorrow night should be simple enough.

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