In Contention

Tag: The King’s Speech

  • POLL: Who gets the fifth supporting actress slot?

    One of the interesting things about this morning’s BAFTA announcement is that it scattered the already fluid Best Supporting Actress category to the winds.  Nominations for Barbara Hershey, Miranda Richardson and Lesley Manville put them in the hunt with contenders like Mila Kunis and Jacki Weaver for what appears to be an up-for-grabs fifth slot.

    Anne and I will probably address this at length in Friday’s final pre-nods Oscar Talk, but it seemed a good bet for a poll update as well.  Surprises happen.  And you risk being crazy to think outside-the-box (as in, last year, when everyone thought I was out to lunch for thinking Maggie Gyllenhaal had a chance).

    In the left sidebar, I’ve listed the five competitors that seem most likely to battle it out for a chance to join Melissa Leo, Amy Adams, Helena Bonham Carter and Hailee Steinfeld (who herself could suddenly fall lead) in the Best Supporting Actress category this year, as well as the NSFC-winning Olivia Williams and an obligatory “other” option thrown in.  Chalk up your vote there and head on back here for your reasoning and hopefully we’ll get some good discussion out of all of this.

    [Photo: Sony Pictures Classics]

  • ‘King’s Speech’ leads BAFTA list with 14 nods

    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 thing, though the longlists already tipped us off to most of the “surprises” here, I’m happy to see Julianne Moore finally nominated alongside her “The Kids Are All Right” co-star Annette Bening in a serious Best Actress race. Pete Postlethwaite’s posthumous nomination for “The Town” (his first from BAFTA, unbelievably, and the only one for Ben Affleck’s film) is shamelessly rooted in sentiment, but happily, it happens to come for a striking mini-performance anyway.

    While it was inevitable that Brit hit “The King’s Speech” would lead the field, it’s nice to “Black Swan” close behind with 12 nods, including mentions for its contemporary production and costume design.

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  • ‘King’s Speech’ continues to coin it

    It may have lost six of its seven bids at last night’s Golden Globe Awards, but there was consolatory news for “The King’s Speech” in the box office receipts — on both sides of the Atlantic. Nabbing the #4 spot Stateside after upping its screen count was a handy achievement, but it’s in its home country that the film has attained jaw-dropping phenomenon status.

    Not only did the royal biopic hold onto the top spot at the UK box office, comfortably elbowing superhero flick (and US #1) “The Green Hornet” into the runner-up spot, but it actually exceeded its opening-weekend gross, taking £4.72 million compared to “just” £3.52 million a week ago. (Figures filched from the trusty Charles Gant’s Twitter feed.)

    Tom Hooper’s film is currently sitting on a total haul of £10.72 million (roughly $16.69 million, if you like your maths in American English). For the sake of comparison, that’s more in a fortnight than “The Social Network” took in its entire UK theatrical run. Crazy.

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  • Five things I learned from the Golden Globes

    Appropriately enough for the occasion, I watched last night’s Golden Globe awards in a celebratory alcoholic fog (the night having coincided with a friend’s birthday) so thick it took most of today to sleep it off — hence the apologetically late posting.

    My memory of the evening’s finer details is therefore about as clear as, say, Ricky Gervais’s, though I do recall cheering so manically for “Carlos”‘s win in the TV Miniseries category (even if the film is, by its director’s own admission, a work of cinema) that I inadvertently tossed red wine in my hair. That, and so many green dresses on screen that I briefly wondered if the collected stylists of Hollywood had been roped into a particularly gratuitous product placement scheme for the weekend’s box office champ.

    The awards themselves, meanwhile, were both well-judged and helpful, tying (or at least tidying) up a few loose ends remaining on the circuit — and even allowing me some minor bragging rights for calling the widely unfancied Paul Giamatti. (For an hour, at least, until my inevitably doomed prediction of a Best Picture upset missed outright — awards season giveth, and it taketh away.)

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  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Green’ makes green

    The new releases finally took the top spots this week, but “True Grit” is chugging along, “The King’s Speech” went wider and is padding its wallet and “Black Swan” will be one of Fox Searchlight’s top grossers when all is said and done.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Golden Globes: who will win, and who should

    My predictions for tonight’s Golden Globe awards have been in black-and-white over at Gold Derby since the nominations were announced, but I thought I’d make them clear on these pages — along with a note or two on my personal favorites in each category.

    The Globes may get a lot of flak from journos and pundits, but even if they’ve failed to steer the Academy’s eventual Best Picture selection for five of the past six years, they can hold more sway than most people like to credit them with — particularly in races with no clear frontrunner yet. (Case in point: Rachel Weisz’s widely unexpected win at the 2005 Globes, which certainly set the narrative for the rest of season.)

    Bottom line, however: they’re a fun evening, and should be taken as such. I may or may not be Twittering on the evening’s developments — though it seems only right to have a few drinks in solidarity with the stars, so that plan may fall away. Meanwhile, check out my picks after the jump, Kris’s here… and those of many far wiser pundits over at Gold Derby.

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  • ACE springs for Best Picture frontrunners

    Guy rightly noted yesterday a seemingly “whatever” coagulation of the guild awards circuit into “easy-to-recall season staples.” If you were hoping the American Cinema Editors (ACE) would put an end to that, keep dreaming.

    Of course, ACE historically skews as populist and inside-the-box as the DGA set, which is why the two are often coupled for maximum tea leaf importance when forecasting Oscar. But one at least hoped for a “District 9”-level statement of “we like stuff that has no chance of winning Best Picture,” but it wasn’t to be.

    The “surprise,” for most, will likely be Pamela Martin joining the guild party for “The Fighter,” but given the givens, it’s not such a left-field pick. Season heavy, boxing film (which does well with editors), etc. She’ll probably be an Oscar nominee, too, but I must say, it’s a shame the year’s best job at the Steambeck, “Shutter Island,” was ignored here after an early below-the-line guild showing.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Jawellnofine

    (Updated Oscar predictions here.)

    It’s six years this month since I left Johannesburg for the sodden streets of London, so it could just be that I’m in a commemorative mood, but the endlessly useful South African idiom “jawellnofine” (mostly redundant translation: “yes… well… no… fine”) has been on my mind rather a lot this week. It’s a versatile Frankenstein term that, like a more finely calibrated “whatever,” can express everything from dispassionate approval to passive-aggressive indifference to reluctant acceptance — or any combination of these at once.

    How am I currently feeling about the Oscar season, you ask? Jawellnofine.

    It’d be churlish for me to complain too vigorously about the current state of the race. After all, five of the films currently sitting in the “most likely” pile for a Best Picture nomination — “The Fighter,” “Black Swan,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The Town” and “Winter’s Bone” — placed in my own Best of 2010 list last week: hardly an unhappy stat, even if my and the Academy’s respective Top Tens will have only a 20% overlap.

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  • 1/13 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: No dice for Winklevi, Alice Ward fights for her life, Weaver keeps making the rounds

    • Away from Oscar and in real life, Micky Ward’s mother is in a hospital fighting for her life… [Boston Globe]

    • …while the Winklevi lose their Facebook settlement appeal. [Paid Content]

    • Is “The King’s Speech” royalist propaganda? [The Guardian]

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  • 1/12 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Toy Story’ wins Golden Tomato, inside the NSFC vote, Firth loses his voice

    • “Toy Story 3” edges past “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Social Network” to take this year’s Golden Tomato Award. [Rotten Tomatoes]

    • Louis Virtel, meanwhile, wants to know why “Oscar zealots” aren’t fighting for the film’s Best Picture chances.  Uh, hello? [Movieline]

    • Sex and ballet slippers: the themes of “Black Swan.” [Film School Rejects]

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  • Your winner predictions

    As I did last year when Kris posted his pre-nomination winner predictions, I tallied up your responses to see how our readers currently view the race. And either you’re blind disciples of Kris or, far more likely, we’re in for one surprise-free season, as your collective predictions match his in every category but two — for Art Direction and Costume Design, more of you think (or hope?) “The King’s Speech” will fend off “Alice in Wonderland.”

    A tight split between “Life, Above All” (Kris’s pick, and mine) and “Biutiful” says you’re not sure how Best Foreign Language Film will pan out, either — largely because most of you opted out of a prediction there. (Come on, guys — risk-takers get the bragging rights!) But you’re absolutely unanimous on Best Director, Adapted Screenplay and Animated Feature, with lone holdouts on Best Actor, Supporting Actor and Visual Effects.

    Can it all be so easy, so early?

    [Image: The Weinstein Company]

  • ‘King’s Speech’ rules UK box office

    “Tailored largely for the international audience for whom the internal politics of the Royal Family seem never to lose their mystique or fascination,” I wrote in my October review of “The King’s Speech.”

    I guess I have to take that back, since the film — which only opened on Friday in its home country — has become a genuine UK box-office phenomenon, as opposed to the specialized success it’s been across the pond.

    The film handily knocked “Gulliver’s Travels” off the #1 spot (bleak times, these) with a weekend gross of £3.52 million. (That’s about $5.5 million, if you like your figures translated, though it goes with saying that UK and US numbers are not comparable.) To put that in context, that’s over four times what another royal-themed prestige drama, “The Queen,” made on only slightly fewer screens back in the autumn of 2006.

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  • January winner predictions

    After taking a stab at winner predictions early last month, it seemed now would be a good time to re-assess.  Only three adjustments, though — for Best Picture, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score.  I’ll try my hand at another set post-nominations.

    Best Picture: “The Social Network”
    Best Director: David Fincher, “The Social Network”
    Best Actor: Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech”
    Best Actress: Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”
    Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, “The Fighter”
    Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “The Social Network”
    Best Original Screenplay:     “The King’s Speech”

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  • ‘King’s Speech,’ ‘Social Network’ among ASC nominees

    Well, I was expecting this to drop tomorrow, but the ASC nominees have been announced (catch them at The Circuit), and there are a couple of surprises.

    Okay, well, Jeff Cronenweth getting in for “The Social Network” isn’t a complete surprise, as I mentioned this morning we should watch out for him here.  But Danny Cohen making the cut for “The King’s Speech,” despite the fact that the film has an intriguing visual quality, is a bit unexpected.

    The rest is as we would have thought, though Robert Richardson missing is less of a shock than Enrique Chediak and Anthony Dod Mantle getting the shaft.  I think Cohen gets bumped in favor of something else, though.

    Though maybe Cronenweth is in a precarious position, seeing as the ASC is quicker to nominate digital work than the Academy.  The rest, I should think, are solid.

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  • Helena Bonham Carter slights her own performance

    In last week’s episode of Oscar Talk, one reader cheekily asked Anne and Kris which probable nominee they would most like to see out of the running. After much hemming and hawing, Anne landed upon Melissa Leo, while Kris stumped for (or against, rather) Annette Bening.

    While I’d co-sign neither of those choices, it’s just as well Kris didn’t choose that evening to cold-call me on the podcast, since I could easily have whined for hours on end about other contenders — and Helena Bonham Carter, widely seen as a shoo-in for her turn as the eventual Queen Mother in “The King’s Speech,” would have topped the list.

    An inoffensive wallpaper performance to some, it struck me as distractingly twitchy, mannered work against the crisp, unfussy teamwork of leads Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush.

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  • Predict the ASC nominees

    Now that the DGA has spoken, something to pass the time.  Tomorrow the crafts guilds continue to roll out the season as the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) offers its picks for the best work behind the camera in 2010.  This is perhaps my favorite of the below-the-line categories, so I thought I’d offer up a lengthy preview.

    The Society is usually good for 80% when it comes to Academy crossover with its nominees. Sometimes you get a 5/5, sometimes a 3/5, but generally it’s 4/5. The trick is figuring out what the oddball selection will be. But let’s see what’s looking good for a nod, first.

    Leading the way this time around, like most years, would have to be Roger Deakins. His work on “True Grit” will likely win him an Oscar and the road there could very well begin with a win from the Society. He seems to be papa bear these days. Chalk it up.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Written in ink

    I found it interesting over the weekend (and if you’re keyed into the ads on the site here and elsewhere, you noticed, too) that “The King’s Speech” finally decided to tap into the narrative that will serve it best in this year’s awards season.

    The “Find Your Voice” campaign notes, “Some movies you see.  Others you feel.”  The “head vs. heart” debate has been going on all season, dismissed largely by advocates up in arms at anyone having the gall to bet on a film other than “The Social Network” for this year’s Best Picture Oscar.  Yet there are, by my count, 44 days left before final ballots are due to the Academy (because let’s face it, most of us are already living in phase two of this season).

    But I wrote that column last week.  Rather than re-state my position over and over again, I’ll just offer up the mantra: It’s a process.

    Fincher’s film took down the National Society of Film Critics award Saturday (which is really, for the most part, just a replay of the NYFCC and LAFCA awards, given the overlap in membership).  It just about ran the critics’ board.  A few Best Picture bones were thrown to “The King’s Speech,” “Black Swan” and “Inception” throughout the circuit, but that’s about it.  Bravo indeed.

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  • Predict the DGA nominees

    Monday the guild circuit continues — at the start of what will be a very busy week — as the Directors Guild of America (DGA) unveils its list of nominees.

    The age-old rule of thumb has been that this is perhaps the most consistently foreshadowing precursor, as the five DGA nominees tend to have a good shot at Best Director recognition, and the Best Director nominees tend to line-up with the Best Picture nominees, give or take (though with the 10, I think it might be safe to say that the idea of a “lone director” has been lost to the realities of probability).

    Last year the five DGA nominees represented the perceived top five films of the Oscar race: Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Lee Daniels, Jason Reitman and Quentin Tarantino. The year before that, we all thought it did the same, but alas, Christopher Nolan and his film ultimately missed the mark with Oscar.

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