In Contention

Tag: The Reader

  • Golden Globes: ‘Slumdog,’ ‘Button’ steady…whither ‘Milk?’

    Well, I said yesterday one should always expect oddities with the Golden Globes … but even with that in mind, they never fail to pull out some genuine “WTF” moments.

    Tom Cruise’s goofy Best Supporting Actor nod for “Tropic Thunder” may have been the most eccentric revelation of the morning, but surely the most significant shocker is the absence of “Milk” — presumed by many to be “Slumdog Millionaire”‘s chief rival in the Oscar race — in the Best Picture (Drama) category.

    The shut-out proved even more blatant when neither Josh Brolin nor James Franco, who have been making healthy progress in the precursors, landed in the Supporting Actor race. Still processing that one — right now, I can’t think of a suitable theory to explain its absence. (But hey, at least Franco landed a left-field comedy-category nod for “Pineapple Express” … I think I know one guy who will be stoked with that.)

    The producers of “Slumdog Millionaire” will no doubt be thrilled by the news, as will those of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which claws back some momentum after taking a knock in this week’s precursors. In an unusually spread-out slate, “Button” and “Frost/Nixon” lead the pack of Best Picture nominees, with 5 nods apiece — I must admit I never expected the latter to be a field leader. (Meanwhile, in yet another of the morning’s oddities, their tally is equalled by the Best Picture-omitted “Doubt.”)

    Some will be surprised by the failure of “The Dark Knight” to land Picture or Director nods, though I personally didn’t see the film the registering that strongly with the Foreign Press.

    On the other hand, I naively failed to foresee that Harvey Weinstein would work his magic once more on the organisation — Kris’ prediction of a strong showing for “The Reader” was right on the money. Meanwhile, despite whispers that the HFPA wasn’t all that keen on “Revolutionary Road,” the nominations tell a different story. The nod for Sam Mendes is one I find particularly surprising; Paramount Vantage will no doubt heave a huge sigh of relief after a terrible precursor week that saw the film blanked in the Broadcast Film Critics’ nominations.

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  • Winslet to be feted at Santa Barbara Fest

    Kate WinsletWell the consistent snubs for Kate Winslet’s performances this week (other than a brief mention by the BFCA for her work in “The Reader”) should go down a little easier for the actress as it seems she’ll be receiving an award at next month’s Santa Barbara Film Festival for her outstanding career so far.

    The press release, in part:

    “I have had a cinematic crush on Kate Winslet since her first movie,” gushed SBIFF Director Roger Durling.  “She’s my favorite actress of all time…and she will always have a home here at the festival!”

    Since her last visit to Santa Barbara, Winslet has been in numerous films including Little Children, for which she received her fifth Oscar nomination, All The King’s Men, Flushed Away and The Holiday.  Winslet continues her sterling career with two critically-acclaimed performances in Sam Mendes’ “Revolutionary Road,” marking a screen reunion with her Titanic co-star, Leonard DiCaprio, and Stephen Daldry’s post WWII drama, “The Reader,” opposite Ralph Fiennes.

    The Montecito Award was created in recognition of a performer who has given a series of classic and standout performances in his/her career.

  • 12/10 Oscarweb Round-up

    Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona• The Gurus settle on a predicted five that seems to be becoming “the knowledge.” [Movie City News]

    • David Poland, meanwhile, takes the opportunity to spotlight 10 under-the-radar contenders. [Movie City News]

    • Always eager for a “look, we said something about it first” story, Steve Weintraub calls an exclusive (seriously, we need to define this term already) on a story Eric Roth has been talking about here and there for a while now…his desire to pen a space film, among other scripts the writer is working on, all reported elsewhere long ago.  Can’t wait to read about the bitching once Variety breaks the ACTUAL story when (and if) it comes to pass.  (Sorry, got carried away there.) [Collider]

    • Getting back on track, Tom O’Neill chats it up with Penelope Cruz. [Gold Derby]

    • Erica Abeel sits down with “Reader” director Stephen Daldry. [indieWIRE]

    • Having already released, “Australia” still isn’t finished?  Wait…what? [The Independent]

    • Do the European Film Awards matter? [The Guardian]

    • Anita Chabria catches up with the female cinematographers story. [The Envelope]

    • Patrick Goldstein reports on the inner strife of yesterday’s LAFCA vote.  Apparently “Slumdog Millionaire” was “a close third in the best picture race.” [The Big Picture]

    • The most vanilla Oscar preview yet. [Associated Press]

    • 12 rules of Christmas movies. [New York Daily News]

    • Anthony Breznican profiles Ron Howard’s career behind the camera. [USA Today]

    • Anne Thompson reports from the Monday night premiere of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” with some video to boot. [Thompson on Hollywood]

  • 12/8 Oscarweb Round-up

    Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump• Lou Lumenick runs down his 10-best list… [Lumenick on Film]

    • …and calls “Mamma Mia!” the guilty pleasure of the year. [Lumenick on Film]

    • Peter Sciretta gets a juicy tid-bit on the “Forrest Gump” sequel “Gump & Co.” from screenwriter Eric Roth: 9/11 killed the idea and all the principles decided it wasn’t relevant anymore.  Interesting. [/Film]

    • Christopher Nolan elaborates on his four favorite scenes from “The Dark Knight.” [USA Today]

    • Anne Thompson goes deep on why “Australia” misses the mark. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Mick Brown sits down with “Doubt” star Meryl Streep. [Daily Telegraph]

    • As the ship sinks around him, Gregg Kilday reports on the box office muscle of this weekend’s Oscar contenders. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Ariel Kaminer tracks the road to the big screen for Bernhard Schlink’s “The Reader.” [New York Times]

    • Eleanor Clift talks the parallels of “Frost/Nixon” to the current administration, parallels writer Peter Morgan certainly didn’t have in mind. [Newsweek]

    • A refreshing list of the year’s superlatives. [New York Magazine]

  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Slumdog’ surges, ‘River’ emerges

    Sorry it’s a day late, but here’s the week that was. Awards and nominations left, right and centre — the season is officially under way, folks:

    • “Slumdog Millionaire” emerged as a bona fide frontrunner, taking Best Picture at the season kickoff, the National Board of Review awards …

    • … only days after taking top honours across the Atlantic, at the British Independent Film Awards.

    • Speaking of indies, “Frozen River” also enjoyed a great week, emerging victorious at the Gotham Awards …

    • … while it was also one of the top nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards.

    • We took a break from the awards beat to chat to the impressive ladies of “I’ve Loved You So Long,” Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein …

    • The former of whom took a gong at the European Film Awards, which were otherwise all about “Gomorrah.”

    • The Annie Awards for animation revealed their nominees, with “Kung Fu Panda” surprisingly leading the field.

    • Meanwhile, the mysterious Golden Satellite nominations were as head-scratching as ever.

    • The first reviews finally emerged on “The Reader,” and they generally like it … from a distance.

    • While the appearance of reviews doesn’t make “Gran Torino” any less of a puzzle this awards season.

    • And all the while, the rumblings around “The Dark Knight” grow louder.

  • 12/4 Oscarweb Round-up

    Mary Pickford• Probably the first time I’ve enjoyed reading her in years, but Nikki Finke comes to the aid of Mickey Rourke after an unfairly conveyed New York Times profile. [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

    • David Carr, meanwhile, confronts Rourke at the Gotham Awards. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Michael Cieply reports on the changing face of the Academy membership. [New York Times]

    • Pete Hammond takes a look at leading players in supporting competition… [Notes on a Season]

    • …and gives a big, sloppy kiss to “Gran Torino.” [Notes on a Season]

    • David Poland, meanwhile, takes another shot at Clint Eastwood’s film. [The Hot Blog]

    • Nathaniel Rogers chats with “Rachel Getting Married” co-star Bill Irwin. [The Film Experience]

    • Patrick Goldstein questions the Oscar prowess of “The Reader.” [The Big Picture]

    • Indie is the new black, according to Anne Thompson. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Karina Longworth reports from a New York press conference for “Revolutionary Road.” [Spout Blog]

    • The trial of Mary Pickford’s Oscar takes flight. [Associated Press]

  • Harvey likes white

    (clockwise from top left) The Weinstein Company\'s Breaking and Entering, Bobby, The Reader and Vicky Cristina Barcelona

  • ‘Reader’ draws praise, but is it too remote for Oscar?

    After a couple of days in post-screening limbo, the reviews for “The Reader” are in, and while there’s much praise for the film, I suspect the response may not be quite what Harvey Weinstein was hoping for.

    The general impression appears to be that it’s intelligent, well-crafted and delicately performed, but as Kris anticipated recently, there are concerns that it may prove too distant and cerebral for many audiences … including the Oscar voters. Jeff Wells is one prognosticator striking the film from his list of Best Picture ponies: “Sorry but that’s the verdict I’m hearing. Intelligent, well written, handsomely shot, doesn’t deliver emotionally.”

    That “verdict” is echoed almost exactly in Variety’s coolly respectable review:

    Stephen Daldry’s film is sensitively realized and dramatically absorbing, but comes across as an essentially cerebral experience without gut impact. Classy package will appeal to upscale specialized auds and the bookish set but pic will have trouble crossing over to the general public Stateside.

    As for Kate Winslet, widely deemed the film’s brightest awards prospect, they are impressed by the performance, but find the character impenetrable:

    A central problem with “The Reader” as a film is that one can never look inside the character of Hanna. Her life and behavior are invariably assessed from the outside — what she represents to Michael, the way the court and history take stock of her actions — but never by her … Winslet supplies a haunting shell to this internally decimated woman, one who can perhaps momentarily escape from her shame through sex but for whom there is no past she can possibly face and no future to anticipate.

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  • All hail the Bagger

    As anyone who follows the ever-growing, ever-working and ever-sniping world of Oscar blogging knows, no one does it with more wit, insight or eloquence than the New York Times’ David Carr — or, as he chooses to be known for the next couple of insane months, The Carpetbagger.

    Unlike the witless Harold Robbins novel for which he is named, however, The Carpetbagger has serious smarts. A seasoned media journalist and author (check out his superb memoir, “The Night of the Gun,” if you haven’t already), he treats film awards season as the intricate political labyrinth that it is, but with a fine, ever-present sense of irony. Okay, I’m gushing, but he’s special.

    So it’s a thrill to see him make his entrance on the 2008 derby — at the sensible starting point of late November, unlike us year-round lunatics — with an extensive introductory column, and a brand-new logo:

    The column is a great catch-up session for those just tuning into the race now, laying out most of the big contenders and their occasionally bumpy journeys thus far. A lot of it is familiar territory to regular awards-watchers — Weinstein vs. Rudin on “The Reader,” the Cinderella story of “Slumdog Millionaire,” Kate Winslet’s two-pronged awards attack — but it’s economically assembled, with admirable attention to detail. (Did you know that Winslet has size 11 feet? Before reading this, I didn’t.)

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Button,’ ‘Reader’ screen… uncertainty reigns

    • After a false start, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was finally unveiled, to considerable applause… but is it too chilly?

    • Maybe. In his gutsy early predictions, Kris names “Slumdog Millionaire” the one to beat.

    • InContention readers, however, are less sure.

    • In a week of revelations, “The Reader” also screened — but the response on these pages was ambivalent.

    • Not everyone agrees, however. Which has us asking where this leaves Kate Winslet’s Oscar chances.

    • Amid the confusion, this week’s Off the Carpet column drew the conclusion that 2008 simply isn’t a vintage year.

    • Onto surer things, we wondered whether Heath Ledger is the inevitable winner of this year’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Your answer? A resounding yes.

    • Mapping out some alternative possibilities in the Best Documentary Feature race.

    • An interview with with “Changeling” scribe J. Michael Straczynski.

    • Just in case you hadn’t heard the name “Benjamin Button” enough this week, we were treated to the film’s score.

    • On the other side of the pond, meanwhile, “Mamma Mia!” continues to break records. Does BAFTA beckon?

  • Karger narrows it to eight

    For this week’s edition of Entertainment Weekly, Dave Karger has boiled down the Best Picture race to a mere eight horses. The no-surprises list reads as follows:

    1. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    2. “Slumdog Millionaire”
    3. “Frost/Nixon”
    4. “Revolutionary Road”
    5. “Doubt”
    6. “Milk”
    7. “The Dark Knight”
    8. “Australia”

    Nothing much to comment on, really. Karger remarks that, in the wake of “Milk”‘s rapturous critical reception, he would now move it further up the chart. Meanwhile, he considers dropping “Australia,” presumably in favour of one of his runners-up, “The Reader” or “Gran Torino.”

    However you shake it, though, it still makes for a pretty yawnsome list of the usual suspects. He’s probably right, of course. But is it too late to jazz up the competition with a fresh contender? “The Wrestler?” “Happy-Go-Lucky?” Hell, I’ll settle for “WALL-E” at this point. Go on, Academy, surprise us. Please.

  • Kate Winslet: going for broke?

    I’m getting so many mixed messages about “The Reader,” I don’t know what to make of it anymore. Some concrete reviews would help, but the embargo is obviously still in place. I admit I’m unfamiliar with the intricacies of the business, but I’m not sure how beneficial it is to withhold word on a late arrival with see-sawing buzz. (I think Nat Rogers summed it up well by giving the film a citation for “Weirdest Foreplay of 2008.”)

    As we know, Kris wasn’t entirely persuaded by the film, dropping it from a couple of key categories on his chart, and declaring Kate Winslet an “outside shot” for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet, of course, is the film’s most-discussed contender, with many anticipating dual nominations for her come January.

    Tom O’Neil was hearing opposing voices yesterday, and now Dave Karger has weighed in. Humming quite a different tune from Kris, he calls the film “a definite top-10 Best Picture contender,” and Winslet’s performance “amazing.” (Can anyone remember the last time Karger really disliked a contender? I’m just asking.)

    He does, however, smell blatant category fraud, an issue Kris didn’t really have a problem with. But with the Weinsteins dodging lead categories entirely — campaigning both Winslet and co-star Lena Olin for Best Supporting Actress, and both and David Kross and Ralph Fiennes for Best Supporting Actor — Karger smells a rat:

    Now, other movies, like Crash and Babel, have tried this tactic before with some success. But those two were indisputably ensemble films, whereas The Reader, which spans five decades, clearly has two main characters: one shared by Kross and Fiennes and the other played entirely by Winslet. Obviously, the all-supporting decision is meant to keep Winslet from competing against herself (she’s up for Best Actress for Revolutionary Road), but now that I’ve seen in print, it does seem a little disingenuous.

    If the Weinstein Co. had placed Kross in the Best Actor category (he has much more screen time than Fiennes), there would have been at least one official lead to speak of. Still, if the Academy follows the campaign directives, it’ll turn out to be a smart move, since Winslet’s amazing performance in The Reader should be a sure thing for a supporting nomination.

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  • ‘Reader’ stirring the awards season dust

    Kate Winslet in The ReaderGold Derby’s Tom O’Neil attended an east coast screening of “The Reader” this week, which featured a Stephen Daldry Q&A session afterward.  He reports as follows:

    “I tried to leave things ambiguous,” Daldry said. “I want to keep what she learned and what she didn’t from us. It’s not for us to know.”

    During the first part of the film, it’s clear that Kate Winslet’s character, Hanna, is “morally illiterate,” Daldry added. (There were loud gasps throughout the audience when he uttered that phrase.) But later in the story, Daldry said, he and screenwriter David Hare cautiously applied “complicated calibration to try to find careful relations to when you are sympathetic to her and when you’re not.”

    Two Oscar pundits who saw “Revolutionary Road” and “The Reader” this week and who asked not to quoted by name (for reasons I don’t understand but will honor) believe that “The Reader” has a better shot at a best-picture nomination and even a lead actress bid for Winslet. A few others I admire disagree and pick “Revolutionary Road” for both categories. Personally, I haven’t sorted out my own thoughts yet, but the former opinions — and the response “The Reader” got Tuesday night in New York — tell me that Harvey Weinstein may be quite happy on Jan. 22 when noms are unveiled.

    Contrast that with the fact that I’ve jerked the film from a number of categories this week and I think you’re looking at a mixed bag at the moment, at least on the prognostication front.  I only have my gut to go by for now.  We need more people to see this thing and speak up.  But I think this peek-a-boo game Daldry says he was playing with Winslet’s character’s feelings and that general “uncertainty” will make it a tough AMPAS sell.  My two cents, anyway.

  • ‘Reader’ gets a poster

    Same as the artwork on the cover of a special “author’s notes” booklet by Bernhard Schlink, handed out at yesterday’s press screening:

    The Weinstein Company\'s The Reader

  • OFF THE CARPET: Insert witty Oscar column headline here

    Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonThis year’s Oscar season is sapping the creativity from my bones.  Perhaps it’s foolish to come to this space every week and offer a full-blown column.  Sometimes there isn’t much to talk about.  This year, however, the things we do have to talk about don’t seem worth talking about.

    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” for instance, was the most anticipated film of the season.  But three days after finally seeing the film, I’m not feeling the resonance I anticipated.  The film is a cinematic marvel, a stroke of screenwriting brilliance and a massive leap forward across an array of technical achievements.  But it hasn’t captured my imagination like I thought it would.

    Your guess is as good as mine on that one.

    “The Reader” finally screened to the press at large yesterday, both here in Los Angeles and in the Big Apple.  The buzz leading up to the big reveal was that, hey, this might be a bigger contender than we anticipated.  But personally speaking, the result is almost an afterthought — no lingering, no spirited embrace of the film’s themes and story particulars.  Just another film.

    So, is it just me, or is the soft landing of so many of the year’s perceived heavies beginning to tangibly expose 2008 as the Oscar low point we all thought it would become?

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  • Oscar column on the way

    Just a note to say it hasn’t slipped my mind. I know some folks get testy when I don’t get that sucker up but fast. With “The Reader” screening yesterday and “Gran Torino” next Monday, I’ve pushed the “Off the Carpet” columns to Tuesdays for these two weeks. It’ll be up shortly.

  • ‘Reader’ revealed

    Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader” has begun it’s big Oscar season reveal after behind-the-scenes drama has defined the film for a number of months. Dare I say it — given the circumstances — but the effort feels rushed. It’s an oddly disorienting narrative that takes some time settling into an emotional groove, but when it does, it packs affecting punch.

    The weird thing is it feels like the last 123 minutes have transported me back to the mid-1990s. This is a film that recalls the heyday of Harvey Weinstein’s grip on this time of year, perhaps in atmosphere more than quality. It should be no surprise, then, that Anthony Minghella is one of the producers attached. There are echoes of his work throughout, and really, Daldry might be the only filmmaker with the right doses of prestige and dramatic flavor to take up Minghella’s mantle.

    I’ll get into more later, but I have to mention Nico Muhly’s exemplary score and exquisite photography from Chris Menges and Roger Deakins, both credited. Stand-out particulars.

  • Out and about

    Mostly silence on my end today.  I’m pushing the Oscar column to tomorrow due to a screening of “The Reader” this morning.  Might as well get one more under my belt before tackling an update.  This time next week “Gran Torino” will be out of the way, then it’s up to Sony when they want to drop the curtain on the season’s offerings.  As far as I know, no “Seven Pounds” screenings have been announced.

    I’ll touch base briefly with a “Reader” reaction around noon-ish, then back again in the evening.