In Contention

Tag: The Social Network

  • In praise of Reznor/Ross

    This year’s Best Original Score race really has me at a loss.  I freely admit that I have no idea what will happen there.  Some days I think we’ll get a small surprise like Alexandre Desplat sliding in for his best work this year in “The Ghost Writer,” others I think we could just get a massive, happy surprise like Daft Punk slipping in for their brilliant work on “TRON Legacy.”

    Other times, I kind of just bank on it being a boring assemblage of what we’ve been expecting.  Probably option “C” is the wisest expectation.

    One thing has begun to materialize lately for me, though.  And that is the fact that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who I once upon a time thought might not even get a nomination for their wonderfully woven ambient work in “The Social Network,” could be the frontrunners to win in a category that might be filled with less-singular achievements.

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  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: Chad’s best of 2010

    When it came time to choose a snappy title for my year-end retrospective, the one that seemed to fit best is the one given to all my columns at In Contention this year. Oscar and I have shared a mutual disinterest in what the other feels to be award-worthy for a few years now and it doesn’t look like the trend is going to change much in 2011. For those interested, my top 20 last year garnered a whopping three nominations between them (two coming in the Best Animated Feature category).

    If there was any kind of trend or narrative to my taste this year, I guess it would be the rise of documentaries. Nearly 50% of my top 20 is comprised of the medium (including a few hybrids that blur the line), compared to a single entry last year. My guess it has more to do with a growing disenchantment towards lazy screenwriting than a noticeable uptick in quality non-fiction film. Regardless, truth was truly more interesting than fiction for me in 2010.

    Elsewhere, a number of high ranking films have to do with relationships and their struggles, possibly connected to the fact that breaking up with my girlfriend of four years was probably the defining event of my year, personally. Sometimes a movie hits you when and where you need to be hit.

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  • Working on Zuck’s “likability”

    Over at The Envelope, Claudia Eller and Jessica Guynn are wondering the same thing I was when I watched Scott Rudin accept his Golden Globe for Best Picture Sunday night: “Rudin’s thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Co. at the Golden Globes suggest that the production’s and company’s relations have improved. But have they?”

    They write:

    Rudin’s comments would suggest that Zuckerberg and his associates at the popular social networking site had done an about-face after having earlier gone on a public campaign saying the film’s portrayal of Facebook’s founder as a soulless, hyper-ambitious entrepreneur who betrayed his Harvard classmates was “fiction.”

    But officials at Facebook refused to say Monday whether Rudin’s words reflected a change in the relationship or a rapprochement with the filmmakers, with whom they refused to cooperate during the making of the movie.

    I’ll offer my opinion: the new mandate on “The Social Network” may well be to work on the “likability” of Zuckerberg.

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  • ‘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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  • Frontrunners stay strong at the Golden Globes

    Zzzzz…huh?, wha?  Oh…

    First and foremost, I have to note Ricky Gervais’s work as emcee. Last year’s stint was a bit stale, I thought, but this year the gloves were off. Way off. Which, for whatever reason, I was okay with tonight. The difference between Gervais and Armond White, though, if you want to go there, is that one is expected (and paid) to act like a clown. The other is not.

    And I have to think “That was my favorite film of the year” was a subtle joke. Not that subtle was in his toolbox.

    Anyway, kicking things off, Christian Bale’s speech in acceptance of yet another Best Supporting Actor trophy slid off the rails a bit toward the end as he rushed an impromptu shout-out to actor Robert De Niro. Apparently in the press room he said the legend was “the shit,” so maybe that’s similar to what was censored from the telecast. Earlier in the speech, though, he paid lovely homage to “The Fighter” actor and producer Mark Wahlberg. “You can only give a loud performance like mine when you have a quiet, stoic anchor,” he said.

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  • 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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  • A night at the CCMAs

    It was a good time.  The evening started off with a bit of a surprise as “The Fighter” took in the award for Best Ensemble.  I happened to be seated with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, David O. Russell and, a real treat, Jack McGee, so it was an exciting pop to start things off.  No one at that table expected to win that award so they were quite exhilarated.

    Speaking of Bale, I thought he gave the night’s best speech, a touching, loose monologue that is certain to be repeated throughout the season.  And watching Hailee Steinfeld accept for Best Young Actor/Actress, I couldn’t help but picture her with an Oscar in her hand.  Despite Melissa Leo’s strong showing so far, the Best Supporting Actress category is still somewhat up in the air, I think (which Anne and I discussed in yesterday’s podcast).

    I bounced around here and there during the commercial breaks.  Naturally the first thing Darren Aronofsky said when he saw me was, “I finally made your list!  Next time you’ll listen to me.”  Maybe there’s a future in Oscar prognostication for him.  I also exchanged words with Colin Firth for the first time since our lengthy sit-down in Telluride.  Charming as ever.  But most exciting for me?  Honestly?  Meeting Ice Cube.  No, seriously.

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  • ‘Social Network’ rules BFCA Critics’ Choice Awards

    I’m sure Kris is having entirely too good a time at the post-awards party to huddle over a computer screen — perhaps he’ll have some insider perspective to add later — so let’s run through a couple of the most salient points for now.

    If you need to be told “The Social Network” triumphed in the top categories, well, welcome back from your spiritual retreat in the far reaches of Nepal. I hope you’re well rested. Interesting to see the film’s sway extending to the Best Original Score category, where Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross very coolly upset Hans Zimmer — though “Inception” fans will be pleased to note the film’s impressive haul elsewhere in the techs.

    No surprises whatsoever in the acting races, though I’m pleased to see Melissa Leo holding on to her early-season momentum in the supporting actress race; Hailee Steinfeld had to settle for the Best Young Actor prize.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Guilds galore and season fatigue

    • The Directors’ Guild of America presented few surprises in their award nominations, though some raised eyebrows at “True Grit”‘s omission. (Their documentary nods didn’t move the needle either.)

    • The American Cinema Editors’ nods matched those of the directors; the American Society of Cinematographers didn’t deviate much from the formula either.

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column addressed the growing consensus around a “Social Network” win, days before Kris formally made the prediction himself.

    • The Long Shot, meanwhile, wondered how the field of contenders this season ever got quite so narrow.

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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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  • 1/14 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Weinstein on the “Oscar movie,” HFPA sued, more bad ‘Social’ breath

    • Former Golden Globes publicist Michael Russell sues the HFPA two days before its biggest night leveling a boatload of accusations. [The Wrap]

    • Harvey Weinstein himself admits that the stereotype of the classic “Oscar movie” is probably gone. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Still beating David Fincher up over “The Social Network”‘s bad breath. [Slate]

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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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  • Iowa critics add to ‘Network’ haul

    If I’m not mistaken, save for the International Film Music Critics (which is obviously geared toward music rather than filmmaking), the Iowa Film Critics have put a bow on this year’s critics’ awards circuit by dishing out a Best Picture honor to, well…what else?

    Onward through the guilds.  The American Cinema Editors (ACE) announce tomorrow morning.  And the Costume Designers Guild (CDG) and Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) will wrap that nominations circuit up when they announce a week from tomorrow on January 21.  (And by then we’ll already be discussing the implications of the BFCA and Golden Globe winners, while looking ahead to the PGA awards.

    And the season keeps on keepin’ on.  Stay updated, as always, via The Circuit.

  • Fincher calls it down the middle

    Of course, no shock that the clearest vision and interpretation of the film comes from the guy responsible for it:

    I hate the awards part of the moviemaking process…And besides, on Social Network, I didn’t really agree with the critics’ praise. It interested me that Social Network was about friendships that dissolved through this thing that promised friendships, but I didn’t think we were ripping the lid off anything. The movie is true to a time and a kind of person, but I was never trying to turn a mirror on a generation…Let’s hope we strove to get at something interesting, but Social Network is not earth-shattering.

    From the director’s interview with W Magazine.

    [Photo: Columbia Pictures]

  • 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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  • One of these things is not like the other

    Though I guess it goes to show how well it’s registering on home video: