In Contention

Tag: The Social Network

  • ‘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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  • Did Armond White rain on the NYFCC parade?

    As regular readers might know, I tend to fall in the less populated “pro” camp when it comes to notoriously cranky New York Press critic Armond White — as much flak as he takes, from bloggers in particular, for his off-kilter tastes and occasionally aggressive writing style, I think he’s one of a select few writers making readers evaluate criticism as an artform, while I frequently find fillets of perspicacity in his more impassioned arguments.

    Dispensing with social niceties in creative print, however, is more endearing than doing the same in person — particularly when you’re representing not just yourself, but a group of professional peers.

    This Gawker report on White’s acid-tongued emceeing of last night’s New York Film Critics’ Circle awards dinner is too stingy with details and heavy on relayed quotes to pass judgment on, but on what’s supposed to be a celebratory communal evening, perhaps backhanded insults to winners and guests alike can wait for one evening. (UPDATE: NYFCC member Lisa Schwarzbaum says as much in her displeased writeup of the proceedings.)

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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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  • 1/11 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Sony’s campaign price tag, Cotillard preggers, Cameron on Hollywood’s “story crisis”

    • $55 million…for an Oscar? [New York Post]

    • Move over Natalie Portman.  Marion Cotillard is carrying, too. [Us Weekly]

    • Are Golden Globes speeches always better than the Oscars? [Movieline]

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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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  • 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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  • ‘Social Network’ wins NSFC

    Sheep. Full list of winners at The Circuit.

    More admirable is this:

    “NSFC also issued a statement calling for a re-examination of the MPAA rating system and another condemning Iran’s recent sentencing of Iranian directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof.”

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Guild onslaught, Postlethwaite passes, more best of 2010

    • The Producers’ Guild of America surprised no one with their list of nominees.

    • The Writers’ Guild, however, threw a few curveballs (aided by assorted ineligibilities), while the USC Scripter Awards surprised some with one of their selections.

    • In sadder news, we said goodbye to esteemed British character actor Pete Postlethwaite.

    • After a few weeks of deliberation, Guy picked his best and worst films of 2010.

    • Continuing this week’s guild run, both the Cinema Audio Society and the Art Directors’ Guild weighed in with their nominees.

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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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  • Toasting the ‘Social Network’ DVD release

    Sony pulled out all the stops last night with a big to-do soiree on behalf of the DVD/Blu-ray release of “The Social Network.” You go to these things, you expect a certain level of restraint, and then I’m pulling up to Spago and they’ve got the red carpet rolled out and the flashbulbs are popping and, well — it wasn’t an intimate Il Cielo thing, that’s for sure.  It was a great time, though.

    Tons of cast and crew were on hand.  I finally got some face time with Jesse Eisenberg, who made me totally nervous, to be quite honest.  He has a flustered (but endearing) way about him, and is a true gentleman.  Nevertheless, it seemed to me he wanted out of there.  Hey, it’s a lot to deal with for a young, unassuming actor like him.  He’s right at the front of a massive Oscar campaign for a highly successful film.  What can you say?  Good luck to him.

    I’ve of course already spoken to composer Atticus Ross and film editor Kirk Baxter, but it was nice to put faces to the names.  Trent Reznor couldn’t attend.  Also from the crew was cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, a great guy.  His first film was Fincher’s “Fight Club” back in 1999.  And Fincher was there.  Didn’t get a chance to speak with him.  Aaron Sorkin and Armie Hammer as well.  A brief exchange with Andrew Garfield.  Most everyone turned out.

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  • 1/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Exit’ credit complaint, Rudin’s PGA record, tequila and that ‘Black Swan’ lesbian scene

    • Does a complaint about uncredited art used in “Exit Through the Gift Shop” lend credence to the veracity of the film? [The Carpetbagger]

    • Tim Appello on “Black Swan”‘s supposedly tequila-laced lesbian scene. [The Race]

    • The narrative on Peter Weir this year continues to be about the unfortunate fact that he’s part of a dying (if not dead) breed. [The Wrap]

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  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The construction of ‘The Social Network’

    One of the immediately striking things about Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for “The Social Network” is its assemblage, the manner in which he chose to tell the story with cascading elements of the narrative. And when you bring on a meticulous craftsman like David Fincher to direct a film already detailed in its larval stage, you can bet that the attention to each moving part and how it fits into the whole will be amplified.

    So it is that the construction of “The Social Network” — and the contributions from its below-the-line crew toward those ends — could be the most defining aspect of a film dominating the precursor awards circuit to date.  I recently spoke to film editors Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, sound mixers Ren Klyce and Michael Semanick and composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to discuss those various moving parts, as well as their collaboration with a filmmaker who shows great respect for their art forms.

    Wall and Baxter don’t go back all that far with Fincher, believe it or not. They’re first pass on one of his films was 2007’s “Zodiac,” which was largely Wall’s film but Baxter was brought on to help out a bit. “Once I was in there I was difficult to move,” Baxter says.

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  • ‘Shutter Island,’ ‘Social Network’ surprise with Cinema Audio Society, ‘TRON’ snubbed

    The immediately striking thing about this year’s slate of nominees from the Cinema Audio Society (which honors sound mixing) is the appearance of “Shutter Island.” This is the film’s second below-the-line guild citation in as many days (following an Art Directors Guild nomination yesterday).

    If it had managed a PGA nomination earlier this week, I’d be saying, “Watch out.”  But the crafts are what were going to help this film along, if anything.  Just remember, there’s a 10th Best Picture slot somewhat up for grabs and there is always the “steak eaters” theory (however overstressed) to consider.  People in the industry do like the film, though maybe for its parts more than their sum.

    The second thing that’s striking is “The Social Network” making it in.  Though that shouldn’t be too unexpected.  It’s an amazing mix from veteran craftsmen.  But could this be the “Finding Neverland” or “Babel” of this year’s slate?  It’s possible.  (Check back later this morning for more on that as today’s Tech Support interview includes sound mixers Ren Klyce and Michael Semanick.)

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  • 1/6 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Roberts stumps for Bardem, ‘Valentine’ as class commentary, Affleck’s ‘Town’ inspirations

    • Julia Roberts’s Oscar plea for”Biutiful” star Javier Bardem. [Inside Movies]

    • Patrick Goldstein on “Blue Valentine” as a meditation on the class divide. [The Big Picture]

    • Ben Affleck on “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” “Amores Perros,” “Breaking Away” and “Heat” as inspirations for “The Town.” [The Envelope]

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  • ‘Ghost Writer’ surprises as one of five USC Scripter finalists

    The USC Libraries Scripter Award is an annual honor (now in its 23rd year) in recognition of “the best adaptation of the printed word into film.” It is one of the more unique awards along the circuit as it is not only awarded to the screenwriter but the source material’s author, as well.

    Past winners have included “Schindler’s List,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “No Country for Old Men,” obvious picks in their respective years. But the nature of the award has also generally allowed for some outside-the-box thinking, witnessed in nominations for “Get Shorty,” “The Bourne Supremacy” and “Iron Man,” among others over the years.

    A few years ago the rules for eligibility were extended to include screenplays based on pieces of journalism, comic books and even other screenplays. This is why, it should be noted, that “Toy Story 3” is not eligible for the honor this year: It is a screenplay based on separately created characters rather than the written word.  Also not eligible are foreign language films.

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  • Sony beefs up ‘Social Network’ site

    Nifty making-of stuff and more at 500millionfriends.com.

  • Predict the WGA and Scripter nominees

    Also speaking up tomorrow will be the WGA (Writers Guild of America).  The recently revealed list of ineligibilities makes picking this group’s choices much more fun, though it still kinda stinks because you know some of the best scripts of the year will be spectators.

    Last year the beneficiaries of the purge (which ultimately missed with Oscar) were “Crazy Heart,” “Julie & Julia” and “Star Trek” in adapted, “(500) Days of Summer,” “Avatar” and “The Hangover” in original.  From my vantage, there doesn’t appear to be as many options to choose from on the periphery of these races, but I’ll give it a stab.

    Click on through the jump to see my picks in the adapted and original categories, as well as discussion of the USC Scripter Awards.  (I’ll opt out of picking the documentary field from the WGA, which is likely to be a crap shoot, anyway.)

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