In Contention

Tag: The Social Network

  • D.C. critics apparently saw only 33 films this year

    I have to say, this year’s list of awards nominees from the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association is even more uninspired and Oscar-guessing than last year’s slate.  But they kick off the critics’ awards circuit nevertheless.

    Winners will be announced Monday, but I imagine “The Social Network,” which racked up a field-leading eight nominations, will be declared Best Film and continue to be rather dominant as the critics’ darling of the year.  The Oscar question, however, is whether the critics can force the issue like they did last year.

    Or is there just not a sexy enough narrative as 2009’s battle of the exes to get it there?

    You know what I think.  But anyway, head on over to The Circuit to see what they’re springing for in the nation’s capital.

    [Photo: Columbia Pictures]

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Precursors begin, ‘Grit’ unveiled and Oscar hosts tapped

    • The biggest news of this busy week may well have been the announcement of James Franco and Anne Hathaway as this year’s Oscarcast hosts.

    • Unless you count “The Social Network” dominating the National Board of Review as bigger news, that is.

    • Or, for that matter, our first look at the Coen brothers’ “True Grit.”

    • Speaking of which, Kris reported on the current eligibility status of Carter Burwell’s score (still up in the air).

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  • ‘Social Network’ wins big with NBR

    The National Board of Review announcement is historically considered the “official” start of the film awards season, but with things like the Gotham Awards, Indie Spirit nominations and even the Hollywood Film Awards creeping more and more into mid-fall, this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

    Today the organization announced winners in the usual categories, winners to be honored at a New York ceremony in January.  Last year the organization picked “Up in the Air” as its Best Film winner, greatly solidifying the buzz of early December 2009.  This year, they’ve gone with David Fincher’s “The Social Network.”

    The film also took home awards for Best Director (David Fincher), Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg), Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).  Most exciting for me is to see that Lesley Manville won Best Actress for her performance in “Another Year.” The flames seemed to be dying as of late.  Christian Bale and Jacki Weaver won in the supporting races for “The Fighter” and “Animal Kingdom,” respectively.

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  • Robert Duvall takes aim at “actor’s enemy” Stanley Kubrick

    It was interesting this morning to see Robert Duvall’s recent comments on Stanley Kubrick’s process with actors making the rounds.  Duvall chimed in with trademark candor at The Hollywood Reporter’s Actors Round Table when the issue of exhaustive takes came up.  “The Social Network” director David Fincher is known for doing quite a few, and Kubrick was infamous for it.

    The actor called the work of Kubrick actors “the worst performances I’ve ever seen in movies” and even went so far as to call the director an “actor’s enemy.”  I’d maintain that Kubrick’s films have rarely been about performance above formalism, but that’s me.  Though the comments did remind me of a similar aside I had with actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

    I sat down with the “Inception” and “Shutter Island” star over the weekend to discuss, mainly, the latter and his work with director Martin Scorsese over the years.  In the midst of detailing his on-set process with the director, DiCaprio went off on a small tangent about the potential value of exhaustive takes and I thought it would make a nice rebuttal to Duvall’s point of view.  Check out the audio after the jump.

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  • 12/2 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Hickenlooper’s photo diary, the race’s generation gap and the ‘My Dog Tulip’ Oscar campaign

    • Anne Thompson has George Hickenlooper’s “Casino Jack” photo diary. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Patrick Goldstein writes up the “My Dog Tulip” Oscar campaign. [The Big Picture]

    • Vincent Cassel on “Black Swan,” movie overkill and the politics of selling out. [Movieline]

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  • December winner predictions

    I haven’t bothered taking a stab at predicting this year’s Oscar winners yet.  Now seems like the right time, given that everything has been seen (save for two Sony entries with comedy stylings that look to be commercial enterprises more than awards plays).

    I’m long on the record as thinking “The King’s Speech” is the one to beat in this year’s Best Picture race, and little — if anything — has given me reason to think otherwise.  But as I’ve already warned, being out in front so early can be a handicap ultimately, so we’ll see if it pans out accordingly.

    I’m not putting a ton of stock into these predictions yet, so you shouldn’t either.  After all, one of my picks isn’t even present in the sidebar predictions at the moment (though that will change in a week’s time).  So just look at this as a chance to spitball some possibilities.  And feel free to offer up your guesses in the comments section below.  My predictions after the jump.

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  • 12/1 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Timberlake’s campaign, Portman’s weight loss and unused Ledger footage

    • Rumors fly concerning Heath Ledger’s Joker making an appearance in “The Dark Knight Rises” via unused footage from “The Dark Knight.” (Not gonna happen.) [Stuff.co.nz]

    • Does Natalie Portman’s “Black Swan” weight loss mean Oscar gold? [Movieline]

    • David Poland sits down with “Get Low” screenwriters Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell. [The Hot Blog]

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  • 11/30 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Nolan circling back, Carpetbagger returns, debating Oscarcast hosts

    • Composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and sound mixer Ren Klyce talk “The Social Network. [SoundWorks Collection]

    • Patrick Goldstein catches up with the idea that the new Disney is pushing hard for “Toy Story 3,” deems it “crazy,” but smartly warns against chafing. [The Big Picture]

    • Christopher Nolan circles back around as “Inception” readies for home video release. [Wired]

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Kicking the tires on the circuit

    On the precipice of December, the season feels at once stale and fresh. We’re in the post-Thanksgiving food coma paradox that hits every year. But things are going to start heating up real soon.

    The last two films out of the gate, “TRON Legacy” and “True Grit” (both ironically starring Jeff Bridges), have already started screening.  SAG ballots are already in the hands of nominating committee members and voting deadlines are approaching for various organizations.

    The circuit “officially” begins Thursday with the always arbitrary National Board of Review announcement. The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association will get a jump on the critics awards once again when they announce one week from today, while the Los Angeles (12/12) and New York online (12/12) and print (12/13) critics will have their say the following week, as well as the BFCA (12/13) and HFPA (12/14).

    The excitement will build to the usual pre-holiday stall and pick right back up on January 4 when the writers and producers guilds announce nominees, followed the same week by the art directors and sound mixers. And the date most will have their eyes on — January 10 — will bring the DGA’s list of contenders. Before you know it we’ll be on a collision course with the January 25 Oscar nominations announcement and things will be mercifully nearing an end.

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  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Potter’ tops ‘Tangled’

    “Megamind” held pretty well for a fourth weekend, though of course it would given the holiday.  “The Social Network,” meanwhile, crossed $90 million, which ought to be considered a big deal for a talky fall drama with no movie stars.  “127 Hours” added nearly 200 screens and almost pushed into the top 10, while “Love & Other Drugs” opened to a soft $14 million for the five-day.  “Tangled” did close to $70 million for the five-day.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Sight & Sound names ‘Social Network’ best of 2010

    It’s been five years since an American film topped the annual poll of venerable British film mag Sight & Sound, and even longer since a major studio picture took the honor. So congratulations are in order to “The Social Network,” which received the most votes across the selection of 85 international critics invited to submit their top five films of 2010, following in the footsteps of “Brokeback Mountain,” “Hidden,” “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” “Hunger” and “A Prophet.” (The last-named film appears again in this year’s list, thanks to the votes of critics who came to it later.)

    That David Fincher’s film should have won out in a poll traditionally dominated by world arthouse cinema suggests it could well be the most-favored title in next month’s avalanche of US critics’ awards, positioning it as the discerning voter’s alternative to more milquetoast bait in the Oscar race. “The King’s Speech,” of course, doesn’t even come near the magazine’s Top 12 (usually a Top 10, extended due to ties); indeed, of all films even remotely in the Oscar conversation, only “Another Year” and “Winter’s Bone” (surfacing in some interesting places, that one) feature.

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 42 — ‘The Way Back’ woes, Sturgess and Renner make the rounds, Best Actress race (kind of) taking shape and ‘The King’s Speech’ opens

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk.

    In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

    Anne and I are in a bit of a food coma today, so the podcast was a bit all over the place. We free associate from topic to topic bringing in your questions where applicable, but there’s a lot to digest. Let’s see what’s on the docket today…

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  • THE LONG SHOT: When you’re strange

    (Updated predictions available here.)

    I shan’t often find room for Gaspar Noé’s name in a space ostensibly dedicated to the Oscar race, so bear with me if this seems an unlikely opening gambit, but inspiration for this week’s column began with a conversation about his fluorescent, drug-addled ghost story “Enter the Void.”

    A friend had recently caught up with it, and found herself disappointed: having been promised a psychotropic headfuck, she instead found something more sentimental and less questioning than his previous work. “At this rate,” she muttered aggrievedly, “he’s about 10 years away from a bloody Oscar nomination.”

    That’s a flip exaggeration, of course, but there’s a kernel of truth in it: the Academy likes its enfants terribles most when they’ve passed the teething stage and begin to play nice — or at least safe. There’s a long and illustrious list of adventurous, iconoclastic directors who scored with AMPAS either by putting a leash on their wilder creative instincts or making sly concessions to the mainstream.

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  • Stephen King’s top 10 films of 2010

    Entertainment Weekly columnist (and a dabbler in fiction) Stephen King is the first out of the gate this year with a top 10 list, beating the usual early likes of Peter Travers et al to the punch.

    King’s lists are always, shall we say, unique.  They generally lean toward the populist and make it rather obvious year in and year out that the author couldn’t possibly have seen everything there was to see in a film year.  And as you might imagine, genre fare is usually dominant.

    This year is no different.  Of COURSE this is his top 10 list.  Makes perfect sense.  And while his #1 couldn’t have been more predictable (given what he likes and what he’s written about the film), I wonder — was the original even on his radar?  (Answer: Nope.)  Anyway, check back Friday for Oscar Talk and an announcement regarding this year’s top 10 list (mine and Anne’s).  King’s full list (dug up courtesy of /Film) after the jump.

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  • Videos du jour

    A number of videos have been making the rounds this week, so I figured I’d consolidate.  Starting with Facebooking Aaron Sorkin’s sharp dialogue:

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  • 11/24 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Kunis on her ‘Machinist’ impression, Hammer talks twinning, bad boy celebrity

    (Ended up unexpectedly taking the day off yesterday.  Not that I’m complaining.)

    • Anne Thompson talks to “Secretariat” star Diane Lane. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Mila Kunis on dropping to a bony 95 pounds for “Black Swan.” [E! Online]

    • Dave Karger, meanwhile, wonders if the actress can score an Oscar nod alongside co-star Natalie Portman. [Inside Movies]

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  • If other directors made ‘The Social Network’

    This video, courtesy of College Humor, was making the rounds yesterday.  In case you missed it:

  • Rudin tapped for PGA’s Selznick Award

    It looks to be a pretty good year for producer Scott Rudin.  “The Social Network” has already opened and done quite well for a fall drama (not to mention the awards buzz that keeps piling on).  “The Way Back,” which he executively produced, is another great collaboration with Peter Weir, and the Coens’ “True Grit” is still to come.

    At the end of the day, it could be an even better showing that he had in 2007, when Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” and the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” were duking it out for the Best Picture win.  The latter, of course, took the gold.

    If you’ve been picking up The Hollywood Reporter’s big glossy issues, you probably saw in the latest a big spread with Stephen Galloway interviewing the producer.  Today comes word that the PGA will honor Rudin at this year’s festivities.  Check out the full press release after the jump.

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