In Contention

Tag: The Wrestler

  • 10/2 Oscarweb Round-up

    Rosemarie Dewitt in Rachel Getting Married• Jeffrey Wells reports that Jim Sheridan’s “Brothers” has been pushed to 2009. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Patrick Goldstein hypothesizes that the year-end Oscar glut is detrimental to quality films and, in a round about way, that studios should forgo the Oscar spending.  Gasp! [The Big Picture]

    • David Poland apparently missed the qualifier “largely” in disputing a section of Goldstein’s lede. [The Hot Blog]

    • Michael Ordoña talks to the wonderful Rosemarie Dewitt about her work in “Rachel Getting Married.”  Best in show, in my opinion. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Tom O’Neil spotlights the tech crew of “Eagle Eye,” wonders if Oscar might be in their future. [Gold Derby]

    • Karina Longworth reports on the “Wrestler” press conference at the New York fest. [Spout Blog]

    • Andrew O’Hehir talks to Bill Maher — boy is he making the rounds for “Religulous.” [Beyond the Multiplex]

    • Chris Ayers heads over to Ixtlan for a “W.” chat with Oliver Stone. [The Times]

    • The 25 greatest movie posters of all time.  Too heavy ont he vintage stuff, but a fun list. [Premiere]

  • 9/24 Oscarweb Round-up

    Harvey Weinstein• David Poland adds a nice perspective to yesterday’s nothing “news” about Weinstein vs. Rudin. [The Hot Blog]

    • Patrick Goldstein sticks his toe in the scuffle as well. [The Big Picture]

    • Ditto Brad Brevet. [Rope of Silicon]

    • 10 things you need to know about “The Wrestler.” [Vulture]

    • Jeffrey Wells thinks “Miracle at St. Anna” is a poblem movie because he didn’t get an invite. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • When will Hollywood start feeling the credit crunch? [The Guardian]

    • Keira Knightley could be lined up to play F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Zelda Sayre. [The Independent]

  • Best Original Screenplay: beyond the obvious

    Everyone has a favourite Oscar category, and Best Original Screenplay is mine. It’s partly because I’m a screenwriter myself, so I feel a little more invested in the outcome. My evaluation of the category often comes down to the question: “Which screenplay do I most wish I’d written first?”

    More importantly, however, it’s the category where the Academy takes its greatest artistic risks. With the Best Picture category generally weighted towards adaptations, they often use Best Original Screenplay as a way to acknowledge the edgier, more adventurous work that voters can see the greatness of, but don’t yet have the guts to honour with their biggest prize. Hell, once in a blue moon they even give it to (gasp) a foreign-language film.

    It’s this convenient ghettoising mentality that ensures the likes of “Citizen Kane,” “The Red Balloon,” “Chinatown,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Talk to Her” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” don’t go empty-handed. Sure, it sucks that they couldn’t win more. And, being the Academy, they make more than their share of screw-ups. (Let’s try and forget that, in 1960, “Pillow Talk” beat — wait for it — “Wild Strawberries,” “North by Northwest” and “The 400 Blows,” shall we?) But they occasionally hit on an otherwise-snubbed masterpiece, and for that we should be grateful.

    This year’s Best Picture slate appears to be heavy on prestige adaptations, allowing for a more idiosyncratic ragbag of contenders on the Original Screenplay front, mixing familiar Academy-anointed favourites with some exciting new voices.

    There is, of course, a chance this could be a year when the paths of the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay races converge, principally in the shape of “Milk” scribe Dustin Lance Black. Already high hopes for “Milk” were amplified by an excellent trailer, and a number of Oscar clairvoyants are labelling it the front-runner in the top race. If this turns out to be the case, Black will likely benefit.

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  • Best Actor race looking tight as always — expect surprises

    Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary RoadThe Best Actor category tends to be one of the more crowded categories come Oscar time, and 2008 looks to be no exception. To be sure, there are a handful of frontrunners as usual, but hovering behind them are another group, more than eight who could easily sneak in and nab a nomination. Last year Tommy Lee Jones was nominated for his powerful work in “The Valley of Elah,” a richly deserved nod, but completely unexpected by the majority of prognosticators.  I remember smiling when I heard his name read, but it was a huge surprise.

    I would expect something similar this year, as we have some of the great  actors and potentially stunning performances in contention.

    The obvious frontrunner at this point is Mickey Rourke, basking in the attention being given to “The Wrestler.”  His performance is nothing short of miraculous, an astounding piece of acting, and it is great to see him back in the fold.  But when it comes to winning the award, I have to say: not a chance. Rourke is intensely disliked in Hollywood.  He’s seen as someone who basically spit on the industry to walk away and become a boxer. As a friend close to Rourke said, “A lot of people were happy when he left and don’t want this guy back.”

    Frank Langella looks to be terrific in the trailers for “Frost/ Nixon.”  He has always been a great actor, better known for his stage work than film, though in the last few years he has become a formidable presence on the big screen. I remember seeing him as “Dracula” both on stage and on film in the late 1970s and hoped he would go far. He did, just not in the movies, until recently.

    Kris has Michael Sheen down as a lead actor possibility as well, and I agree. It’s one of those “Amadeus” situations where one performance cannot exist without the other. There is a strong chance that if the film and the actors are terrific, both of them will be nominated, though Langella certainly has the showier role of the two.

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  • THE LISTS: Top 10 performances you’re underestimating

    Every year it seems there are a number of performers in the thick of an Oscar hunt that don’t get the same attention as the expected heavy-hitters.

    It’s no surprise, of course, that Oscar prognostication would lean toward the anticipation of what lies ahead, unseen, unproven.  The mystery stays in tact, if for precious few moments.  But a number of nominated actors and actresses, year after year, tend to bank on the underestimation of the masses, allowing those heavy-hitters to fall by the wayside and provide just the opportunity they were waiting for all along.

    Here, then, is an attempt to shine a light on 10 stealthy contenders that seem to be flying low on the radar so far this season:

    Richard Jenkins in The Visitor10. Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
    At the moment, “The Visitor” star Richard Jenkins might seem like the obvious bet for a list such as this.  But with Overture Films planning an Oscar campaign for the character-actor-turned-leading-man and a year increasingly giving credence to smaller films, this gem of a performance from way back in the first quarter of the year could find room to make a move.  A prime DVD release date will keep the film fresh in voters’ minds and perhaps divert some of the attention away from the Brad Pitts, Sean Penns and Frank Langellas for a spell.

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  • 9/16 Oscarweb Round-up

    Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading• Sasha Stone rounds up a few of the foreign language film submissions coming in. [Awards Daily]

    • Peter Bart seems to think the Coen brothers’ best opening weekend yet for “Burn After Reading” has more to do with turning “cold” into “hot” than with Brad Pitt extracting laugh after laugh in trailers for the past few months. [Peter Bart]

    • Sony Pictures Classics nabs the Toronto documentary hit “Every Little Step.” [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s “Still Walking” edges out “Goodbye Solo” and “The Wrestler” for the best of Toronto as Eugene Hernandez polls critics and bloggers at the fest. [indieWIRE]

    • Keira Knightley keeps the “Duchess” publicity tour going with a stop under Donna Freydkin’s microscope. [USA Today]

  • OFF THE CARPET: Looking for quality in the festival world

    Guy Pearce in The Hurt LockerThis year’s Toronto International Film Festival just didn’t cut it for some people.  The talk of Oscar taking a break from the annual September showcase had become tired before films even began screening, and certainly before every major news outlet had chosen the angle as the only story worth telling.

    For 10 days, the excitement for what was on hand seemed terribly muted.  But for my part, I could not have been more enthralled.

    We’ve been gifted with frontrunners in the two lead acting categories (Mickey Rourke and Kristin Scott Thomas), performances that should maintain their bee-lines for nominations at the very least, despite what the next three months have in store.  A studio that looked primed for a much-deserved year off the Oscar circuit two weeks ago has emerged as a formidable contender yet again with two acquisitions that are already winning awards (Fox Searchlight).

    What’s more, true independent cinema was given a stage on which to perform without being obscured by big studio product seeking a pre-Oscar campaign boost.  As a result, at least two well-received sleepers have insinuated themselves into the film awards spotlight (“The Hurt Locker,” “Lovely, Still”).

    What’s not exciting?

    I started out this season thinking 2008 would be a weak year for cinema, perhaps on the level of 2005’s shoddy output.  The idea has been echoed in numerous corners, as well as by fellow contributors, but I feel the need to re-frame my philosophy on the situation.  2008 seems to be proving itself a much more measured year, perhaps with less “rah-rah” exhibitions of undeniable filmmaking talent than solid and penetrating works that are out there for the interested (and patient) viewer.

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  • 9/14 Oscarweb Round-up

    Danny Biyle• Anne Thompson wraps up this year’s Toronto/Telluride corridor. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Jeffrey Wells, meanwhile, recaps the Toronto fest. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • David Poland thinks Toronto’s “car wreck for expectations” might be a good thing. [The Hot Blog]

    • Peter Scieretta reports on a release date for “The Wrestler”: December 19. [/Film]

    • James Rocchi chats it up with David Poland via podcast in Toronto. [Cinematical]

    • Oscar-winner Kevin Costner defends his Hollywood legacy — and he damn well should. [The Times]

    • Patrick Goldstein spends some time with Toronto “smart shoppers” Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, co-chiefs of Sony Pictures Classics. [The Big Picture]

    • Kevin Kelly talks to filmmaker Danny Boyle, fresh off his People’s Choice win in Toronto for “Slumdog Millionaire. [Spout Blog]

    • Geoffrey Macnabb welcomes Mickey Rourke back to the top with open arms. [The Independent]

  • Catching up…

    Not much going on today, so I’ve added a few new buzz pages to the collection: “Blindness,” “Gran Torino,” “I’ve Loved You So Long,” “Synecdoche, New York,” and “The Wrestler.”

    As always, you can take a look at all pages by checking out the Contenders page, or by clicking on various links in the predictions sidebar.  Still a little ways to go, but we’re almost complete.

  • 9/11 Oscarweb Round-up

    Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler• James Rocchi gets “Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow on the record. [Cinematical]

    • Ditto Anne Thompson. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • David Poland has considerable praise for John Malkovich’s work in “Disgrace.” [The Hot Blog]

    • Anthony Kaufman reports Toronto as a shot in the industry’s arm. [Wall Street Journal]

    • A.O. Scott from that of sobering realism. [New York Times]

    • Patrick Goldstein gets some choice quotes out of Darren Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke.  [The Big Picture]

    • David Germain makes sure you’re aware that Rourke is in the midst of a career comeback. [Associated Press]

    • Danny Wood corners Javier Bardem in Madrid for a little “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” talk. [The Independent]

  • ‘Che,’ ‘W.’ among films announced to play London fest

    Looking down the list of titles in the newly-revealed lineup for next month’s London Film Festival lineup, my initial reaction was one of mild disappointment. Plenty of exciting titles, for sure, but it doesn’t quite match last year’s feast that included everything from “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” to “The Assassination of Jesse James” to “Juno” to “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.”

    My second thought, however, was that the lineup reflects more on what a tepid year for film 2008 is shaping up to be, rather than any lack of effort on festival director Sandra Hebron’s part. Tellingly, this morning Hebron herself cited critical opinion that, in the wake of a roundly derided Venice festival, “it wasn’t a vintage year for cinema.”

    But enough of the hand-wringing. There’s still much to get excited about, including “Che,” the two parts of which, interestingly, will be screened both together and apart; Oliver Stone’s potentially polarising “W”; “Hunger,” featuring a potential dark horse for Best Actor; “Religulous”; “Rachel Getting Married,” “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist,” “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson” and, to my immense delight, “Synecdoche, New York.”

    Not to mention that, as previously announced, the festival will be bookended by the world premiere of “Frost/Nixon” and Danny Boyle’s red-hot Toronto hit “Slumdog Millionaire.”

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  • “An Oscar-less Toronto” — but not for Searchlight

    Anybody who’s kept even half an eye on film news recently knows by now that, compared to previous years, the consecutive Venice and Toronto festivals have done little to illuminate the Oscar race. (Unless, I suppose, you were one of those predicting major glory for “Miracle at St. Anna.”)

    The Hollywood Reporter adds their verdict to the pile here, quoting an executive as declaring the fest “an Oscar-less Toronto.” There’s little new perspective in the article, but it’s a handy enough precis. They do think one race has benefited from the festival:

    But the festival might have helped clarify at least one category: the best actress race. The beneficiaries have been Anne Hathaway in Jonathan Demme’s dysfunctional-family drama “Rachel Getting Married”; Sally Hawkins in “Happy-Go-Lucky,” the Mike Leigh film about a chipper young schoolteacher; and, if Searchlight chooses to make an awards push for her, “The Secret Life of Bees” star Dakota Fanning.

    Hmmm. It’s not as if Hathaway and Hawkins weren’t deemed contenders before Toronto. (The Golden Globes may as well drop the other three slots for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical, right?) And Dakota Fanning? With those reviews? Yeah, right.

    In any case, as they acknowledge, Searchlight has other priorities now, having nabbed the two hottest Toronto titles:

    The lone film that has emerged as a genuine standout is Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” which went in as a question mark and will leave as a contender in pretty much every major awards category. To a lesser extent, Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” also is generating awards talk, though its cast is entirely unknown.

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  • Fuck that

    Warner Bros. Pictures' The FountainThis Ben Child item at The Guardian has me steaming.  The quote, following a recounting of “The Fountain”‘s crash and burn at Venice two years ago, that pushed me over the edge:

    How would Aronofsky recover? Despite being heralded as one of Hollywood’s most hotly-tipped young film-makers, he was a little early in his career to be making such a horrendous, narcissistic error of judgement. But recover he has. Could it be that the epic failure of The Fountain was just the kick in the teeth Aronofsky needed to get him back on track? There’s nothing like wasting six years of your life on a project, only to see all the doubters that tried to stop you getting it made proved correct, to persuade you to keep it simple the next time.

    Ass.  There are some of us that actually liked the film, bub.  Enough to consider its ambition worth more than the shitstorm that ensued.  There’s never anything worse than critics that smell blood, but whatever.

  • Yes, but what about the ladies?

    Marisa Tomei in The WrestlerMickey Rourke is on an unstoppable course toward a Best Actor nomination for his performance in “The Wrestler.”  Universal acclaim for the film has yet to hit a speed bump and by and large, folks are on board for this apparent tour de force.

    But there are at least two other performances in the film that aren’t getting their fair share of a spotlight dominated by Rourke’s comeback story.  So I thought I’d go through the reviews and cherry pick the copy that’s been dedicated to Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood, the former perhaps set up for a supporting actress run if the suits at Fox Searchlight decide to spread the campaign love.

    I’ll update this post as reviews land.  The ladies need their own space!

    Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter:

    Tomei delivers one of her most arresting performances, again without any trace of vanity. Wood’s part is smaller, but she captures the scalding anger of a woman neglected for most of her life.

    Todd McCarthy, Variety:

    As vibrant — and as naked — as she was in last year’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” Tomei is in top, emotionally forthright form as she charts a life passage similar to Ram’s, if much less extreme. Once her character stops stonewalling her father and hears him out, Wood provides a fine foil for Rourke in their turbulent scenes together.

    John Foote, In Contention:

    Tomei is excellent, once again giving a fearless performance in and out of her clothing as she did last year in “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” and Evan Rachel Wood is fantastic as Rourke’s estranged daughter who does not know if she’s ready to know her father again.

    Peter Sciretta, /Film:

    Mickey’s performance is worthy of all the Oscar buzz that has been floating around since the Venice premiere. Also, Tomei and Wood’s performances should not be discounted.

    Erin Cullen, Empire Movies:

    In her role as Cassidy, a stripper who develops a relationship with Randy, Marissa Tomei also offers a clear reminder of the caliber of acting that earned her two trips to the Oscars.

  • 9/9 Oscarweb Round-up

    (from left) Larry Charles and Bill Maher on the set of Religulous• Jeffrey Wells digs “Nothing But the Truth” (again), but wasn’t so much for the Toronto debut’s after party. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Lou Lumenick, meanwhile, calls the film “silly” and “an endless mopefest.” [Lumenick on Film]

    • Nancy Kriparos catches up with a few more flicks in Toronto, including the awards sneaker “Dean Spanley.” [Awards Daily]

    • Peter Bart talks to Bill Maher about the comedians new documentary “Religulous.” [Peter Bart]

    • James Rocchi is on board for “The Wrestler,” calling it a reflection of “poisonous” American entertainment culture. [Cinematical]

    • Peter Sciretta also reviews the film… [/Film]

    • …after fumbling to produce an incoherent initial reaction IMMEDIATELY after seeing the film. [/Film]

    • Bob Tourtellotte reports a toned-down, hype-controlled festival. [Reuters]

    • Stephanie Zacharek gets some face time with Ed Harris. [Salon]

    • Presumably trying to beat Variety’s list of 10 to the punch, Karen Durbin picks five actors to watch (including the overreaching “Miracle at St. Anna” star Omar Benson Miller). [New York Times]

    • Anne Thompson hands MTV’s credit over to /Film for yesterday’s Depp/Hoffman/Batman “news.”  Nothing confirmed yet on that, of course. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • And about that…Devin Faraci is holier than thou. [CHUD]

  • I wonder if Nicolas Cage is kicking himself right now.

    After all, he was supposed to take on the role that is making Mickey Rourke a star again.  “Bangkok Dangerous” or “The Wrestler” — which film would you rather be your stage at the moment?

  • TORONTO: ‘Che,’ ‘The Wrestler’

    Benicio Del Toro in CheTwo masterpieces, one right after the other.  This was the day I had been waiting for.  I caught Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” today, all four hours and 20 minutes of it.  It’s a glorious achievement from a brilliant mind, one of the few directors who seeks to challenge himself constantly.  “Che” is audacious and bold filmmaking because not everyone will like it or even understand it perhaps.  Soderbergh digs deep into the mind of a brilliant man and allows us a lucky glimpse.

    Moments after the film ended, with barely a moment to regroup, I saw Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” — and now I understand what all the fuss is about.  If Mickey Rourke is not nominated for Best Actor for an Academy Award, there really is no justice.  But Hollywood can be quite the unforgiving town…

    (Reviews after the jump.)

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  • UPDATED: Want to hear Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Wrestler’ song?

    Bruce SpringsteenThe closing credits track from Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” a modest little ditty cooked up by the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, is one of the elements of this buzz-hogging flick that has fans foaming at the mouth in anticipation.

    Well, it seems some industrious soul turned on a recorder at a recent screening of the flick.  That’s my best guess judging by the rough audio quality and the burst of applause at the beginning…

    BUT IT PAINS ME TO SAY that Fox Searchlight has asked us to take the song down.

    Sorry.  Not entirely unexpected, of course, but if you had a chance to listen, consider yourself lucky.  Personally, I think it’s vintage Boss, a solid number that seems a perfect fit for what this film appears to be.  Someone has also taken a stab at transcribing the lyrics, which are, as expected, sublime.

    And by the way, if you didn’t notice in today’s Oscarweb Round-up, excerpts from Clint Mansell’s score for the film have popped up on the composer’s MySpace page.  Typical Mansell, ambient, atmospheric, etc.  When is this guy going to get some Oscar love?