In Contention

Tag: Tom Hardy

  • ‘Moon,’ Carey Mulligan, Tom Hardy take BIFA Awards

    Tom Hardy in BronsonThe British Independent Film Awards really spread the wealth this year, with only two films — “Moon” and “Fish Tank” — taking more than one award. In a slightly surprising result, Duncan Jones’s sci-fi debut claimed the night’s top prize, Best British Independent Film, as well as Best Debut Director honors.

    Meanwhile, “Fish Tank,” which entered the ceremony with the most nominations, took a well-deserved pair of awards: Best Director for Andrea Arnold (the first woman ever to receive the honor) and Most Promising Newcomer for 18 year-old sensation Katie Jarvis.

    Jarvis lost the Best Actress award, however, to Carey Mulligan for “An Education” — one of the night’s few winners likely to figure prominently in the awards race across the pond. (This in stark contrast to last year’s BIFA awards, which were all about “Slumdog Millionaire.”)

    (more…)

  • Hal Holbrook’s awards season play, take two

    Hal Holbrook in That Evening SunOver the weekend, “That Evening Sun” star Hal Holbrook took the Excellence in Acting award at the Starz Denver Film Festival over the weekend.  When the press release landed in my inbox, it reminded me that, while I’ve been a pretty strong proponent of Patterson Hood’s original song from the film, I haven’t written about Holbrook’s performance all that much.

    It’s a beautiful piece of work.  Holbrook adds every ounce of texture, nuance, authenticity and depth that Clint Eastwood was woefully lacking in the similarly themed “Gran Torino” last year, but it’s unfair to start with a comparison, I guess.  Holbrook nails ornery to a T, and he seems to be able to work the natural rhythms of southern conversation better than anyone other than maybe Robert Duvall.

    Susan King recently talked to the actor, who said working on Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” gave him confidence.  And not to be SO 2007, but he offers some high praise for the actor/director in the piece.

    (more…)

  • Renner, Stuhlbarg, Waltz among Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch

    Jeremy RennerVariety’s annual list of 10 Actors to Watch may occasionally raise questions of what constitutes a career “breakthrough” — particularly in the case of established actors who those in the know have been watching all along.

    Still, it always makes for interesting reading, not least because, in some cases, it highlights names that Variety’s editors expect to show up in the coming awards season. Last year’s list featured four actors (Melissa Leo, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson and Michael Shannon) who ultimately wound up in the Oscar circle. This year’s list looks unlikely to match that number (nor does it match the feminine bent of last year’s crop), but there’s some undeniably worthy talent in there:

    Laz Alonso
    Maggie Grace
    Tom Hardy
    Nicholas Hoult
    Rachelle Lefevre
    Jeremy Renner
    Alia Shawkat
    Emma Stone
    Michael Stuhlbarg
    Christoph Waltz

    (more…)

  • ‘Fish Tank,’ ‘Moon,’ ‘Education’ lead BIFA noms, female directors rule

    Katie Jarvis in Fish TankYou’ve heard me natter on enough for months about how “Fish Tank” is one of the year’s best films — now you don’t have to just hear it from me anymore.

    Andrea Arnold’s lyrical character study of an unhappy Essex teenager (now being dubbed ‘the British “Precious”‘ by some lazy wags) leads the nominations for the British Independent Film Awards, with mentions in a whopping eight categories, including two for 18 year-old sensation Katie Jarvis.

    Once a very niche Transatlantic equivalent to the Indie Spirits, the BIFA Awards are gaining in profile every year, painting a far more revealing picture of the state of the UK film industry than the Oscar-toadying BAFTAs.

    They’re also naming more contenders who go on to feature heavily in awards season: “Slumdog Millionaire” was the belle of last year’s BIFA ball, while this year’s major crossover nominee promises to be “An Education.”

    (More discussion, and a full list of nominees, after the cut.)

    (more…)

  • 10/20 Oscarweb Round-up

    Francis Ford Coppola• Peter Knegt writes up a list of honest-to-God Oscar underdogs, but where’s Tom Hardy? [indieWIRE]

    • Peter Bart and Michael Fleming go back and forth on the new Oscar paradigm. [BF Deal Memo]

    • Francis Ford Coppola chimes in with cheery news: “The cinema as we know it is falling apart.” [Bloomberg]

    (more…)

  • ‘Bronson’ trailer

    Last month I briefly wrote up Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Bronson” out of the Los Angeles Film Festival.  As we approach the 2009 awards season, it still remains one of the best films of the year, in this viewer’s opinion.  Audacious, twisted and featuring an instantly classic performance by actor Tom Hardy.  A new trailer has been released.  Take a look:

  • SHORT TAKE: “Bronson” (****)

    BronsonLos Angeles Film Festival

    It took me a few minutes to really grasp that watching Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Bronson” was likely the most rewarding cinematic experience of the year to date, but when it clicked, it became obvious I was in the hands of an unrelenting artist.  Refn’s canvas is bone-crushingly overt.  The telling of the story is at once abstract and refined, quite expressionistic and an oddly refreshing assault on senses.

    The film concerns itself with the bizarrely true tale of Britain’s “most violent prisoner,” Michael Peterson, who after being taken into custody for attempted armed robbery at 19-years-old managed to turn a 7-year sentence into 34, 30 of them spent in solitary confinement.  The madness making itself at home, Peterson developed a superstar alter ego, “Charles Bronson,” proceeding, throughout his decorated tenure of incarceration, to maim, batter, bruise, take hostages and pretty much guarantee an inevitable discretionary life sentence for the crimes he’s committed behind bars.

    For all of this seemingly aimless madness, Refn is unexpectedly reserved when it comes to building a traditional motive into his vision of Bronson, still alive and surely raising hell to this day across the pond.  Beyond an intriguing theatrical structure motif, which stages actor Tom Hardy in spotlight as a one-man show (revealing Bronson, perhaps, as something of an exhibitionist), there is no pat reasoning for the criminal.  The film is a tapestry of implication, not indication.  And it is a fierce staple of the year’s festival circuit so far.

    (more…)

  • Nolan continues casting the hell out of ‘Inception’

    Add Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy to the ever-expanding, impressive slate of actors signed up for Christopher Nolan’s still-shrouded-in-mystery “Inception.”  Watanabe, of course, will be re-teaming with Nolan after starring in 2005’s “Batman Begins,” while Hardy was making waves earlier this year in the Sundance hit “Bronson” (you might recall the amusing story Michael Shannon told about that film back at the Santa Barbara Film Festival).

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Watanabe will play the film’s villain, a man who is blackmailing DiCaprio. Hardy is a member of DiCaprio’s team.”  Can’t…friggin…wait.