In Contention

Tag: Up in the Air

  • TELLURIDE: Clooney takes center stage

    George Clooney has been tapped this year for one of Telluride’s three big tributes, and it’s certainly the biggest of the trio. Whether it’s press and patrons schmoozing with the star at yesterday’s Patron Brunch, whispers around town (“Did you hear George Clooney is here?” “I really hope ‘The Ides of March’ is a TBA.”) or the ecstatic response to Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” this mountain burgh has been taken by Clooney fever.

    It’s a curious thing to see happen here at a festival that is so smooth and cool and not at all phased by celebrity. Clooney changes all those rules, though. And most of it has to be owed to his trooper disposition and charming charisma. He’s always “on,” and just about everyone wants to just throw back a few with the guy. Men want to be him, women want to…well, you get my drift.

    I tend to stay away from the tributes and spend that time taking in a film at Telluride. But since the actor is set to be feted later this evening, I thought I’d at least dedicate some space to his still in-progress career and the highlights that have brought him to this point.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: I’m just here for the movies

    “You’re the Oscar guys, aren’t you?” asked the spike-heeled PR officer upon eyeing the press badge dangling from my neck, her voice exuding the steely sweetness they teach you on the first day of public relations boot camp. It was midway through the Venice Film Festival and I was too beat — or my mouth just too full of complimentary cheese — to rephrase her blunt description. I nodded in reply: yes, I am indeed “the Oscar guys.” One of them, at any rate.

    “Thought so,” she said, eyes darting across the room, perhaps in search of my chart-brandishing entourage. “Not much for you here, is there?”

    On the one hand, I could hardly argue, not least since we’d both just emerged from a film — Chilean auteur Pablo Larrain’s brilliant nightmare of a black comedy “Post Mortem” — that stands as much chance of securing an invitation to the Kodak Theater as Kim Kardashian does to the Kennedy Center Honors.

    Five days into the festival, and the only film screened that belonged in the Oscar conversation (following the critical belly-flop of Julian Schnabel’s “Miral,” at least) was high-gloss opener “Black Swan,” and even that was generating “too cool for the Academy” conclusions. Oscar-watching at European festivals, even blogger-inundated Cannes, is a pretty spotty sport compared to the FYC frenzy of Telluride and Toronto.

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  • Defriending ‘The Social Network’

    With David Fincher’s “The Social Network” already accruing positive buzz ahead of its New York Film Festival premiere next month, its handlers would do well to pre-empt the inevitable pushback over matters of factual accuracy — complaints that have already dogged the film’s sloppy source book, Ben Mezrich’s “The Accidental Billionaires” (discussed at length in Page to Screen here).

    No one will (or should) be seeing “The Social Network” for an exhaustive journalistic essay on the origins of Facebook. Rather, what we’re hoping for from writer Aaron Sorkin is a tangy interpretation of the facts that reaches for broader truths about the social-networking generation; dramatic flexibility, then, is the order of the day. Needless to say, the powers behind Facebook, including founder (and “Social Network” protagonist) Mark Zuckerberg, don’t quite see things that way. This recent New York Times piece goes into the friction between them and the film’s producers.

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  • Reitman, Cody reteam on ‘Young Adult’

    Jason Reitman announced shortly after last season’s “Up in the Air” bonanza that his company had acquired the rights to Joyce Maynard’s novel “Labor Day.” But it turns out that, while he’s hard at work on drafts of that adaptation, another original script from “Juno” scribe Diablo Cody is what’s on deck for the director.

    Mike Fleming reports at Deadline that Cody’s “Young Adult” is being set up through John Malkovich’s Mr. Mudd production company for Reitman’s next gig behind the camera. 2007’s Oscar-winning “Juno” was also set up through Mr. Mudd.

    Charlize Theron is set to star as “a ghostwriter of young adult novels who realizes she has no identity with her pseudonym and plots to reclaim her identity,” Fleming writes. “Her campaign involves going back and rekindling a relationship with her high school boyfriend–who’s freshly married, is a new father, and wants no part of her.”  Reitman, meanwhile, compared the material to “To Die For” when we exchanged emails.  Sounds exciting.  He plans to go right into production on “Labor Day” after this project.

    Check out the rest of the story at Deadline.

  • Paging Rene Russo

    Honestly, the last time the name “Rene Russo” crossed my mind, I was still wearing school uniform and Bill Clinton was still president of the United States. Even then, it was only fleetingly: if you want the last time she was in a film that actually merited a second thought, we’re looking more at the year my voice broke. (Yes, that’d be “Tin Cup.”) How time flies.

    Of course, film history is littered with the swiftly curtailed careers of briefly ubiquitous stars — women in particular, given the regrettable age-40 sell-by date the industry still applies to many actresses. Hey, remember Madeleine Stowe? Andie MacDowell? Penelope Ann Miller? I can’t say Russo’s big-screen absence struck me as especially conspicuous, but Telegraph arts editor Sarah Crompton clearly thinks otherwise.

    Crompton takes the casting of Russo in Kenneth Branagh’s Marvel comic adaptation “Thor” — her first film role in over five years — as occasion for a valentine to the actress, holding her up as a 1990s ideal of “the woman every woman wanted to be,” and mourning a larger absence in the process.

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  • Center of the universe

    I wasn’t able to participate in Robert Welkos’s Hollywood News piece on the drama of bloggerdom (which was already covered to some extent by LA Magazine three years ago). Travel and a period of self-imposed distance from this circus kept me off the phone, but even if I had answered a few questions, I don’t really know what I could have added in the way of fresh perspective at this point.

    However, one thing caught my eye that is laughable on its face:

    “Mo’Nique was addressing me in her Oscar acceptance speech,” [Gold Derby’s Tom] O’Neil told HollywoodNews. “I had been very critical of her not campaigning when she should have.” O’Neil said after the speech, he received “200 e-mails” congratulating him.

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  • Guy’s final Oscar predictions

    Christoph Waltz in Inglourious BasterdsAnd so it comes to this: more months than I care to count of watching, thinking, sweating, fretting, writing, deleting and occasionally not caring boil down to single predictions in 24 categories. There’s a lot to get through here, and I’m not going to delay things with an introduction.

    Well, except for this one caveat — apology, even — of sorts. As you wade through my list, you may notice that my predictions look quite similar to those of one Mr. Kris Tapley. Remarkably similar, in fact. Unhealthily similar, even.

    What can I say? Short categories aside (which were subject to further research), the following predictions haven’t wavered in my mind since nomination day, over a month ago — and I see no compelling reason to go out on a limb this year. Sometimes great minds think alike. Frequently wrong, but alike nonetheless.

    With that, my predictions, preferences and rationales continue, category by category, after the cut.

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  • Nut up or shut up: final predictions

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt LockerAs I look over my final predictions for tomorrow night’s Oscar ceremony, I notice that I’ve made only one change — in the Best Live Action Short category — since taking my initial stab the day of the nominations.  And I haven’t made a single change since I started the Oscar Guide series.

    Am I that confidant in my picks?  Not really.  It’s a very unpredictable year all of a sudden (the AP chimes in on that here), even if conventional wisdom would have us believe much of this is a foregone conclusion.  But nothing has really moved the needle during the bulk of phase two and the one controversy that popped up may not be as detrimental as some suspect.  Regardless, I’m frankly bracing myself for having an off year.

    And it kinda sucks because I set a pretty high bar for myself last year, a personal best, as I nailed down a web-leading 21 of the 24 categories (23 of 24 if you count alternates).  That included a call for “Departures” that left me exposed to plenty of “You’re just trying to be different” heckling.  Ahem.

    If I even approach those numbers this time around, I’ll certainly be surprised.  I frankly don’t expect to hit 21 ever again, but who knows?  Many areas of this race are coming right down to the wire.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Picture

    Quenton Aaron in The Blind SideAnd here we are. With one day until the Oscar ceremony, we wrap up our Oscar Guide series with a look at the 10 nominations for Best Picture. Yes, 10. The Academy decided to pump up the intrigue by expanding its Best Picture field this year in an attempt at securing some love for more populist films with a wider audience, and it seems to have worked.

    But let’s face it. The most brilliant irony of the season would be, if after all of its attempts, the field expansion, spiffying up the telecast, etc., the Academy is one-upped by a film that virtually no one saw winning Best Picture. It could happen, but the highest grossing film of all time could also win. No shortage of drama here.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (James Cameron and Jon Landau)
    “The Blind Side” (Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson)
    “District 9    ” (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham)
    “An Education” (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Lawrence Bender)
    “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lee Daniels, Sarah Sidel-Magness and Gary Magness)
    “A Serious Man” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
    “Up” (Jonas Rivera)
    “Up in the Air” (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman)

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Directing

    (from left) Lee Daniels and Gabourey Sidibe on the set of PreciousThis year’s Best Director category has stirred a media frenzy for featuring, along with Best Picture, a face-to-face duel frequently dubbed “the battle of the exes.” Unfortunately the desire to tout that headline has clouded the discussion of the films, their merits and the actual accomplishments of those at the helm. But who cares about that stuff?

    Seriously, though, this could be a milestone occasion for two of the filmmakers in question, a return to glory for two other former awards season players and is already  the second notch on an exciting young filmmaker’s belt as he continues to make his mark on the industry. Not a bad cross-section.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (James Cameron)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Kathryn Bigelow)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Quentin Tarantino)
    “Precious” (Lee Daniels)
    “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman)

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  • Stab me in the eye

    I’m over the moon that “Minority Report” and “Collateral” are finally making their way to Blu-ray, and I look forward to owning “Up in the Air,” but I don’t understand why home video departments feel a need to rape and pillage well-considered and often times singular marketing materials in favor of such generic nonsense as this, the kind of artwork you’d expect to find at the bottom of the $5 bin at Wall Mart.

    Alright, no, I get it. Let’s make sure the star’s face is as apparent as humanly possible. But how many more dollars are they really making by sacrificing the visual identity of these films, anyway?

    CollateralMinority ReportUp in the Air

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

    Peter Capaldi in In the LoopIn most cases, the adapted screenplay category of a given Oscar race is packed with Best Picture nominees or contenders. This year, however, there was a nice balance of adapted and original screenplays in the Best Picture category, and in fact, of the “top five” films that trickled down throughout the season, three were original and two were adapted, a rarity.

    Regarding the adaptations, things seemed to firm up for a while, but with the various WGA ineligibilities, one couldn’t shake the feeling that a surprise was in the works. At the end of the day, Scott Cooper’s run on “Crazy Heart” came to an unfortunate end, while a fan-fave British comedy found support.

    The nominees are:

    “District 9” (Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell)
    “An Education” (Nick Hornby)
    “In the Loop” (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche)
    “Precious” (Geoffrey Fletcher)
    “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner)

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  • ‘Up in the Air,’ ‘Hurt Locker,’ ‘Cove’ win at WGA

    Insert token analysis here.  Longest…Oscar…season…ever.

  • The top 10 shots of 2009: part one

    Johnny Depp in Public EnemiesAssembling the assets for my annual take on the best single shots of the year was more of a chore this time around than ever.  Perhaps one need only look to a lackluster list of Oscar nominees in the Best Cinematography category to gauge just how underwhelming much of the work behind the camera was in 2009.  In fact, just one shot from a film shortlisted by the Academy in the field showed up on the list.

    And yet, 2009 brought my personal pick for the best cinematography of the decade.  Quite the paradox, I know.

    So a note on that.  Anthony Dod Mantle’s work on Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” was the most compelling, the most thematically resonant, the most daring work of the last 10 years.  But when it came to putting together my list, I could not, for the life of me, decide on an image that would make a solid entry from the film.

    To be perfectly honest, I can’t even decide on one that stands out as a specific piece of identity for its visual aesthetic.  One possibility would have been quite X-rated, while a handful of others seemed too much of a piece with an overall vision to be singled out.  So the film is not on the list.

    At the end of the day, however, I came around to a streamlined, varied collective that represents, for me, a nice cross-section of visions, genres and, certainly, budgets.  We’ve once again rounded up the perspectives from the DPs recognized this year, though two instances saw a necessity to quote the director rather than a proper cinematographer.  But we’ll get into those tomorrow.

    For now, let me offer the same sentiment I did last year: I look forward to doing this each and every year I’m cranking out copy for your reading pleasure (or displeasure).  In my view, it is one of the best ways I can commemorate the technicians that so often find themselves overlooked this time of year.  Thanks for your patience as I put it together, and I hope you enjoy the list.

    Without further ado…

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Four Vanguards and a Virtuoso

    Christoph Waltz at the 25th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival“Precious” star Gabourey Sidibe couldn’t be here last weekend for the Virtuosos presentation, which recognized her, Carey Mulligan, Saoirse Ronan, Emily Blunt and Michael Stuhlbarg, so she was in town this evening as part of the Vanguard presentation.  Stanley Tucci, meanwhile, couldn’t be here this week to accept his Vanguard prize, so he was here last week and filmed a video acceptance.

    They roll with the punches here in Santa Barbara.

    The four Vanguard award winners this year, which is the first year that saw more than one recipient, were Tucci, Christoph Waltz, Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga.  The award recognizes an actor (or actors) who has forged his/her own path, taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film.

    It fits the quartet.  These actors has found their way to this point in their careers in baby steps, Waltz’s career actually the most extensive of the four, ironically enough, regardless of his new appeal in the states.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Actor

    Morgan Freeman in InvictusThe Best Actor category solidified pretty early on this year. I imagine the eventual line-up had slid into place as early as November, and after the Screen Actors Guild made things more official, the predictable race unfolded from there. What we have now is a typical mixture of seasoned veterans, solid industry players and newcomers to the awards season.

    But things weren’t always so clear. Before a last-minute decision to release what, from afar, always appeared to be a potential awards vehicle for a respected star, things could have gone a number of ways. Sometimes jumping in late can be a boost, and sometimes it just seems like the obvious play.

    The nominees are:

    Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
    George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
    Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
    Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”
    Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”

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  • Up, up and away

    George Clooney in Up in the AirBack in a November installment of Off the Carpet, I noted that, by my measure, the films of 2009 reflected a particular theme.  “I’ve always come back to one thought on this year’s slate of films: catharsis,” I wrote at the time.  “With expected exceptions here and there, in one way or another, the bulk of what we’ve seen on screens in 2009 has very much been about emotional purging, bleeding out the past and, not to be too on-the-nose with the zeitgeist connotations, change.”

    I bring it up because it’s something I was reminded of while reading this Cristy Gosz piece at the LA Times, which treads similar waters but comes up with the idea that a number of the year’s films use travel as a metaphor for a character’s “visceral transformation” on the screen.

    The piece takes quotes from Jason Reitman and Jon Landau (at least one more would have been nice) to buttress the thesis and ens up making a solid enough point.  It’s always interesting to note similar thematic rhythms in a given film year, however irrelevant they might ultimately be.

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  • On the preferential system

    BallotWe’ve said it before, but the preferential balloting aspect of this year’s Best Picture race has been somewhat neglected by the media and the insistent positioning of the race as “Avatar” vs. “The Hurt Locker.” I see in one corner of the web that Anne Thompson is still calling that the battle “all the way,” with no mention of how the new schematic totally changes that perception.

    Elsewhere, it’s catching on.  In his latest Notes on a Season column, Pete Hammond posits, as I did in this space last week, that Pixar’s “Up” could be a potential beneficiary of the system as it could be in the number two or three position on a great many ballots.  Intriguingly, he also finds a Fox exec willing to say the same thing about “Avatar,” a film clearly more polarizing than a number of it’s co-nominees.

    Hendrick Hertzberg is also coming around to things at The New Yorker, noting that few people who have seen “The Hurt Locker” actively dislike it, which is of course why it’s our likely victor.  Even though Hertzberg is coming from the “Avatar” versus “The Hurt Locker” side of things, at least he’s posing the argument.

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