In Contention

Tag: W

  • All eyes on left field

    Josh Brolin in WThe nominations announcement is, oh, 18 hours away (yeah, we count minutes at this stage).  Even though I’m well on the record as being a prognosticative pussy this year, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re in for our share of surprises.  I doubt I’m alone.

    You can go back over Oscar history and write a whole book on the nominations that blind-sided everyone.  Sometimes the contender in question might have popped up briefly during the season, though they were forgotten in due time.  Other times, they simply manifested from thin air and smacked Oscar watchers in the face.  But they’re always there, lingering, waiting to plant that seed of doubt in the viewer the next year.  And the year after that.

    It’s enough to pull your hair out.

    Earlier today, John posted an interesting thought about Benicio Del Toro’s chances in the lead actor category, which followed a recent musing on Woody Allen’s chances as a lone director nominee.  This is the kind of stuff I’m talking about.

    So with that in mind, I’ve collected a brief list of four contenders that I legitimately think could pop up tomorrow and join that lineage.  Some of them are certainly more plausible than others, but none of them, I feel, are terribly out of bounds.  I don’t have the cojones to predict them, of course.  But this is what I’m thinking.

    (By the way, if I DO happen to change any of my predictions at the last minute tonight, I’ll be sure to offer a post indicating as much.)

    My thoughts on the left field…

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  • EXCLUSIVE: Best Makeup contenders narrow to seven

    Luke Goss in Hellboy II: The Golden ArmyThe first bake-off of the season is here, narrowing the Oscar contenders for Best Makeup down to seven.  The finalists are:

    “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    “The Dark Knight”
    “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
    “The Reader”
    “Synecdoche, New York”
    “Tropic Thunder”
    “The Wrestler”

    No major surprises here.  My predicted three are still in the mix.  In fact, I missed the top seven in my chart by just one, “The Reader” in favor of “Frost/Nixon.”  But the show of support for “The Wrestler” is certainly telling, and perhaps a worthy inclusion, given the attention to brutal battle detail in the pro wrestling flick.

    If there are any surprise omissions, it might be the aforementioned “Frost/Nixon,” or perhaps “W.”  Oh, and “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.”  I believe the first installment made it this far.  No go on the considerably less popular sequel.  But on the whole, this process seems to have been organic enough, leaving us with a solid septet.  I could see any combination of three making it in.

  • My picks for the 10 BEST films of the year

    Angelina Jolie in ChangelingIt’s no secret that I don’t expect 2008 to be remembered as a banner year for cinema, though with that said, there are plenty of exceptional films to be remembered.

    Perhaps 2007 spoiled us and got our hopes up and 2008 brought far too many let downs and disappointments from great filmmakers. Usually when I sit down to write up the year’s best, the first short list stands at around 30, perhaps 35 films that range from very good to great. This year I was at less than 20, and in some cases, I was probably stretching to allow space for this or that.

    But I got it down to 10, so here they are…

    10. “VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA”
    This film was not vintage Woody Allen, as he has grown so much as a director for anything new from him to be considered a throw-back, but it is certainly refreshing Allen.  Sexy and sleek, this film is part of the newest stage in the director’s career, moving away from the comfort and familiarity of New York to an exotic locale with Americans mixing it up and getting into all sorts of bizarre situations.  Penélope Cruz all but burns a hole in the screen with her sensuality in this film, which is terrifying because she just might be psychotic.  Welcome back Woody…we’ve missed you.

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  • Correction!

    I knew when I tapped out my “year in superlatives” post last week that something was bugging me about my Best Poster pick.  I had forgotten something, I just knew it.  And as much as I loved the “W.” one-sheet I picked, I don’t know, it didn’t feel right.

    Then I was reading through this list of the year’s best posters and it clicked.  Even though I despised Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games” remake with every fiber of my being, this was a brilliant piece of work.

    So, correction appended.

  • Best in show: the year in superlatives

    Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonThe year is slowly coming to a close, and after this week’s year-in-review pieces, I’m happy to see so much healthy and spirited discussion on my humble picks for the year’s best films.  Today I’m wrapping all of that up with a list of superlatives, some of them in your usual categories, the staples, some of them in a couple of, oh, let’s call it “fun” arenas that I like to mix in year in and year out.

    I should note, however, that Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience is the king at this stuff.  His annual “Film Bitch Awards” are a must-read.  Here’s last year’s set.

    So with that, let’s get into the awards.  I used to call these the “In Contention Awards,” but I don’t think that’s fair anymore now that we have a slew of contributors.  So I’ll let them speak to their favorites at their leisure.  These reflect my views of the season and mine only.  You know the Best Picture champ, of course, but beyond that, I hope you enjoy the rundown.  Just keep the (inevitable) disagreement friendly:

    Best Picture
    “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures)

    Best Director
    Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”

    Best Actor
    Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”

    Best Actress
    Cate Blanchett, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

    Best Supporting Actor
    Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”

    Best Supporting Actress
    Samantha Morton, “Synecdoche, New York”

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  • Runnin’ on empty: the best films of 2008

    Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall in Vicky Cristina BarcelonaJust to say it once more, because I’ve certainly brought it up enough, 2008 was not a good year for film-goers.

    That’s an incredibly subjective quip, of course, but I certainly found myself struggling with the level of quality on display with each and every screening, the oasis of the Oscar season ultimately proving to be a trickster mirage on the horizon as contenders ultimately fell flat or disappointed in various ways. And suddenly, we’re two weeks away from 2009.

    Who let the goods out?

    But a year lacking broad quality can be a fun “Where’s Waldo” for the impassioned film lover, and so it is that I found some truly wonderful, praise-worthy work from a number of driven and creative filmmakers this year. But a peculiarity began to arise as I sifted through the year’s offerings: What a load of downer cinema.

    I first noticed it in the documentary offerings, heavier on morose subject matter than any other year I can remember. Depictions of the horrors of Katrina, the passionate life and tragic death of a Neil Diamond impersonator, the work of a journalist obsessed with his own inevitable suicide, the nation’s stance on the death penalty, the life and times of a child molester, a heart-breaking family drama in St. John’s, Newfoundland, a national economy on life support, despicable soldier etiquette at our global detention facilities -– it is hardly surprising that the most well-received documentary of the year is a celebration of an “artistic crime” in James Marsh’s “Man on Wire.” But how odd that the genre’s resident cynic, Werner Herzog, was responsible for one of the few other positive doc titles that made the rounds this year?

    Moving into the realm of fiction, even the usually jubilant folks at Pixar couldn’t help but crank out their most sobering film to date, a cautionary tale wrapped in the guise of a love story that conveyed a creepy sense of inevitability despite a hopeful denouement.

    I bring these observations up for a reason, and that is to add some perspective to the list you’ll find below. 2008 was a bellwether for me personally as I began to let the idea of “best” as a definitive slip away and become something more akin to a solid if flexible representation of the times, and how those times affect the viewer.

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  • Globes rule ‘Rachel,’ ‘W.’ are dramas

    For those of you puzzling over whether certain titles will fall into the drama or musical/comedy categories at the Golden Globes, Tom O’Neil has a handy list to clarify matters.

    Most significantly, “W.” has not been accepted by the HFPA as a comedy, despite the film being submitted as one. This isn’t exactly new information — Dave Karger confirmed the film’s status a couple of weeks ago — but I know some were confused since the film was nominated in the comedic fields at the Golden Satellite Awards. It’s the right call, in my opinion: witty as the film was in some isolated instances, it wasn’t remotely a comedy.

    “Rachel Getting Married” will compete in the dramatic fields, too — again the correct classification, I think. Anne Hathaway will now have to face feisty competition even to get nominated in the Best Actress in a Drama race. Meanwhile, bar an upset by Meryl Streep, Sally Hawkins looks to have a clear run to victory in the comedy/musical category for “Happy-Go-Lucky.”

    Looking down the list of films eligible for comedy/musical consideration, it becomes difficult to spot the potential winners between the gruesome parade of dross such as “Disaster Movie,” “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” and “The Love Guru.” (Seriously, why do they bother entering?) At a guess, I’d say it’ll come down to “Burn After Reading,” “Cadillac Records,” “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” with Woody Allen looking a good bet to claim his first Best Picture gong in a couple of decades.

    Suffice to say this category doesn’t look likely to have much impact on Oscar’s Best Picture slate this year.

  • Consider this

    Okay, so I’m not really advocating it. But this has to be one of the best FYC ads I’ve seen so far this season. Whatever other failures “W.” can claim, marketing is not one of them:

  • Will BAFTA stick by their own?

    I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the BAFTA Awards. On the one hand, they can be far more daring and playful in their choices than the American Academy — this is an organisation, after all, that has handed their Best Film award to such enduring works as “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “GoodFellas” and “Lacombe, Lucien,” while nominating the Oscar-snubbed likes of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “The Usual Suspects.”

    Their technical awards are invariably more imaginatively awarded, too — take a look at their Best Film Editing category, for example, which in recent years has crowned “Eternal Sunshine,” “City of God” and “Mulholland Drive” as winners. And they can often be counted upon for gratifying upsets, as when Pedro Almodovar pushed past Sam Mendes for Best Director in 2000, or when “Trainspotting” blindsided “Sense and Sensibility” in the 1996 screenwriting race.

    For an awards show that fancies itself world-class, however, BAFTA can be infuriatingly parochial in their selections, stubbornly rewarding their own in the face of bigger, bolder competition. I doubt most of the voters could say with a straight face that “Four Weddings and a Funeral” was the very best film of 1994, nor “The Full Monty” of 1997, but they cleaned up nonetheless.

    For the last two years running, that kind of provincialism has ruled the voting, with this year’s awards looking particularly suspect. I think “Atonement” is a fine film, but handing it their top award seemed tokenistic at best, not least when the only other gong it took was for Best Art Direction.

    It’s a trend that Variety thinks could continue this year. In an article previewing the British contenders in the acting categories, they point out that Limeys have taken 16 acting BAFTAs in the last decade, compared to seven Oscars. Needless to say, they are frequently justified. It’s fair to say that this year, several British names will be cropping up in awards lists on either side of the Atlantic, and deservedly so — particularly in the Best Actress category, where thesps like Kristin Scott Thomas, Sally Hawkins and the ubiquitous Kate Winslet are all likely to figure.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Makeup — Volume One

    Tech Support at In Contention“Norbit.” “Click.” “The Time Machine.” “Life.” What do all of these dreadful films have in common? They are Oscar nominees because of the category of Best Makeup!

    I will give this branch kudos for often willing to think outside the box but they still manage to be quite bizarre in their choice of nominees more often than not.

    All things considered, it’s is a difficult category to predict. While the three nominees are chosen from seven pre-announced finalists, the “bake-off” to seven often has shockers in store. Films that would appear slam-dunks are ignored while movies no one was considering end up short-listed.

    All that said, I’m still going to do my best to handicap it!

    One film that would logically seem to be leading for a nod is David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” As I have said before, I suspect this film could be headed to across-the-board nominations in the tech categories. Aging both Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett over 80 years (albeit it different directions) will be enormously visual and integral to the plot. My only concern would be if there is use of visual effects to “brush up” the makeup work. This branch does not like having their territory intruded upon by CGI.

    Fincher’s movie is no lock. Nothing ever can be in this category. But I do believe it is out in front by a significant margin at this point, especially with veteran Greg Cannom in charge. Beyond that, I have no idea.

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  • 11/11 Oscarweb Round-up

    Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler• Peter Bart worships at the alter of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. [Peter Bart]

    • Tom O’Neil reports on the 14 animated features submitted for toon consideration this year… [Gold Derby]

    • …and he interviews “Changeling” psycho Jason Butler Harner inside Hannibal Lecter’s prison cell deep in the bowels of the Hollywood Museum. [Gold Derby]

    • Jeffrey Wells has his “Eureka” moment regarding “Frost/Nixon.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Kim Voynar has the right idea about exploring issues of nudity in films, but picks the wrong example to kick it off.  Uh…Marisa Tomei DOES play a stripper. [Movie City News]

    • Russell Crowe talks his 50 lb. “Body of Lies” weight gain across the pond. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Five picks for a black James Bond. [New York Daily News]

    • Despite “W.” having come and gone, Christopher Campbell kicks around Josh Brolin’s Oscar chances. [Spout Blog]

    • Lev Grossman talks to “Watchmen” artist Dave Gibbons. [Time]

  • 11/3 Oscarweb Round-up

    Richard Dreyfus• Probably running out of things to talk about, Peter Bart reviews the New York Times’ Holiday Movies section. [Peter Bart]

    • Monika Bartyzel aggregates reactions to Richard Dreyfus’s poo-pooing of “W.” on “The View.”  Damn it must be cool to do and say whatever the fuck you want to. [Cinematical]

    • Jason Solomons talks to “Quantum of Solace” director Marc Forster. [The Guardian]

    • Boyd van Hoeij files from the last gasps of the Rome fest. [indieWIRE]

    • John Horn goes deep on “Frost/Nixon.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Jeremy McCarter goes first person with Charlie Kaufman. [Newsweek]

  • ‘Doubt’ lands at AFI

    Meryl Streep in DoubtMiramax honcho Daniel Battsek and actresses Meryl Streep and Amy Adams joined director John Patrick Shanley tonight in introducing the world premiere of “Doubt” as the AFI Fest’s opening gala presentation.  The film, adapted from Shanley’s stage play, has quickly become the lead Oscar pony for a studio that dominated the awards circuit last season.

    The film was projected digitally, as prints haven’t yet been made, and it was deemed “wet behind the ears” at the top by Battsek; Shanley hadn’t even seen the cut in full himself yet.  We’re talking right off the AVID, but it was complete and seemed to capture the respect of the crowd in attendance.

    Watching the film, I was suddenly reminded of one of the year’s developing themes for American cinema: accountability.  It’s front and center in “Frost/Nixon,” a journalist-as-hero yarn about Richard Nixon’s overdue apology to the American people.  It’s certainly lurking beneath the surface of “W,” a character study first but an attempt at explanation on other levels.  “WALL-E” warns of a lack of accounting for our actions, while “The Dark Knight” presents a hero who understands the accountability he owes to himself.  “Gran Torino” will be working on similar levels.

    Anyway, I’ve gone into all of that before, but it stuck out to me again tonight.  Meryl Streep steps in for Cherry Jones as a nun hunting a troubling confession for much of the film’s two hour running time.  The zeitgeist can’t help but insinuate itself into the symbolism and it just reminds, yet again, that 2008 is an amazingly internal year for filmmaking in this country.  Nothing stands out as groundbreaking.  Nothing approaches classic status.  But everything lurks on a sustained, subdued level of reflexivity.  It’s kind of fascinating.

    But the AFI Fest has taken flight.  There are a lot of films showing over the next week that I’m going to try my best to cover.  It seems I’m pulled 10 different ways these days, and I have to tip my hat to Guy for the gusto to really dive into London for us this year.

    I’m eager to finally check out entries like Steve McQueen’s “Hunger” and Ji-woon Kim’s “The Good, the Bad and the Weird.”  I’m really looking forward to the Heath Ledger tribute screening of “Ned Kelly” on Tuesday, as well as the Danny Boyle event at the end of the week.  And, of course, the full monty: “Che” at the Chinese tomorrow night.

    It should be a whirlwind, all roads leading to Edward Zwick’s “Defiance” in the closing night gala.  Tis the season…

  • 10/27 Oscarweb Round-up

    Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man• Nathaniel Rogers kick-starts an Oscar revamp, starting with the fellas. [The Film Experience]

    • Jeffrey Wells is nervous about Josh Brolin’s Oscar hopes in “W.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • I stopped when he didn’t clue into why it’s called what it’s called.  Welcome to the Rex Reed Members Only lounge. [Peter Bart]

    • Lou Lumenick gives good ink to the Oscar hopes of Angelina Jolie and Kristin Scott Thomas. [Lumenick on Film]

    • “The French Connection” and “Serpico” top a readers’ poll of the best cop films. [New York Daily News]

    • Peter Debruge looks at the year’s issue-focused Oscar hopefuls through the lens of precendence. [Variety]

    • Adam Dawtrey, meanwhile, zeroes in on the obvious: this year’s Oscar product seems to have skipped the festival route. [Variety]

    • And Justin Chang stands up for the performances of fanboy cinema. [Variety]

  • LONDON: “W,” “Genova,” “Il Divo” and more

    We’ve reached the midway point of the London Film Festival, and today’s big event is the European premiere of “W.” As I eavesdropped on assorted critics’ reactions coming out of the press screening this morning, the dominant feeling appeared to be one of pleasant surprise; I have a feeling the film may find a rather warmer reception here than in its home country.

    I’m still gathering my thoughts on the film, which I thought riveting in some respects and messy in others, though it’s clear Stone has transcended the limitations of Stanley Weiser’s script. Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Banks offer such persuasive, full-bodied characterisations that the Madame Tussaud’s quality of certain supporting players (Thandie Newton in particular) pales by contrast.

    With that, here’s another roundup of notable films from the last few days, beginning with yesterday’s starry but rather under-the-radar Mayor of London gala selection:

    GENOVA (**1/2)

    There is much to engage the eye and ear in “Genova,” the new film from restless Brit auteur Michael Winterbottom. A return to his usual, more organic directorial style after the disappointingly conventional “A Mighty Heart,” the new film teems with activity: from the loose, jazzy rhythms of the editing to the fragmented, eclectic soundtrack overlaying busy dialogue, and above all, superb location work that turns the labyrinthine alleys of the eponymous Italian coastal city into a playground of threat and desire.

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  • 10/23 Oscarweb Round-up

    Philip Seymour Hoffman and Hope Davis in Synecdoche, New York• Tom Tapp rallies behind Kristin Scott Thomas’s work in “I’ve Loved You So Long.” [The Daily Beast]

    • Anne Thompson, meanwhile, thinks the actress leads the field.  (Sorry — the film just didn’t speak to me.) [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • After Spielberg and Greengrass bowed out, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” might end up in the hands of…Ben Stiller?  WTF? [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • Michael Ordoñachats it up with Hope Davis, probably the least interesting female component of Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • John Horn, meanwhile, writes a love letter to Clint Eastwood with “Changeling” set to bow nationwide. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Anthony Breznican gets some quality “Gran Torino” time with Clint Eastwood, plus some exclusive looks at the film’s first materials. [USA Today]

    • Missing the boat on so much of the subtle brilliance to be found in “W,” Christopher Rosen thinks Oliver Stone has simply gotten old. [New York Observer]

    • The director, meanwhile, takes part in an esteemed panel discussing the marks to be left by the current administration. [Slate]

    • Peter Bart makes the completely wrong-headed decision to chalk slumping ad sales revenue up to studios displaying a lack of talent support. [Peter Bart]

  • 10/21 Oscarweb Round-up

    Charlie Kaufman• Jeffrey Wells passes along further second-hand indication that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is the one to beat this year. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Steven Zeitchick responds to the suddenly wide open acting races. [Risky Biz Blog]

    • Some folks think Robert Downey Jr. can’t score a Best Supporting Actor nomination…emphatically.  I beg to differ, but that race is weird at the moment. [Vulture]

    • Tom O’Neil wonders how what happened to the AMPAS hopes of “W.”  But I’m not so sure it was ever a “hot Oscar player.” [Gold Derby]

    • John Anderson profiles Milos Forman, set to be feted by the DGA. [Variety]

    • The Carpetbagger, David Carr, goes inside the mind of Charlie Kaufman. [New York Times]

  • 10/17 Oscarweb Round-up

    (from left) Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. in The Soloist• Dave Karger responds to the “Soloist” slide. [Oscar Watch]

    • Seven favorite screen Presidents.  In total agreement on #1. [Cinematical]

    • A welcome respite from the vitriol you might have come across elsewhere, New York Magazine runs an intern’s review of the “Road” screening that happened in the Big Apple this week.  Does that qualify as “AICN-style” as well? [Vulture]

    • A brief history of the Bond villain. [The Independent]

    • “Once”: a broadway musical. [Culture Monster]

    • Spike Lee carries his loud and off-base message overseas. [The Guardian]

    • Charting the true crime history of “Changeling”‘s Collins kidnapping. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Setting out to define what “best” picture means. [Awards Daily]

    • A sweet profile of Paul Thomas Anderson approximately 10 months after it would have really done him some good. [Esquire]

    • David Hinckley recycles the same old “it’s too early” argument regarding “W.” [New York Daily News]

    • But has Hollywood gone too easy on our Commander-in-Chief? [Slate]

    • Joe Morgenstern conveys the joy of ensemble films. [Wall Street Journal]

    • Why Eddie Marsan deserves an Oscar nomination. [The Playlist]

    • Cast your revote for the Best Actress contenders of 1983 in the much bally-hooed Oscar Revote. [Pop Watch]