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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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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: ‘Valentine’s Day’ love fest

    Benicio Del Toro in The Wolfman*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Sorry this is late folks. I can remember all the words to “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus without hearing it for five years but I can’t seem to remember to write this column every week.

    Anyway, it’s a big weekend. President’s Day means it’s a four-day tally and Sunday being Valentine’s Day means certain titles have a leg up. One such title is “Valentine’s Day,” starring at least one person you, your sister, your mother and your grandmother really like. The 75-year-old man who directed “Pretty Woman” is putting it all together and there’s really no stopping it.

    “50 First Dates” managed $55 million from the four-day weekend in 2004 and I’d say only the overachieving debut of “Dear John” will keep this lower. Give it $50 million for four days and $43 million for the three days.

    “The Wolfman” once seemed like a hot commodity. Mark Romanek was an inspired directing choice and Benicio Del Toro’s casting saved the production millions in makeup costs. But Romanek got replaced with Joe Johnston, the release date got delayed a couple times and the whole thing now looks like a giant turd. Still, enough people may be interested in some cheap thrills to get it to $27 million for the three days and $33 million for the long weekend.

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  • BERLIN: Arrivals and complications

    Shahrukh Khan in My Name is KhanOkay, so that was a long silence. I apologize. But in addition to the usual trials of settling in, my first day at the Berlinale threw up some added obstacles that made for a day that was curiously both hectic and thin on matters worth reporting.

    Frankly, one needs an entire day just to process the festival’s labyrinthine programme, with its convoluted bylaws of which films in which strands can be viewed by which press at what time. In what is surely the only time Nancy Meyers will prompt my conversation at the Berlinale, it’s complicated.

    By the time I had managed to get my proverbial shit together, a night on the tiles in the company of the Telegraph’s Tim Robey was a far more inviting option than finding a free spot on the carpet of the festival’s wi-fi lounge. (A tourist’s hat tip to the rather awesome Stagger Lee cocktail lounge near Nollendorfplatz.) So here we are — a little better organized this morning, if a lot worse for wear.

    I have just come out of the press screening of “Shutter Island” — to which I shall dedicate a full review later today — and have a little under an hour the squeeze in a precis of yesterday’s activity before heading into Thomas Vinterberg’s “Submarino” this afternoon.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Film Editing

    Gabourey Sidibe in PreciousThe Best Film Editing category tends to be a shadow of the Best Picture category in some ways. With there being 10 Best Picture nominees this year, however, the field was bound to nail down five of the contenders. So considering the old stand-by stat (no film has won Best Picture without an editing nomination since “Ordinary People”), this is a race to keep an eye on.

    In fact, it might be a bellwether for the rest of the show when the envelope is opened. Which means the competition has been boiled down to the same to films the media is keeping an eye on for Best Picture. In this instance, however, that reduction isn’t as ill-considered.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron)
    “District 9”     (Julian Clarke)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Sally Menke)
    “Precious” (Joe Klotz)

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  • ‘Metropolis’ at Berlinale

    Guy is either en route or settling in at the Berlin fest presently, but I came across this live stream of a screening of Fritz Lang’s original cut of “Metropolis,” happening right now.  Go check it out.  One of my top three films of all time.

    Metropolis at Berlinale

  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 21 — The home stretch, Santa Barbara tributes, debating the few debatable categories

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk, a weekly kudocast between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood.

    I’m in Santa Barbara this week while Anne is back in Los Angeles. Here’s what’s on the docket:

    • The Santa Barbara fest is in full swing, including tributes for James Cameron and Sandra Bullock, among others. We discuss.

    • The Sandra Bullock thing leads to yet another Bullock vs. Streep debate. Anne is convinced the older members of the Academy will go for Streep and that the media has assumed the Oscar is Bullock’s at their own peril.

    • Anne was in Santa Barbara last week and discusses the writers panel she moderated.

    • Meanwhile, she was also back in LA for the USC Scripter awards, so she offers her perspective on the evening’s festivities.

    • Finally, we go back and forth on a few of the debatable categories, including Best Original Screenplay, which could see Quentin Tarantino win his second Oscar. Or will it?

    Have a listen below. Forgive me in advance for audio issues on my end. I’m in a hotel room without my handy external. As always, you can subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.

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    Subscribe to Oscar Talk

  • 2/12 Oscarweb Round-up

    Rick Baker• Steve Weintraub sits down with likely the only major Oscar play for forthcoming flop “The Wolfman,” Rick Baker. [Collider]

    • Guy Adams on “Crazy Heart”‘s crazy trip to the screen. [The Independent]

    • Harvey Weinstein is pretty damn sure “Inglourious Basterds” is winning Best Picture. [Notes on a Season]

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  • ‘Mildred Pierce’: bring it on

    Mildred PierceThis is the first time I can remember a TV movie rising to the top of my “gotta see it” pile, but how can you not be excited for the forthcoming Todd Haynes four-hour “Mildred Pierce” HBO mini-series with Kate Winslet?  I forgot all about this project, which has been in the works for some time.

    The news is now official, however, as shooting is set to begin in April in New York.  I couldn’t be more excited.  Perhaps this, along with the Coens’ “True Grit” remake will help jump-start the engine on revisiting classic American genres.  “The Good German” was a failed experiment, and the Coens have been here before with “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” but have hope.

    Anyway, we can probably pave the way in 2011 for Kate Winslet’s awards run.  Talk about a collaboration that couldn’t be more right.  But I hope the filmmakers don’t feel locked-in to black and white.  I’d like to see Ed Lachman play with the darker hues of a color palette in what would be a grim but personality-ridden affair.

  • Berlin bound

    In a couple of hours, I’ll be packing my bags, donning my warmest and most ridiculous-looking puffa jacket and catching a crack-of-dawn flight to the German capital. The occasion, of course: the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.

    I’ve been to Berlin before — and was thoroughly enamored of it — though this will be my first experience of the festival, and I’m not a little intrigued. Alongside Cannes and Venice, the Berlinale essentially completes the holy European festival trinity, but its position in the calendar gives it a rather different profile from its glitzier sisters.

    Where Cannes hogs the lofty auteur names and Venice always nabs a couple of big fall awards hopefuls, Berlin is a refuge for smaller fare from up-and-coming filmmakers, peppered with the occasional sexy Hollywood premiere.

    That’s not to say that the festival doesn’t launch substantial works. Two of this year’s Oscar nominees, “The Messenger” and “The Milk of Sorrow,” began their awards trails with wins at Berlin a year ago, while the 2008 competition turned up the actressy trifecta of “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “I’ve Loved You So Long” and “Julia.” Berlin hits have to ride their buzz for longer than those at Cannes, but there are almost always a couple that quietly stay the course.

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  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘Bright Star’

    Ben Wishaw and Abbie Cornish in Bright StarIt’s not every year that my biggest cheer on Oscar nomination morning comes in the technical categories, but such was the case last week when Janet Patterson’s name showed up in the Best Costume Design lineup.

    Patterson’s inclusion (following a senseless Guild snub) is gratifying not merely as recognition for her tangibly textured, richly story-serving threads in “Bright Star,” but as a representation of one of 2009’s most immaculately integrated – and under-rewarded – technical ensembles.

    Jane Campion’s John Keats biopic derives its fresh, fragile romanticism as much from writing and performance as the combined efforts of Patterson, cinematographer Greig Fraser and composer Mark Bradshaw. Their work has prompted countless critics’ punning on Keats’s “a thing of beauty is a joy forever” chestnut, but sometimes the most obvious praise is the most appropriate.

    For Fraser and Bradshaw, “Bright Star” represents their first experience on a Campion feature, having previously collaborated with the New Zealander on a pair of short films, “The Water Diary” and “The Lady Bug.” For Patterson, however, the film extends a collaboration with the filmmaker that dates back to Campion’s 1993 breakthrough “The Piano,” and has yielded previous Oscar nominations for both that film and 1996’s “The Portrait of a Lady.”

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  • Reminder: Come join our Oscar pool!

    In case you missed the announcement last week, don’t forgot to head over to Awards Picks and join our Oscar pool.  First you have to become a member of the “In Contention Oscar Pool” group and then you can click on “2010 Academy Awards” under “Active games” and make your picks.

    Again, we’ll have a boatload of swag for the first-place prize.  We’ve got a healthy amount of competition so far, too.  Do it!

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Short Film (Live Action)

    Simon J. Berger in Instead of AbracadabraThis year’s crop of live action shorts is, in my opinion, one of the weaker fields in recent memory. There isn’t anything that stands out and announces its storytelling or cinema prowess, though the usual caveat with shorts — gimmicks in the plot — are mercifully scarce this time around.

    Generally films that showcase top notch filmmaking techniques, mini-features with noticeably rich production values, have a leg up here. There are exceptions, of course, and many times that built-in bias tends to shun more profound stories that might be assembled with lesser means, but nevertheless, there’s a decent mixture of budgets, genres and talent this time around.

    The nominees are:

    “The Door” (Juanita Wilson and James Flynn)
    “Instead of Abracadabra” (Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström)
    “Kavi” (Gregg Helvey)
    “Miracle Fish” (Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey)
    “The New Tenants” (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)

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  • ‘Secret of Kells’ trailer

  • 2/11 Oscarweb Round-up

    Penelope Cruz• John Lopez digs into the preferential voting system in intense depth.  Maybe nothing you haven’t already read.  And I’m kind of over it. [Little Gold Men]

    • Charlie Wilson — yes, that one — has left us to our own wars. [Variety]

    • Penelope Cruz says “thanks, no thanks” to Lars Von Trier, opts for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”  That’s how you follow up two Oscar nods in a row, I tell ya. [Hollywood Reporter]

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  • SANTA BARBARA: ‘The Cove’ honored

    (from left) Louie Psihoyos and Ric O'BarryI didn’t realize it had been fully six months since I saw “The Cove” beginning to end until I sat down to watch it again this evening at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara.  The screening was in honor of the film’s receiving the Sir David Attenborough Award, given annually to a film exhibiting excellence in nature filmmaking.  Roger Durling and his staff couldn’t have tapped a more worthy recipient this year.

    The film remains a rock solid punch to the stomach, bringing tears at least two or three times throughout.  It is indeed one of the best films of 2009, but looking back at my top 10 list, I feel like it could have been higher.  There was a time when I considered it the best film of the year, period, and there are still times that I think it deserves that consideration.

    It went over like gangbusters with a crowd that definitely didn’t know what kind of an emotional experience it was in for.  One woman jumped up and hustled to the back, crying, during one pivotal sequence.  And the applause hit, just as it should, during activist Ric O’Barry’s final act of heroism seen in the film, a television strapped to his chest exposing to the International Whaling Commission the dark truths going down in a little harbor village in Japan.

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  • Coming next week: the top 10 shots of the year

    Yes!  It’s going to happen!  Finally!  You can stop emailing me now!

    Seriously, though, look for part one on Tuesday, part two on Wednesday.  Sorry for the lateness, but it’s a process.  Hopefully the hype and build-up won’t kill it on arrival.  It’s a different list than the past couple of times we’ve done it.

  • INTERVIEW: Jacques Audiard

    Jacques Audiard at the Cannes premiere of A ProphetAs pundits continue to posit art-versus-genre arguments around the 10 titles vying for Best Picture, the finest film to be nominated in any category at this year’s Academy Awards is to be found a little further down the list – and it’s one that would bridge the discussion rather nicely.

    Nominated last week for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and bedecked with numerous accolades besides, Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet,” is a brazen, brilliant marriage of pulp, prestige and politics.

    A bloody prison drama that phrases intricate social analysis in the language of gangster cinema at its most hardboiled, it’s Audiard’s beefiest excursion yet into the noir territory that he visited in his last two films, lean thrillers “Read My Lips” and “The Beat That My Heart Skipped.”

    Critics have been quick to make comparisons to assorted American genre masters since the film’s Cannes premiere nine months ago , with “GoodFellas” and even “The Godfather” routinely surfacing in discussions around the film. But while Audiard acknowledges his kinship to U.S. cinema – this is a man, after all, whose last feature was a remake of a 1978 James Toback thriller – he takes such talk with a healthy pinch of salt.

    “People keep saying, oh, it’s like Scorsese, or it’s like Coppola, and of course that’s very flattering,” the native Parisian says over the phone, via the translation (and occasional embellishment) of his co-writer Thomas Bidegain.

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  • Oscar app at iTunes

    Academy Awards HeroYou guessed it: There’s an app for that.

    Thanks to Film School Rejects for pointing us to a new app for iPhone and iPod touch, “Academy Awards Hero.”  For 99 cents you can do the following:

    View all of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards® nominees and vote for your pick to win. Share your votes with your friends on Twitter and see who can pick the most winners. You can even view beautiful full screen trailers and film info for the 2010 nominees, all built right into the app.

    Also deepen your movie knowledge with the app’s database of past winners and nominees from the inaugural year in 1927 up to today. You can view all nominees and winners by year and category. With a beautiful interface and lots of great movie info, this app is a must have for any movie lover.

    Although I imagine it’s only a matter of time before the Academy cracks down on the use of its likeness and namesake for the purposes of profit.  After all, we were a casualty once upon a time.