I wasn’t on board with Aaron’s films in school, fell head over heels for “Quiet City,” and I have no idea what “Cold Weather” is about, but I’m interested:
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Mo’Nique: “The performance is done.”
It’s interesting that David Carr’s interview with Mo’Nique in today’s New York Times appears on the main page of the paper’s website — there isn’t much more to say about her, shall we say, passive campaign for “Precious,” but it’s clearly become one of the dominant stories of the awards season.Not that she needs much of a boost, but I think this interview helps her cause: where some industry wags have made a shrill fuss over the actress’s reluctance to play the publicity game, portraying her as egotistical or ungrateful, with Carr she put forth her perspective in very rational, matter-of-fact terms:
“Anytime I’ve been given an award, it has been because of the performance; what else goes into it?” she said, appearing genuinely mystified. “Look, it makes me appreciative any time someone says they may want to honor your performance. I’m appreciative at any talk in reference to any award, but there’s not much I can do about it now. The performance is done.”
“I also have this show called ‘The Mo’Nique Show’ where I tape six shows a week. I have twins who are 4, so I have babies, I have an amazing husband and a son who’s 19. What I can participate in I’m more than happy to.”
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Art Directors Guild nominees
I’ve had my eye on these because I’ve always felt that, if “Avatar” could slide in here, it might be able to get over any weird bias against the way it was designed (largely in computer, etc.). But after sitting down with Robert Stromberg yesterday, and with these nominations in mind, I feel better about its prospects for Oscar in the category now.I’m happy to see “The Lovely Bones” recognized, though I’m consistently baffled as to where the distinction is between “contemporary” and “period” with this film. And can I also say, looking out over the slate of nominees, this is a damn fine year for art direction? The 10 in period and fantasy could easily find their way to nominations.
The obvious snub here is kind of a big one, I’d say: “Nine.” Despite the quality of the film, the below-the-line elements were exemplary. I guess it wasn’t enough to overcome the film’s overall critical reception. Oh, and big ups to Jess Gonchor, who I’ve said since day one was a threat for his and set decorator Nancy Haigh’s meticulous work on “A Serious Man.” Stay tuned next week for a Tech Support interview with the principals from that film
Nominees after the jump.
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OSCAR TALK: Ep. 17 — Guilds, Scripters and ‘Hurt Locker’ running strong
Welcome to Oscar Talk, a weekly kudocast between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood.There have been a few major announcements this week, so let’s dig in. We wander a bit this time, but on the docket today:
• The Producers Guild of America went largely populist with its list of feature nominees. Anne and I discuss the implications.
• With “The Hurt Locker” firmly holding the major guild quartet (since we can probably safely assume WGA), we get into its potential to win the big prize, perceived two-horse race or not. And we think it owes the critics for that.
• The Directors Guild of America also announced nominees, confirming the top five Best Picture contenders. But is this the Oscar line-up?
• The Scripter nods were also unveiled, which leads to some debate over eligibility concerns (which also plays a roll in the forthcoming WGA announcement).
You can listen to this week’s podcast below, with a little of the brilliant (and undervalued) score from “The Hurt Locker” leading the way. As always, you can subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.
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WGA on the way
With the DGA, SAG and PGA out of the way, it’s on to the fourth and final of the major guild announcements: the Writers Guild of America, which announces Monday.The WGA has seemingly instituted a slash and burn campaign on a number of the year’s hopefuls this season. Go here, here and here for the details. Alright, “slash and burn” isn’t really accurate. If WGA brass wants to play “in the club,” that’s their prerogative. No sense getting worked up over it. But suffice it to say, the field is fairly wide open now and, at the end of the day, no one should really bother putting too much prognosticative stock into what we get from the guild next week, seeing as the AMPAS writers branch is likely to go with a number of the fallen.
Still — it’s fun to guess at the picks, no?
From where I stand there are still 10 really decent bets, and maybe five or six more that wouldn’t surprise me if they made it through. Best Picture contenders “The Hurt Locker,” “Precious” and “Up in the Air” are probably the easiest picks of the bunch, but what about the other seven?
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Central Ohio critics speak up
Their top 10:
1. “Up in the Air”
2. “Up”
3. “An Education”
4. “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
5. “Inglourious Basterds”
6. “The Hurt Locker”
7. “In the Loop”
8. “(500) Days of Summer”
9. “A Serious Man”
10. “A Single Man”Superlatives listed at our Circuit page.
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1/8 Oscarweb Round-up
• Faith-based marketing and “The Blind Side.” [Cinematical]• Why “The Princess and the Frog” is making history while looking to the past. [The Times]
• Academy names Sci-Tech honors. [Variety]
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How relevant is Kathryn Bigelow’s gender?
After yesterday’s DGA announcement, there was a number of comments (some ecstatic, some more cynical) made about its demographic makeup of the nominees being more diverse than usual.Where most years see white men fill every space on the ballot, this year features both a female and a black contender (a gay man, at that) in the lineup — the seventh and first in DGA history, respectively.
Trivia value notwithstanding, is this important? Does it mean that their artistic achievements should be measured any differently from those of their white, male peers?
Of course not. “The Hurt Locker” would be as stirring and distinctive a film had it been directed by someone with testicles — and, though some will say otherwise, I think it would still have caught critics’ and awards voters’ fancy. A great movie is a great movie is a great movie, after all.
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‘Fish Tank’ poster
A few days ago, we posted the new U.S. trailer for Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank,” which opens in New York next week before rolling out later. I didn’t mind it as much as some, though it didn’t capture the film’s unusual rhythmic and sensual qualities. But I do like prefer this simple, declarative poster that was released at the same time.
You know by now that I adore the film, which I thought not merely one of the best of 2009, but of the entire decade. I’ll be posting my interview with the remarkable Michael Fassbender in the coming week. (Thanks to Stale Popcorn for the image.)
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TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘The Hurt Locker’
When it comes to extravagant Hollywood blockbusters, we’ve become accustomed to the phrase “the money is up on the screen” – delighting in the filmmakers’ own delight in the tools and tricks at their disposal.“The Hurt Locker,” however, invites a very different kind of wonder. An independent with a budget of a mere $11 million, it is nonetheless more kinetic action film than many a title coming in at 10 times the price, immersing the audience in the sights, sounds and sensations of Iraq combat. The money is on the screen, sure, but the screen belies the money.
For this, the already multi-laurelled Kathryn Bigelow shares the credit with a highly resourceful and imaginative team of craftsmen, variously bringing mainstream studio-picture experience and indie-sector knowhow (or both) to the table.
I talked to cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, editors Chris Innis and Bob Murawski, sound designer Paul Ottosson and special effects supervisor Richard Stutsman about their contributions to this humble spectacular.
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DGA nominees announced
Alright, so, the safe bet wins the day. The nominees are:James Cameron, “Avatar”
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
Lee Daniels, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”None of my little hunches panned out at the end of the day, and really, this is classic DGA. Best Picture frontrunners right…down…the…line. It’s amazing to me that a membership this vast can so consistently have its finger on the pulse of the season (while, of course, consistently ignoring a great many outside-the-box contenders).
Onward to the WGA, I suppose. The needle stays frozen in place, for now.
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‘Avatar’ on late night
Sigourney Weaver stopped by The Ed Sullivan Theater last night to talk “Avatar” with David Letterman. My jaw dropped when she explains that the Weta guys spend 47 hours of manpower per each 1/24th of a second in translating the data received from the motion-capture sensors. Wow.
Check out the clip below, and after the jump, Conan O’Brien has a bit of fun with the Na’vi language.
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Jason Reitman’s video press tour
“Up in the Air” director Jason Reitman has been as diligent as he can be about taking a photo of each of the journalists who have interviewed him along the way as he’s been promoting his new film throughout the fall, beginning way back in early December (where I actually first sat down with him — read that piece here). He’s assembled the stills, along with some video here and there, set it to the sounds of The Clash’s “Janie Jones.” I show up around 1:55 (snapped in his West Hollywood offices when I spoke with him for that “Up in the Air” crafts piece a few weeks back), looking unnecessarily intimidating as always.
Have a look at “Lost in the Air: The Jason Reitman Press Tour Simulator”:
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1/7 Oscarweb Round-up
• Geoff Boucher sits down with “Crazy Heart” star Jeff Bridges (with an awkward accompanying photo to boot). [Los Angeles Times]• Speaking of Boucher, congrats to him, Anthony Breznican, Susan King, Scott Mantz and Sharon Waxman on their ICG nominations. [Hollywood Reporter]
• Some desperately needed practical perspective on the “Moon” screener matter. [The Hot Blog]
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‘Education,’ ‘Basterds’ lead BAFTA longlists
Two weeks before revealing its nominations, BAFTA reveals longlists of 15 contenders in each category from which the eventual five nominees will be chosen. (Switch those numbers to five and three in the Animated Feature race.)Vague as the lists are, a couple of telling trends stand out. It’s been clear for some time that “An Education” is the film to beat at this years BAFTAs. Like the group’s last three Best Film winners — “The Queen,” “Atonement” and “Slumdog Millionaire” — Lone Scherfig’s film is a mainstream British effort that has U.S. awards traction, allowing them to remain patriotic while fulfilling their recent Oscar-aping remit.
So it’s no surprise that “An Education” leads the longlists with 17 mentions — seven of them in the acting races. Close behind is “Inglourious Basterds,” with 15 bids, while “The Hurt Locker” manages 12.
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BAFTA announces Best Foreign Film nominees
For reasons I’ve never been able to determine, BAFTA chooses to reveal its nominees for Best Foreign Language Film two weeks before revealing their full nomination list. Way to make a ghetto category seem even more so, but … anyway. The nominees are:
“Broken Embraces”
“Coco Before Chanel”
“Let the Right One In”
“A Prophet”
“The White Ribbon”The last three are both inevitable and deserving contenders, but the first two reek of autopilot voting. I bow to no one in my love for the man’s work, but most would agree that “Broken Embraces” is mid-range Almodóvar at best.
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Guy’s top 50 of the decade: #1-10
And then there were ten.Before I wrap up the list that I’ve trickled out over the last five days, I suppose I should write a few words on the decade that was. I entered the 2000s as a 16 year-old boy in Johannesburg who thought he knew a lot about movies. I left it as a 26 year-old man in London who knows a lot more than he did then — but realizes that he knows a lot less. There is still so much to see that I’ve barely touched upon — from this past decade alone.
Probably no filmgoing decade in my lifetime will be as crucial to me as the one that passed, in terms of the shift and growth in my sense of how to read (and write) film.
I may have already known that I loved movies, but in the 2000s I gained a sharper sense of how to love them, what I really respond to in a film — and the 50 titles gathered here (along with many, many others) helped fine-tune that notion.
With that kind of personal learning curve attached to the decade, it’s hard to stand back and judge how it might stack against previous ones; strong, weak or average, it’ll always feel like my decade. As I compiled the list, however, did arrive at the conclusion that it started better than it finished. Sheer mathematics supports this personal view — the top 10 films I’m about to reveal all landed in the decade’s first half, and I don’t think that’s merely down to the advantage of distance.