A Multitude of Links
Sunday, November 16, 2014 at 1:00PM Some of these links (which I collect until I have a moment to share) are a few days old and some are brand new. But it's time to clear out the cache!
We Are Movie Geeks recounts highlights of AFI and the fest winners including Ukraine's The Tribe and the Olympic documentary about Russia's Red Army hockey team which has major Oscar dreams and might achieve them since it's quite entertaining!
Pajiba a fun look at Jessica Chastain's career before she broke out in movies: L&O and E.R. and so on
Vulture interviews Bill Irwin, one of our favorites, on his work as "Tars" in Interstellar
In Contention moderates a SAG Q & A for The Grand Budapest Hotel. I've been meaning to watch that one again
Dissolve First look at Bryan Cranston as Trumbo in the 2015 feature. (Sad that there's not much in the way of costume here because I had lunch with the designer Daniel Orlandi when I was in LA. Will this HBO blacklist drama be up for Emmys in 2015? What'cha think?)
Interview Magazine Stanley Tucci interviews his pal Patricia Clarkson, looking better than ever
In Contention Stephen Hawking weighs in on Eddie Redmayne's performance of him in The Theory of Everything
Speakeasy Finn Wittrock on his breakout year via American Horror Story
Friends & Collaborators of TFE
The Atlantic Joe thinks the Oscar race for Animated Feature is between Big Hero 6 and The LEGO Movie. I disagree. Has everyone noticed how hard Dragon 2 is pushing?
Antagony & Ecstacy Tim discovers Gloria (remember how wild I was about that one last year?)
My New Plaid Pants Jason has a great (mixed) take on A Most Violent Year
Must Reads
LA Times great piece on how social media has affected awards season
Grantland Wesley Morris pays homage to America's Bitter-Sweetheart Reese Witherspoon (Wild).
AV Club An instant classic article on "fake deaths and cheap resurrections" in entertainment. This is a month old piece which maybe I've shared before (?) but if you haven't read it you simply must. I can't get over it. This has long been something I've struggled with in movies and TV and it's beautifully put to words here by William Hughes.
Slate interesting essay about the decline of the serial killer in real life and its 'golden age' (blech!) in film and television
Today's Watch
Got an hour? Here's Bennett Miller giving a "Master Class" talk on directing to promote Foxcatcher. This is from the NYFF but it's just available now in its full form.
Finally...
You may be wondering why I didn't watch, tweet, or blog about The Hollywood Film Awards.
Let's just say I agree with Sasha Stone's quote about it (<--- and look, I finally met her in L.A. after 10+ years of knowing each other online!). Since that is true, and since it's a fake awards show and we already have enough of real ones, why give it any space? If you need further evidence of how disinterested people are read these bitchy quotes from Tim Gray's article in Variety.
Reader Comments (13)
So is "Gloria" a 2013 or 2014 release? I thought you nominated it for last year's awards.
BVR - i did. it was one of those dread films that planned a one week qualifier and was on Oscar's eligibility list but others claim they dropped the qualifying week afterwards andit never happened. I could never get confirmation. The studio didn't even respond.
For those who avoid them at any cost, there's an unannounced mini-spoiler in the last paragraph of the Finn Wittrock interview. Nothing major, but some people get touchy about these things. (I do, but not when I consider it minor. Everyone has his own spoiler threshold.)
Looks like Trumbo is an HBO film. I'm glad - Cranston is a good actor and all, but after all the Breaking Bad hype, I'm not ready for a year of him dominating the Oscar circuit.
Nathaniel: I'm starting to understand your frustration with one week qualifiers more and more. Hope the Academy keeps awarding November and October releases to deter studios from the December glut.
Like I said to Sasha while she was berating the internet for poking fun at The Hollywood Film Awards, none of these awards shows really matter outside of SAG. BFCA (and I know you're a member, but even you have noted the flaws in that system) and The Globes really don't mean anything. They don't try and be anything other than Oscar predictors. The Globes are shameless in their star-fucking ways and can be bought with cheap watches. SAG is really the only body that seems to still have some dignity, and that is seen by the fact that they don't blindly nominate the obvious. If they don't see it, they don't nominate it. The voting body is also large enough to make sense and be taken seriously.
That said, this is awards season and so awards do matter to those who care enough to care, I guess. I mean, I didn't actually watch more than 15 minutes of The Hollywood Film Awards, and even the winners seemed to think it was all a joke (Chris Rock was pretty hilarious), but whatever, it's an awards show and this is awards season.
I don't understand Sasha's stance. She wants to berate everyone for attacking the HFA, and yet she calls out the Globes saying that they are pointless (which they are) in an attempt to...defend the HFA? And yet she winds up saying that it is ALL for publicity, so in the end she's also poking fun at them? I'm confused...and I think she is. Sadly, as much as I used to love reading Sasha's opinions and comments on film and the Oscar race, she has become a sore spot. She seems to ONLY want to write articles and tweet about criticisms, always baiting others and trying to antagonize and berate them.
She seems to always be sore about everything, which makes her opinion a chore.
Poirot--Murder on the OE is my favorite of the series. Chastain (and the rest of the cast) were perfect and it is so much better than the earlier film (which I really like). Well worth watching.
Thank you for the link to the AV piece. You are right that it is a must read.
How To Train Your Dragon 2 was a pretty good film, but the narrative around it became all about the mystery of its box office underperformance, which I think is a big challenge in terms of winning the Oscar.
Sean C -- i think it's international success muted that story by the end of the summer though.
"How to Train You Dragon" was a lazy sequel to a wonderful movie made just to make money- to me "The LEGO movie" is on a higher level- it's AWESOME
I love Tim's review. I was wild about Gloria and Paulina García last year too. Undoubtedly my favorite performance of last season. Go buy the rights, Annette!
Bill Irwin is such a great actor. He needs a good role in a movie to prove it, just as he did with George on Broadway.
Approximately how weird and creepy is it that I just made that pic of you and Sasha my desktop background. To me, that is monumental enough to AT LEAST be computer wallpaper.
Nathaniel and Sasha together! Throw in Guy Lodge and you have the holy trinity. Blogger's Delight.