Is Skyfall's Oscar Buzz Real or Just Really Convincing Hype?

Though each new James Bond film lands with a media frenzy of sorts, Skyfall's box-office crushing tour of the Globe has even come with Oscar buzz. As an Oscar pundit, at first I felt I needed to do my killjoy duty and remind Bond-fans that the Academy has never been eager to have a martini with Bond, no matter how he orders it. But lately I've begun to wonder if, should the hype not subside much, the world's favorite super spy might finally win a nomination or two again. Two nominations would be a major win for Team Skyfall though the current hype would have you perceive that as a disappointing haul since it suggests that multiple nods and even a Best Picture citation are just around the corner. 

It's this overreaching by fans and the more excitable pundits that keeps forcing me back into Killjoy Corner. But let me repeat: a Best Picture nomination is not happening; Ten spots is not Twenty. And Bond Films aren't even close to the top of Oscar's Favorite Franchises heap anyway. Even with the fast Oscar-dream fade of The Dark Knight Rises and the artistically suspect decision to make The Hobbit into three films, history suggests that AMPAS is more likely to join Bruce Wayne or Gollum in the shadows again than James Bond. 

I should explain with facts (after the jump) before they go out of style again...

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Monty Is All In For "Hitchcock"

Monty, the web's original feline Oscar pundit, has been known to ruthlessly ignore Oscar contenders, yawn in their general direction or use them as sedatives. But -- BREAKING!!! -- he has taken an immediate unmistakable liking to Hitchcock.

Swag or screeners have arrived recently for Rise of the Guardians (completely ignored but for the box it came in) Amour (ignored) and various indie contenders (ignored x 3). The second Hitchcock's silver cannister was opened he literally came running.

He circled the container. He smelled everything. He wanted to snuggle with the t-shirt. He was all about Hitchcock. (But then, he is also prone to hang outside shower curtains all silhouetted and staring and it's not hard to imagine Bernard Hermann's ♩ reeeee ♩reeeee ♩reeeeee  accompanying every claw swipe when he gets feisty.)

Will Oscar voters feel as instantaneously curious about and attached to the movie? I'm thinking yes.... at least with the former but can Fox Searchlight turn the curiousity into attachment? (I recently heard from an acting branch member who is totally in for Helen, Anthony and the movie on their ballot.) Will Monty prove prescient again? What's your guess? 

The Man With the Golden Link

Natasha VC Melancholiay Kiki was right. Noooooo....
MovieLine on Sam Raimi's purchase of Angelfall, the YA series that's meant to be the next Hunger Games. The only thing getting me through the endless repetitiveness of today's cinema culture is that most of these series have an end date. So once Hunger Games ends, people will be looking for the next Angelfall instead. (Can you tell I'm so excited that Twilight is over!!!?)
HitFix talks to Matthew McConaughey about a Magic Mike sequel and all that weight he's lost for The Dallas Buyers Club.  
Movies Now profiles GKids, that winning animated indie distributor who should be taken seriously in each year's Oscar race 

Awards Daily on the ever present narrative of Oscar's Difficulty with Race. Which, to be fair if you ask me, is not so much Oscar's problem as Hollywood's difficulties; Oscar is only a prism. 
Hollywood Elsewhere Newsflash: Jeffrey Wells apparently takes Armond White seriously (suggesting his partly negative Lincoln review matters)! Who does that?!? (White just takes whatever position is contrarian. That's why his reviews always come out later than everyone else's.)
Gawker thinks Joe Wright's artistic gamble with Anna Karenina pays off. I'm noticing enough positive reviews to wonder if the worm is turning on this thing in terms of Oscar (people were so weirdly and prematurely down on it post Toronto from the lack of consensus I suppose) but maybe that's just wishful thinking since I liked it and thought Keira Knightley was truly fab in her divisive gutsy jaw-first way.
i09 Five minutes of the new Star Trek film to play in select IMAX theaters before The Hobbit. Because I am not a Trekkie and don't pay close attention I had somehow missed that this film is called Star Trek Into Darkness and now I am embarrassed for everyone involved. Sounds SO hokey and jokey and pretentious all at the same time! A feat you might say.
Vulture Sigourney Weaver pretended she was doing Shakespeare while acting in Alien (1979) "I was such a snob" 

Today's Must Watch
Tom O'Neill at Gold Derby talks to Tony Kushner about Abraham Lincoln's much-speculated upon sexuality and why there's precious little of it in Spielberg's Lincoln.

Lincoln, Sky Fall, Oscar Rumble... ♫

... we will stand tall... and face it all together ♩

NEW PODCAST 
Let Oscar season begin. In the latest tightest hottest edition of the podcast, Nick (Nick's Flick Picks), Joe (Low Resolution) and Katey (Cinema Blend) join me, Nathaniel, to talk four new movies: Steven Spielberg's Oscar buzzing Lincoln, box office devouring Skyfall, utterly baffling Holy Motors and the wildly uneven Flight. 

We also take a moment to pay homage to Jodie Foster and each of our favorite performances by her on the week of her 50th birthday and before the Golden Globes shower her with praise via the Cecil B DeMille award.

You can download the podcast on iTunes or listen right here at the bottom of the post. But, as always, the podcast isn't complete without your voice. Talk back to us in the comments!

Lincoln, Bond, Jodie, Denzel

#PunditProblems

And here I thought excitement was suspicously low for The Hobbit...

Not three hours after Warner Bros listed screenings for guild members (that includes BFCA members like myself plus all the inside showbiz organizations like AMPAS, HFPA and BAFTA etcetera) every single last screening of The Hobbit was filled to capacity (except the ones in San Francisco). I even attempted a 48 FPS* screening as a last resort though I have absolutely no desire for yet another new gimmick to soil the world's greatest artform -- isn't 3D cheapening things enough?

*I decided to give this its own tag below but I pray that I will never be forced to use it again!