Link He Wrote

GQ Michael Fassbender profiled
Deadline Octavia Spencer in a Murder She Wrote reboot? Maybe because I think procedurals are the most formulaic of all genres and entirely dependable on personality to be distinctive at all this sounds like a great idea to me. To others (Angela Lansbury super fans) it will surely sound like sacrilege.
MCN Late October and still no Best Picture frontrunner?
Empire Team Gattaca reuniting: Andrew Niccol and Ethan Hawke making another film together. Call me when Uma & Jude join and we'll talk.

 

Anatomy of a Scene Blue is the Warmest Color I'm bookmarking this one and waiting till I've seen the movie. Hopefully today
Antagony & Ecstasy on Dario Argento's Dracula 3D 
MNPP Jamie Dornan has been cast in 50 Shades of Grey but you need to know who appreciated him first. Besides Keira Knightley
Pajiba amputee Josh Sundquist wins Halloween again. Incredible costume! 
Coming Soon an unfortunate typecasting niche: John Ridley, who wrote a beautiful script for 12 Years a Slave has signed on to the remake of Ben-Hur which is, in case you've forgotten, also a slavery narrative.
The Advocate on the Oscar eligible LGBT documentary hopeful Bridegroom 

Off Cinema
New Yorker "the dream of keeping poor people from seeing the doctor must never die." I love this but it's also sad that political satire barely has to try these days to be accurate!
Vanity Fair "The Ronan Farrow Love & Politics Dreamboat Hour"

Todays' Watch
The sounds of Gravity... (I'm not sure if it's going to win Best Picture but it seems likely that it walks away with the most statues even if it doesn't.)

Horror Fest 2013
Though horror is not among my favorite movie genres I really had a great time viewing a few seminal movies and working on the Best Horror Pre-Exorcist / Post-Exorcist group lists that we did for this haunted month. I'm realizing, as I stated on the latest podcast (one of my favorite episodes actually!), that maybe I like horror films more than I thought but that it's actually just the slasher sub-genre that I hate. Since I came of movie age in the 80s, I now understand that I equate the entire genre with slashers, for whom I have no use. I just find those movies repulsive and politically suspect (so much sexism and conservativism) and I just need more artistry in my movies.

But anyway my point is this: two members of the team shared more at their personal blogs and you should read them: Michael's Top Ten Lists with commentary ; Jason's own Pre-Pazuzu / Post-Pazuzu  lists... and if you like horror Jason is one of THE voices on the web you should be obsessing on. I actually credit him with opening my heart up to the genre slowly over the past few years, like one rib at a time ...now that it's open, don't get stabby with it!

P.S. I ♥ Shelley Duvall in The Shining so much -- f*** everyone who thinks she's terrible in it! -- and that is my last word on these horror lists we did for this season.

7 Notes on Revised Oscar Charts

Hey y'all... I've been hard at work this week updating all the charts. Yep, every. single. one. So herewith ten notes for suggested comment fodder. 

• Mystery Meat
American Hustle and Saving Mr Banks are the Oscar Bait Unknowns... unless you assume that Wolf of Wall Street will be finished in time. All have, to my knowledge, not been screened for even long lead critics. Most pundits, armchair or otherwise, believe in Hustle wholeheartedly (one assumes due to David O. Russell's recent track record) and are suspicious of Banks (one assumes because of the dangers of Disney-on-Disney hagiography but maybe also because movies-about-movies aren't always Hugos; sometimes they're Hitchcocks). So far I'm not expecting a lot of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty but maybe that's a stealth masterpiece about to blow us all away. Which of the unseens are you hoping deserves space in the Best Picture race?

• All Over The World
The foreign film charts are so much work and every site now covers this category that I once had a stranglehold on. I wonder if they're worth the time anymore (?) but I do love my subtitled pictures. We currently have 69 official submissions and only two have what you might call a truly high profile (Hong Kong's The Grandmaster, and Iran's The Past) though I'm not at all sure that they're the strongest candidates this year. Take a look at the charts from Afghanistan to Italy and Japan to Venezuela! Which films are you most curious about and do you like the influx of variety here? The world is giving us animated films, documentaries, horror films, romances, you name it, in addition to the usual heaping helpings of war dramas, biopics, and childhood journeys. If you follow this race closely you should know that Team Experience is on it: Tim saw Egypt's entry, Jose took in the Czech Republic submission, and I reviewed the Romanian and Iranian entries and Glenn and I both loved the Cambodian entry though we haven't written about it yet. More to come.

• The Coronation March
I understand that with Best Actress there's a lot of "It's Sandy vs. Cate" hoopla in online forums at the moments. Bullock is in very good shape for a nomination, true (I'm just being slightly contrarian to leave her out at the moment though I don't think she's anywhere close to 'lock' status yet) but I'd be very shocked if she ever gained enough momentum for a second win. A) it's not that kind of role since there's no "bait" beyond sad tears B) she's not that kind of actor to win a second unless competition is weak or the role is super bait C) Oscar has never in 85 years indicated a deep well of goodwill for actors working auteur pieces or actors in science fiction films. So unless Amy Adams is our stealth champion, I think Cate will be sweeping for months ala The Queen... and lord knows she is one.

• Sell Yourself
Oscar campaigns can make a huge difference for movies and performers that aren't slam dunks. Armies of publicists and awards strategists are already working on their maneuvers though we won't see it till it happens. The films I personally think need smart campaigns the most are those in wide open categories (like animation) or those that will get zilch if they don't have one, either because they're perceived as "small" or because they're in the middle ground of praised but not rapturously so or they're well liked but there's no automatic "in". I'm thinking of films like Prisoners, Short Term 12, Dallas Buyers Club, Inside Llewyn Davis, Frances Ha, Labor Day, Blue is the Warmest Color, maybe even The Great Gatsby and Rush (the latter two I'm currently predicting to win the double edged sword prize aka the "most nominations without a corresponding Best Picture nod"). I realize it's a diverse lot but my point is they could all score anywhere from nuthin' to three or four nods, depending how well they play the game and whether they can condition AMPAS to think of them quite naturally when it comes time to ballot.  

• Sound and Fury
We've seen in the past that there's only so much room for blockbusters in the visual and sound categories if big showy prestige dramas have the wow elements and necessary "size" (think Gravity and Captain Phillips and maybe even Gatsby to a limited degree). When Tony Stark suits up the visual effects voters ALWAYS respond but the sound guys have only thrilled to his particular blast offs once. With Superman and various Kryptonians wreaking such loud havoc this year could the Man of Steel steal tech nods from the Man of Iron... or maybe they're both shut out and World War Z rises? Oscar doesn't really go for zombie films but there's a first time for everything right and maybe a couple of tech elements could be honored?

• Dress You Up
I can't believe we've come this far into the film year and I haven't waxed rhapsodic about Best Costume Design. I will rectify that soon including an interview with one of the true legends of the category. One of the things I've always liked about the costume designers is that they don't always stay in lock-step with Best Picture so it's anyone's guess. There are a lot of candidates worth considering including Lee Daniels' The Butler (crocheted disco suits!), Dallas Buyer's Club (80s trans glamour and redneck Texas), period finery versus humble wool in 12 Years a Slave, the sexpot disco glam of American Hustle... I could go on. One thing I'm curious about is Trish Summerville for Hunger Games: Catching Fire. People loved her work on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and though the original Capitol costumes (by a different designer) didn't win a nomination they did get a lot of media attention. How will these fare in comparison? 

• Sing-Along?
Will no one speak out or care about the Original Song category? It still seems entirely bereft of nominatable tunes... hey, if that's what it takes to get Short Term 12 nominated for something than that's what it takes. If we were nominating Best Song Performance we'd be singing a different tune entirely because, hello, Black Nativity divas and Oscar Isaac and Oscar Isaac and Oscar Isaac because good god his voice in Inside Llewyn Davis! I didn't love the movie beyond the cat but his voice is just golden. 

CHECK OUT THE CHARTS AND COME BACK AND DISCUSS!
PICTURE | DIRECTOR | ACTRESS | ACTOR | SUPPORTING ACTRESS | SUPPORTING ACTOR | SCREENPLAYS | VISUALS | SOUND | ANIMATION | FOREIGN FILMS
Suggestions on how to improve the charts are welcome

 

Early Bird Oscar Predix Nearly Finished !

Working as fast as I can through the first wave of Oscar charts. I realize 'fast as I can' this year is snail-paced but you have to agree that this year has been a slow-starter anyway. Not that things haven't started now. Cannes is in full swing and in addition to the awards speculation for the Palme D'Or, Cannes prompts film sales, too, and thus distributor shuffling. Stephen Frears Philomena (currently in post) was picked up by the Weinstein Company and given that they had a full slate already -- especially for Best Actress since they're also representing Streep & Kidman in August and Grace -- it must have been more than Judi Dench that prompted the high priced sale. I've added it to the previously completed charts because it's just one of those projects that felt right to me when I first heard about it. Isn't it about time for Stephen Frears to get his mojo back? I've added that new contender to the prediction charts.

But for now, let's talk about the visual and aural categories. What follows is not my predictions but just a few thoughts to kick off a conversation. You can see predictions on the charts here (for visuals) and here (for sound) 

Cinematography
It may finally be Emmanuel Lubezki's year. The truly great cinematographer has always been overshadowed by non-discriminatory love for competing films in his nominated years -- in fact he's one of the very rare frequent below the title nominees that does not require any degree of Best Picture heat to be in the conversation. In fact only 20% of his nominations come from Best Picture nominated films. So you know they really love his work and it's not just coattails from the movies. This year he has the now-important advantage (sigh) of working with a ton of visual effects with his frequent collaborator Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity. For reasons that are still unclear to me Oscar voters now view Cinematography as an extension of the Visual Effects category; in the last four years the winners of both categories have been the exact same film. This is a terrible trend since cinematography is an art that's been producing myriad breathtaking works long before anybody had ever heard of CGI. Still... if this is what it takes to finally get Lubezki the Oscar... [more]

Click to read more ...

Link City: Blogs To Click For

Coming Soon first look at Josh Brolin in Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
Low Resolution Joe Reid returns to his very neglected blog to make a movie trailer for his own awards
The Hollywood Reporter spends time with Emmanuelle Riva who might become the oldest acting Oscar winner in history
Slate discusses the morbid finale of Downton Abbey Season 3. Is it the cruelest show on television?

Pajiba five things you may not have known about Christoph Waltz. Fun - love the Haneke bit.
In Contention Christoph Waltz in Djesus Uncrossed on SNL
Empire Sam Mendes may return for Bond 24. That's crazy if you ask me. How the hell will he top Skyfall? Better to walk away with afterglow.
Cinema Blend Lincoln finally ends slavery.... in Mississippi. WTH?
MNPP Gael García Bernal two (sexy) times
Encore's World the whole collection of "Motifs" articles. This one is on Parents & Children in '12 cinema featuring Brave, Amour, Looper and Moonrise Kingdom
The Film Doctor's one sentence review of A Good Day To Die Hard. One very long (true) sentence. 

Greg P Russell working on SkyfallFinally... some last minute awardage. The Writers Guild (WGA) continued Argo's dominance at the guilds... which probably means no Oscar for Tony Kushner's Lincoln. I thank 2012 emphatically for being so hard to predict for so much longer than usual even though now it's snorezzzville again going into Oscar night. At least until earlier this month. Now it's snorezzzville with only Argo deemed worthy of hardware. Which is why I've fallen off the reporting wagon... well that and the lack of FYC ads this year ;) Argo and Silver Linings Playbook took the ACE awards for editing. I say near-sweep because Argo hasn't won everything. It lost the Art Directors Guild prize to Anna Karenina and Sound prizes have also eluded it. Life of Pi was a double winner for the Sound Editors (MPSE) with Wreck-It Ralph and Les Misérables picking up their other trophies... but the Cinema Audio Society felt somewhat differently handing Brave and Les Miz its trophies. All of which is very bad news for perennial sound mixing nominee Greg P. Russell who is up for Skyfall this year... will he really lose again on his 16th nomination! Sixteenth! Tomorrow one more guild announces: the Costume Designers Guild.

10 Days 'til Oscar: Score, Song, & Sound

We're in the final crunch now. Oscar voters have to make their final decisions by Tuesday February 19th (with the winners announced Sunday February 24th) so I'm throwing up my own nominees (which I like to announce before the Oscar nominations even. Oy) so you can see my film bitch award picks for the best in the various aural categories here. But while we're on the subject of sound, a film craft I always vow to learn more about and then forget to educate myself, let's make some early Oscar predictions.

BEST SCORE
Naturally I prefer my nominees to Oscars. Unlike many pundits, I knew that the Beasts of the Southern Wild score didn't have a prayer since Oscar's music branch is notoriously exclusive. In addition to their resistance to new composers they also don't really cotton to directors muscling in on their territory, so step away from the sheet music Benh Zeitlin, Benh Zeitlin. (Even an Oscar God as Revered as Clint Eastwood hasn't been able to do it.) Nevertheless Oscar voters and I do have a bit of overlap here as we all swooned for Dario Marianelli's work on Anna Karenina and Mychael Danna's evocative score for Life of Pi. I'd be pleased if either of them won the category. As for the other nominees, I never quite understand the mandatory nature of John Williams nominations. He's certainly created some classic scores over the years but I swear if he just whistled a few bars on a soundtrack he'd be nominated. I also still don't get the Argo score being nominated since Desplat wrote about five film scores this year and they're ALL better than his decent but surprisingly generic work on Ben Affleck's well regarded thriller. A nomination for Zero Dark Thirty would've been so preferrable.

Should Win: Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina
Will Win: Mychael Danna, Life of Pi. (Even though the music branch is loathe to welcome new blood once they do, they don't tend to have issues with them actually winning the gold.)
Possible Spoiler: Despite Williams' endless nominations, Oscar voters don't seem to be sentimental about giving him a final (and sixth) statue, so I'm guessing Danna's only potential loss comes from Argo-Mania. Alexandre Desplate still hasn't won an Oscar which is starting to seem crazy. 

SONG
Though Oscar and I don't have much overlap -- look, I know Joyful Noise is a crap movie but Dolly Parton writes beautiful movie songs and still doesn't have an Oscar --  I really love the Oscar nominees anyway. All of 'em! It was a good year for original movie songs. I'm looking forward to the performances (should we get them... and it seems like we will).

007 Skyfall - Opening Credits (Best Quality Yet) from Gunnar Lien on Vimeo.

Should Win: Skyfall
Will Win: Skyfall (the night's biggest lock?)
Possible Spoiler: Skyfall... in case they decide to give Adele two Oscars just to see if she pisses herself laughing. 

SOUND EDITING & SOUND MIXING
Oscar likes exceptionally loud movies in the sound categories from the following genres: sci-fi, war, musicals. Which is why you rarely see fragile sounding haunted dramas like, say, The Deep Blue Sea, or fascinating soundscapes like Cosmopolis or artful indies like Beasts of the Southern Wild in the mix. So the weirdest nominee from their choices might be Lincoln which is not particularly loud or showy in terms of sound. I think they missed the boat in ignoring Prometheus in both sound categories this year... but the studio didn't really campaign so there's that. The sound categories can be difficult to predict since who knows what actors make of "sound", you know? And they make up the biggest voting block for winners. Greg P. Russell has been nominated 16 times without winning and he's up again for Sound Mixing on Skyfall. If enough voters become aware of his Oscarless plight, I can't see him losing for such a well loved widely seen film. But are they aware?

watery films are often popular in sound categories

Should Win (Mixing/Editing): abstain... I'm still thinking about this
Will Win (Mixing/Editing): Skyfall & Life of Pi... wild guesswork. They do sometimes split those prizes... and these two films might be in tough battle after tough battle for the entire first half of the ceremony in the craft categories.
Possible Spoiler (Mixing/Editing): Les Misérables & Skyfall

What are you rooting for soundwise with Oscar and what do you think of the film bitch award nominees?