Searching the Sundance Lineup

Michael C from Serious Film here.

This Tuesday the Sundance Film Festival announced its 2011 Dramatic Competition lineup. It's ironic that a festival devoted to independence and originality has me looking over the list of films like the crassest studio boss ever to chomp down on a cigar behind a giant desk. You can't help but gravitate towards big stars and familiar concepts. "You've got fifty words, kid. Wow me!"

One can't help but run over the list trying to spot the future of filmmaking somewhere in there. Last Winter's festival had Blue Valentine, which is still a big part of the conversation, and Winter's Bone, which gains momentum by the day. In fact, the roots of the current awards season goes all the way back to the 1998 festival where Darren Aronofsky was awarded for directing Pi and Lisa Cholodenko won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Prize for High Art.

History has shown that festival hits come out of nowhere and can't be predicted. The flick that was supposed to be the hot ticket ends up barely limping into release, while the film no one had their eye on ends up with lines that resemble the run on the bank scene from It's a Wonderful Life.

That said, if I were filling out my dance card now here are three films that I would make a point of catching based on nothing but their capsule summary and my gut instinct. We can check back in a few months to see how sharp my intuition is.

Terri: (Director Azazel Jacobs; Written by Jacobs and Patrick Dewitt) Described as a story about an orphan "mercilessly teased by his peers and roundly ignored by his teachers" Terri has echoes of previous festival winner Welcome to the Dollhouse. The fact that it goes on to describe an unlikely friendship between Terri and a vice-principal played by John C. Reilly suggests it doesn't follow too closely in that films emotionally bruising footsteps. Still, films that can accurately capture the hell of high school life are few and far between, and for all his familiarity I am still not immune to Reilly's goofy charms. Mark me down as curious.

Higher Ground: (Director Vera Farmiga; Written by Carolyn S Briggs and Tim Metcalfe) Vera Farmiga has been one of the most welcome presences in movies in the past few years. I was one of those who thought she deserved a nomination for The Departed for the way she made a somewhat thin role three-dimensional and plausible. The fact that she is transferring that powerful perception to the director's chair is reason enough to pique my interest. That the story of a mother trying to break free from a religious fundamentalist community sounds topical and rich with potential seals the deal. The presence of current Oscar dark horse John Hawkes (go John Hawkes!) doesn't hurt either.

On the Ice: (Directed and Written by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean) The film with the briefest description of any in competition: "On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, two teenagers try to get away with murder." It features unknowns in front of and behind the camera, but then the first Sundance Film Festival was won by two unknown brothers from Minnesota and their efficient little murder story Blood Simple. I'm always a sucker for lean and mean thrillers that strip suspense down to its essential elements and this one looks like it has a unique setting to boot. On the Ice has my attention.

Here's the complete lineup from Sundance.org
Which film grabs your attention?

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Source Code"

With Love and Other Drugs about to open we feel absolutely bombarded with Gyllenhaaliciousness. Which is fine by us... Especially when it comes with Hathawayish sparkle.

But such is the nature of healthy physiques careers that before you even have a chance to see Movie A, you're already asked to think about Movie B and sometimes even movie C (given that roughly 89.4% of film writing on the web seems to be devoted to pre-production rather than actual cinema.

In 2011, Jake is ditching Anne for Michelle Monaghan (on a train) and Vera Farmiga (in a control booth) inside Duncan Jones (Moon) sci-fi thriller Source Code. Let's give it the yes, no, maybe so treatment.



Yes. Well, Jones has our attention post Moon (2009) and the cast is full of fine actors.

No. "I want to save her." "You can't it doesn't work that way." "Look for suspicious passengers"... a lot of what we see her suggests a very high concept -- Groundhog Day meets Every Action Movie With a Countdown Clock -- without much by way of its own identity. While it's true that 2:24 minutes of screen time isn't much, they don't show us anything here that seems like it unquestionably will rise above action, sudden romance, or time travel "make the most of the time you have!" clichés.

Maybe So.  It seems a touch perverse to shove highly watchable actors like Jeffrey "Belize" Wright and "Crazy-Eyes" Farmiga into work clothes and onto television monitors to become human exposition machines. Are they wasted here? This is always a danger with action movies that use awards-calibre actors for color. I get that filmmakers bank on strong performers to elevate the overall quality of a movie, trusting them to grant humanity and intrigue where none may exist in the script, but it still can feel like a waste. On the other hand, it can work magic (see: the Bourne franchise) so we can always hope.

And what's with the canted angles of all the monitors within the Source Code? They have the technology to build a time travel machine that continually transports you into another human being's body right before they die but they didn't have the budget for a level?

What's your verdict: yes, no or maybe so?

Jeffrey Wright Jake Gyllenhaal

Imaginary Actress Wars

Weird but true confession: Whenever I look at photos from film festival press conferences, I always end up imagining that it was one big press conference with all of the movie stars and films represented at the same table. This can lead to weird imaginary resentments, unspoken battles and other duets.


I mean what would Nic' & Hil' even have to say too each other? Not that Hilary wouldn't feign amiability and Nicole wouldn't glare frostily. Maybe they'd talk about Best Actress wins? It's the only thing they have in common.


And what does Juliette Lewis think of Vera Farmiga? Or maybe she's just wondering when Vera is due or what it's like to kiss George Clooney or maybe why they both don't get first choice of every movie script in town since they're so uniquely talented.

Perhaps you can make better sense of these imaginary mash-ups in the comments.

This message has been brought to you by ADD and afternoon boredom.

Hilary Swank Nicole Kidman

Top Ten: New Academy Members 2010

it's not Tuesday but it's time for a Top Ten anyway... as this is yesterday's news already!

AMPAS used to hide their membership roster like the vote tallies but in the information age, they've opened up. Now we get to see the whole list of new invitees each year. I wonder how they keep they're membership around 6,000 given how many people they invite annual. Maybe enough people reject the offer, stop paying their dues, or pass from this mortal coil each year to balance it out?

You can read the full list of recipients at Indiewire, but as is the Film Experience tradition, we like to pinpoint the newest (potential) members whose future ballots we'd most like to see. So let's have at it.

New Academy Member Ballots We Most Want To See

10 Bono & The Edge (music)
They're two separate people but we'd like to imagine them filling out their ballots together inbetween sets. We'd like to also imagine that they'll have better taste than the rest of the often confounding music branch.

09 Bob Murawski (editor)
We love his work on The Hurt Locker and the Spider-Man films and he's a fellow Michigander. Extra points for that. Plus editing happens to be the most fascinating category in terms of how one judges it? How do you know how well an editor is doing if you can't see all the unused footage? And are they really that obsessed with just choosing the movies they love as their nominees or are their individual ballots so very individual that only the absolute common denominators are able to rise up to snag nominations, the common denominators being the pictures people love most, regardless of editing skill (i.e. Best Picture nominees)

08 Laura Rosenthal (casting director)
It's the job I'm personally most jealous of in Hollywood. I assume the casting directors can only nominate in the Best Picture category but in a way, shouldn't they have a say in all four acting categories? Their very business is studying actors and deciding who is best... for the part. Some interesting things on her resume: The Messenger, Chicago, I'm Not There, Far From Heaven and Savage Grace. It's worth noting that this woman was smart enough to give Samantha Morton her first two American gigs (Sweet and Lowdown and Jesus's Son)

07 Janet Patterson (costume designer)
Her filmography is short but damned if her accomplishments aren't tall. Consider: Peter Pan, The Piano, Oscar & Lucinda, Bright Star, Holy Smoke!, The Portrait of a Lady. She should already be an Oscar winner by now but after four nominations, it's nice that they're extending an offer. Strangely, the Academy's costuming branch is so small that last I checked it wasn't even listed among their categories. Are there really more makeup artists in AMPAS than costumers (click here and scroll down to bottom of page). If so, why? But then again, maybe my numbers are out of date.


06 Peter Sarsgaard (actor)
He finally wore down their resistance. That Shattered Glass (2003) snub still stings years later. He works a lot and even if we're starting to want him to truly surprise us again (we fear he's going to become a Ben Kingsley i.e. a great actor who shamelessly phones it in for too many paychecks) we like him. Who will he vote for? Besides Maggie & Jake.

05 Adam Shankman (director)
He's had experience in producing, acting and directing and was a key player in this last Oscar ceremony. We don't mean this in a judgmental way but he strikes us as the type that will vote for his friends. But he seems to have so many of them that won't he have to snub most of them each time he votes? Does having a million friends, mean voting for your friends doesn't really compromise your ballot? Now, Academy members can only nominate in the category of the branch they're invited to join (as well as Best Picture... then they can vote for the winners in most other categories when the final ballots go out). So this means that he'll be able to have his say at who did the best directing job each year. We love Hairspray and we don't begrudge him Academy membership -- he's a serious power player -- but as a director? Wouldn't he be a better fit for the producer's branch?

04 Zoë Saldana (actor)
This All American beauty (of Dominican/Puerto Rican descent) was probably invited due to those back-to-back blockbusters (Avatar, Star Trek) but if you stop to consider that she's acted opposite everything from green screens (Avatar and the like) to wood (Britney Spears, Crossroads) and on to A grade thespians like Johnny Depp and Sigourney Weaver she probably knows a thing or two about the acting process in all its iterations. And having recently singled out Tang Wei in Lust, Caution as one of her favorite performances, we know the girl is discerning and willing to look beyond Hollywood for "best". AMPAS could use more of that. We would love to see her nomination ballot in all four acting categories this coming January.

03 Jacques Audiard (director)
This French auteur's last three features Read My Lips, The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet have all crackled with intelligence, electricity, fine acting and interesting choices. Now being great at something is not the same thing as being great at judging it... but it surely can't hurt. We're always curious about AMPAS's foreign outreach. How many of them say yes to membership and when they do, how international are their ballots compared to, say, Ron Howard's... or Adam Shankman's for that matter?

Audiard directs with his hands.

02 Vera Farmiga (actor)
Her breakthrough, critically speaking, came when she won the LAFCA Best Actress prize for Down to the Bone (2004). Incidentally that film was directed by Debra Granik, who's currently helping Jennifer Lawrence break through with Winter's Bone (2010). Will more actresses line up to work with Granik? That'd be a smart move. It took the Academy another five years to notice Farmiga. Given her frequently fine rapport with male co-stars, we're actually more curious about how she'll vote for the male acting categories than her own. We know she loves Michael Fassbender so... points for that. But the real reason she's ranked so high is those crazy eyes. What do they see? We like to theorize that people with crazy eyes are actually crazy. And crazy is way better than same ol' same ol' when it comes to awards balloting.

01 Mo'Nique (Actor)
Admit it, she'd top your list too. On account of what the hell would that ballot look like? Her already legendary performance in Precious showed previously hidden depths so maybe she'll be able to see it in others, too? In addition to her being an atypical Oscar winner (they don't usually go for female comics) we're intrigued by whether or not she'll take the process seriously given that when last year's race first began she seemed famously disinterested. Will that initial skepticism make her one of those types that just votes for her friends, or doesn't vote at all or even refuses membership? Or will she just crack herself up like she does onstage while she scribbles down outlandish performances? Or did the Oscar journey, which culminated in that beautiful shout out to Hattie McDaniel's history-making win for Gone With the Wind (1939), convert her to the importance of the legacy of Hollywood's High Holy Night?
*

The rest of the lists if you're curious [source]

Actors:
 Tobin Bell (Saw), 
Miguel Ferrer (Traffic), 
James Gandolfini (In the Loop), 
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), 
Mo’Nique (Precious), 
Carey Mulligan (An Education), 
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Mother and Child), 
Peter Riegert (Traffic), 
Sam Robards (American Beauty), 
Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, pictured left), 
Adam Sandler (Funny People), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Shaun Toub (Iron Man), 
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), 
George Wyner (A Serious Man)

Animators:
 Ken Bielenberg (Monsters vs Aliens), Peter de Seve (Ratatouille), 
Steve Hickner (The Prince of Egypt), 
Angus MacLane (Toy Story 3), 
Darragh O’Connell (Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty), Simon Otto (How to Train Your Dragon), Bob Pauley (Toy Story 3), 
Willem Thijssen (A Greek Tragedy)

Art Directors/Set Decorators/Production Designers:
 Kim Sinclair (Avatar), Dave Warren (Sweeney Todd), Maggie Gray (The Young Victoria), Douglas A. Mowat (The Sixth Sense), 
Caroline Smith (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), 
Kirk M. Pertruccelli (The Incredible Hulk), 
Edward S. Verreaux (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)

Cinematographers:
 Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker), 
Christian Berger (The White Ribbon, pictured left), Hagen Bogdanski (The Young Victoria), 
Shane Hurlbut (Terminator Salvation), Tom Hurwitz (Valentino The Last Emperor), 
Dan Mindel (Star Trek), 
Tobias Schliessler (Hancock), 
Stephen Windon (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), Robert Yeoman (The Squid and the Whale)

Costume Designers:
 Catherine Leterrier (Coco before Chanel)

Directors:
 Juan Jose Campanella (The Secret in Their Eyes), Lee Daniels (Precious), 
Claudia Llosa (The Milk of Sorrow), Lone Scherfig (An Education)

Documentary:
 Nancy Baker (Born into Brothels), 
Rick Goldsmith (The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers), Davis Guggenheim (It Might Get Loud), Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water), 
Cara Mertes (The Betrayal), 
Frazer Pennebaker (The War Room), 
Julia Reichert (The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant), 
Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me)

Film Editors:
 Robert Frazen (Synecdoche, New York), 
Dana E. Glauberman (Up in the Air), Joe Klotz (Precious), 
John Refoua (Avatar)

Live Action Shorts: 
Joachim Back (The New Tenants), 
Gregg Helvey (Kavi)

Makeup Artists and Hairstylists:
 Kris Evans (X-Men The Last Stand), 
Jane Galli (3:10 to Yuma), 
Mindy Hall (World Trade Center), Joel Harlow (Star Trek), Jenny Shircore (The Young Victoria, pictured left)

Music:
 Christophe Beck (The Hangover) 
T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart), 
Brian Tyler (Fast & Furious)

Sound:
 Frank Eulner (Iron Man 2), Adam Jenkins (I Love You, Man), Tony Lamberti (Inglourious Basterd), Dennis Leonard (The Polar Express), 
Tom Myers (Up), 
Paul N.J. Ottosson (The Hurt Locker), Resul Pookutty (Slumdog Millionaire), Gary A. Rizzo (How to Train Your Dragon), Michael Silvers (Up), Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (Avatar)

Visual Effects:
 Matt Aitken (District 9), Karen Ansel (Angels & Demons), 
Richard Baneham ( Avatar), Eric Barba (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Paul Debevec (Avatar), Russell Earl (Star Trek), 
Steve Galich (Transformers), 
Andrew R. Jones (Avatar), Dan Kaufman (District 9), 
Derek Spears (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), 
Steve Sullivan (Avatar), 
Michael J. Wassel (Hellboy II: The Golden Army)

Writers:
 Neill Blomkamp (District 9), Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious), Nick Hornby (An Education), Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek), 
Tom McCarthy (Up, pictured left. He's also an actor), Roberto Orci (Star Trek), Terri Tatchell (District 9)

At Large, Executives, Producers & Public Relations
 Christopher W. Aronson, 
Jim Berk
, Philippe Dauman
, Sheila DeLoach
, Donald Peter Granger
, Nathan Kahane
, Andrew Karpen, 
Ryan Kavanaugh, 
David Kosse
, David Andrew Spitz
, Emma Watts, Stephanie Allain, Gregory Jacobs, Jon Landau, Marc Turtletaub, Glenn Williamson, Dwight Caines, Suzanne M. Cole
, Tommy Gargotta
, Sophie Gluck
, Josh Greenstein
, Pamela Levine
, Wendy Lightbourn, 
Michele Robertson, 
Tony Sella, Darcy Antonellis and John Lowry

Which ballots do you want to see?
Do you think anyone will reject the offer?
,

Sticky & W.E.

Jose here.

I was watching the Sticky & Sweet Tour DVD the other day (it came out this week in almost every country and it's soooooo good, even the live album thing works this time, so go buy it!) and couldn't help but think how unfair we are to Madonna when it comes to movies.

For all I know, that tour is every bit as epic as Avatar, so bear with me and hold that thought as I enter the controversial thing that is W.E.

Madge's second try at the director's chair will have her tell the story of American socialite Wallis Simpson and her involvement with King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, as we all know.

What the movie will be like is still unclear, first she was starring in it, then she handed Wallis to Vera Farmiga (causing an outrage about how the Oscar nominee would lose her "cred" if she worked with Madge), later she cast Abbie Cornish as well (as I understand it, Cornish will be the Julie to Farmiga's Julia), then Ewan McGregor came on board and now Madge has cast none other than her daughter Lourdes...



...(here in all her Taylor Momsen in Gossip Girl glory) who will be playing a mystery part. After taking her daughter everywhere and even have her appear in her latest music video, it's obvious that Madge is trying to take her daughter places.

This move made people react viciously again (how can you be so mean to those two?) who cried "nepotism" at the first mention of little Lola.

My question now is, why?

Being a Madonna fan and all I still have trouble understanding why did she get on people's bad graces so much? Like Nicole Kidman, she rarely can do good for the media. I am actually very critical of her but I don't think we're being fair to W.E.

Wisdom and Filth wasn't a tragedy, if not a masterpiece it showed us that Madge loves what she does and I wonder why have people began to wish this project bad from the beginning instead of at least wondering what Cornish, Farmiga and McGregor can bring to it.

Why is W.E. a joke and not an awards contender?

Oscar Night in Review: The Fashions (Pt 1)

I promise this is the last post on Oscar Night 2010. Oh wait. There's 3 more. DAMNIT! It'll never be over.

also: worst & weirdest moments | wonderful moments | complete Oscar '09/10 season

Before we get to the best & worst, I would like to give out a shout out to the blacktresses that were working the red carpet on Sunday. Hollywood is even harder on them their white counterparts (so few roles to go around). So unless they're nominated -- like the Precious girls -- they almost never get any media attention. So let's take a brief looksie. I've omitted Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique because you've already seen the "money shot" and Mo'Nique got plenty of air time (but yes, I loved the Hattie McDaniel tribute with the dress color and the gardenia. I wish more people would do themes.)

Stacey Dash wasn't really there. I stole this from one of the parallel Oscar parties (a little more on those in part two) because I dig the slightly freaky spiderweb vixen dress. Anika Noni Rose (who we're always pulling for) didn't get to sing at the Oscars (boo! producers) so I wanted to feature her. She seems to be doing an inverted take on Carey Mulligan's favored look (the black poofy dresses with color hewhaw appliques on the bodice). Jennifer Lewis, who was also in the voice cast of The Princess and the Frog almost made my worst dressed list. But then I decided I loved that she was dressed as a cartoon super-villain that she made up in her own head "Cruela de Frill". Finally we don't usually see this much of Paula Patton (Precious's "Blu Rain") but there's more of her to be see since she's very pregnant! That's the most orange I've seen since Valentino: The Last Emperor.

BEST DRESSED

From left to right: Kristen Stewart finally looked great. And like the Fug girls said, she didn't have to not look like herself to do it. You have to give credit when it's due, so I have to say that she pulled it off. (I'm more surprised than you are). Jennifer Lopez seemed to be wearing a bubble-wrap wedding gown but it's breathtaking (and we don't normally go as gaga for her style choices as the rest of the media does). I thought Sandra Bullock was wearing silver and then somebody said "did you like her gold dress" and then I had to look again and whatever -- silver/gold/champagne -- it's the color of win. Vera Farmiga is #1 for me because this my berry-colored gown isn't "safe" and it's just BIG and confidently weird and beautiful enough to be an absolute head turner rather head scratcher.

Meryl Streep looked classy and pristine in white but I'm shocked to hear that this is by Chris March (who was always doing very over the top looks on Project Runway). I imagine Molly Ringwald will make the worst-dressed lists (I'm so behind on my interweb readings) but I think it's just weird enough with the curlicue accessories and the bold color and assymetry to be a daring choice that still totally works for her. Elizabeth Banks is as dreamy as she is funny. Are you following her on twitter? Finally, you knew I had to have my goddess in here: Michelle Pfeiffer wore red which is and always has been her very best color. This dress is saved from being too plain (she does always play it elegant/safe, that one) by it's interesting pattern and textures.

WORST DRESSED

From left to right: Virginia Madsen is stupendously beautiful but always look dowdy on awards night. The cut of the waist on Kate's dress is not flattering. That's right, cover it up Winslet. My friend Joe says that Miley Cyrus's dress is "dragging her down from the boobs" haha. I think that's just her posture. But you probably shouldn't be walking red carpets if you can't yet stand up straight. Faith Hill depresses me sartorially speaking...and otherwise speaking. Zoe Saldana looked like she was having a ball so points for that. But this belongs on top of a float or as the trim of a float since it's that type of pinata-esque fabric at the bottom. Different dress up top. For some reason SJP's outfit makes me think she was doing homage to A Single Man's era. I value her status as a fashion icon but I think this might be the worst she's ever looked. (Maybe if her hair hadn't have been sticking out all over the place?) I don't know what kind of fabric Melanie Griffith is wearing but it reminds me of a chain link fence trapped in an oil slick or perhaps the treated hide of The Blob. Hate it. And, oh Charlize... bra stuffing turned inside out? Really?

What did these dresses do to your eyes? And would you rearrange the best and worsts? I know there were a ton more but I can't stare at dresses all day. I had to draw the line at twenty.

Spirit Awards Live And Possibly Spirited (Or Dispirited) Blogging

10:52 The unwieldy title is accurate because my mood is inscrutable at the moment. Even to myself. What's yours like?

11:01 Eddie Izzard is so great. Smart choice of host. Have you ever seen his concerts? Brilliance. Eddie talks so fast and in so many circles (His show CIRCLE you must rent) that I can't even comment on this opening monologue but he's the best. "We're going to have shame and fear tonight... " haha. He's now telling the winners that they haven't really won if they win. The other nominees can still win instead if they kill the winner. Hee. Is this what Adam Shankman actually wanted when he started talking about the Oscars as reality tv, a sudden death round?

11:09 Best Supporting Actor winner Woody Harrelson (The Messenger) to his fellow nominees "I think you're all better." Is that so they won't try to take him out?


11:15 Regina King and Emile Hirsch are announcing Best First Feature. I like Regina King. Does anyone reading watch Southland? I like her perpetually sour mood in that, there's depth under it and you wonder why her character can't smile more... and you love it whenever her wall drops a little. Anyway, I think she's an underrated actor. She was so good in Ray and The Year of the Dog, too. Crazy Heart wins Chris Coo Scott Cooper this prize.

Writer/director Scott Cooper is quite attractive but uh... "If I see 20 or 25 films a year, you can bet that 22 or 23 of them are independent films" In an acceptance speech. You're a filmmaker and that's all you see? And you're saying it out loud?

11:26 Vera Farmiga is smoking hot. Those pupils are crazy light and she's smart enough to always surround them with the smoky eye. If you stare at them too long she will possess your very soul. And you might like it, too. Maggie Gyllenhaal is also looking sensational if a little more reality based... and favoring assymetrical decolletage. Yay, Geoffrey Fletcher wins Screenplay for Precious.

11:31 There's no commercials in this thing? That's when I do my photo editing! And pee. I need to pee. If there's no commercials soon I'll have to pull a Bad Blake. Where's the plastic jug? Speaking of... Jeff Bridges is singing one of Crazy Heart's numbers. I can't believe Oscar didn't want Jeff up there strumming and warbling. I'm not crazy about this "Funny How Falling Feels Like Flying" song though. Give me the Oscar nominated one or the "Somebody Else"


11:39 Mo'Nique wins Supporting Actress for Precious looking as polished and beautiful as ever. She talked about bringing your A game to a low budget movie and that the wardrobe for Mary Jones came from producer Lisa Cortes's closet. 'What that says about Lisa Cortes, I don't know' hahaha. This is such a great acceptance speech. To a beaming Gabby "You are a special gift to the universe"

11:45 Mariah Carey arrives... uh, expanded... to present Best Cinematography. Roger Deakins wins for A Serious Man. Eddie Izzard returns and the microphone keeps rising up from the floor and then falling back down. He calls it a "strange penis thing". The crowd doesn't seem to think he's funny but he is brilliantly funny. It's just his kind of cerebral chain of thought rapid fire cumulative laughs (funnier the more they sink in) is not the type of humor that maybe translates best to showing up in between acceptance speeches.

11:57 The John Cassavettes Award (for a super low budget movie) goes to Humpday. That was a good one.

12:03 The Robert Altman Award (for ensemble) goes to A Serious Man. For a second I thought they said A Single Man and I was like "Colin Firth and Julianne Moore are an ensemble??? Where I come from we call that a duo!" And in case you've always wanted to know what Ellen Chenoweth (Casting Director) looks like, here she is!

I've been seeing her name on movie screens my whole life and I did always wonder. Lately I pretend that she's actually Kristin Chenoweth's older sister and that they do not get along. Hence Kristin's trouble finding worthy film roles.

12:12 We so want to see Son of Precious. John Waters just pitched it. Someone to Watch Award goes to Easier With Practice.

12:16 This night is all about the blacktresses! Now it's Taraji P Henson's turn to come out looking fan-tas-tic. Oh, it's a tribute to Roger Ebert. Taraji is so cute, giggling, 'You always had great things to say about me so I love you!' Well, at least she's honest about it! I always wonder when filmmakers and actors honor critics. Like, do they do it through gritted teeth? It must be an odd relationship. Ebert and his wife are sponsoring this award "Truer Than Fiction" for documentary filmmakers. The Ross Brothers from Ohio win. They thank their mom "she's our producer... literally." Hee.

12:23 Carey Mulligan, like Marisa Tomei before her tonight, is wearing some sort of crushed jewelry superglued to a tight black bodice. This is another Best Screenplay category. I'm confused. We already had one. Maybe that was a "first screenplay" and this is for old pros? (500) Days of Summer wins. I bet this feels good for these guys after the Oscar snub.

12:31 ANVIL! THE PERFORMANCE OF ANVIL. You know, I'm glad people discovered this movie (rent it!) but the music is not why the movie is good ;) And Anvil! The Story of Anvil wins Best Documentary.

Incidentally, Maria Bello & Lenny Kravitz presented this award. I am so hot for Bello (I know I know blonde 40something actresses. they kill me) and I wish she'd get better jobs. There was a very weird moment when she seemed to be trying to welcoming Lenny to acting (via Precious) only she's like really talented. And he's like a musician who acted once. I kept wanting him to bust out "American Woman" with Maria Bello in the Heather Graham role.

12:47 Why do I hate David Spade? I always have. It's a weird personal reaction but ewww. I can't even look at the screen. Foreign Film goes to An Education.


Lone Scherfig fawns all over Carey Mulligan verbally just like she does visually in the movie! Surprisingly she reserves even crazier praise for Peter Sarsgaard 'best actor she's ever worked with' or some such. He looks adorable bald.

Stella Artois has sponsored tonight's event. But you might say they have hijacked the night's event because every time someone wins the logo comes up and blocks out the delighted winner. Bad form sponsor, bad form.


12:53 Best Actress goes to GABOUREY SIDIBE. Woooooot. I am gonna transcribe the whole thing (insert your own giggles) because she's just too delightful for words. Or rather... more delightful with words. Gimme a sec.

[huge applause] Stop! I'm getting nervous.

Thank you. [looking at statue] It's got wings on it, yay!

I'm so excited. Okay, I'm kind of a dork. My mom used to pay me $2 a day to go to school and I used to ride by an independent movie theater. I saved up my money for a week so I could see Welcome to the Dollhouse. And that's the first film I saw where I thought... I could do that. So to be corny I'll say that is perhaps when my independent spirit was born. Now I am officially corny.

I'd like to thank our casting directors Billy Hopkins and Jessica Kelly. I'd like to thank all of our producers who worked tirelessly, our awesome awesome director, our screenwriter. They all collaborated to make me look good. Or too look bad because there was no makeup on set at all. No makeup. We all looked bad. I'd like to thank my fellow actors who... taught me how to act. Really I showed up not knowing anything. I still hardly know anything. I'm going to call all those tricks up for my next role!

And I'd like to thank everyone here with independent spirit and our studio Lionsgate. Thank you so much!

Delightful.

12:59 I think this is the end. Eddie Izzard never takes a breath and he just makes me laaaaaaauuugh. Wait, what? THREE more awards to go. No fair. I'm ready for the triple Z

1:05 Maggie Gyllenhaal, her right breast, and Ryan Reynolds present Best Actor to Jeff Bridges. Weird but very affectionate moment(s) between Jeff & Maggie during the intro, presentation and acceptance speech.


Weird partially because they played lovers in the movie and their energy in person is ALL daddy and daddy's little girl. So, uh, yeah. Kinda creepy when juxtaposed with scenes from the movie. But I love them both. Jeff's speech is filled with lots of "man"s and "baby"s. He and Mo'Nique should have a conversation. The Dude keeps looking up and talking to dearly departed people. Three of them.

1:11 Jodie Foster and Jeremy Renner look right together. Hmmmmm. J&J rave about Jeff and then they announce Best Director which goes to Lee Daniels for Precious. After a very lengthy giddy trip to the stage (he stops and hugs each Precious star) Jodie gives him a backpat and Jeremy kisses him. Lee Daniels is having a very good night.

He says "Kathryn Bigelow is not here tonight but I am' He is overcome with emotion. He literally says nothing after saying Mo'Nique's name but just tears up. I understand. I saw the performance, too.

1:20 PRECIOUS = BEST PICTURE. The Hurt Locker is probably so glad it held its release a year. Not that I want other movies to follow suit. It avoided the fate of being that Indie Spirit darling which rules over Oscar weekend until the actual Oscars. Of course there are much worse fates than to have a glitzy party with influential peers in your industry celebrating you. Congratulations to Precious! Lee Daniels to his producer (the one with the Mary Jones wardrobe) "Tell all these white people what you gotta say!"

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Supporting Actress Smackdown 2009

I haven't participated in a "Smackdown" over at me pal StinkyLulu's place for ages. What better time to correct that than during Oscar season? It won't surprise you that Mo'Nique has my vote for Precious but see how many hearts (on a scale of five) each nominated performance gets from myself, StinkyLulu, and the rest of the panel and what we had to say about Maggie Gyllenhaal, Penélope Cruz and the Up in the Air girls, too.


Related...
Supporting Actress Reader's Choice Have you voted? Time is running out. I've also spruced up this page to include more details like "how'd they get nominated" and such. Enjoy
FiLM BiTCH Awards It's time for the Medals Ceremony for our nominated supporting stars (male and female). Cue the national themes of Austria and the United States.

Actors on Actors: Zoe's Lust, Tobey's Caution

I love New York Times "T Screen Tests". Thanks to In Contention for pointing out this beautifully minimalist video. I sometimes miss them. This one is hot actors of the moment talking about favorite performances from this past decade. It's pretty interesting.



I love reading between the lines on things like this. The questions it raises. Is Jake Gyllenhaal just a fundamentally unserious person? Is Tobey Maguire sincere when he chooses super close BFF Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator or just not committing to the exercize (though I love his acknowledgement that there needs to be more to biopic acting than mimicry)? Is Christoph Waltz hoping to be employed soon by the Coen Bros? Who is Sandra Bullock's hairdresser?

There's also Carey Mulligan freaking out over Saoirse Ronan's baby blues (don't we all?) and hip Vera Farmiga singing the praises of TFE's current It boy man Michael Fassbender in Hunger.

There's something about his face that is unlike anyone in the way it conveys emotion.

I also like imagining which actors might have totally whacky off-consensus Oscar nomination ballots (Jeff Bridges obviously) and which might be total conformists (Morgan Freeman, Julianne Moore?!?)

But my favorite of all has to be Zoe Saldana's left field praise of Tang Wei in Lust, Caution. You don't hear that performance brought up every day but it's simply beyond. God Tang Wei was great in that movie. And just this acknowledgement makes me love Zoe Saldana way way more. And the fact that she dwells on the physicality... I think she's telling filmmakers she's totally down with the sex scenes if anyone wants to offer her a truly meaty part.

Actors and Actresses: Stats, Careers and Trivia

Now that we have our lucky twenty (no double dippers this year) in those twenty most coveted positions for movie actors, let's do a little rundown. We'll go factual and then opinionated.


most frequently honored: Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) with 16 nominations and 2 wins. She's been nominated for 37% of her screen appearances.
least frequently honored: Captain Von Trapp himself, Christopher Plummer (The Last Station). This is his first nomination from 51 years on the silver screen.
widest stretch of honors: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) received the first of his five nominations way back in the 1971 race starring in Best Picture nominee The Last Picture Show, beating Streep to her first Oscar notice by seven years.

youngest: Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), a Leo, is 24. She's also two and a half months younger than Carey Mulligan (An Education), a Gemini.
oldest: Plummer, a Sagittarius, turned 80 this past December.
most represented star sign: rowwwwr, we have five Leos (Woody, Sandra, Helen, Anna and Vera). I guess that's not surprising given Leo's show off nature.
least represented star signs: no Aquarius, Pisces or Aries nominees
shared birthdays: George Clooney (Up in the Air) and Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe (Precious) were both born on May 6th. Best Actress competitors Sandra Bullock and Dame Helen Mirren share July 26th.

tallest: Morgan Freeman (Invictus) is 6' 2½"
shortest: Kendrick is 5' 1½". Teeny-tiny!!!
highest paid?: Bullock and Clooney both command around $15 million a movie last I heard. Streep and Damon are obviously well compensated, too, though exact salaries are hard to come by. What's more they fluctuate from project to project and some stars take less for more of the gross, etcetera.
lowest paid: who knows though I'm willing to bet that someone got scale. Money isn't everything... especially when the role is plum.

number of birth countries: 5. USA (most of them), England (Mirren, Mulligan & Firth) Spain (Cruz), Canada (Plummer) and Austria (Waltz). [see also: Map of the Oscar World]
most likely to appear in a Best Picture Nominee: Meryl Streep has 5 to her credit (The Hours, Out of Africa, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Deer Hunter and Julia). Runners up: (tie) Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby, Shawshank Redemption, Unforgiven and Driving Miss Daisy) and George Clooney (Up in the Air, Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck and The Thin Red Line) have both been in 4.
number of collective offspring: 31. La Streep (4) Freeman (4) Waltz (4) Tucci (3) Bridges (3) Mo'Nique (3) Harrelson (3) Damon (2) Firth (2) Plummer (1) Farmiga (1) Gyllenhaal (1). Clooney, Bullock and Mirren didn't share their remarkable DNA with the world.
most famous of those offspring: "Honey Bunny" herself Amanda Plummer ...and up until this moment I never made the daddy connection. Runner up: rising actress Mamie Gummer, daughter of Meryl & Don.

And some opinions...

most deserving: Mo'Nique is just smashing... and I'm not talking about television sets.
least deserving: Stanley Tucci. He's been Oscar nomination worthy before and even this year (Julie & Julia) but not for this overlabored eeeeeeeeevil turn.
most likely to get a career boost with this nom: Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
most deserving of the plentiful "it's about damn time" nominations that were going on this season: Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
most likely to return again in the next year or two: Meryl Streep. Duh!... although one wonders how many more chances she'll get. She's getting the lion's share of roles for women over 55... but there's not that many of those roles to begin with. You could also make a case for Matt Damon who is almost 40 now and Oscar likes his men with some years on them. And Carey Mulligan may well be the next Oscar Default Girl if her management makes the right moves. [George Clooney & Penélope Cruz are hot-hot-hot Oscar regulars right now but Oscar tends to love movie stars passionately for short blocks of time and then move on. Will we see them again soon or is this the end of the romance for awhile?]
least likely to return: Gabby Sidibe. That's not as much of a knock as it sounds. She's great in the film and I'm so pleased she got nominated. But approximately 67% of acting nominees are never recognized a second time and there aren't that many roles for big girls.

most likely to wear something crazy: Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
most likely to make best-dressed lists: Penélope Cruz (Nine)
most likely to wear black: Carey Mulligan (An Education)

Can't wait to see what Vera, Maggie, Carey, Penélope and Dame Helen wear!

Want to add to or sound off about the trivia?
You know what to do.

Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress

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FB Awards 2009: Supporting Actress!

It's the tenth anniversary of the film experience awards. Where's our televised event? [sniffle] On to Supporting Actress.

A few organizations trumpeted rising star Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), most critics prizes went to Mo'Nique (Precious) and the precursors threw familiar golden names like Julianne Moore and Penélope Cruz at you -- the latter two of which have both been gold medalists at this site's awards in previous years. We still don't know which five women Oscar will crown. But never mind all that. My turn! Here's my standard dozen*: some runners up and the five shortlisters who we'll nickname: army widow, corporate sass, arm candy, moody Mary and movie widow.

see the nominees

*oops. I'm two short. I'll decide later.

Up in the Link

T Magazine Bryce Dallas Howards' new roles. Hasn't Hollywood realized she's a bad luck charm by now?
Pajiba Would you watch James McAvoy create "James Bond" in a Fleming biopic?
Back Stage Blog Stage Wicked is still breaking Broadway records. Can they get the movie version made already? Strike while the iron is warm. And cast people who can sing please!
Sunset Gun Kim Morgan's top ten for 2009
Observations on Film Art the ten best pictures of 2009 1919

...by Ken Levine loves Up in the Air. This quote should probably be used on Vera Farmiga's FYC ads. Talk about flattering

the real revelation is Vera Farmiga. Picture a taller, sexier, younger, straighter Ann Heche with the smarts and sassiness of Bogey’s Bacall. I love this woman! I want to write a movie just so she can be in it.

Movies Kick Ass completes the series '10 Movies That Defined My Decade'. If I made a list with the same name, we'd share #1
my internet... "essential blog post of the day" Hollywood parties sure do make for unexpected photo ops

And because I always think that letting the movies bleed into your every day life is a great idea, here's an Avatar-obsessed makeup tutorial.... "rawwwwrrr" [hat tip]

Oscar Podcast 2.1, Awards Preamble

Readers: Bring back the Oscar podcasts already!
Nathaniel: okay okay... here you go. Don't say we don't work hard for you.

Joe, Katey and I had a lengthy chat earlier in the week, which we've managed to widdle down to 59:59 and hope you enjoy. The topics are all over the place: Woody Harrelson in The Messenger, Marion Cotillard's Oscar journey (then and now), Up in the Air and the female point of view, the male preferencing of Oscar punditry, what the 10 wide list does to the long tail theory, The Lovely Bones and the 'science' of release dates, Sandra Bullock vs. Abbie Cornish, Jeremy Renner vs. Daniel Day-Lewis, Jason Reitman vs. Lee Daniels; So many topics scattered like kindling as we warm up. Next week, full blown fire as the Golden Globe and BFCA nominations hit (on the same day, natch. That's basically a symbol of how things go this time of year).

You can listen right here but for the sake of my bandwidth expen$e$, if you'd be so kind, please subscribe and download from iTunes for the enhanced podcast. Or if you use a different player, click here. This costs me less money and you can take it with you wherever you go. Why shouldn't you obsess on the Oscar race during your commute or workout?

As per usual, the conversation isn't really complete until we hear from you. Sound off on anything we covered. And that's a lot.

Related: Oscar Prediction Updates
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TIFF: Up In the Air

Lev Lewis reporting from the Toronto International Film Festival

Lev (third from left) and friends inbetween screenings

Apologies for my absence yesterday. A crowded day of films and fatigue and incoherent thoughts overtook me. Today, I have a few moments, so a few thoughts on a film that everyone is talking about.

Up In the Air
Jason Reitman's mildly diverting corporate comedy, his third stab at directing and second at writing, has moments of inspiration but for the most part feels blandly safe in its assessment of corporate culture. The film has been touted as a departure from Reitman’s earlier, more overly comedic features and this is in a sense true; a malaise of melancholy runs throughout. Thankfully the dramatic overtones rarely interfere with the humour, and this becomes the films strongest asset. For the first hour Reitman pulls off what many attempt, but few can do: the assimilation of drama and comedy. This should come as little surprise to anyone who's kept up with his career. Both Thank You For Smoking and Juno had an emotional core that allowed them to stand slightly apart from other films of the same ilk. Juno, in particular, was able to pull off an emotional denouement that rang true, while rarely losing sight of the simple fact that it was a comedy.

Up In the Air's brand of humour feels more organic than Juno's clever catchphrases, and its drama is filtered more evenly throughout. Too bad then that by the third act Up In the Air squanders most of the goodwill it has elicited. Though the steady evolution of drama builds quite gracefully, Reitman’s handling of George Clooney’s character, and the progression of the story, fall into cliché. Any sense of subtlety goes out the window as the story progresses exactly as one thinks it will. [spoiler] By the time Clooney dramatically races away from his big public speaking event the film has lost most of its grounding in anything truthful or authentic. [/spoiler]

The film’s bland cinematography, voice-over and editing do little to separate the film from numerous other movies. Clooney gives a charming, affable performance but its nothing he hasn’t done before; Michael Clayton, but funny. Anna Kendrick continues to show promise, handling what could have been a cloying character with grace but it’s Vera Farmiga who gets best in show honours. Lesser screen time does nothing to quell Farmiga’s continual acting prowess.

None of this stands to say that Up In the Air won’t play well to audiences or the Academy. In fact, the Oscars seem quite likely at this stage in the game. With Clooney in the lead and the crowd-pleasing nature of the film, Up In the Air should glide through the season with ease but the movie doesn't soar. Final Grade: C+


Next Up: Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime, The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man and Jacques Audiard’s Un Prophète.