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• Paul Dergarabedian bangs the Oscar gong for…”Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?” [Hollywood.com]
• Kim Voynar wraps up the LA Film Fest. [Movie City News]
• Claudia Eller calls out Hollywood’s A-list for under-performing at the box office this summer while no-name productions have prevailed. [Los Angeles Times]
• Brad Brevet kicks the tires on his Oscar coverage. [Rope of Silicon]
• A whole bunch of words on Hollywood’s creative lull, this time concerning a slew of familiar characters. [USA Today]
• ‘Brüno’ and Universal pull back the curtain. [The Big Picture]
• David Poland, meanwhile, video reviews the flick. [The Hot Blog]
• In honor of Stephen Frears’ “Chéri,” the top 10 “cougars” in films. [Spout Blog]
8 responses so far
1 6-30-2009 at 8:24 am
James D. said...
Nothing to do with the post, but are you guys going to do a list detailing the best films of the year at the halfway point, like you did last year?
2 6-30-2009 at 8:43 am
A.J said...
I always thought the last Harry Potter would have a fighting chance at one of the final 5 slots. Now that it’s ten I’m sure it’ll be nominated. The next three have the best source material although 7 and 8 really depend on where they split the script. They could award this film ‘trilogy’ like they did Lord of the Rings… not really, but hey 10 is a party!
3 6-30-2009 at 9:04 am
Rogers said...
I have been a bit worried by some of the HP promotional material being offered lately, but there would be no one happier than I if this film turned out to be great, and I would love to see at least one of the final films get some sort of nod especially with the expanded field. Fingers crossed.
4 6-30-2009 at 9:08 am
Guy Lodge said...
With the Oscar gates having opened a little wider, is this how the blogging community is going to react to every competent crowd-pleasing blockbuster from now on? If so, I’m bored already.
“Antichrist” for Best Picture! With 10 slots, it’s surely a shoo-in! Who’s with me?
5 6-30-2009 at 9:47 am
Jonathan Spuij said...
No matter how childish the Potter franchise still is it’s the biggest steady moneymaker ever. No wonder they’ll want to award it with something. Especially with 5 bullshit slots up for grabs next year.
6 6-30-2009 at 9:58 am
Guy Lodge said...
“Especially with 5 bullshit slots up for grabs next year.”
Why do they have to be bullshit, Jonathan? If we must have 10, why aren’t more people thinking of the extra slots as a way to honour smaller, more left-of-center work — and instead plumping for every blockbuster they can think of?
It’s a general knee-jerk response to “The Dark Knight,” and it represents a very unhealthy mentality.
7 6-30-2009 at 11:58 am
Jeremy said...
A.J., I used to have the same thought about the final HP movie, along the same lines as “Return of the King” finally winning Best Picture for Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, with the split, there’s a weird lack of finality for the seventh/eighth movies, so I’m not sure that will hold.
And Guy, I agree that the extra slots don’t have to be bullshit, but that doesn’t mean the Harry Potter movies shouldn’t be considered. Frankly, I felt the last three movies (Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Order of the Phoenix) all merited more Oscar consideration than they deserved, especially “Goblet of Fire”, which remains to me the pinnacle of fantasy filmmaking.
8 7-01-2009 at 11:02 am
Jonathan Spuij said...
Yes Guy, but every journalist will place anything not nominated for Best Director as well into the “subpar” 5 extra slot category.