In Contention

Tag: Anvil! The Story of Anvil

  • Deadline for Oscar docs looming

    As we enter the fall festival season with an Oscar prediction sheet still covered in question marks, there is at least one category where almost all the viable contenders have already been seen. I speak, of course, of Best Documentary Feature, a race already crowded with possibilities from earlier fests and the summer release calendar, and with a submission deadline less than a week away.

    Over at The Odds, Steve Pond informs us that filmmakers have until September 1 to enter their docs for Oscar consideration, having completed qualifying theatrical runs (one week minimum) in the past 12 months. Sifting through the titles in play, Pond likes the chances of such heavily-buzzed titles as “Restrepo,” “Inside Job” and “A Film Unfinished.”

    All three films take on weighty subjects — respectively, the conflict in Afghanistan, the global economic crisis and (a well-known pet theme of the Academy) the Holocaust — which should stand them in good stead with a voting branch not renowned for its sense of humor.

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  • DGA doc nominees include ‘Cove,’ ‘Anvil,’ ‘Agnes’

    Agnes Varda in The Beaches of AgnesMuch like last week’s announcement in their top category, most of the usual suspects are present in the Guild’s documentary lineup.

    I’m particularly pleased to see French New Wave veteran Agnès Varda continue to rack up a healthy precursor tally; at this rate, she’s on course for her first Oscar nomination. (She’d be breaking an Oscar age record in the process, too.)

    Of course, the DGA and the Academy don’t enjoy nearly same hand-in-hand relationship in Best Documentary as they do in Best Picture. Not since 1991 have the two agreed on a winner (Barbara Kopple’s “American Dream”), and even then, it was in separate years.

    Meanwhile, a measly three of the last 17 DGA doc winners were also Oscar nominees. (It’s not much better in reverse: only seven of the last 18 Oscar winners also scored DGA nods.)

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  • Oh yeah, the IDA Awards…

    Anvil! The Story of AnvilWe neglected to mention the International Documentary Association Awards happened on Friday night, but happen they did.

    Often an independent-minded group of on the precursor circuit, the IDA underlined the point this year by crowning a prominently Oscar-snubbed title as the year’s best.

    The many fans of rock doc “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” will have been pleased to see it take Best Documentary Feature, beating Oscar contenders “Food, Inc.” and “Mugabe and the White African” in the process. That should be some consolation to the film, after failing to make the Academy’s documentary shortlist last month.

    “Anvil!” also nabbed an award for Best Music Documentary (trumping “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” another film that made the Academy’s cut).

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  • Thoughts on the Oscar doc list

    Agnes Varda in The Beaches of AgnesPerhaps inevitably, the bulk of online chatter about the Best Documentary Feature shortlist unveiled yesterday focused less on the films that made it, and more on those that didn’t.

    It’s par for the course for the Academy’s documentary branch to ignore a major title or two, but even by their severe standards, the list of high-profile snubs was a long one: “Capitalism: A Love Story,” “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” “Tyson,” “The September Issue,” “We Live in Public,” “It Might Get Loud,” “Rough Aunties” and so on.

    But for every blogger or commenter complaining about the dubiousness of the list, I can’t fight the urge to ask whether or not they’ve seen all 15 titles that have been included. In these cases, it’s always easier to say what should have got in than what should have been left out.

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  • AMPAS announces doc feature short list, ‘Anvil,’ ‘Capitalism’ snubbed

    The CoveYou can check out the full press release here.  The list of 15 competing titles as follows:

    • “The Beaches of Agnes,” Agnès Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)
    • “Burma VJ,” Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)
    • “The Cove,” Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)
    • “Every Little Step,” James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)
    • “Facing Ali,” Pete McCormack, director (Network Films Inc.)
    • “Food, Inc.,” Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films)
    • “Garbage Dreams,” Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films, Inc.)
    • “Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders,” Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures LLC)
    • “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors (Kovno Communications)
    • “Mugabe and the White African,” Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey, directors (Arturi Films Limited)
    • “Sergio,” Greg Barker, director (Passion Pictures and Silverbridge Productions)
    • “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, directors (Freedom Song Productions)
    • “Under Our Skin,” Andy Abrahams Wilson, director (Open Eye Pictures)
    • “Valentino The Last Emperor,” Matt Tyrnauer, director (Acolyte Films)
    • “Which Way Home,” Rebecca Cammisa, director (Mr. Mudd)

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  • ‘Cove’ misses out on IDA Awards nod

    Afghan StarA couple of things struck me as noteworthy on the list of nominees revealed yesterday by the International Documentary Association, which Kris mentioned briefly in this morning’s round-up.

    The five films nominated by the IDA for Best Documentary Feature include “Afghan Star,” “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” “Diary of a Times Square Thief,” “Food, Inc.” and “Mugabe and the White African.”

    Having admittedly only seen three of the five, I’d call that a pretty respectable list. Still, notably absent from the list is the film that many see as the prohibitive favorite for the Oscar: Louie Psihoyos’s environmental doc “The Cove.” (Certainly, when offering your own predictions earlier this week, only four of you bet on anything else.)

    In a year that has lacked a crossover documentary phenomenon on the scale of last year’s “Man on Wire,” it’s been widely presumed that “The Cove”‘s vastly sympathetic cause and high-profile champions would be enough to seal the deal, particularly when Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” failed to catch on.

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  • 11/13 Oscarweb Round-up

    Ralph Fiennes in The Hurt Locker• Jeffrey Wells grills New York waitresses on their knowledge of the mere existence of “The Hurt Locker.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Oscar hopefuls “Anivl! The Story of Anvil” and “Food, Inc.” among IDA Award nominees. [Hollywood Reporter]

    • Tim Gray gets quotes making a case against The 10. [Variety]

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Education’ lands, animation expands

    Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard in An Education• After a quiet week for awards news, this week’s Off the Carpet column contemplated the depth of the Best Actress race.

    • A topic that Kris and Anne also debated in this week’s episode of Oscar Talk.

    • Speaking of Best Actress, “An Education,” with its nomination-bound performance by Carey Mulligan, finally hit theaters this week.

    • And speaking of Mulligan, she placed highly in our list of the Top 10 actors under 30.

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  • ‘Anvil’ first Oscar screener

    Anvil! The Story of AnvilI finally got around to “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” this week and seem to have found myself in an instant minority.  Where so many see a moving tale of friendship, brotherhood and dedication, I saw a somewhat derivative and at times even inauthentic portrait that didn’t elicit the proper interest in the subjects.

    Sue me.  I’ll give it another look at some point.

    Anyway, that’s neither here nor there.  What is of interest is that, as Pete Hammond reports, the film has the designation of being 2009’s first screener sent to the 6,000-strong membership of the Academy.  “The Hurt Locker” was primed to be the first out of the gate but it never happened.

    In recent years films such as “Once,” “The Namesake,” “Waitress,” “Junebug” and “Frozen River” have been the first to hit members’ doorsteps.  They landed four nominations between them, so jumping ahead early doesn’t guarantee big awards success, but it doesn’t hurt to hop onto people’s radars early.  Regardless, “Anvil” isn’t likely to show up anywhere outside of the documentary feature category.

    And here we go…

  • Economy pushes indie filmmakers to DIY marketing, distribution

    Steve Ludlow in Anvil! The Story of AnvilThere has been some discussion in the comments sections here lately about the state of independent cinema.  Many feel, perhaps rightly, that with the closures of indie wings like Picturehouse, Warner Independent and Paramount Vantage that there is little asylum for independent films and filmmakers in Hollywood.

    However, while it is easy to see things as somewhat disastrous, I have actually become more and more positive with the influx of “DIY cinema,” both from a production and a marketing perspective, not to mention day-and-date and video on demand distribution strategies that can connect audiences to fringe titles quicker than the traditional system.

    That is just the world Michael Cieply is digging into in this New York Times article, indicating the economy as a culprit in this growing trend and films like “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” as successful examples.

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  • 5/27 Web Round-up

    Anvil! The Story of Anvil• Todd Leopold talks to the guys behind “Anvil!: The Story of Anvil.” [CNN]

    • The complete list of tired movie cliches. [Empire]

    • Mark Harris profiles Woody Allen and Larry David. [New York Magazine]

    • Ethan Coen takes to the stage with “Offices,” a cycle of three short plays in the Big Apple. [The Guardian]

    • Anne Thompson sums up the Cannes winners and losers, including her own list of the fest’s best films. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Kyle Smith slams Sam Mendes’s “Away We Go” as likely appealing to the “German-army-surplus-jacket-wearing slacker demographic.” Ouch. [Lumenick on Film]

    • The 60 greatest American war films. [Premiere]

    • Is “man vs. machine” no longer a terrifying concept? [/Film]

    • Nikki Finke points out the breaking of the 43rd seal: Shawn Levy has now directed six-straight #1 or #2 opening weekend box office champs. [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

    • Top seven pre-“Jaws” summer movies. [Cinematical]

    • McG discusses the alternate “Termiantor Salvation” ending that would have apparently made for amuch better film. [Entertainment Weekly]

  • Rock me gently

    Anvil! The Story of AnvilAlong with a lot of viewers, it seems, Jeff Wells has fallen hard for the sweetly sad rock documentary “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” — and demands that the Academy take notice:

    How can Sacha Gervasi’s Anvil! The Story of Anvil not wind up being nominated for Best Feature Documentary Oscar? It’s got heart, it’s about over-the-hill, down-on-their-luck artists getting their groove back, it’s well made, it’s connecting with audiences, it’s funny, it’s lowbrow-highbrow. How can Academy’s doc committee ignore it?

    Who doesn’t love Anvil!?

    Yours truly, for one — though I wish I did. Much like Ramin Bahrani’s “Goodbye Solo,” which I discussed recently, I saw “Anvil!” in a festival context last autumn, kinda liked it, completely forgot about it, and am now a bit befuddled by the rapturous critical reception it has received.

    I’m not completely resistant to its charms — as I wrote back in October, it’s a witty, compassionate piece of work with a keen eye for absurd detail. What it didn’t succeed in doing was to make me care more than fleetingly about the affably deluded, self-oriented figures at its centre; not having much interest in their music, I didn’t find the band members particularly compelling as personalities either, which for me meant the film never rose above the anecdotally diverting.

    Perhaps I need to give it another go. But if there aren’t five better documentaries released in the course of 2009, I’ll be both surprised and a little disappointed. In the meantime, feel free to tell me what I’m missing.

  • LONDON: “W,” “Genova,” “Il Divo” and more

    We’ve reached the midway point of the London Film Festival, and today’s big event is the European premiere of “W.” As I eavesdropped on assorted critics’ reactions coming out of the press screening this morning, the dominant feeling appeared to be one of pleasant surprise; I have a feeling the film may find a rather warmer reception here than in its home country.

    I’m still gathering my thoughts on the film, which I thought riveting in some respects and messy in others, though it’s clear Stone has transcended the limitations of Stanley Weiser’s script. Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Banks offer such persuasive, full-bodied characterisations that the Madame Tussaud’s quality of certain supporting players (Thandie Newton in particular) pales by contrast.

    With that, here’s another roundup of notable films from the last few days, beginning with yesterday’s starry but rather under-the-radar Mayor of London gala selection:

    GENOVA (**1/2)

    There is much to engage the eye and ear in “Genova,” the new film from restless Brit auteur Michael Winterbottom. A return to his usual, more organic directorial style after the disappointingly conventional “A Mighty Heart,” the new film teems with activity: from the loose, jazzy rhythms of the editing to the fragmented, eclectic soundtrack overlaying busy dialogue, and above all, superb location work that turns the labyrinthine alleys of the eponymous Italian coastal city into a playground of threat and desire.

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  • LAFF closes: Sundance hits score again

    I must admit, the Los Angeles Film Festival hasn’t always been on my radar in the past, but its stature seems to be growing from year to year. This year’s edition wrapped up on Sunday, with the jury prizes going to Sean Baker’s “Prince of Broadway” in the narrative feature category, and to Darius Marder’s “Loot” in the documentary section.

    Just as significant, however, in a festival that boasts “The Audience is King” as its slogan, are the audience awards. Here, a pair of films that already took audience awards at Sundance earlier this year repeated the feat: Jonathan Levine’s “The Wackness” took the gold in the narrative section, while James Marsh’s Brit documentary “Man on Wire” won the international audience award. In the documentary category, Sacha Gervasi’s “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” emerged victorious. A summary and full list of awards can be found here.

    The former two have had buzz building around them for months; indeed, earlier in the year, I had Levine’s oddball character comedy on my Best Original Screenplay list until the category got a bit crowded. Still, one to keep an eye on, particularly at the Spirit Awards. Meanwhile, “Man on Wire,” a study of Philippe Petit’s law-defying 1974 tightrope walk between the Twin Towers, has me very excited for its UK release next month. I’d be tempted to predict an Oscar nomination for the film, which also won a Grand Jury prize at Sundance, but the Academy can be sticky about non-US docs.

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