In Contention

Tag: Syriana

  • In Berlin

    Sorry for the down time on my part. It’s been go, go, go since I landed in Berlin Friday. It’s back to London tomorrow morning, so I should be back on track.

    But to toss out a few random thoughts:

    1) Clinton’s “I’m finally getting out of the way” speech contained all the right words, but damn if she didn’t seem completely incapable of shielding the fact that she was swallowing some tough medicine.

    2) Berlin is one of the most agreeable cities I think I’ve been to in my life, and I can’t seem to place my finger on why. Despite the frequent bout of communication breakdown, I could easily see myself living here.

    3) I’ve been watching “Syriana” on my laptop when I can get a moment, a few minutes here, few minutes there. It’s the first time I’ve revisited the film since its 2005 release, and I have to say it is aging well in the face of the changing times. I never felt it to be an out-of-the-park effort, but it remains one of the more ambitious projects of the decade and, in its own way, a solid portrait from a dedicated filmmaker.

  • ‘Syriana’ suddenly deemed an original screenplay by the Academy

    This story will break in the trades tomorrow, but here’s the scoop.

    In a rather shocking turn of events, the screenplay for Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana, a Golden Globe winner for Best Supporting Actor Monday night, was apparently classified by the Academy as an original screenplay in a meeting held in mid-December.

    The Academy’s decision, which is obviously a month old at this juncture, was not revealed in any way as awards season accelerated through the last 30 days. Gaghan himself was not even made privy to the classification until today. Meanwhile, his work as writer of the screenplay has seen recognition from the Writers Guild of America in the adapted category, and was also a nominee for the USC Scripter Award which recognizes the writers of heralded adaptations each year in addition to the source material that spawned them. Syriana was even a finalist for the Scripter win along with Capote, a competition that came down to the latter taking the award earlier this afternoon.

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  • Best in show 2005: the year in superlatives

    It’s time to really round out the year and offer up my picks for awards in 2005.

    In addition to the typical categories – which finally see their winners announced today – you’ll find some other fun arenas for awards citation. Call it a mish-mash of MTV-Awards-type kudos and other frequently heralded categories we find time to time in various critics’ awards and precursor ceremonies.

    No one is better at this sort of thing than Nat Rogers over at The Film Experience, so I recommend you all take a look at his Film Bitch awards when he dishes them out in the coming weeks.

    These will likely be my last extensive thoughts on the awards season this year, barring any brief comments I may or may not make here and/or there. There will, of course, be one final predictions update before the end of the year.

    It feels good to wrap everything up before Christmas vacation, I have to tell you. But the Oscar season is by no means over, so I’ll be diving right back in once 2006 finally rolls around.

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