In Contention

Tag: Cyrus

  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: Chad’s best of 2010

    When it came time to choose a snappy title for my year-end retrospective, the one that seemed to fit best is the one given to all my columns at In Contention this year. Oscar and I have shared a mutual disinterest in what the other feels to be award-worthy for a few years now and it doesn’t look like the trend is going to change much in 2011. For those interested, my top 20 last year garnered a whopping three nominations between them (two coming in the Best Animated Feature category).

    If there was any kind of trend or narrative to my taste this year, I guess it would be the rise of documentaries. Nearly 50% of my top 20 is comprised of the medium (including a few hybrids that blur the line), compared to a single entry last year. My guess it has more to do with a growing disenchantment towards lazy screenwriting than a noticeable uptick in quality non-fiction film. Regardless, truth was truly more interesting than fiction for me in 2010.

    Elsewhere, a number of high ranking films have to do with relationships and their struggles, possibly connected to the fact that breaking up with my girlfriend of four years was probably the defining event of my year, personally. Sometimes a movie hits you when and where you need to be hit.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Kicking the tires on the circuit

    On the precipice of December, the season feels at once stale and fresh. We’re in the post-Thanksgiving food coma paradox that hits every year. But things are going to start heating up real soon.

    The last two films out of the gate, “TRON Legacy” and “True Grit” (both ironically starring Jeff Bridges), have already started screening.  SAG ballots are already in the hands of nominating committee members and voting deadlines are approaching for various organizations.

    The circuit “officially” begins Thursday with the always arbitrary National Board of Review announcement. The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association will get a jump on the critics awards once again when they announce one week from today, while the Los Angeles (12/12) and New York online (12/12) and print (12/13) critics will have their say the following week, as well as the BFCA (12/13) and HFPA (12/14).

    The excitement will build to the usual pre-holiday stall and pick right back up on January 4 when the writers and producers guilds announce nominees, followed the same week by the art directors and sound mixers. And the date most will have their eyes on — January 10 — will bring the DGA’s list of contenders. Before you know it we’ll be on a collision course with the January 25 Oscar nominations announcement and things will be mercifully nearing an end.

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  • 9/15 Oscarweb Round-up

    • Anne Thompson sits down with Golden Lion winner Sofia Coppola, from Venice. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Patrick Goldstein on Hollywood’s on-going lover affair with mobster cinema. [The Big Picture]

    • Pete Hammond concurs with the Oscar buzz surrounding “The Social Network” after a slew of screenings in New York and Los Angeles. [Deadline]

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Inception’ shakes ‘Salt’

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Despite the collective nerd consciousness being zeroed in on the events happening in San Diego, there were enough nerds elsewhere to propel “Inception” to a second week at the top of the box office. Actually that’s unfair, it’s not just nerds who are seeing the movie as Christopher Nolan’s dreamscape now looks to be the leggy, late summer blockbuster that nerds and Warner Bros. always hoped it would be. If it gets my Mom to go, then it’ll be a downright phenomenon, but the last non-animated film she saw was probably “Mamma Mia!.”

    Alright, “Inception” dropped a petite 31% to $43.5 million and easily walked away with what I predicted would be a close race at the box office. For comparison, “The Dark Knight” dropped 53% in its second weekend, but that was coming off a much, much higher figure and it eventually settled into 35-40% drops after that. If “Inception” continues at this pace or better, it could make a decent pass at $300 million. To put those legs into perspective, you would have to go back six years to “Meet the Fockers” to find a film that crossed that threshold with a debut under $65 million.

    “The Other Guys” will take a bit of the audience away, but other than that, I don’t see much in terms of competition. While remakes and sequels continue to post one and done weekend numbers and get people talking, it’s nice to see “Avatar” and “Inception” showing that original properties are the ones that keep them talking.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: WTF?

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Forget everything I said about it being ballsy marketing your movie with a bunch of unknown, potentially scene-stealing creatures. I forget that if the creatures are at all adorable, then you automatically debut with $60 million at the box office.

    Seriously. What happened with “Despicable Me?” I’m not afraid to admit that three weeks ago I thought this would debut with $15 million. Instead, it’s the number one movie in America with $60.1 million in the bank. That already makes it the biggest computer animated film Universal has ever put out and rivals some of the better openings for non-franchise DreamWorks pictures. It should now have no problem becoming the fourth animated film of 2010 to pass $200 million. No words.

    Speaking of that threshold, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” raced past it with some conviction, dropping 49% to $33.4 million. It’s about $7 million the running total of “New Moon” by this point and will have a hard time reaching the same peak. Still, it’s more than enough to have provided more work for Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Has that not been deemed a war crime yet?

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: I ain’t got time to bleed

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Summer keeps puttering along and based on the reaction to Kris’s multiple posts on the subject, we’re all just biding our time until “Inception” comes out. I knew people wanted to see it, but I can’t remember the last time people were refreshing their browsers to see a couple of reviews.

    Nolan’s latest is still a week away though, and we have other business to cover. Mainly, some weird cartoon and the re-imagining of an 80’s action classic. Weeks ago I had this pegged as an easy weekend for “Predators” to win, but Fox has lowballed the screen count and skimped on the marketing for what should have been a no-brainer. So, let’s start with “Despicable Me.”

    Universal has released a grand total of two computer animated films before this week. The first was the $14.4 million grossing Veggie Tales movie, “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”, which I didn’t see because I think Christian vegetables are weird, but still think it’s one of the best titles of all time. Their second release was the $56.3 million wonder, “The Tale of Despereaux.”

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  • MONDAY CENTS: Rob bless America

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Happy Independence Day everyone! I trust you ate some grilled meat, camped out on a beach for the day and saw some fireworks. I know I did. Apparently, others also went to see a movie called “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” since it topped the four day weekend with $82.5 million. Why is it a four day weekend? Couldn’t tell you. Movie people just like the fourth of July so much that any Monday that falls directly adjacent to it automatically becomes a Holiday too.

    Breaking “Eclipse” down, it grossed $93 million on Wednesday and Thursday, $69 million for the traditional three day period, another $13.5 million on Monday, which all adds up to $175.3 million in six days. Catch all that? Technically, that $69 million is the weakest opening weekend figure of the series, but the film has already almost outgrossed the total of the first film, so let’s not get hung up on technicalities. Twihards came out in force and even though the film will drop precipitously from here, it will likely make its $68 million budget back just from t-shirts at Hot Topic so these grosses are almost irrelevant.

    The only thing I’ll say is that “New Moon” had $186.9 million after six days and so that film’s total of $309.3 million is already out of reach, indicating that we have seen the peak of Edward and Bella’s popularity. Unless Kristen Stewart does a nude scene in “Breaking Dawn.” Or Taylor Lautner too, for that matter.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Grown Ups’ and their toys

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Adam Sandler’s agent successfully convinced him that cancer was way less funny than Kevin James’s blubby body falling down repeatedly and that agent has his finger on America’s pulse. “Grown Ups” is not the number one movie this weekend, though, so we’ll come back to it in a second.

    “Toy Story 3” dropped a respectable 47% to $59.0 million and easily repeated at the summit of the chart. It’s running total passed $225 million and the drops should get considerably better from here on out. I guess this means that the success of the first two films wasn’t down to the popularity of Jim Varney after all.

    Okay, now there’s that movie about “Grown Ups.” Seemingly named by an Executive’s five year old son and possibly written by him as well, the Adam Sandler comedy grossed $41.0 million for the weekend. That almost matches the $42.7 million of “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” and goes a bit better than the $39.6 million of “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.”

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Wonder toys

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    As it turns out, Armond White was unable to convince most Americans to not see “Toy Story 3.” Pixar’s eleventh animated feature became their highest debuting in history with a $109.0 million weekend. That also makes it the third biggest June debut and third biggest animated debut of all time, while instantly placing it in pole position to wind up the most successful film of the summer.

    Maybe it was the 3D, maybe it was the weak market, or maybe it was nostalgia for Jim Varney but the film was able to one up the $89.8 million debut of “Toy Story 2,” although its $27,100 per theater average is virtually identical to the figure posted by its predecessor. Reviews amongst those who don’t receive weekly death threats are universally positive and this should have the staying power to flirt with $400 million by the end of its run.

    Are we looking at the second threequel to get a Best Picture nomination and the first without similar recognition for the previous installments? In a word, yes.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Taking the temperature

    Now that we’re on the other side of Cannes, I felt it was a good time to put a finger to the wind, stare into the tea leaves, shake the magic 8-ball and basically just take stock of where we’re at roughly three months away from the start of the 2010-2011 film awards season.

    The festival, covered diligently by Guy Lodge around these parts (we thank him), brought little to write home about where Oscar potential is concerned.  The truth is, it rarely does.  But as the year takes shape, things start to linger.  A film like “Inglourious Basterds” can transform muted if appreciative response on the Croisette into a foaming-at-the-mouth bid for a surprise upset in just a few months’ time.

    The big narrative stand-outs for most were Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Biutiful” and Mike Leigh’s “Another Year.” Perhaps the latter has an easier Oscar path ahead, given that it was more unanimously accepted and could ultimately be a soft lob for Academy types.  Sony Pictures Classics swooped in and nailed down domestic distribution, so I think we’re looking at a bona fide Best Picture nominee to go along with likely bids for Best Actress (Lesley Manville) and the usual expected tip of the hat from Leigh’s fellow screenwriters.  Maybe even a Best Director nod, too.  And yet the film didn’t win a single festival prize.  See how this works?

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 19 — Sundance, David and Goliath, potential surprises, Bullock/Streep

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk, a weekly kudocast between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood.

    Two weeks since our last installment, Sundance is fading away and nominations announcement is a mere four days away. In our last pre-nom discussion, we dig into the following:

    • Fresh off of Sundance, we briefly discuss the success of “The Kids Are Alright” and “Cyrus” and potential awards prospects for the films next year.

    • The PGA winner was a shocker last weekend as “The Hurt Locker” reigned supreme. We address the implications as the race moves into a David vs. Goliath frame.

    • The Oscar nominations announcement is literally around the corner, and in the first year of “the 10,” surely there will be surprises? We talk a few possibilities.

    • Has Sandra Bullock really pulled out ahead of Meryl Streep in the lead actress category? Is it actually neck-and-neck? We talk about, arguably, the year’s tightest race.

    • With the DGAs on the way tomorrow night, we briefly preview the proceedings.

    You can listen to this week’s podcast below, with a little of Michael Giacchino’s Golden Globe-winning score for “Up” leading the way. As always, you can subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.

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  • 1/29 Oscarweb Round-up

    Christian McKay• Krista Smith sits down with dark horse Best Supporting Actor contender Christian McKay. [Little Gold Men]

    • Pete Hammond reports on the town’s goings-on, including Jason Reitman’s program of films for the New Beverly Theater. [Notes on a Season]

    • A master list of FYC screenplays available for download. [MovieCultists]

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  • Is there a ‘Precious’ in this year’s Sundance lineup?

    (from left) Chyna Layne, Amina Robinson and Gabourey Sidibe in PreciousWhen (at this stage, I think it’s safe to say “when”) “Precious” and “An Education” land Best Picture nods on Tuesday morning, there will be an interesting trivia note to attach to the occasion: they’ll be the first Sundance competition entries since 2001 to make it all the way to Oscar’s top race.

    Indeed, “Precious” will be the first Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner ever to score a Best Picture Oscar nod in the festival’s 25-year history.

    These are two interesting stats that aren’t mentioned in AP writer David Germain’s story on the relationship between Sundance and Oscar, which casts a more positive gaze on the number of overlaps between the two. And he’s right to an extent: the past decade alone has given Oscar-watchers plenty of reason to keep a close eye on Sundance.

    In the eight years since “In the Bedroom” became the last Sundance contender to crack the Best Picture lineup,  Sundance has presented a number of future Oscar contenders in acting and writing categories, including “Maria Full of Grace,” “Hustle and Flow,” “Junebug,” “The Squid and the Whale,” “Half Nelson” and, most recently, “Frozen River.”

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