In Contention

Tag: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

  • TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part two

    Yesterday we began our final look at the 10 crafts categories.  Check out part one here.  Today, the conclusion.  Meanwhile, you can find my final predictions in all categories here.

    Best Music (Original Score)

    Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, despite their atypical approach to film music composition, are very much contenders in this race. Having won the BFCA award and Golden Globe for their work on “The Social Network,” they must be taken seriously. The fact remains, however, that this is not a typical Oscar-winning score.

    Alexandre Desplat has had an amazing run since he broke onto the American scene in 2003 with “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” Four Oscar nominations later, it seems he is poised to win his first statuette for another Colin Firth film, “The King’s Speech.” Being behind the Best Picture frontrunner is a huge advantage. Moreover, its subtle elegance managed to win the BAFTA. Even so, a win is hardly assured as subtlety is actually not frequently awarded here.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part one

    So this is it. Over the last seven-plus months here at Tech Support, we have tried to illuminate and analyze the craft races as they unfolded. On Sunday, the winners will be revealed, ushering some new faces into Oscar’s club.  And indeed, I expect the vast majority of the winners to make their first trip to the podium.

    I’ll be breaking down each field in a two-parter.  Check back tomorrow for the final five categories, but for now…

    Best Art Direction

    As is the case in many categories, “The King’s Speech” is, to me, the safe bet for the win here. A royal period piece and likely Best Picture winner would be difficult to beat in any year. But in all fairness, this is in many ways not a typical “royal” winner in a category where style triumphs over substance.

    Production Designer Eve Stewart (11 years after her first nomination for “Topsy-Turvy”), along with set decorator Judy Farr, immaculately filled many of the film’s sets (despite late-breaking news of one location) with intimate details that feel very much in tune with the characters. A guild win also shows industry support.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Visual Effects

    This year the visual effects branch of the Academy followed the lead of the sound editing category and widened its net to five nominees. It did not, however, follow suit by eliminating the superfluous bake-off process, which whittles the contenders down to seven before deciding on the ultimate slate of nominees.

    This year the two films that missed the cut after making the bake-off were the inventive “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and, famously, the effects beast of the year “TRON Legacy.” The latter was shunned as a result of shoddy de-aging work despite having quality in spades throughout the rest of the film, but regardless, a drama with a single effects scene of note and a sequel with nothing new to offer managed to slide in instead.

    The nominees are:

    “Alice in Wonderland” (Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips)
    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi)
    “Hereafter” (Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell)
    “Inception” (Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb)
    “Iron Man 2” (Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick)

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  • Desplat leads International Film Music Critics nods

    Alexandre Desplat has enjoyed a brilliant career in U.S. features as of late (on the back of immense talent, naturally).  2010 was a grand year for the composer as he, once again, balanced scoring duties on a number of notable films.

    Today, the final announcement from the critics awards circuit has landed in the form of the International Film Music Critics Association’s picks, seven of the nominations going to Desplat for his work on “The Ghost Writer,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” and, of course, “The King’s Speech.” It’s highly probably he’ll walk away with an Oscar later this month, capping of one heck of a year.

    John Powell netted five nominations for his work on “How to Train Your Dragon,” while Daft Punk and Hans Zimmer each grabbed three for their respective actioners.  Interesting to note, however, is the complete absence of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their innovative work on “The Social Network.” Your guess is as good as mine as to why the group turned the other cheek there.  Ditto A.R. Rahman’s work on “127 Hours,” which is actually a beloved piece of work among musicians.  In any case, have a look at The Circuit for the full list of film nominees.

    [Photo: Last.fm]

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Art Direction

    The art directors settled on a wonderful quintet to represent their form in 2010. Each of these films (okay, I haven’t seen one of them) manages to showcase art direction in organic ways, even when it comes to the contender with the most robust and vibrant design to offer.

    When it comes to the design categories, though, abundance can be an asset. There’s no question about it. The old joke is “Most Art Direction” or “Most Costume Design,” rather than “Best.” And unfortunately, that extends sometimes into the nominations process as nuanced, subtle work is disregarded each and every year. But even with that caveat, this is a handsome slate.

    The nominees are:

    “Alice in Wonderland” (Robert Stromberg; Karen O’Hara)
    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” (Stuart Craig; Stephanie McMillan)
    “Inception” (Guy Hendrix Dyas; Larry Dias, Doug Mowat)
    “The King’s Speech” (Eve Stewart; Judy Farr)
    “True Grit” (Jess Gonchor; Nancy Haigh)

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  • BAFTA honors ‘Harry Potter’ series

    The penultimate film in the series may only be up for two BAFTAs on Sunday night — ones it probably won’t win — but devoted “Harry Potter” fans have been given an extra reason to tune in, as the entire series is being honored by the British Academy with their Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award.

    This annual honorary award has previously been presented to individuals like Mike Leigh, Derek Jarman and Kenneth Branagh, as well as studios like Pinewood and Working Title, but this is, to my knowledge, the first time it’s been given to an actual film franchise. Author J.K. Rowling and producer David Heyman will accept.

    It’s an appropriate acknowledgement for a cultural phenomenon that has delighted millions for an entire decade, generated a fortune for the UK film industry and kept at least half of Britain’s acting stock in steady employment, but the timing of the award strikes me as odd — why not wait until next year, when the series is complete and running its final victory lap?

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Analyzing the nominees

    So the 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations were finally announced this week, and I did fairly well in handicapping the nominees. Outside of Best Sound Mixing, I never missed more than one nominee in a category. Unfortunately, there were no categories where I scored 100% (apart from Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay). Oh well.

    The massive overall tally for “The King’s Speech” resulted from a plethora of nominations in the crafts fields. “True Grit” and “Inception” got all but one plausible tech nomination (with one very notable exception for each, discussed below). “TRON Legacy”’s tally, on the other hand, has got to be considered a disappointment as must, to a lesser extent, those of “Black Swan” and “127 Hours.” The complete shut-out for “Shutter Island” was also somewhat of a surprise, but other branches saw fit to make Oscar nominees of some unlikely titles.

    Regardless, it was nice to see many deserving crafts artists get their due. With the throat-clearing out of the way, I’ll now give short reactions to – and previews of – each below-the-line field.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part two

    Yesterday I began a final look at the crafts categories. Today, a look at the four remaining fields: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing.

    BEST ART DIRECTION

    The precursors of the BFCA, BAFTA and Art Directors Guild have been fairly consistent in citing four titles in this category. Last year’s winner, Robert Stromberg, seems poised to dip again for creation of a 3D world on Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Eve Stewart, on the other hand, will likely be returning to the fold after an 11 year absence for “The King’s Speech.”

    Guy Hendrix Dyas and Jess Gonchor also have got all necessary precursors, and have fashioned surefire Best Picture nominees, in “Inception” and “True Grit” respectively. It is true that they have had difficulty being nominated in the past but Gonchor has also never had such an Oscar-friendly opportunity, whereas the impressive, integral-to-the-story nature of Dyas’s work has been especially embraced by the precursors.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part one

    It seems hard to believe that it’s been more than six months since I wrote this year’s introductory Tech Support column ( a dissection of the art direction race). Much has changed since then, naturally, as we are less than a week away from the big day when we find out the nominees for the Oscars this year. Today, I take a final look at the music categories, sound categories and the two categories that have been narrowed down to seven finalists – Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup.

    BEST MAKEUP

    In this utterly bizarre category, virtually any combination of the seven finalists would fail to surprise me as the final three. That said, I’ve had the same top two predicted all year and see no reason to change now: “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wolfman.” The former had massive box office and very noticeable makeup, whereas the latter is exactly the sort of movie that tends to score here and nowhere else.

    Logic may put “True Grit” or “The Fighter” next in line due to their Best Picture contender status. But as much as these films are loved, they don’t have as showy makeup as the other finalists, and this is a category that often doesn’t care how films are received overall.

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  • Predict the ASC nominees

    Now that the DGA has spoken, something to pass the time.  Tomorrow the crafts guilds continue to roll out the season as the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) offers its picks for the best work behind the camera in 2010.  This is perhaps my favorite of the below-the-line categories, so I thought I’d offer up a lengthy preview.

    The Society is usually good for 80% when it comes to Academy crossover with its nominees. Sometimes you get a 5/5, sometimes a 3/5, but generally it’s 4/5. The trick is figuring out what the oddball selection will be. But let’s see what’s looking good for a nod, first.

    Leading the way this time around, like most years, would have to be Roger Deakins. His work on “True Grit” will likely win him an Oscar and the road there could very well begin with a win from the Society. He seems to be papa bear these days. Chalk it up.

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  • ‘Scott Pilgrim,’ ‘Hereafter’ make visual effects bake-off

    As we await the USC Scripter finalists (which should drop any minute), I should pass along the Academy’s bake-off finalists in the Best Visual Effects category.

    Last month the field was narrowed down to 15 titles. Today, seven titles remain, from which five nominees will be selected in a bake-off (which is an odd extra step now, given that the ultimate nominations field was expanded to five this year). So take two off of the following list:

    “Alice in Wonderland”
    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”
    “Hereafter”
    “Inception”
    “Iron Man 2    ”
    “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”
    “TRON Legacy”

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  • Visual effects race whittled down to 15

    This is the first year the race for Best Visual Effects will feature five nominees.  So take a third of these lucky semi-finalists and there we are.  The five I think most are expecting to show up are still in the mix.

    The most surprising omission for me is “Black Swan,” which used digital wizardry to very startling effect, especially in the film’s final act.  I also expected “The Tempest” to show up, but I guess it just leaves too bad a taste in people’s mouths.

    I’m happy to see “Shutter Island” get singled out.  If we start seeing the guilds respond to the work in this film (and indeed, we might), I think it would be fair to start taking it’s Best Picture chances seriously.  It’s holding up for more than you might expect.  And “Hereafter” shows up on this list, too.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it slid in for its opening sequence (which is rather respected in the VFX community).

    Full list after the jump.  The category’s Contenders page has also been updated with a proposed ranking.

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  • 12/3 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Black Swan’ costumes, Tarantino roasted, ‘Harry Potter’ tries for Oscar one more time

    • David Poland writes up the history of Oscar coverage. [Movie City News]

    • Costume designs from Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” [Daily Telegraph]

    • Paula Schwartz reports from the Friars Club Roast of Quentin Tarantino. [The Carpetbagger]

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Visual Effects — Volume II

    I find it somewhat appropriate to be ending my in-depth looks at the crafts categories with a discussion of Best Visual Effects. This is, after all, a category which awards the sort of behind-the-scenes crafts work that is often prominently displayed in advertisements and talked about with reverence after the film ends.

    When looking at the category’s history, it is not surprising that major blockbusters have fared the best here, with big budgets and even big revenues usually being a prerequisite to be considered for a nomination. Visual effects that “stick out” are usually rewarded, even if the film is not particularly loved. Of course, being in a beloved film helps, especially in the race for the win.

    Prior to this year, there had been only three nominees in this category. Now, there will be five. This means we won’t get the “clues” that come when a list of seven bake-off finalists was announced in previous years. That said, I feel we’ve got a lot of clues about what the final five will be already.

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  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Potter’ tops ‘Tangled’

    “Megamind” held pretty well for a fourth weekend, though of course it would given the holiday.  “The Social Network,” meanwhile, crossed $90 million, which ought to be considered a big deal for a talky fall drama with no movie stars.  “127 Hours” added nearly 200 screens and almost pushed into the top 10, while “Love & Other Drugs” opened to a soft $14 million for the five-day.  “Tangled” did close to $70 million for the five-day.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Holiday cheer and seasonal grousing

    • Calmed by the holiday spirit, this week’s Off the Carpet column took stock of the season, and gave thanks where appropriate.

    • The Long Shot looked at the number of one-time rebel auteurs in this year’s Oscar race, and wondered if awards glory comes at the expense of creative edge.

    • Life Without Oscar highlighted a pair of mid-90s majors, one from a filmmaker who wouldn’t go unacknowledged by the Academy for long.

    • We interviewed Jeremy Renner, still basking in the glow of his first Oscar nod, and shooting for a second with “The Town.”

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  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Potter,’ ‘Potter,’ ‘Potter’

    The opening weekend for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” was good enough for sixth-best all time (I don’t use the adjusted stats Chad did) and the best debut for the franchise yet.  But there wasn’t exactly competition with “Megamind” having already been in theaters for two weeks.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • CINEJABBER: Way out in the water, see it swimming

    Catch up with the idea behind these weekend posts here.

    The photo to the right represents the early haul on screeners this year.  Usually this time of year I find myself delighting in second and sometimes third viewings of this or that, but oddly enough, I still have some catch-up to do.

    I’m glad the documentary field has been narrowed down, so I can focus on a smaller group, but there are even a number of films from earlier in the year that I haven’t bothered to put in the player yet.  What is it?  Laziness?  Lack of interest?  Too busy?  I don’t know.  My mind is gone.

    It’s a weirdly sluggish year on the whole as advertising has held off until late November/early December for the most part.  This time last year we still had three films to see.  With “TRON Legacy” going before junket press in the last few days, we’re left with just one film to bow: “True Grit.” So Jeff Bridges gets to crash the Oscar party two years in a row.

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