AND THE DAY AFTER

Here is last night's complete list of Oscar winners via Entertainmentwise.com (and where I was wrong in parenthesis):

Best Picture: The Artist

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist (I had Clooney)

Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady (Davis for me)

Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help

Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Cinematography: Hugo ( I had Tree of Life)

Art Direction: Hugo

Costume Design: The Artist

Makeup: The Iron Lady

Foreign Language Film: A Separation, Iran.

Film Editing: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ( I had The Artist)

Sound Editing: Hugo

Sound Mixing: Hugo

Documentary Feature: Undefeated ( I had Paradise Lost 3)

Animated Feature Film: Rango

Visual Effects: Hugo

Original Score: The Artist

Original Song: Man or Muppet from The Muppets

Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants

Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Live Action Short Film: The Shore ( Pentecost was my pick here)

Documentary (short subject): Saving Face

Animated Short Film: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore

For my night I was 18 of 24...one better than last year.

Suroises:  Streep's win over Davis, Tattoo in Editing, Hugo over Apes for Viz FX ( I actually picked that).

Telluride finished the night with 5 wins for The Artist (including the Big Dogs of Picture, Director and Actor) and one apiece for The Descendants and A Separation for a total of 7 for its 38th edition.

I'll try to have some Academy and "insider" reaction by tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

OSCAR PREDICTION FINAL

Well, thar she blows!  The Great White Whale that IS OSCAR beaches itself/is harpooned for all to see in about 8 hours...

Here's the skinny...for all 24 categories... (with some commentary along the way, because I can't help myself):

Live Action Short:  The most unpredictable category of the night...I'm going with Pentecost...chance that this prediction is correct 25%.

Animated Short:  Smart money says: The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lesmore.

Doc Short: Saving Face

Sound Mixing: Hugo

Sound Editing: Hugo

Visual Effects: The "experts" say Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I'm going with Hugo.

Doc Feature:  A semi-tight category.  My pick is Paradise Lost 3

Makeup: The Iron Lady

Costume: The Artist

Original Song: Man or Muppet from The Muppets

Original Score: The Artist

Art Direction: Hugo

Cinematography: The Tree of Life is my pick, although there is a good deal of sentiment for The Artist and Hugo

Editing: The Artist

Animated Feature: Rango

Foreign Language Film: A Separation

THE BIG EIGHT...

Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants (Another writing Oscar for Mrs. Patterson's Telluride buddy, Alexander Payne).

Original Screenplay:  Some dissension amongst the "experts" here.  Most say Midnight in Paris and I'm going with that but there is some sentiment that The Artist might pick this up as well.  Personally, I still think the best screenplay of the year is Asghar Farhadi's brilliant script for A Separation.

Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer/Beginners...if there IS a surprise, maybe Von Sydow.

Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer/The Help

Actor: Most of the "Oscarologists" are saying Jean Dujardin for The Artist.  I'm going with Clooney for The Descendants.

Actress: Viola Davis/The Help (though a Meryl Streep win wouldn't be all that big a surprise).

Director: Michel Hazanavicius/The Artist (Possible upset, and not a big one, Scorsese).

Picture: The Artist

My picks have The Artist winning 5 Oscar, Hugo 4, and The Descendants and The Help with 2 each.  These being the only films with multiple wins tonight.  The Artist could conceivably end the night with 7 or 8.  Winning all 10 that it's nominated for is unlikely.

If I'm right, Telluride's 38th edition will have produced films that win 8 Oscars tonight.

Still disappointed in no nominations for Fassbender/Mulligan/McQueen/Morgan for Shame !

Let's see what happens!

I plan to live tweet at least to some extent tonight so join me @Gort2 on Twitter.  Post mortem tomorrow!

Almost to the Finish Line

Good Morning

ALMOST TO THE FINISH LINE

Oscars are three days away and a slew of "final" predictions can be found.  Here's a look at some of them.

Dave Karger at Entertainment Weekly:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/02/22/final-oscar-predictions-the-artist-dave-karger/

Brad Brevet at Rope of Silicon:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/final-2012-oscar-predictions/

Scott Feinberg at The Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-predictions-the-artist-academy-awards-292628

And a final post from The Movie City News Gurus of Gold:
http://moviecitynews.com/2012/02/gurus-o-gold-the-last-gasp/

I'll have what passes for my predictions up on Sunday and then we'll all find out on Sunday night.

CANNES

Cannes speculation has already begun and I'll be looking at it in the next couple of weeks as we transition away from awards season and into TFF #39 spec territory.  HitFix had an interesting post up yesterday about Cannes re-emergence as an Oscar bellwether.  Here that is:
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/in-contention/posts/cannes-regains-its-oscar-foresight

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Movieline is up with a look at the Best Foreign Language Oscar nominees in which Telluride films figure prominently.  See it here:
http://www.movieline.com/2012/02/22/oscar-roundtable-meet-this-years-best-foreign-language-feature-nominees/

Later

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Less Than a Week: The Descendants Rises

Good Morning!

Oscar is less than a week away.  Voters ballots must be in by 5pm Pacific time tomorrow.  Here are some Telluride and Oscar related items:

THE DESCENDANTS RISES

It was a good night for Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" last night.  The film won Best Adapted Screenplay from the Writer's Guild of America and it picked the USC Scripter Award honoring Payne as well as Nate Faxon and Jim Rash for the screenplay and Kaui Hart Hemmings for the novel that was adapted into the George Clooney vehicle.  Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" won the WGA award for Original Screenplay.

"The Descendants" also won an A.C.E. guild award for editing, along with "The Artist" and "Rango".
 Even with the nice evening, don't expect "The Descendants" to knock "The Artist" off its Best Picture perch.  As a matter of fact, I'm starting to get the feel that "The Artist" may be headed for a "Slumdog Millionaire" type of night on Sunday with 7-8 wins.

Nevertheless, here are details from last night...

An overview from The Playlist:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/022012/the-descendants-midnight-in-paris-win-top-prizes-at-wga-awards-caesar-must-die-takes-golden-bear-at-berlin

The Hollywood Reporter has the editing awards story here:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/the-descendants-the-artist-ace-eddie-awards-292612

Variety has the story from the USC Scripter announcement:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050493/

And Brad Brevet at Rope of Silicon has a nice combo story here:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/the-descendants-wins-the-usc-scripters-award-and-ace-editing-with-the-artist-and-rango/

Meanwhile, The Cinema Audio Society awarded its top prize to "Hugo".
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/cinema-audio-society-hugo-boardwalk-empire-292626

CLOONEY

Once regarded (and not that long ago) as the Best Actor frontrunner (that's now "The Artist's" Jean Dujardin), THR has a big profile up on George Clooney:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-clooney-oscars-brad-pitt-stacy-keibler-descendants-290676


FEINBERG'S FINAL FORECAST

Here's Scott Feinberg's (The Hollywood Reported) "final" predictions for Oscar on Sunday night:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-predictions-the-artist-academy-awards-292628

Coming Down the Home Stretch

Good Morning!

I have referenced a couple of fun articles this morning for your perusal as we count down the last ten days to the Oscar ceremony.

The first is a piece from Variety that was posted earlier this morning that gives a very concise view of how each of the Best Picture nominees managed to find themselves on the surprisingly long list of nine films.  You'll access that here:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050202/

Also, here's another interesting Variety post that suggests that the campaigning continues, even in categories thought to be all but locked up.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050379/

The other is actually from last week from Movie City News' David Poland.  It's a longer piece on the rules of winning  (and their exceptions) come Oscar time.  It's illuminating and kind of funny.

http://moviecitynews.com/2012/02/17-days-to-oscar-a-thin-line-between-win-lose/

Later!

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Ouick Hits from the FAC

Good Morning!

Movie City News' Gurus of Gold are down to their (nearly) final Oscar predictions.  They've divided it into two parts and this morning's link is to part one which focuses on the Big Eight categories.  Here's that link:
http://moviecitynews.com/2012/02/gurus-o-gold-picking-the-winners-pt-1-of-2/?

For what it's worth 11 days out from Oscar...the Gurus have "The Artist" winning 3 of the 8 and "The Descendants" winning one.

Also...The Wrap takes a look at the grind that the Oscar Race has become s we head down the home stretch...
http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/oscar-season-why-isnt-it-over-yet-35299

For those in the general area of the world where I live, "Albert Nobbs" (nominated for Best Actress/Glenn Close and Best Supporting Actress/Janet McTeer) is playing at the Westgate in Amarillo, TX currently.  My Playlist review from Telluride:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/telluride_11_review_albert_nobbs_glenn_close_mia_wasikowska


Later!

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

New THR Analysis...Oscar History, BAFTA and the latest Feinberg Forecast

Just a quick post this morning highlighting three interesting posts from The Hollywood Reporter;

Greg Kilday posts about the relationship of Oscar's Best Picture candidates and the past Oscar precedents:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-movies-precedents-best-picture-290141

Scott Feinberg has a post concerning how the BAFTA awards from Sunday may and may not have any effect on Oscar:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/bafta-awards-winners-artist-289731

An also the latest Feinberg Forecast for Oscar winners:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/feinberg-oscar-nominations-help-viola-davis-289699

Later...

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Gurus Top 2/BAFTA Results & Anlaysis/Berlin Take Two/Descendants as Underdog/Berenice/Chico & Rita/In Darkness

Good morning.  Pardon the sporadic posting this last week and a half or so...been doing a show and was juggling too many objects simultaneously...
The show closes Saturday night...I'll do what I can...

GURUS TOP TWO

Movie City News has its Gurus of Gold participants lined up and their cumulative predictions about where the Oscar race stands right now (final ballots are due on Feb. 21).  In some categories, the Gurus are so decisive that it's really just a Top One...in some categories there isn't enough unanimity to really claim a Top Two...so they fudge...

Take a look:

Part One: http://moviecitynews.com/2012/02/gurus-o-gold-top-2in-it-pt-1-of-2/

Part Two: http://moviecitynews.com/2012/02/gurus-o-gold-top-2in-it-pt-2-of-2/

Consensus leaders that are so far in front so that I can label them prohibitive favorites:
Picture: The Artist
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer/Beginners
Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer/The Help
Original Screenplay: Woody Allen/Midnight in Paris
Foreign Film: A Separation
Animated Feature: Rango
Art Direction: Hugo
Original Score: The Artist
Original Song: Man or Muppet/The Muppets

If any of these lose on Feb. 26th, it will be regarded as a real upset.

All other 15 categories are close enough that we can't label them as done deals.

BAFTA RESULTS

THe Britisih Academy of Film Televsion Arts announced their winners last night.  It was a big night for "The Artist".  Here's te complete list of nominees and winners from The Hollywood Reporter:

BEST FILM
*WINNER: The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Help
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
My Week With Marilyn - Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
Senna - Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
Shame - Steve Mcqueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
*WINNER: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan
We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno, Rory Stewart Kinnear

LEADING ACTOR
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney, The Descendants
*WINNER: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Michael Fassbender, Shame

LEADING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
*WINNER: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis, The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR
*WINNER: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Jim Broadbent, The Iron Lady
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan, Drive
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Judi Dench, My Week With Marilyn
Melissa Mccarthy, Bridesmaids
*WINNER: Octavia Spencer, The Help

DIRECTOR
*WINNER: The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn
Hugo, Martin Scorsese
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson
We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Attack The Block - Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
Black Pond - Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
Coriolanus - Ralph Fiennes (Director)
Submarine - Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
*WINNER: Tyrannosaur - Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

ANIMATED FILM
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn - Steven Spielberg
Arthur Christmas - Sarah Smith
*WINNER: Rango - Gore Verbinski

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
*WINNER: The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
The Guard, John Michael Mcdonagh
The Iron Lady, Abi Morgan
Midnight In Paris, Woody Allen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Help - Tate Taylor
The Ides of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Moneyball - Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
*WINNER: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Incendies - Denis Villeneuve, Luc Déry, Kim Mcgraw
Pina - Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
Potiche - François Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi
*WINNER: The Skin I Live In - Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

DOCUMENTARY
George Harrison: Living In The Material World - Martin Scorsese
Project Nim - James Marsh, Simon Chinn
*WINNER: Senna - Asif Kapadia

CINEMATOGRAPHY
*WINNER: The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo - Robert Richardson
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Hoyte Van Hoytema
War Horse - Janusz Kaminski

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Artist - Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 - Stuart Craig, Stephenie Mcmillan
*WINNER: Hugo - Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald
War Horse - Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN
*WINNER: The Artist - Mark Bridges
Hugo - Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre - Michael O'Connor
My Week With Marilyn - Jill Taylor
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Jacqueline Durran

MAKE UP & HAIR
The Artist - Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 - Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
Hugo- Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
*WINNER: The Iron Lady- Marese Langan
My Week With Marilyn - Jenny Shircore

SOUND
The Artist - Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 - James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
*WINNER: Hugo - Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy- John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
War Horse - Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

EDITING
The Artist- Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
Drive - Mat Newman
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker
*WINNER: Senna - Gregers Sall, Chris King
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy - Dino Jonsater

S

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn- Joe Letteri
*WINNER: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2- Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery

Hugo - Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White

War Horse - Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

SHORT FILM
Chalk - Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
Mwansa The Great- Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
Only Sound Remains- Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
*WINNER: Pitch Black Heist - John Maclean, Gerardine O'Flynn
Two and Two - Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

SHORT ANIMATION
Abuelas - Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
Bobby Yeah - Robert Morgan
*WINNER: A Morning Stroll - Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

ORIGINAL MUSIC
*WINNER: The Artist - Ludovic Bource
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
HUGO - Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Alberto Iglesias
War Horse - John Williams

THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (Voted For By The Public)
*WINNER: Adam Deacon
Chris Hemsworth
Chris O’Dowd
Eddie Redmayne
Tom Hiddleston

BERLIN TAKE TWO

Last week I noted that with the Berlin International Film Festival ongoing, we really are at the beginning of some kind of semi-informed speculation about what might appear at Telluride in September.  I noted that last year Berlin unspooled "The Turin Horse", "A Separation" and "Pina" all of which played at TFF #38.  Now, after a bit more digging, I can tell you that the trend goes back at least a few years.  These films played at Berlin and then made there way to the San Juans on Labor Day:
2010: "If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle"
2009: "London River"
2008: "Happy Go Lucky" and "I've Loved You So Long"

So it's a pretty safe bet that one to three films playing in Berlin's lineup will appear in T-ride in 7 months...now, if we could just figure out what they'll be...


THE DESCENDANTS AS UNDERDOG

As you check out The Gurus Best Picture chart above, you'll see that "Hugo" and "The Help" are the only other of the BP nominated films given any chance to unseat "The Artist" and not much of a chance at that.  I would concur with that assessment with the proviso that I have also been saying that "The Descendants" has a shot at the upset.  That seems to be a non-existent possibility at this point...except...

Maybe I'm NOT the only one...
Brooke Barnes at The New York Times outlines Fox Searchlight's continuing strategy for the Alexander Payne film...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/movies/awardsseason/for-the-descendants-a-new-angle-in-the-oscar-race.html?_r=1

Additionally, The Race at The Hollywood Reporter has what they purport to be the last "Descendants" pre-Oscar interview here:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/george-clooney-oscar-the-descendants-289266

 BERENICE

Speaking of the inevitability of "The Artist", The Hollywood Reporter also had an interview with its female lead and Best Supporting Actress nominee (and the Mrs. to writer/director Michel Hazanavicius) Berenice Bejo:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/the-artist-berenice-bejo-oscar-287812

CHICO AND RITA



2010's (TFF #37) Patron special film was the animated "Chico and Rita" and it is nominated for Best Animated Feature.  Kris Tapley at Incontention/HitFix has a look at the production company responsible for it:
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/in-contention/posts/gkids-makes-a-statement-this-season-with-two-animated-feature-nominees

IN DARKNESS

And finally, if there is any foreign film that has much of a chance to upset "A Separation" it is likely "In Darkness".  Annette Insdorf, Columbia professor and frequent moderator of panels at Telluride has a look at that film for The Huffington Post here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annette-insdorf/in-darkness-review_b_1258078.html?ref=entertainment

Later...

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Critical Consensus/Berlin Films/Oscar Actors

Good Morning...

It's somebody's birthday today!

CRITICAL CONSENSUS

Another collation of critical response to this year's gaggle of films.  Take a look and you'll find: "Poetry" (from TFF #37), "The Artist", "The Descendants" "A Separation", "Shame", "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "A Dangerous Method".

http://criticstop10.com/


BERLIN IS HAPPENING

The Berlin Film Festival is ongoing and though I do make a BIG DEAL about how much of a connection there is between Cannes and Telluride, Berlin is oftentimes the first film fest each year that features films that eventually are on the Telluride play list.  For example, take a look at last year's Berlin lineup via IndieWire:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/61st_berlinale_locks_down_full_2011_competition_programme#.TzJ1tHIjdCs.email

You'll see TFF #38 films "The Turin Horse", "A Separation" and "Pina". 

So you could almost certainly expect that this year's crop will also produce some films we will see Labor Day weekend.  Here's a link to the complete list of this year's Berlin films via IndieWire again:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/berlinale-2012-the-complete-competition-lineup#.TzJ2UzSkR1E.email


OSCAR ACTORS

As we get closer and closer to Oscar announcing its winners, we find that the Best Actor race is essentially expected to be a two man affair and both men were featured at this year's fest.  The battle is close between TFF #38 tributee George Clooney (The Descendants) and Jean Dujardin (The Artist).  Yahoo movies breaks down the category with their roundtable featuring a number of the people I like to link you to.  Here is the link to that roundtable discussion:
http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/yahoo-best-actor-roundtable-george-clooney-brad-pitt-230928042.html

Later!

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Clooney's Confidence/No Singing?/Oscar Spread

Good Morning!

CLOONEY'S CONFIDENCE

Best Actor Nominee George Clooney has a brief interview just posted at The Wrap focusing on "The Descendants".  Check it here:
http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/george-clooney-lacked-confidence-the-descendants-35147

NO SINGING?

An announcement from The Academy yesterday that the two Best Original Song nominees will NOT be presented during the Oscar telecast on Feb. 26th.  This continues the weirdness for that category which began with the announcement of only 2 Best Song nominees and continued with the choice of which two songs they were.

Deadline.com had the story:
http://www.deadline.com/2012/02/exclusive-oscars-wont-perform-nominated-songs/


OSCAR SPREAD

Check out this link to the substantial Oscar 2012 site at Entertainment Weekly (lots of stuff):
http://www.ew.com/ew/package/0,,20311937,00.html

More later!

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

The Latest Oscar Line

Good Morning!

Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter has his latest Oscar predictions up this morning.  Take a look here:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120124/PEOPLE/120129986

Telluride-centirc notes about Feinberg's predictions.  "The Artist" wins 5 (Including Picture, Director and Actor) and "The Descendants" and "A Separation" each win one.

Later!

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Sundance Post Mortem/A Separation/TFF #39?

Good Morning!

I'm back after a couple of days away at my regular job...

SUNDANCE POST MORTEM

Well, The Sundance Film Festival is done for 2012 and it has been fun posting the musings of Cinema Bebop's Gnat Lee.  There were three films (as I have said) that seemed to me to be most intriguing: "Beasts of the Southern Wild", "The Surrogate" and "The Words"  IndieWire has a post up with the critical response to the films and performances that played Sundance this year.  You can find that here:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/criticwire-ranks-top-sundance-films-and-performances

Interestingly, "Beasts" and "Surrogate" got a lot of critical attention.  "The Words" not so much.

A SEPARATION

Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation" continues its American roll out this week.  It was featured with two Chicago outlets.

The Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-ae-0122-separation-20120119,0,3068696.column

And also Roger Ebert's blog:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120124/PEOPLE/120129986

 AND LOOKING AHEAD

During the just completed Sundance Fest, IndieWire posted its list of most anticipated indie films for 2012, many of which played in Utah.  But the list also includes some serious Telluride #39 possibilities, so you might want to take a look.  I think of particular interest would be "The Door", "Foxfire", "A Late Quartet" and "Song for Marion".  I've already mentioned "Quartet" and "Marion" in an earlier post as TFF possibilities...

Later!

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Final Thoughts from Our Man in Utah/Final Ballots in the Mail

Good Morning.

Sundance 2012 is in the books.  The three titles that emerged that seem to be the most intriguing: "The Surrogate", "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "The Words".

Our man in Utah who had the front row seat, Gant Lee of Cinema Bebop files his final report at:
 http://cinemabebop.tumblr.com/

I have reproduced it here:

Sundance 2012 Recap!

After a fun vacation in the mountains, life sped up and kept me from doing this. Even though I’m still busy, I’ve found the time to write this quick little bit full of goodies.
***********************************************************************************************
THE AWARDS
Taking home the big one is Beasts of the Southern Wild. It picked up the highest ranking award for dramatic films, the Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic. This really came as no surprise here. During my stay in Park City, I heard a lot of great things about this film, but I tried my hardest to stay away from too much info. At one point, I even stood in line for 4 hours to get a ticket into the film (with no success). The film got picked up by Fox Searchlight and will presumably be hitting theaters sometime later this year.
Taking home the Grand Jury Prize, Documentary was The House I Live In. The film is about the “war on drugs” and the way we view it. I’ve heard it’s quite gripping and oh, by the way, Danny Glover is an executive producer. It hasn’t been picked up yet for distribution, but I’m sure that it will given its award and positive responses.
A list of all of the awards can be found here ——-> http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/2012-sundance-film-festival-awards/
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HERE IS THE LIST OF WHAT I WATCHED AND HOW I SCORED EACH FILM
Simon Killer 8/10
The Comedy 7/10
Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie 8.5/10
Room 237 9/10
L 5.5/10
Red Lights 4.5/10
Wrong 6/10
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS 8/10
Indie Game: The Movie 7.5/10
Smashed 9/10
I wasn’t unhappy to sit through any of these screenings. I may not care to sit through 2-3 of them again for a very long time, but it was a fun time nonetheless.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
1) Independent film is great. In some instances, you can argue that the independent filmmaker is more creative and has the ability to do whatever they want. They answer to themselves, not a studio. What you get at Sundance is a truly unique and eclectic group of films and filmmakers that are trying to cater to a number of different audiences, not just one wide audience. This makes every film seem less generic and more original. This is the Mecca of independent film and I love it.
2) Volunteers are so helpful. In their instantly recognizable orange jackets, you could ask them just about any question about the festival and they will have the answer for you or they will know somebody who knows the answer. For every one nice person that approaches a volunteer, there are about 3 people who aren’t nice. The volunteers don’t get enough credit when it comes to running the festival. They have some really great crowd control skills and they’re doing it for free, out of the goodness of their hearts. I didn’t say “thank you” to them enough…
3) Next time, I will purposefully try to go see films that have not been picked up for distribution. There are plenty of great films that go through there that somebody may never see. I don’t want to miss out on those in favor of something I can see in theaters 6 months later. After missing both The Surrogate and Beasts of the Southern Wild at the end of one day, I decided to go to guaranteed screenings. The festival is more fun that way.
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SPECIAL THANKS
I would like to give a shout out to my mom for going with me to Park City. It was fun having her with me and talking about the films that we had seen. I wouldn’t have been there in Park City or blogging right now without her. So thank you Liz Lee!
Next, I want to thank Michael Patterson for promoting my writing on his Telluride film blog. If you wanna check out awards season talk or anything regarding Telluride, visit his website at http://michaelstelluridefilm.blogspot.com/. He’s great and very rich with information!
Lastly, I want to thank my readers for reading me! I can track how many times my links have been read, and I know there are a few of you! So thank you for your continued support. I really appreciate it.
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I’ll try making it back here every once in awhile to fill everybody in on details concerning future Sundance dealings and happenings. Until next time!


THEY'RE IN THE MAIL

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has the final Oscar ballots in the mail as of yesterday afternoon.  They must be returned no later than Feb. 21st at 5p.m.  The Oscars are Feb. 26th.

To my Academy member acquaintances...I say...vote well...with great ballots come great responsibility!

Later!

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Special to the FAC: Oscar Odds and a little Albert

Good Morning!

OSCAR ODDS

Two Oscar projections this morning.  The first from The Gold Derby where "The Artist" retains the favorite mantle:
http://www.goldderby.com/odds/index/18#

Also from Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger who has "The Artist" still at #1 and Clooney still ranked to beat Dujardin despite last weekend's SAG Award:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/01/30/oscar-predictions-jean-dujardin-george-clooney/

And finally, a view from Mark Harris at Grantland detailing some possible anti-Artist scenarios:
http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/42402/oscarmetrics-the-sagtermath-and-the-case-against-the-artist

AND ALBERT NOBBS...LEONARD MALTIN'S REVIEW

My Telluride acquaintance Leonard Maltin has his review for "Albert" up over at Movie Crazy.  It sounds a lot like mine for The Playlist from Telluride.  Here's his:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmaltin/albert-nobbsmovie-review

Here was mine:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/telluride_11_review_albert_nobbs_glenn_close_mia_wasikowska

More tomorrow...

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2