Thursday, January 31, 2013

Oscar Matters and The Argo Surge/The Sapphires Win/The Gatekeepers/A Peak Inside Llewyn Davis

OSCAR MATTERS



Oscar finals ballots are still over a week away from being in the hands of Academy members and the reading of the Oscar tea leaves has continued this week in the light of the "Argo" groundswell.  The Ben Affleck directed (and TFF #39 "sneak") over the past couple of weeks has won The Critic's Choice, Golden Globe for Drama, Producers Guild and SAG Ensemble.  This coming weekend may be the turning point with the Directors Guild award being announced on Saturday and a lot of people think it will be Affleck winning.

Irrespective of the DGA award, many Oscar pundits have already jumped on the "Argo" express.  If you looked at this space on Monday, you saw that The FAC now shows "Argo" in second, behind "Lincoln" but gaining ground.  Many Oscarologists have since staked their claim that "Argo" will win Best Picture...take a look at the Gold Derby story here...

     +GOLD DERBY SHOWS ARGO SURGE

http://www.goldderby.com/awardshows/experts/oscars-2012/best-picture.html

     +FEINBERG FORECAST

Here's the latest prognostication from Hollywood Reporter Awards Guru Scott Feinberg...who, incidentally has moved "Argo" to number one on his Best Picture prediction.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/feinberg-forecast-updated-projections-4-414749


Also, you can take a listen to a bevy of Oscar specialists in various podcast forms here:

     +OSCAR PODCAST/AWARDS DAILY

http://www.awardsdaily.com/podcasts/oscarpodcast/episode18.mp3

    +OSCAR POKER with Jeff Wells and Sasha Stone

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2013/01/post-argo-sweep.php

     +GOLD DERBY PODCAST

http://ec.libsyn.com/p/4/b/d/4bd313499d96f8ba/Thelma_Oscars_jan_28_2013.mp3?d13a76d516d9dec20c3d276ce028ed5089ab1ce3dae902ea1d01cd8e32d4c8581e24&c_id=5351246

THE SAPPHIRES WIN


"Sapphires" director and Aussie Oscar winner Wayne Blair and some guy...


I reported (thanks to friend of the blog Patrick Pringle) on Monday that Wayne Blair's "The Sapphires" was half way through a very good account at the Australian version of The Oscars and that that would conclude on Wednesday.  It did and "The Sapphires" run continued as it ended the bifurcated two day affair with 11 total awards including Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and acting accolades for Chris O'Dowd , Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy.  Check the story from Reuters here:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/01/30/film-australia-awards-sapphires-idINDEE90T09A20130130


THE GATEKEEPERS



Sony Pictures Classics has a website up for its Oscar nominated Doc (and TFF #39 feature) "The Gatekeepers".  It's generally regarded as the only possible challenger in that category to "Searching for Sugarman"  See here:

http://sonyclassics.com/thegatekeepers/

Additionally, The New York Times posted this story about how the people of Israel seem to be reacting to the film:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/movies/awardsseason/gatekeepers-oscar-nominee-has-muted-reaction-in-israel.html



INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS


Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake in "Inside Llewyn Davis" (via The Playlist)


It's not a secret that I'm a huge Coen Brothers fan.  I have a dream that one day they will bring a film to Telluride where, I'm afraid, I may pull a "Wayne and Garth" on Colorado Avenue or at the Patron's Brunch and fall to me knees in front of them with exclamations of "I'm not worthy!"

Admittedly, there's not a big chance that that's going to happen any time soon, but a guy can dream.  And this year's dream focuses on their new film "Inside Llewyn Davis" which, as you might expect, I've been bird dogging for months.

Now it appears to be on the brink of readiness.  We have a trailer (see below).  We have reports of a private screening and the possibility of a Cannes slot.  We have rumors of a fall release and awards positioning.  That's all mentioned in the following articles from The Playlist and Get the Big Picture:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/2-new-images-from-inside-llewyn-davis-movie-may-premiere-at-the-cannes-film-festival-20130128

http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2013/1/24/inside-llewyn-davis-trailer-yesthe-new-coen-bros-movie-need.html

And, via YouTube, here's the trailer...



More on Monday...

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