Oscar Talk: Ep. 66 -- Gotham Awards, NYFCC's FIRST! move, 'Tintin,' London fest and more
Also: Animated feature contenders, foreign film discussion and special guest Guy Lodge
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Welcome to Oscar Talk.
In case you're new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar's stage and we're here to address it all as it unfolds.
Today Anne and I are joined by In Contention's own Guy Lodge who is knee-deep in the London Film Festival these days, catching up on a number of titles he missed along the festival circuit. And, of course, he caught a certain highly anticipated film that's opening in the UK next week. Let's see what's on the docket today…
We start off today with the awards news of the week: the Gotham Award nominees, which were announced yesterday. We go back and forth on the relevance of the awards in the season, the meaning of "indie" and the surprising snubs throughout.
The Gotham Awards will take place on November 28, which is the date the New York Film Critics Circle has decided this week to stake out as their date for voting, which puts them out front of the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. We discuss the implications and the motivations of the move.
Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" is set for release in the UK next week and Guy has plenty to say on that. He caught the film last weekend and was surprised how taken he was by it.
Speaking of which, Guy has caught up with a number of films at the London Film Festival that he's missed along the festival circuit, particularly a number of the foreign language film contenders. He waxes on about those for a bit.
And finally, reader questions. We address queries concerning the foreign films aiming for other nominations, the animated feature category and its contenders as well as the idea of a "line" on a film coming to identify it early on.
Have a listen to the new podcast below with a taste of the UK leading the way. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.
"London's Burning" courtesy of The Clash and CBS Records.
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2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
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October 21, 2011 at 12:44PM EST Reply to CommentI enjoy Guy when he's discussing more obscure and cinéaste leaning films. But when it comes to popular cinema, he seems to often miss the mark. I don't know if he actually watched Kung Fu Panda 2 or simply bunched it together with Cars 2 and Happy Feet 2 because they're all sequels.
Regardless Kung Fu Panda 2 was one of the bright spots of an otherwise lackluster summer 2011. It did for the martial arts genre what Rango did for westerns. They're both loving homages with a lot to offer unlike say Rio which was just a bunch of noise and bright colors and instantly forgettable.
Having 5 Best Animated Feature nominees that included Rango and Kung Fu Panda 2 would in no way be slight or stretching credibility.
red_wine I think Kung Fu Panda 2 was completely disposable.
October 21, 2011 at 4:26PM ESTAndrej
October 21, 2011 at 1:14PM EST Reply to Comment"Could there even be some misgivings in the animator's branch on Steven Spielberg's stepping on their turf? He's an outsider, 'why should we all to his laurels'... "
I don't think so. Through Amblin Entertainment he was in charge of Animaniacs, Freakazoid, and several other animated projects on film and TV. The guy's got them covered well. If there's any bias, it'll over the mo-cap, I believe.
Kristopher Tapley Great point of course. I knew as soon as I said it in a producorial role he's had an impact. And just a few years ago, Monster House.
October 21, 2011 at 1:32PM ESTAmericanRequiem land before time, yes
October 21, 2011 at 1:51PM EST
October 21, 2011 at 1:54PM ESTRashad Tiny Toons and Pinky and The Brain were great shows too.
October 21, 2011 at 1:59PM ESTStefan
October 21, 2011 at 1:59PM EST Reply to CommentWhen Lodge said that he didn't think Spielberg would be the right sensibility for Tintin, I actually said "Wait...what?" I am a huge Tintin fan myself and I find the comic books to be incredibly Spielbergian. So, to me, I cannot think of a more appropriate filmmaker to adapt Tintin to the screen. How somebody can say Spielberg isn't right for Tintin baffles me completely.
On a different note, I attended the first public screening of "Young Adult" in Toronto this past week and I enjoyed it immensely. Depending on how it's received in December, it could definitely get in for Best Picture. Theron, Oswalt and Cody are highly likely to get in as well. This is Charlize Theron's movie and she really does drive it forward.
JuanL
October 21, 2011 at 2:02PM EST Reply to CommentRemember 2009 in Animated film:
Here were the nominees: The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, The Secret of Kells, Coraline, and The Princess and the Frog.
Two highly acclaimed animated films (Ponyo and Mary and Max) were shut out of the category. While most years there are not quality films to fill up the category, 2009 was a year in which there were clearly not enough spots for great films.
Ben But you can't really expand the category to 7 to effectively force them to nominate the higher quality films. At that point you'd be nominating 40-50% of eligible films. There's plenty of great screenplays that fail to get nominated, yet we're okay still nominating 10 a year.
October 21, 2011 at 4:27PM ESTPerhaps the solution would be allowing them to nominate anywhere from 3 to 5 and require nominated films to reach a certain threshold of #1 votes for this category?
Brad
October 21, 2011 at 4:00PM EST Reply to CommentI'm disappointed in all of your's dismissal of Kung Fu Panda 2. Hands down the best animated movie of the year in my opinion and quite deserves to be nominated.
Do not lump it with Cars 2 and Happy Feet 2 especially since we haven't seen the latter.
Also the soundtrack was amazing and I'm assuming it's not eligible since it borrows (and I'd say vastly improves) from the first's soundtrack.
JJ1 I also enjoyed KFP2 and thought the animation was absolutely gorgeous.
October 21, 2011 at 11:37PM ESTDaniel Nava
October 21, 2011 at 4:20PM EST Reply to CommentGuy really needs to be on more of these.
Laura Stewart I second this. I love it when he joins!
October 21, 2011 at 4:51PM ESTHoustonRufus Agreed.
October 21, 2011 at 9:43PM ESTJJ1 agreed, as well
October 21, 2011 at 11:38PM ESTred_wine
October 21, 2011 at 4:33PM EST Reply to CommentGreat pod cast guys. Always enjoy Guy. Anne is so much fun to listen to. She is the one who makes me laugh the most with her sometimes innocently condescending comments.
I will say this for Cars 2. Saw it in IMAX 3D. It is a truly tremendous magnificent dazzling achievement of animation. The technical craft is jaw-dropping. And I believe that deserves credit. This is not Best Screenplay, this is Best Animated Film and great animation SHOULD give you a leg up.
And Rango is kinda admirable and singular. I hope it gets consideration for the screenplay nod you are predicting it for Kris. It obviously does not have the emotional power of a Pixar film but its plenty smart.
Mr.F
October 21, 2011 at 6:00PM EST Reply to CommentI've said it before, but if there is a film that the animators will push through if only for the artistry, it will be Winnie the Pooh. I think the extent to which Disney will campaign for it will go past putting it on their FYC site, but much like with The Secret of Kells, it will get in on artistry alone. And in a year where every movie submitted will be CGI, rotoscoping (Alois Nebel), and flash animation (Chico & Rita), the hand-drawn animation throwback will surely stand out.
Ivan
October 21, 2011 at 6:22PM EST Reply to CommentKris, I don't know if you managed to catch it while it was online today, but from the look of the trailer for "In the Land of Blood and Honey", I think Angelina seems to know her way behind the camera... Looks like she might be a suprise in the Oscar race with "In the Land of Blood and Honey"!
Laura Stewart
October 21, 2011 at 6:27PM EST Reply to CommentIs Winnie the Pooh not eligible?? I'm kind of shocked at the lack of animated films (quality or otherwise) that have come out this year.
Also for anyone interested the first review of Young Adult has popped up on Indiewire's The Playlist.
Guy Lodge It is eligible. But let's be honest -- it's only barely a feature. I know a lot of people have nostalgia-dipped affection for the film, but I think it'd be a pretty feeble nominee.
October 21, 2011 at 7:29PM ESTRashad Dumbo was barely an hour as well.
October 22, 2011 at 1:34AM ESTGuy Lodge It's not the length so much as the structure -- Winnie the Pooh feels like three shorts casually strung together. It has no feature-film heft, in my view.
October 23, 2011 at 8:47PM ESTHoustonRufus
October 21, 2011 at 9:43PM EST Reply to CommentGreat pod cast. Guy is so polite. He needs to learn to shush the brassy Americans while he's trying to talk. ;) Just kidding. Love Kris and Anne.
JLPatt
October 21, 2011 at 11:19PM EST Reply to CommentGator... Motor... LOLOLOL. Hysterical.
It's Mater, by the way. ;)
crossie
October 22, 2011 at 6:23AM EST Reply to CommentNew poster here, but been following since around June, but been trying to get my predictions out there for Best Animated Feature, so yeah.
First of all, I love Stephen Spielberg, so I'm hoping for Tintin to get a nomination; however, I have a fox avatar, and that should clue you into some of my biases. I'm an unapologetic furry fan and Rango would win Best Picture if the Academy consisted of me and 5999 clones of me, never mind Best Animated Feature.
I still think Rango has the award, even if Tintin gets the nomination, but I also want it to win, which may be throwing my ability to guess rationally.
As far as mocap is concerned, I'd rather see Mars Needs Mom qualify over Chipmunks 3 as animated.
I think this might be the year the traditional "give the foreigners a shot" movie is omitted; I think the movie with the best shot was Chico and Rita, on what everyone is saying about it. Geographic isolation means there isn't a chance in Hell I'll see it in my region outside of a RedBox machine sometime next summer, and that's only if it actually gets the nomination.
Besides Rango, the only guaranteed spot in my view is actually Kung Fu Panda 2, which was awesome, but then I've also been carrying a Tigress PEZ dispenser in my pocket since June, so, once again, wanting it to get the nomination is coloring my reason. However, and I'm going to be a bit un-PC here, the fact that Jennifer Yuh set the box office record for a female director would probably make her a contender for Best Director if she'd been directing almost anything else besides an animated sequel, with the only obvious exception being a slasher sequel. I think, as it is, the movie is a lock for a Best Animated Feature nominee.
I think Rio will get a nod for being, basically, the only major studio non-sequel/pre-existing franchise/whatever for the year until Arthur Christmas. I didn't like it, personally, but I give it points for "degree of difficulty;" it seemed to be an attempt to do an early nineties Disney musical. At this, it failed miserably, but I give it credit for trying. This isn't the Winter Olympics ice skating competition, though, so all it's really got is the "being original in an unoriginal year" thing.
Arthur Christmas is an unknown, but it may be the better version of Rio. Plus, it's got another female director, though I don't think it can beat Kung Fu Panda 2's box office, mostly because it isn't a sequel. Also, even though it's Aardman, it's not Nick Park and company, which means it really doesn't have the same pedigree.
I have not seen Winnie the Pooh because I may be a furry, but I do have some pride; that's a movie you don't go to the theaters for unless you are actually getting paid to review it. You wait until you can rent it quickly and quietly from one of those aforementioned RedBox machines when noone's looking, and if anyone asks what you rented, you say Scream 4 or something. I still think it has potential; who would have guessed a decade ago that Disney's home animation studio would not win Best Animated Feature during the award's first decade? This'll be a sort of "due" nomination, but it's Winnie the Pooh, for chrissakes, it doesn't have a chance to win. The Academy members would be too embarassed to have to admit they liked a movie about cuddly stuffed bears.
I didn't really like the first Happy Feet; that was a weak year for animation. It's also got a stench around it for being the "type of movie we don't let in the category anymore" that won, except that right now nobody's sure if that's actually true. Happy Feet 2 has got to blow everyone away, I think. It better be The Godfather of dancing penguin movies if it wants in.
I obviously haven't seen Puss in Boots, but I know it doesn't have a chance in hell because it's a Shrek spin off. The only way it could win is if Brett Ratner fixed the voting so he can have Eddie Murphy as Donkey grudgingly giving the award to his "annoying talking animal sidekick" rival to increase the ratings.
I didn't see Cars 2; it was getting such bad reviews I almost wanted to see it for the wrong reasons. However, I was informed that Bruce Campbell's character dies screaming, and I have a strict "no movies in which Bruce Campbell dies screaming unless his father is played by Joe Don Baker or later sequels retcon it" policy, which has yet to lead me astray. That being said, it was still had the best box office of the year for an animated movie, so it's not out of contention yet, at least for a nomination.
So, anyway, I'm guessing there will be five nominees with Kung Fu Panda 2, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Winnie the Pooh and Rio as nominees with Rango the winner.