Christian Bale and Ni Ni in "The Flowers of War."

Credit: Wrekin Hill Entertainment

Are you a fan of In Contention?

Sign up to get the latest updates instantly.

Sign Up ► More Instant Alert Options ►

Never miss a post - sign up now to get an e-mail alert whenever
In Contention is updated

Close

Or

SIGN UP with Facebook

Sign Up ►

More Instant Alert Options ►

There's a remarkable stat in Phil Hoad's interesting Guardian reflection on the global box office in 2011, and it's not a reassuring one. Looking down the list of the year's top grossers internationally, you have to go all the way down to 21st place to find a film made outside the Hollywood system: and if you haven't heard of "Intouchables," that'd be because it grossed its impressive $133.2 million inside its home country of France. (That said, it has been snapped up by The Weinstein Company.) Hoad wonders what can be done to bring a little more diversity to the international box office charts, and doesn't come up with many answers -- though he does suggest the crossover marketing appeal of projects like China's Christian Bale starrer "The Flowers of War" as one potential way forward. [The Guardian] 

As a pre-Guild palate cleanser, Erik Childress sorts the certainties from the wannabes in the Best Picture race. [Movies.com]

Want to see what the Academy's Best Picture ballot form looks like? Wonder no more. [Gold Derby]

Ebert correspondent Omer S. Mozaffer celebrates "Young Adult," describing it as Diablo Cody's answer to "A Woman Under the Influence." [Chicago Sun-Times]

For those still in a reflective mood, I absolutely love this: Dan Kois's Top 10 reasons to make Top 10 lists. [New York Times]

Paul Mazursky loses his heart to Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady." [Vanity Fair]

David Poland video-interviews Wim Wenders about his foreign-language and documentary Oscar contender, "Pina." [Hot Blog]

Scott Feinberg tries to find precedents for the roles played by this year's Oscar hopefuls. Felicity Huffman was a "woman who passes as a man" in "Transamerica?" News to me. [Hollywood Reporter]

With "Pariah" and "The Help" acting as rare exceptions, Allison Samuels mourns the lack of substantial roles for African-American actresses. [Daily Beast]

Ali Gray gives the posters of 2012's upcoming trash treats a prestige-film makeover. For some reason, the "Titanic 3D" one makes me laugh out loud repeatedly. [The Shiznit]

Guy Lodge
Critic

• Follow

Guy Lodge is a South African-born critic and sometime screenwriter. In addition to his work at In Contention, he is a freelance contributor to Variety, Time Out, Empire and The Guardian. He lives well beyond his means in London.