Roundup: Harvey takes on the pirates
Also: Remembering Harris Savides, and 'Argo' is fighting fit
Harvey Weinstein.
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With a stacked -- and rather rewarding -- slate of films on my plate yesterday, I didn't get to see Harvey Weinstein's keynote speech at the London Film Festival. But no matter: Screen helpfully provides a transcript. It would appear that preservation and piracy were the two chief issues on his mind: he laid into Hollywood film execs for their limited knowledge of their film heritage ("I began to wonder if any of them had even heard of John Ford") and celebrated the French for their hard line on illegal content-sharing, which he claims has bolstered the local film industry, allowing them to finance such grown-up hits as -- and here come two wholly impartial examples -- "The Artist" and "The Intouchables." [Screen Daily]
Michael Cieply on the Academy allowing members to "recommend" -- not campaign for -- films to other members, particularly in the documentary branch. [New York Times]
The Playlist guys offer up a lovely retrospective of the late Harris Savides' work. Still reeling from this. [The Playlist]
Jennifer Lawrence is joining Natalie Portman as one of the faces of Miss Dior. So nice to see her getting some exposure. [The Telegraph]
Oscar hopeful "Argo" has opened to robust box office, but looks likely to be pipped to the post by Oscar hopeful "Taken 2." [Variety]
R. Kurt Osenland's ponders "Argo"'s Oscar prospects -- and would rather see Scoot McNairy with a Best Supporting Actor nod than Alan Arkin. [Slant]
Tom O'Neil claims that Daniel Day-Lewis "can't lose" his third Oscar for "Lincoln." Unless, you know, he does. [Gold Derby]
Meanwhile, "Lincoln" is Steven Spielberg's best film since "War Horse." Ha. [The Envelope]
Matt Spaiser detects a kinship between "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "Skyfall": it's all in the cut of Bond's suit. [Clothes on Film]
David Denby's mourning the demise of movies for adults again, this time at the New Yorker. I liked his New Republic essay, but this is surely overkill. [New Yorker]
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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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupDylanS
October 12, 2012 at 9:10AM EST Reply to CommentI'm actually starting to think that Day-Lewis wins his 3rd Oscar for Lincoln. That category, despite its competitiveness, lacks a frontrunner and I feel like that opens things up for him to take over.
Evan I dunno. Nobody has seen Les Miz/Hugh Jackman or Hitchcock/Anthony Hopkins and the people most likely to be affected by The Sessions-- the feel good moviegoer type-- have yet to see Hawkes. I wouldn't predict a coronation (inauguration?) just yet.
October 12, 2012 at 10:02AM EST/3rt Joaquin Phoenix is the center of the universe. The critics' prizes aren't going for Day-Lewis. Neither are the Globes or SAG for that matter. Hawkes and Washington are the underestimated threats to Phoenix's victory.
October 12, 2012 at 11:11AM ESTEdwin I don't perceive Hopkins to be much of a threat based on the trailer. He'll probably be fighting Bradley Cooper for the 5th slot, and even if he gets in, I doubt he'll be in it for the win. Washington could be a threat if "Flight" is a big hit, but he's already a 2-time winner, and if they're going to let anyone be a 3-time Oscar winner this year, I would think it would be DDL. Hugh Jackman is a possibility only if "Les Miz" turns into an awards juggernaut. As meaty a role as it is, it's not the type of thing I see winning Best Actor without the movie winning Best Picture, especially when there is actual competition in the category. Hawkes? He'll probably get some critics' awards, but the movie is probably too small and too light to get him an Oscar over the two powerhouse performances of Phoenix and Day-Lewis.
October 12, 2012 at 3:20PM ESTIt's between Joaquin Phoenix and Daniel Day-Lewis as of right now, as far as I can predict. Furthermore, I think Best Supporting Actor is shaping up to be Philip Seymour Hoffman vs. Tommy Lee Jones, so there's a strong possibility that both of the male acting categories will be "The Master" vs. "Lincoln."
/3rt Why underestimated Washington?
October 12, 2012 at 3:44PM ESTNever underestimate the popularity of Washington and Freeman in the Academy. They're the only black actors to cross the threshold of having 5 nominations and Washington with his 2 wins. I brought up Freeman because when Invictus was on the radar none of the pundits expected him or Damon to get in.
Reminder that no actor has won an acting Oscar under Spielberg. Also, Day-Lewis has lost when he deserved it—Gangs of New York.
If Washington were to win it carries the tradition of Actors winning two Lead prizes and one for Supporting. Ingrid Bergman, Jack Nicholson, and Meryl Streep.
DylanS /3RT- The Spielberg actor's stat is incidental. It's not as though the actor's branch actively goes "Let's make sure Spielberg actors never win", there just hasn't been a performance in a Spielberg film that was a surefire winner, and I wonder how strong the alternatives are.
October 12, 2012 at 4:54PM ESTAlso, Day-Lewis didn't deserve to win for "Gangs". It was the flashiest role in the category, but it's a scenery-chewing role and that's all it has to offer. Brody stole that Oscar for a reason, because his performance was that much better.
And the Washington argument seems so arbitrary with the stats. Lets see the performance first. And I'm not expecting anything special from "Flight", usual Washington charisma, but not much else.
DylanS And I can feel the ship sailing on Phoenix's chances of winning already. Which this early is a bad sign.
October 12, 2012 at 4:55PM EST/3rt Plainview is scenery-chewing too.
October 12, 2012 at 5:08PM ESTBrody won because Nicholson campaigned on his behalf.
Unless members of the Academy are split on the quality of Phoenix's performance I consider it his to lose.
This Day-Lewis must receive a 3rd one before Washington meme is bullshit.
DylanS Sure, Nicholson campaigned on his behalf (which should say something in and of itself), but they still had to see the performance, and in a category that was as competitive as that one, his winning clearly indicates some level of affection for the performance. Narrowing the explanation for his surprise win down to "Nicholson campaigned for him" is simplistic and it ignores the fact that they also gave the film Best Director and Adapted Screenplay, indicating a high level of affection for the film.
October 12, 2012 at 9:53PM ESTAnd I never said Plainview wasn't also scenery chewing. It is. But Plainview was a well written character with a very subtle arc. "Gangs" was JUST Day-Lewis doing scenery chewing, thats all it had to offer.
And it does Phoenix no favors that many people (possibly most) thought Hoffman gave the better performance and should also be a Best Actor nom right alongside him.
/3rt It bothers me that people prefer Hoffman's work when it didn't require him to do anything except stay very calm while Joaquin Phoenix ate through metal mesh fence.
October 12, 2012 at 11:31PM ESTI never loved Joaquin Phoenix until The Master — it's the type of performance that will influence a generation of actors like Brando and De Niro prior.
DylanS "It bothers me that people prefer Hoffman's work when it didn't require him to do anything except stay very calm while Joaquin Phoenix ate through metal mesh fence."
October 13, 2012 at 12:14AM ESTRight, because Hoffman never gets angry in "The Master". And playing calm isn't automatically easier to do as an actor, sometimes, actually, its a lot harder. And while Joaquim is very good in "The Master", he is playing a relatively straightforward character (a mentally unstable alcoholic) whereas there's a lot of ambiguity as to the underlying feelings and motivations of Hoffman's character, which make him an infinitely more interesting character.
Andrej
October 12, 2012 at 10:13AM EST Reply to CommentAnimated or not, that "it's his best movie since 'War Horse'" line of thought drives me mad. Why dismiss The Adventures of Tintin? Because it's his best live action movie since his last one, which wasn't terribly good to begin with? Superb.
Also it'd be hilarious(ly bad) to see Liam Neeson nominated for an Oscar... but for Taken 2 instead of The Grey.
Evan Didn't War Horse come out after Tintin? I don't think it's meant as a slight on Tintin at all.
October 12, 2012 at 10:38AM ESTJJ1 Yeah, I think it has more to do with the fact that 'War Horse' was nominated for Best Picture + 5 other nominations and made a bigger splash than TinTin. So 'War Horse' is the referred to Spielberg movie of late.
October 12, 2012 at 11:09AM ESTGuy Lodge Yeah, War Horse came out after Tintin. You're missing the joke here, Andrej.
October 13, 2012 at 7:44AM ESTAndrej Mh. I'm a bit lost in translation, then, because I'd swear I read that same line somewhere else, but without any irony or joke to it.
October 13, 2012 at 9:06AM ESTGuesto
October 15, 2012 at 5:54PM EST Reply to Comment"The critics' prizes aren't going for Day-Lewis. Neither are the Globes or SAG for that matter. Hawkes and Washington are the underestimated threats to Phoenix's victory. "
According to who, to you? I call BS and totally see Day Lewis being recognized from all fronts.
People, stop bringing your own baggage to the conversations.
Guesto
October 15, 2012 at 5:59PM EST Reply to Comment"Tom O'Neil claims that Daniel Day-Lewis "can't lose" his third Oscar for "Lincoln." Unless, you know, he does. [Gold Derby]
Meanwhile, "Lincoln" is Steven Spielberg's best film since "War Horse." Ha. [The Envelope]"
The first line gets a sarcastic response the other gets a pat on the shoulder.
All that means very little coming from a man who went on record last year, on this site, that Day Lewis won't win his third Oscar for Lincoln. I remember that clearly. Haters gonna hate, I guess.
Also, War Horse was fantastic.