Roundup: Is authenticity ruining the musical?
Also: Portman named most bankable star, and Hathaway's Oscar hosting advice
Renee Zellweger in "Chicago."
Are you a fan of In Contention?
Sign up to get the latest updates instantly.
The live-sung approach of "Les Misérables" may have yielded glowing reviews for the likes of Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne, but less vocally gifted stars -- principally Russell Crowe -- have taken some flak. Back in the golden age of the Hollywood musical, his musical numbers might well have been dubbed, as Audrey Hepburn's were in "My Fair Lady" or Natalie Wood's in "West Side Story." Inkoo Kang wonders why we can't go back to that system: "The tendency toward multi-hyphenation is also a treat for celebrity gawkers, who get a glimpse behind the curtain, or at least feel like they are doing so, by watching stars in a rawer, less accomplished form." Personally, I don't mind an imperfect vocal when it's part and parcel of the performance and character: the very narrative of "Chicago," for example, benefits from Renee Zellweger being a more awkward performer than legions of Broadway Roxie Harts. You? [Salon]
British composer and three-time Oscar nominee Richard Rodney Bennett has passed away aged 76. His score for "Far From the Madding Crowd" is a stunner -- as is the film. Check it out. [Variety]
Natalie Portman has been named the most bankable actor in Hollywood by Forbes, followed by Kristen Stewart. [THR]
Anne Hathaway offers Seth MacFarlane some advice on hosting the Oscars. Strangely, "Don't host with James Franco" isn't one of her tips. [EW]
Nice idea for a series: screenwriters of prominent 2012 releases on the scenes they found hardest to write. Here, John Gatins discusses the stairwell conversation in "Flight." [Vulture]
Steven Zeitchik calls Richard Linklater's "Bernie" the year's most underappreciated film. Still, the Indie Spirits and numerous critics get it. I confess I still don't. [LA Times]
With any notion of "best" impossible to determine when comparing a diverse slate of strong performances, Jon Weisman suggests other criteria by which Academy members might cast their vote. [The Vote]
Nigel M. Smith rounds up 37 indie film breakouts from 2012. It's a fine list, but how does "Les Mis" newbie Samantha Barks qualify as "indie?" [IndieWire]
From corrupted teen idols to the rise of Matthew McConaughey, Catherine Shoard examines some of 2012's less expected movie trends. [The Guardian]
Sasha Stone wonders if "Life of Pi" has lost enough Oscar heat to take it out of the game altogether. [Awards Daily]
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
Latest Posts
-
Jim Jarmusch is on typically deadpan form in mildly amusing vampire filmSaturday, May 25, 2013
-
Audiences revisit Celine and Jesse this weekendFriday, May 24, 2013
-
Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix play out a bad romance in 1920s-set dramaFriday, May 24, 2013
-
Matthias Schoenaerts the ensemble standout in overlong period thrillerFriday, May 24, 2013
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupdaveylo
December 27, 2012 at 10:56AM EST Reply to CommentFar from the Madding Crowd has long been one of my all-time favorite films and scores.
Steve G Yes! A very beautiful, haunting film with lovely work from Julie Christie and Alan Bates. Inspired me to finally read Thomas Hardy's novel and the images from the film stayed with me.
December 27, 2012 at 9:28PM ESTSad to hear of RRB's passing. I remember playing some of his compositions on the piano when I was young.
RichardZ
December 27, 2012 at 11:04AM EST Reply to CommentI don't mind Russell Crowe's Javier--the orchestration should have matched his style. And that was the whole conceit of the movie, right? Act first, sing second, orchestration follows. Didn't everyone see "The Making of" clip 1000x over?
Jon Weisman--how dare!!! I wish I could have thought that.
Life of Pi will survive.
DylanS
December 27, 2012 at 12:00PM EST Reply to CommentI'm not really criticizing you for this, Guy, as you're not the only one, but I'm getting sick of the constant shitting on the Hathaway/Franco Oscar ceremony. Was it great? no, not at all. But I found it perfectly watchable, if a little lacking, and nearly the train wreck everybody else saw. I think people had their claws sharpened from the outset.
Andrew F I dunno: I for one was excited for the Hathaway/Franco combination. I thought they would bring a light, goofy charm to the pompousness that so often pervades the broadcast -- but my entire Oscar viewing group agreed that it was indeed a total train wreck. I don't know how many times I cringed, telepathically wishing for the producers to fire Franco halfway through the ceremony. I was glad to see later that night that most of the Oscarweb agreed!
December 27, 2012 at 12:48PM ESTSam Juliano Today’s META CRITIC numbers seem to indicate there may well be a happy ending to the mild controversy over LES MISERABLES’s performance in critical circles.
December 27, 2012 at 12:51PM ESTCritically it is FAR from a train wreck actually, and now it boasts a solid concencus.
There are now 37 reviews included with the number climbing to 64.
The breakdown is as follows:
22 favorable
13 mixed
2 negative
Well, that’s pretty solid in my book!
Meanwhile at RT (which I understand andrespect is rarely referred to here) the number is 73% with 109 favorable and 40 negative in their far less revealing black and white concensus.
thekingbulletin
December 27, 2012 at 2:57PM EST Reply to CommentWhat did you think of that stairwell scene in "Flight," Guy? I know you weren't crazy about the film overall, but, for me, that's one of the best moments in the film.
Guy Lodge Didn't work for me, I'm afraid, though I can see how a writer would become wedded to it -- some artful dialogue in there, but it felt too thematically sculpted for my liking. I prefer the film when it's speaking less.
December 27, 2012 at 7:46PM ESTthekingbulletin Fair enough. I really responded to a lot of the tangents in Gatins's screenplay, perhaps because, like the James Badge Dale one, those too were similarly motivated by writerly need rather than standard cohesion to the story at hand. I could obviously see why they wouldn't work for others -- especially the Kelly Reilly drop-off -- but there's something unique and even shrewd to me in the way the script balances a very focused character study with a bunch of out-of-nowhere deviations.
December 27, 2012 at 8:00PM EST