Roundup: Thelma Schoonmaker on the perils of digitization
Also: Older women in the Oscar race, and a 'Grave of the Fireflies' remake?
Thelma Schoonmaker at the 2004 Academy Awards.
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It's obviously a slow day for movie news, but this Atlantic piece about the danger posed to classic cinema by the digital revolution really registered with me. Much column ink has already been spilled on the demise of 35mm in contemporary film -- some of it overly doom-laden -- but less has been said about the effect the digital switchover will have on repertory screenings. Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who recently found herself unable to obtain a new print of "The Age of Innocence" for a museum screening, is worried, not just about the future availability of older titles, but the preservation of the ones that do get converted: "I saw a digitized version of a film that David Lean made during World War II, and it looked just like a TV commercial that was shot yesterday. It was wrong, the balance was completely off. [Colorists] have no idea what these movies should look like anymore." [The Atlantic]
Solvej Schou on the importance of older female characters in the movies, as reflected in roles played this year by Sally Field, Judi Dench and Helen Mirren. No mention of Emmanuelle Riva? [EW]
Alexandra Marshall talks to Riva, along with Michael Haneke and Jean-Louis Trintignant, about the making of "Amour." [Hollywood Reporter]
Days after the news dropped of GKIDS acquiring "Grave of the Fireflies" for a US re-release, UK company Dresden Pictures has bought the rights for a live-action remake. Hmm. [Screen]
The Wrap team highlight a dozen long-shot contenders that they think deserve some Oscar love. [The Wrap]
Production designer Rick Carter and costume designer Joanna Johnston on fabricating the sombre authenticity of "Lincoln." [Gold Derby]
"Life of Pi" is the latest film to get a SoundWorks Collection study of its aural landscape. [SoundWorks Collection]
Kyle Buchanan and Claude Brodesser-Akner contemplate the rising stock of Best Actor hopeful Bradley Cooper: one of their sources calls him "the next Paul Newman." I like Cooper, but... [Vulture]
Eugene Jarecki, who has to be regarded as one of the frontrunners for Best Documentary Feature, talks about his searing drug-war doc "The House I Live In." [The Guardian]
Charlie Lyne on the thing that also bothered me most about the otherwise admirable "The Sessions": why so coy with the male nudity? [Ultra Culture]
2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
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Best Actor
Best Actress
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Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
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Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film
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Best Foreign Language Film
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Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupglebe
November 23, 2012 at 12:35PM EST Reply to CommentKris retweeted someone's assertion that the moving up of Zero Dark Thirty's embargo date to Sunday (basically right after it first screens) is a sign that the movie is good. What is the mechanism there? Why would an embargo date be moved if the movie is good? Wouldn't they want the good press to come in a few weeks when the film is released?
Guy Lodge No -- I'd say if the word is good, you want it to start building straight away. And the good reviews will still appear on the week of release.
November 23, 2012 at 12:38PM ESTKristopher Tapley And for the record, I retweeted no such thing. You must be thinking of someone else.
November 23, 2012 at 1:08PM ESTglebe Ah, sorry, it was Anne. Glad I found it. I was worried I imagined it in a very boring dream.
November 23, 2012 at 3:08PM ESTStefan
November 23, 2012 at 1:35PM EST Reply to CommentI really hate when the term "remake" is applied to an adaptation of a book that has already be turned into a film. I mean, is Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame a remake of the silent film version? Is the upcoming Les Miserables a remake of the 1935 Les Miserables? Unless it's something like Gus Van Sant's Psycho where the direct source material IS the earlier film adaptation, it's not a remake.
Amir
November 23, 2012 at 1:39PM EST Reply to CommentCouldn't agree more with the Wrap team on Winstead. She crushed me. Her AA speeches, her confrontation with the school prinicipal, her intimate moment with her husband, and the film's final frame are all impossible to shake off. I haven't seen Riva or Chastain yet, but she's easily my favourite actress so far.
Brock Landers
November 23, 2012 at 7:22PM EST Reply to CommentKris, I see that you dug Les Mis. I know you'll write about it later, but I had the same concern as you that it looked incredibly claustrophobic. Is this still something I should be worried about, or is it not an issue?
JLPatt
November 23, 2012 at 7:40PM EST Reply to CommentDitto on "The Sessions" concern. Left a really bad taste in my mouth. Then when Hunt holds up the mirror for him to see himself, it's conveniently cut off before the waist?
AmericanRequiem
November 25, 2012 at 12:04AM EST Reply to CommentDont really know where to write this...but does anyone else think Jiro Dreams of Sushi should get a cinematography nom?