And I'm sure someone over there will think I am making fun of them by running this in a blog entry, but actually, having this kind of backstage info from studios makes the lives of those covering them easier. Some tools we use, some we do not. But occasional reminders about how many arms there are out there are very helpful. It's a smart choice.
And here is their list of Facebook pages
]]>The main variation in the 2009/10 Oscar season that keeps getting discussed is the change to 10 nominees.
And it's not insignificant.
But as the Chinese curse goes, "May you live in interesting times."
As the Academy made this change, the economy of the film business started to bottom out. (Sadly, I don't think we've quite reached bottom yet, though many businesses have started 12-step.)
The Dependents went from being seven strong (as MGM is still officially a major, according to its membership in MPAA) to three divisions really in business (as opposed to being a placeholder for loose end projects and Home Entertainment libraries).
The True Indies continue to be in the game, though there is a real question of what Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company will look like when next year's season rolls around and Summit hasn't yet shown itself to be more than the sum of its vampires. Overture, Magnolia, Freestyle, Roadside Attractions, IFC, Apparition, and Oscilliscope (in order of 2009 domestic box office grosses) all continue to show interest in the season and an inability to get a hold of the voting imaginations of the Academy ... at least in the top categories.
Media noise - amplified by a combination of ad budgets being slashed thus making publicity more important again, a wave of new online businesses trying to sell themselves and their ads, and old media flailing about, trying to get attention, also in fear of their own demise - is more relentless and less thoughtful than ever.
]]>I'm not sure why Searchlight hasn't pulled the trigger on Crazy Heart, a movie that will play better on TV... not coincidentally made for TV.
There will be plenty more DVDs on the way...
In any case...
What I do want to say is that the film is remarkable free of race as an issue once you get past the first 20 minutes or so. As Disney told everyone, the characters are black, white, and mostly, cajun, whether good, bad or somewhere in between.
The lightening bug that some worried about is one of the strongest characters in the film and doesn't identify black or white. The horn-playing alligator,a completely positive character, does play black... and unlike the characters who seemed black in The Jungle Book, is voiced by a black actor.
And Keith David, as the voodoo dude, gives - and I guess I am breaking my own rule a little here - a magnificent vocal performance, both speaking and singing. His character is not driven by race, but by greed.... a vice shared by all races.
Anyway, it really hit me about half way through that issues of race - including the prince in the film seeming more South American than black - just were not on the plate in this film, no matter what the setting. The fact that we are dealing mostly with animals through most of the film helps. A frog is green, not black or white.
I saw it at a NAACP screening... and it occurred to me that while race didn't play much of a role in the film as I saw it, for this mostly black audience, it must have been truly wonderful to see a film based around a black heroine and other black characters whose motivations are human and not just ethnic.
]]>Of course, the first thing many of us wonder about is who got left out... and so... docs that have been released, had some real heat, and did not make the cut...
Capitalism: A Love Story
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
The September Issue
Tyson
It Might Get Loud
We Live in Public
Crude
The Yes Men Fix the World
Collapse
It is possible that a couple of these were not qualified or were disqualified. (Anvil may have been last year's qualifier) But after We Live In Public went through the process of actually getting dispensation from The Academy for a webmaster webcast, we know that political positioning does not always take in this very odd system of nomination.
Every Little Step, The Cove, and Valentino: The Last Emperor would have to be considered the frontrunners now, though I would be keeping an eye out for Garbage Dreams, and The Beaches of Agnes coming up from behind.
Of course, the way things work at The Academy, any number of those 5 titles could miss the final nominations list.
(You can meet the filmmaker behind Garbage Dreams in this DP/30... and the Every Little Step guys are here...)
ADD 4:20p - It seems there is going to be a lot of whining, screaming, and general complaining about this list. I would guess that less than 10% of the whiners have seen all the movies and that less than 20% have seen 10 of the 15.
That said, much as I personally care for some of the left out titles, the only one that strikes me as truly offensive in its absence is Tyson, a movie that does such a mighty job of getting through that history and a truly unique interview with the man, showing skills far more complex than the split-screen shenanigans. It is worthy in the way Errol Morris' The Fog of War was.
But there is not a single title on that list that urges me to wonder how "that piece of crap" made the list. Some are better than others, but even on the weaker ones, it is pretty clear why a committee would find them so compelling.
And frankly, the guts to leave Michael Moore off the list for the first time since they idiotically snubbed Roger & Me, aside from the dubious removal of Fahrenheit 9/11 from consideration, is kinda a winning notion. He made a weak movie. Happens. And he didn't get a free pass for being America's best-loved doc filmmaking character. He will recover. He's a very smart and capable man.
The September Issue was very overrated, a shadow of the Valentino doc. I'm not 100% sure Collapse was qualified, but it is also a chat doc based on an little known guy. Loud & Yes Men are not really Academy speed. Crude is- can't believe I am actually typing this - last year's issue. And Public might have been too public for the committee, perhaps hurt politically by the special treatment it was given. Or maybe they just didn't like it.
In any case, not as shocking a list as I think some are saying. Not the greatest year ever for docs. The system is still a bit screwy. But overall... pretty good.
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And the chart below, from Nielsen, is pretty iffy... to the degree that they misname Lisa Schwartzbaum "Lisa Schwartzman." Oy. But one clear thing does seem clear. When any single "answer" dominates a survey of any size this clearly, that dominant answer bears attention.
After years of literal silence, Ebert's voice is as loud as ever.
The show was unwatchable as a game show. Kari Wuhrer was, pre-implants, the girl every straight geeky guy in Manhattan wanted to run into at a Duane-Reade and talk into bed... the Olivia Munn of her generation. Colin Quinn played the lazy stooge, but was one of the smartest (and laziest) comics in NY.
But the thing that was great was watching some of the best and silliest NY comics stream from comedy club stages to the show as guest categories.
Ken Ober was sometimes a good guy... sometimes a very angry guy. In some ways, he preceded Jon Stewart, though Ober never had the quality of writing - by the writers or himself - that Stewart has. But he was the sane center of the madness. And that show was madness.
It's sad and scary for those of us who are over 40 to see someone go so "young." Fame is fleeting. Life too. Those were good days... at least until everyone started feeling like they had something to lose and acting like the angry children they often were. Long time ago...
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