Oscar 2009: Best Picture Predictions

December 24, 2009 by

Ten of the these 16 pictures likely will get Best Picture nomination, now that the filed is wider and includes more films. But be prepared for major surprises–it's called the Oscar game.  The fronterunners this year are: Avatar, Up in the Air, and The Hurt Locker.  See the rest of the list.

 

 

 

 

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Police, Adjective: Another Excellent Film from Romania

December 9, 2009 by

With his remarkable second feature, “Police, Adjective,” Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu joins the ranks of Cristi Puiu (“The Death of Mr. Lazarescu”) and 2007 Palme laureate Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days”) of a major and startling talent blessed by a lively, funny and startling way of breathing new life into familiar or received ideas.

His debut, “1208: East of Bucharest” captured the Camera d’Or for best first feature three years ago. The set up of “Police, Adjective” is fairly simple, but Porumboiu elliptically, immersing us in the quotidian action and cumulative details to present a scrupulous, deeply moral vision of the present. In his director’s notes, he states: “I wanted to make a film about language, about its meaning, or better yet, about its lack of meaning.”

 

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Oscar 2009: Better Year for Women than Men?

December 2, 2009 by
Now that the movie year is almost over, we can label 2009 as the year in which "Women Came Back from the Cold." It's hard to recall another year in recent memory in which the mainstream Hollywood (and foreign) cinema has seen so many good, meaty, substantial roles for women, many of which in the lead category. 
 
Moreover, unlike previous years, we may see a more juvenile Best Actress category, in which Meryl Streep, who just turned 60, and Helen Mirren, 64, may be the eldest nominees! If my reading is valid, half of the contenders will be new, fresh faces, that is, first-time nominees. (See list below).

 

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White Ribbon: One of 2009 Best Pictures–Interview with Haneke

November 21, 2009 by

"The White Ribbon” won the top award, the Palme d’Or, at the 2009 Cannes Fest. Sony Classics will release the film, which is Germany's Oscar entry, in December.

Q: Inspiration to focus the story on a village in Northern Germany prior to WWI?
 
Haneke: I wanted to present a group of children on whom absolute values are being imposed. What I was trying to say was that if someone adopts an absolute principle, when it becomes absolute then it becomes inhuman. The original idea was a children’s choir, who want to make absolute principles concrete, and those who do not live up to them.

 

 

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New Moon

November 9, 2009 by

Chris Weitz is the director of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. The film is released November 20 by Summit.

Director Chris Weitz’s success at adapting books for the screen, including About a Boy and The Golden Compass, made him an obvious choice for this project, says producer Wyck Godfrey. “Chris has a history of helming fantasy films with complex effects as well as intimate character studies, and he works well with young actors. But it is his appreciation of Stephenie Meyer’s books and characters that made him the perfect director for The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

 

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