In Contention » Oscar Talk

Zac Brown's "Where the River Goes" from the "Footloose" soundtrack

Zac Brown's "Where the River Goes" from the "Footloose" soundtrack

In today's podcast, we dig in on the lead actor and lead actress categories, discuss Roman Polanski's NYFF opener "Carnage" and the critical reception of "The Ides of March," opening today.

In today's podcast, we dig in on the lead actor and lead actress categories, discuss Roman Polanski's NYFF opener "Carnage" and the critical reception of "The Ides of March," opening today.

In today's podcast we urge you to see "50/50" and "Take Shelter" this weekend, we start chewing on the supporting categories and we discuss the box office of a few of the year's early season contenders.

In today's podcast we urge you to see "50/50" and "Take Shelter" this weekend, we start chewing on the supporting categories and we discuss the box office of a few of the year's early season contenders.

In this week's podcast, we cover "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," "The Ides of March," "Moneyball," "Pearl Jam Twenty," "Melancholia" and the Academy's latest rule change.

In this week's podcast, we cover "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," "The Ides of March," "Moneyball," "Pearl Jam Twenty," "Melancholia" and the Academy's latest rule change.

Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds. It’s a bittersweet time. Barring any set-backs, this is the last time you’ll see an episode of Oscar Talk…in this space. As revealed earlier this week, In Contention is moving over to HitFix, aiming for as early as Monday of next week. So this 61st installment of the podcast is all she wrote for these white walls, but the fun will continue at the new destination a week from today. But, for now, with Anne on her last day of Toronto coverage, there is plenty to cover. So let’s see what’s on the docket today… • With Toronto winding down, it’s worth taking note of early festival films looking for an added bump, like “The Artist” and “The Descendants.” Anne gives her take on how those films played up north. • There were a few considerable bows at the festival, like Bennett Miller’s “Moneyball” (thumbs up from both of us), Oren Moverman’s “Rampart” (ditto) and Roland Emmerich’s “Anonymous” (ditto). Those are the ones we’ve both seen, so we discuss them at length. • But is “Moneyball” an Academy movie? We both love it for various reasons, but we both seem to have the instinct that it’s not going to strike Oscar gold. • Anne has also seen a few more films at the fest, like the Christopher Plummer-starrer “Barrymore” and Terrence Davies’s “The Deep Blue Sea.” Are their Oscar prospects merely part of the out-of-Toronto media frenzy that won’t amount to much? She offers her thoughts. • We also get around to talking about “Take Shelter,” which is also playing Toronto and features, to my mind, the best performance of the year so far from Michael Shannon. • Finally, reader questions. I tried to speed through more than usual, addressing queries regarding “Warrior”’s Oscar hopes after coming up short at the box office, the New York Film Festival’s acquisition road this year and potential unexpected contenders lurking on the periphery. Have a listen to the new podcast below. If you make it to “Drive” this weekend, you’ll appreciate the lead-in music. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. Thank you for being such a devoted audience for Oscar Talk here at InContention.com. But close one door and open another, so we hope you’ll join us at HitFix next week. Back-up download: Oscar Talk Episode 61

Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds. Today we’re back from the Telluride film fest, but Anne is up in Toronto and things are, well, kind of nuts. She’s up against the wall trying to get to a screening so we don’t get to dig in as much as we’d like. But we try. We really try. So, let’s see what’s on the docket today… • Diving right into a Telluride recap, we talk about the big hit of the festival, “The Descendants,” which comes away looking like a strong possibility for a number of nominations. • Also playing very well at the festival was “The Artist,” which is in the delicate position of elevating expectations while trying to keep word of mouth strong on the festival circuit. • We also talk about “A Dangerous Method” (which I didn’t like, but Anne loved), “Shame” (which I loved, Anne kind of liked — though I can’t really tell) and “Albert Nobbs,” which we both see as a good play for Glenn Close but, we also both think the film isn’t fully there. • Speaking of Glenn Close, we touch on the idea of lifetime achievement awards, which I argue more often go to lead actors than to lead actresses. (She disagrees strongly, for some reason, but I think I have Natalie Portman, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Hilary Swank, Halle Berry, Helen Hunt, etc., etc. on my side here.) • With the news of Eddie Murphy taking the emcee gig at the Oscars this year, we briefly give our knee-jerk reaction to that. And finally — agree on something today! • Finally, I must apologize that we weren’t able to address reader questions due to Anne’s time constraint. I’ll save them for next week, but I did pose Guy’s query regarding Toronto’s position as THE festival for the Oscar conversation, since it seemed pertinent. Have a listen to the new podcast below, with the trailer for “The Descendants” leading the way. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. Back-up download: Oscar Talk Episode 60

Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds. Today Anne and I are both in the Colorado Rockies for the 38th annual Telluride Film Festival. We’re joined today by Guy Lodge, who has been filing from the Venice Film Festival and has plenty to say about what he’s seen so far. Let’s see what’s on the docket today… • We kick things off with Guy’s Venice coverage, in particular his thoughts on the three big films to screen there so far: “The Ides of March,” “Carnage” and “W.E.” • Today kicks off the Telluride Film Festival, which has its share of exclusive early looks. Anne and I talk about what we’re looking forward to and, in particular, get into “The Artist,” which is playing here. (Both her and Guy caught it earlier in the year at Cannes.) • With the film set to bow at Venice tomorrow morning, Anne and I figured it was as good a time as any to get into Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion,” so we do. • And finally, reader questions. We address queries concerning the non-festival strategy for “Young Adult” and, conversely, which films could take off from the festival circuit via word of mouth. Have a listen to the new podcast below, with the trailer for “Contagion” leading the way. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. NOTE: I left my microphone at home (ugh) and Guy is using the usual laptop mic so audio could be a bit dicey this week. Apologies. Back-up download: Oscar Talk Episode 59

Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds. After months of sporadic special edition updates, we’re back to the weekly grind today. So check back here every Friday from here on out for our musings on the Oscar season, which is right around the corner with the start of the fall festival circuit. We go on for quite a while today. Let’s jump in and see what’s on the docket… • Starting off today we take stock of the summer movie season, which is pretty much wrapped up now. What films come out of that frame with a legitimate angle on the Oscar conversation? • Starting next week, the Venice Film Festival kicks off the fall festival season, with Telluride not far behind and Toronto kicking in a few days later. We spend plenty of time chewing on and mulling over the various players that will pop up in the next few weeks. • Releasing shortly are two films we thought deserved some discussing in the Oscar context. One of them (Jonathan Levine’s “50/50”) we agree on. The other (Gavin O’Connor’s “Warrior”) we don’t. • Finally, we wrap things up with a handful of reader questions, ranging from the Academy’s tapping Brett Ratner for the Oscarcast producing gig to Jessica Chastain’s best Oscar chances in a busy year for the actress. Have a listen to the new (LONG) podcast below, with the trailer for “Warrior” leading the way. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. Back-up download: Oscar Talk Episode 58

Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds. A month and a half since the last off-season podcast, we take the temperature one more time this summer, right at the year’s mid-way point. There have been some Academy rule changes and some news and notes in the interim, so let’s see what’s on the docket today… • The summer’s rule change of note was the fact that films must be considered the best film of the year (and ranked as such on ballots) by 5% of the Academy to even be eligible for a nomination. The result will leave anywhere from five to 10 nominees, depending. We discuss. • With half the year behind us, we take a moment to take stock of what could swing back around as Oscar plays later in the year. • Speaking to Monday’s Off the carpet column, we also bat around the idea of Steven Spielberg striking the zeitgeist this year with his name on a bevy of projects, not to mention his own work as a director (including one very baity project). • The Best Actress race is humming this week with the announcement that the Glenn Close-starrer “Albert Nobbs” has found distribution, as well as the release of a teaser trailer for “The Iron Lady,” featuring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. We dig in on that. • Though nothing on the schedule appears to be Oscar-likely, we nevertheless preview Comic-Con, coming in a week and a half. • And finally, reader questions. We address queries regarding the animated feature film race, The Weinstein Company’s potential coming off major Cannes success, personal anticipations and thoughts on what may already be over/underestimated. Have a listen to the new podcast below, with a bit of John Williams’s original score for “War Horse” leading the way. Apologies for my fan in the background. It’s HOT! If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. (NOTE: There’s something fishy with our iTunes feed lately. We’re on it. Sorry for the inconvenience.) Back-up download: Oscar Talk Episode 57

Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds. It has been nearly three months since we last got on the horn to talk the film wards landscape. We promised another dip during Cannes, so here we are. Today Anne and I are joined by Guy Lodge as the two of them have been working the Croisette all week. Let’s see what’s on the docket today… • The hot news of the moment when we recorded yesterday morning was Lars Von Trier’s public spanking by the festival for inflammatory remarks regarding Adolf Hitler. We discuss both that controversy and the director’s latest, paradoxically uncontroversial film, “Melancholia.” • The big event of the festival this week was the unveiling of Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.” Given that the film screened in earnest in LA, it’s something all three of us have seen and can chew on, so we do (as there’s PLENTY to chew on there). • We also run through the laundry list of titles worth discussing so far, from Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk about Kevin” (still a favorite after bowing early) to Pedro Almodovar’s “The Skin I Live In” (the freshest on their mind when we recorded). • We also take a moment to briefly discuss the deplorable “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.” • Finally, we take a brief survey of the 2011 awards landscape five months in. The year hasn’t afforded much to consider but it’s worth it to take stock. No questions from the readership this week. We settled on doing this rather late in the game, so apologies for that. We’ll try to knock out one more off-season edition later in the summer before getting back to the weekly grind in late August. Have a listen to the new podcast below. Get comfortable because it’s a long one. Apologies for a handful of audio issues due to the three locales and Anne’s poor microphone being on its last leg. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. Back-up download: Oscar Talk Episode 56

Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds. The 2010-2011 film awards season has finally drawn to a close. And what a ride it was. After a weekend full of parties and awards shows, Anne and I are here on the final day of coverage this season to offer our thoughts on what was. So let’s get on with it and see what’s on the docket today… • The long weekend started Thursday with an IFC Films party at Soho House (which housed a number of gatherings this week), continued through some events on Friday, and a big day on Saturday. We recount what we were up to throughout. • Also on Saturday were the Independent Spirit Awards. Both Anne and I were on hand. We give our thoughts on the winners and reaction to the growing pains of the production. • Let’s see, what else? Oh yeah, the Oscars happened. Naturally, there is plenty to talk about, from prediction tallies to winner thoughts to, of course, the production itself. • And finally, a couple of reader questions. Not too many this time, though, but thank you for submitting. Thanks to everyone for listening. The second year of Oscar Talk has been a blast and I hope we entertained and, in some small way, informed you along the way. And thanks, of course, to my colleague Anne Thompson for being a class act and a formidable colleague. Have a listen to the new podcast below. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. Back-up download: Oscar Talk Episode 55