Monthly Archives: June 2010
Auteur of the Week: David Lynch
To begin, I’m going to quote from the Wikipedia entry about auteurs, in order to establish what I mean when I call David Lynch an auteur.
The term auteur (French for author) is used to describe film directors (or, more rarely, producers, or writers) who are considered to have a distinctive, recognizable style, because they (a) repeatedly return to the same subject matter, (b) habitually address a particular psychological or moral theme, (c) employ a recurring visual and aesthetic style, or (d) demonstrate any combination of the above. In theory, an auteur’s films are identifiable regardless of their genre. The term was first applied in its cinematic sense in François Truffaut’s 1954 essay “A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema.”
A Single Man comes to Blu-Ray And DVD July 6th
Fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut A Single Man is a beautifully shot and acted story of love, loss and life. It earned Colin Firth his first Oscar nomination, as well as many other awards and nominations. It finally comes to DVD on July 6th, and if you’ve yet to see it you really need to. I know a few people who saw it thought it was overly glossy and lacked depth, but I don’t agree with that summation. It is glossy, that much is true, but it’s also one of the more beautiful and thoughtful ruminations of the agony of living I’ve ever seen. You can pre-order the film here.
Oscars potentially moving to January?
This news won’t change the date for the 83rd ceremony, which has its date firmly set for February 27th, 2011. Organizers say the earliest it would happen would be for the 2012 ceremony.
Sasha over at AwardsDaily has a pretty great post, pretty much explaining that all this would do would create a shift in all of the precursors and not do anything to fix “awards season fatigue.” I also like what she said about how if the Academy really wants to get more viewers they should think about adding a people’s choice awards, a la the Orange Rising Star Award that the BAFTAs have. If American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, etc has taught us anything it’s that American’s like to vote on pop culture related things.
What really irks me about this move is that for people who don’t live in Los Angeles, or any city for that matter, this has the potential of making it even harder to watch all the movies that will be up for Oscar before the actual ceremony. I was barely able to do it when I lived in San Francisco, let alone now that I live in the middle of nowhere.
What do you guys think about this potential move in the date?
Site Update
Inspired by AwardsDaily, I’ve added a list of contenders to the sidebar of the site. I’ll keep it updated as buzz changes/films are released, etc.
Cairo Time Poster
I hadn’t heard of this film until ComingSoon posted the poster/synopsis, but I am extremely excited for it. Partly because I’m a sucker for romances and Egypt and Patricia Clarkson, but mostly because of ALEXANDER SIDDIG. He’s probably most famous for playing Dr. Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and because of that role I’ve loved him since I was a little girl. He was really great in a supporting role in 2005’s Syriana. This film is probably going to be too little to launch him as a leading man, which is a shame.
Synopsis also thanks to ComingSoon:
Clarkson plays Juliette, a fashion magazine editor in her 40s, who travels to Cairo to meet her husband, Mark (McCamus), a UN official working in Gaza, for a three week vacation. When he is unavoidably delayed, he sends his friend Tareq (Siddig), who had been his security officer for many years, to escort her throughout the beautiful and exotic city. The last thing anyone expects is that they will fall in love. Cairo Time is a romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair that catches two people completely off-guard.
The film opens in America August 6th.
Oscar Vault Monday – Chinatown, 1974 (dir. Roman Polanski)
This is one of those films that’s often imitated but never duplicated (even with the ill-conceived 1990 sequel). It was directed by Roman Polanksi, who at the time was one of Hollywood’s hottest up and coming directors; was written by Robert Towne, who at the time was mostly known for some uncredited work on Bonnie & Clyde and The Godfather; and stared two of the most acclaimed young actors of their generation: Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but only Robert Towne walked away a winner for his screenplay. It lost Best Picture to The Godfather Part II which is, perhaps, the most acclaimed sequel of all time.
Zero-Time Academy Award Nominees (part 2) – 20 of the Best Contemporary Actresses Who’ve Never Been Nom’d For Oscar
This list was a lot harder to come up with because most of the actresses I like/consider to be great at their craft are Oscar nominees or winners. I was thinking perhaps the reason there are less underrated actresses is because there are less great roles for actresses and thus less actresses are able to really shine. That being said I did come up with a list of 20 contemporary actresses who have never been nominated that I think have given at least one Oscar-worthy performance, if not filled their career with them.
Zero-Time Academy Award Nominees – 20 of the Best Contemporary Actors Who’ve Never Been Nom’d For Oscar
I decided to do this list in alphabetic order, by last name. These are some 20 contemporary actors who have yet to be nominated for an Academy Award and who, in my opinion, deserve to be.
Poster for David Fincher’s “The Social Network”
I am beyond excited for this movie. David Fincher is one of my favorite directors and Jesse Eisenberg is one of the top up and coming actors working today. This poster is so fabulous. I cannot wait for the trailer to break.
the diary of a film history fanatic 