Brad Pitt impresses in the insightful Moneyball…
Two films today that should garner some awards buzz, though if the other major pictures are as strong as I suspect they are going to be, one of them might fade from view. The other, however, is one of the most astounding documentaries I have ever encountered in my twenty-five year career as a critic.
I had the pleasure of discussing Moneyball (***) at length with Steven Soderbergh three years ago when he was originally slated to direct. For a variety of reasons he fell away from the project, leaving Bennett Miller to step in and deliver a strong picture that gives insight into the behind-the-scenes workings of professional baseball.
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) was a former pro ball player who worked his way up from scout to General Manager of the Oakland A’s. After learning his budget has been drastically cut, he decides to try a different approach to create his team. Hiring Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), an economics major and statistics nut to help him create a team by “buying runs,” they are looked at as madmen by the A’s executives. Read more on John’s TIFF Diary: Day Two…
 Over in Venice today the Golden Lion was handed out (along with all of the usual awards that come with it), this year going to a smaller film (though supposedly a deserving one) in Faust. The full awards can be seen below, but the one I’d like to point out is Michael Fassbender winning for Shame. This could be the start of a real interesting campaign, as everyone is in agreement that he’s given an Oscar worthy performance in a film that’s going to be a real hard sell. Fox Searchlight just picked the flick up, and plans to push him and other elements of the movie hard, so it’s going to be fascinating to see this evolve. Keep an eye on that one. Hit the jump for a list of all the winners at Venice…
Read more on Venice Film Festival Announces its Winners!…
John H. Foote reports from Toronto!
TIFF is always a joy to attend, as the world of cinema is on display with the very best directors on the globe displaying their new films in hopes of starting that all-important Oscar buzz. Suffice to say that many films arrived here with buzz already attached, and I greatly anticipated this year’s festival.
The Opening Night Gala has been historically reserved for a Canadian film but this year the programmers decided to continue the marriage of film with rock-and-roll with the new U2 documentary From the Sky Down (**) directed by David Guggenheim. Though they might be one of the great rock bands in history, U2 has never fared well on film, and though we get great insight into their dynamic as a band, the film tends to portray them as your typical rockers. Read more on John’s TIFF Diary: Day One…
"All right, boys, let's get set up on a new rule change!"
Well, here we are. A new site for a new season. And what a perfect time for a change! After all, this isn’t just another Oscar season; the Academy has decided to trip us pundits up by throwing in yet another change to the Best Picture nomination rules. Just when we were getting used to talking about “the ten,” it’s now a thing of the past. This year – and for the time being, from now on – Best Picture can contain anywhere from five to ten nominees, depending on the percentage of #1 votes a film receives. The minimum is 5%. That may seem like a modest threshold of enthusiasm to cross, but then there’s this from Tom Sherak: “With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years…During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5 [emphasis mine]…If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.”
In other words, while the data clearly showed that there was enthusiasm for more than five films, seeing a full-on (or at least 5%) endorsement of ten pictures was not common. But even more importantly, this system does not (except in the case of rounding to five) factor in second, third, fourth place votes, etc. It doesn’t matter if the vast majority of voters love a particular movie. If it isn’t the favorite on their ballot, it doesn’t count. Read more on The Game Has Changed…
Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:
 The controversial “Shame”, directed by Steve McQueen, in a follow up to his 2008 breakthrough film, “Hunger”, is likely to receive an NC-17 from the MPAA, or see an Unrated release. Regardless, this highly controversial and equally as anticipated drama starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan could emerge as a player in the Oscar race. Certainly Fox Searchlight believes in it…
Fox Searchlight has emerged as the buyer of director Steve McQueen‘s sex-filled drama Shame.
The picture, which stars Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, features graphic sex and some gore. It will almost certainly be rated NC-17, meaning Searchlight will have a tough marketing task on its hands.
Read more on BREAKING! “Shame” Acquired By Fox Searchlight…
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