 Sizing Up Series continues with an in-depth look at the Director candidates for this year’s Oscar ceremony. As was the case last year, there are a few things to keep an eye for this particular category. One obviously is that a lot will have to do with which films get nominated for Best Picture at the end of the day. The other is the possibility of a Lone Director nod. It used to be something that happened, but it hasn’t come close of late. Now, with us in the brave new-ish world of anywhere from 5 to 10 nominees, it keeps the idea of the lone director alive, though it’s going to be unlikely for one to wind up breaking through. Not impossible, mind you…but I wouldn’t count on seeing it this year, or too many instances going forward.
Read more on Sizing Up: Best Director…
Categories: Article Tags: analysis, ang lee, Ben Affleck, Ben Lewin, Best Director, Christopher Nolan, David O. Russell, Director, Drew Goddard, Dustin Hoffman, Gus Van Sant, Jonathan Dayton, Juan Antonio, kathryn bigelow, Martin McDonagh, Michael Haneke, Mike Newell, Noah Baumbach, Oscar hopefuls, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Lorenz, Roger Michell, Sacha Gervasi, Sizing Up series, Stephen Chbosky, Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick, Tom Hooper
 This old-fashioned father-daughter story feels like an old chestnut from the world of theater, even though it has no roots in the stage. It’s the sort of film that used to be called “heartwarming” and “moving” or the type of movie that audiences flocked to see hoping for something that allowed them a good cry. Today, because we have seen so many of these sort of films, it looks clichéd and, as I have stated, very old-fashioned.
The picture marks the first time Clint Eastwood has acted in a film directed by another since In the Line of Fire (1993) which was helmed by Wolfgang Peterson. This time the director is one of Eastwood’s own, a man who has worked with him for many years, Robert Lorenz, and I wonder, well…Why? Why would Eastwood need a director at this point in his career to give a performance he has given before and that frankly, he could have phoned in? His reputation as a filmmaker is impeccable, he shoots fast and cheap, actors revere him and I struggle with the fact I cannot see another director guiding him!! Surely Lorenz would be wondering all the time what Eastwood was thinking? How was he doing? Was he doing a good job? Read more on Trouble with the Curve (**)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Amy Adams, Clint Eastwood, Director, Film, fine character actor, Human Interest, In the Line of Fire, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, Madison County, Meryl Streep, Mickey, Million Dollar Baby, Movie Release, Robert Lorenz, the bridges of madison county, Wolfgang Peterson
 How far can the chemistry of a cast get you? Director Robert Lorenz tests that very theory with his film ‘Trouble with the Curve’, a very old fashioned and harmless flick that coasts along on the goodwill generated by its actors. For some, that might be enough, but I wanted more. The interactions between Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams are mostly enjoyable, with something similar being said for how both of them deal with Justin Timberlake, but at the same time the acting is a bit on the disappointing side. Read more on Trouble with the Curve (**)…
 Could we have Marco Beltrami back in the race this year? We’ll see.
Read the Press Release:
(WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA) September 11, 2012— Two time Academy Award nominated composer Marco Beltrami scores Trouble with the Curve, opening September 21. The film’s all star cast includes Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, and John Goodman. This is the first film Eastwood has starred in but not directed in nine years (In the Line of Fire). The film marks the first feature-length directorial debut of Robert Lorenz, Eastwood’s Assistant Director for 15 years, with projects including Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, and Blood Work. Varese Sarabande will release the soundtrack album for Trouble with the Curve October 2. Composer Marco Beltrami provides an emotional score that supports the touching relationship between father and daughter and also the heroics of the game of baseball. Read more on Two-Time Academy Award Nominated Composer Marco Beltrami Scores Trouble with the Curve…
Our frontrunner?
Trying to sand down the rough slate that is the Actress categories is an intimidating task. The past few years, the category has produced the likes of Natalie Portman in her career-topping performance in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Marion Cotillard’s transformation like no other in the Foreign Language film, La Vie en Rose.
It’s August. Summer’s coming to an end. Eight months have passed and we have one, count, one, Best Actress contender on the chart. Quvenzhané Wallis is more and more looking like the little engine that could for her heartbreaking turn in Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild. While many are shouting from the rooftops that she could be the one to hold the Oscar, barely reaching the microphone, and being a Cinderella story for the millennium, there’s no one to challenge her as of now.
In the past week, Carey Mulligan has dropped off due to the “sudden” push of The Great Gatsby to summer 2013. Was that telling of something? We’ll discuss on this week’s episode of Power Hour if it was. With Mulligan out, we are struggling to find spots filled from performances coming down the pike.
Read more on “Best” Actress Award or “Whatever We Have Left Over”…
Categories: Article, Editor, Oscar Circuit Tags: Amy Adams, Anna Karenina, Anne Hathaway, Carey Mulligan, Darren Aronofsky, david cronenberg, emily watson, Emmanuelle Riva, Greta Gerwig, Halle Berry, Helen Hunt, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Joe Wright, Julianne Moore, Keira Knightley, La Vie En Rose, Laura Linney, Lost in Translation, Maggie Smith, Marion Cotillard, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michael Haneke, naomi watts, nicole kidman, olivia colman, Olivia Williams, Oscar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Pride & Prejudice, Rob Marshall, Robert Lorenz, Rose Byrne, Scarlett Johansson, The Great Gatsby, The Weinstein Company Holdings LLC, To the Wonder
The first trailer for Robert Lorenz’s Trouble with the Curve dropped on Tuesday, and today we get a look at the first poster for the movie. Clint Eastwood is featured front and center, gazing out at a baseball game that he is scouting while the floating tagline – “Whatever Life Throws At You” – foreshadows the struggles he will endure and how he will adjust to them. Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, and Robert Patrick also star in Trouble with the Curve, due out September 28th.
Have a look at the poster after the jump…
Read more on First ‘Trouble with the Curve’ Poster…
Four time Oscar winner Clint Eastwood shines in the first trailer for Robert Lorenz’s Trouble with the Curve. I have to admit I’ve been  somewhat skeptical of another nomination coming for Eastwood’s performance, which would be his third for acting – his first since Million Dollar Baby (2004), but after seeing the trailer I’m liking his odds a whole lot more. Trouble with the Curve looks to be more than just another sports film, as the trailer hints at it also being both a romantic/comedy (between Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake) and a father/daughter family drama. There seems to be a whole lot of emotion (that I wasn’t expecting) coming from this little trailer, and it looks as if we have another film to start getting excited about. Eastwood plays an aging scout suffering from vision problems whose daughter (Adams) tags along on a long road trip to act as his eyes while he does his thing, a skill based on years of intuition and gut instinct. Trouble with the Curve also stars John Goodman and Robert Patrick, and will hit theatres September 28th.
What do you think?
Read more on Eastwood Looks to Knock One Out of the Park in ‘Trouble with the Curve’ Trailer…
 First images have surfaced for Robert Lorenz’s film Trouble with the Curve starring Academy Award Winner Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and Justin Timberlake. The film tells the story of an ailing baseball scout that takes his daughter along for one last recruiting trip.
This has been labeled the “final” acting performance from Clint Eastwood, whom has delivered when directed by himself in roles like Million Dollar Baby (2004). However, Eastwood has had a few hiccups in films like Gran Torino (2008) and Blood Work (2002). Is there a consensus out there for Eastwood to having an acting award to accompany his two directing Oscars? Either way, this is a project to keep an eye on for the rest of the season especially after the success of Bennett Miller’s Moneyball, which seemed to follow the same equation.
Check out another picture after the jump. Read more on First Images drop for “Trouble with the Curve”…
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Sizing Up Series continues with an in-depth look at the Director candidates for this year’s Oscar ceremony. As was the case last year, there are a few things to keep an eye for this particular category. One obviously is that a lot will have to do with which films get nominated for Best Picture at the end of the day. The other is the possibility of a Lone Director nod. It used to be something that happened, but it hasn’t come close of late. Now, with us in the brave new-ish world of anywhere from 5 to 10 nominees, it keeps the idea of the lone director alive, though it’s going to be unlikely for one to wind up breaking through. Not impossible, mind you…but I wouldn’t count on seeing it this year, or too many instances going forward.
