With an assortment of news and updates coming down the pipeline, there was plenty to discuss last week at The Awards Circuit. Our first order of business was paying tribute to the late and great Roger Ebert, who for many of us has shaped the way we interpret cinema. The staff went around the room on the latest Power Hour, individually revealing our personal experiences with Ebert and his reviews before then moving on to some Oscar® talk. Which directors in 2013 do we think can take it all the way to the Dolby Theatre next March? Listen to the episode and find out! Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 4/14)…
Touching on American sport’s and race history, writer/director Brian Helgeland delivers a biopic about Jackie Robinson’s legendary and groundbreaking impact on the world of major-league sports in 42. For those keeping track of the usually reclusive director, the first of Terrence Malick’s many upcoming projects this year takes us To theWonderwith Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Olga Kurylenko. A fifth installment of the Scary Moviefranchise parodies recent pop-culture staples and David Cronenberg’s son, Brandon, writes and directs his first feature film with sci-fi horror flick Antiviral.
It’s no secret that Terrence Malick is a filmmaker who isn’t for everyone, but up until now it’s always seemed like his movies have at least been for someone. With To the Wonderhowever, this seems like the type of film he made for him and him alone, resulting in absolutely no enjoyment for the viewer. One only has to look at the scowl on star Ben Affleck’s face throughout most of the film to see how painful an experience Malick’s latest is to experience. That’s about the type of look that I had on while watching the flick. Read more on To the Wonder (*½)…
As we get ready to enter the brand new year, it’s never too late to get on the ball for potential Oscar contenders coming down the pike. Chan-wook Park’s Stoker starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, and Matthew Goode has a new poster and early word is already positive for Wasikowska who’s been an up and comer and potential Supporting Actress nominee Kidman. The film is scheduled to be shown at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival and opens in limited release March 1, 2013.
Also releasing some beautiful character posters is Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire. A few weeks back, we stumbled across the character posters for Joel Edgerton and Isla Fisher and with the latest, Mulligan’s Daisy is the most aesthetically pleasing. The film is set to open May 10, 2013.
Receiving mixed reviews from the Toronto Film Festival, Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder releases three French posters showcasing Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem. The film is set to be released April 12, 2013 and will also be available on Video on Demand.
Terence Malick’s latest film, To the Wonder, played at the Venice and Toronto film festivals this year, and now we are finally getting a look at this first beautiful trailer. The film, as it seems to be with all Malick’s movies, looks stunning, thanks in large part to the great Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography. The early reviews have been divisive, which is also a commonality with Malick films. To the Wonder stars Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams, and Olga Kurylenko, and opens in the US on April 12th.
2012 isn’t even over yet and we are already looking ahead to key dates in 2013. It really is true that the Awards season never sleeps. While we are in the heat of this year’s awards race, here are a few release dates that could play into the 2013 campaign. We’ll start with a film that is almost certain to be at or near the top of many Oscarologists Spring predictions: George Clooney’s The Monuments Men. Read more on New Release Dates for Clooney’s ‘The Monuments Men,’ Malick‘s ‘To the Wonder,’ and More…
Well, it’s looking like we can officially take ‘To The Wonder’ off of our 2012 Oscar predictions, not that the Early Reviews didn’t already suggest that. Terrence Malick’s film has gone without a buyer for a surprisingly long time, but that’s changed today as Magnolia Pictures has stepped in to pick up the movie for release. They’re said to be planning a multi-platform distribution model, which would fit in with most of the work they put out. They’re also going to wait until next year to do this, so dreams of 2 Malick films in 2 years are dead for now, unless his next projects are moving quickly too. We’ll see about that, but after the jump I’ll get into what this means. Suffice to say, it’s not going to be another ‘The Tree of Life’ for the filmmaker. Read on below for more…
BYZANTIUM (***)…A rock solid Gothic horror film, looking for distribution Byzantium is a vampire thriller unlike any I have seen. Two women with a secret, the vicious and sexual Clara (Gemma Atherton) and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan), a thoughtful young woman, move from town to town hunting prey realizing with a genuine terror that they too are being hunted. Forced to flee yet another home, they find themselves in a small coastal village that Clara decides will prove safe for a time. Eleanor has managed to survive two hundred years as a vampire with a conscience, feeding only on those who are ready for death, such as the old man at the beginning who has found pages of her story and asks her to end his existence on earth. Clara is up for anything and feeds on anyone and anybody she can stalk and kill. She takes risks but does so for her daughter (oh yes!) and latches on to a young man who has recently come into possession of a hotel which she turns into a brothel to make fast money. Eleanor finds herself falling for a young waiter dying of cancer, as she remembers how she and Clara came to be the creatures they are. Meanwhile those hunters are closing in on them and offer nothing more than death as they believe Clara has broken the rules of their secret society. Read more on TIFF: Byzantium, The Iceman, and To the Wonder…
The habit that Terrence Malick has of cutting down the screen time of his A-list actors is almost a joke by now. With his new film ‘To the Wonder’, it appears that Ben Affleck is the latest to join the ever growing list (not to mention all the people who are just plain cut out of his flicks), though we have a new image from the movie that proves that he’s in more than that one still we’ve seen previously. We also get our first look at Olga Kurylenko, so there’s that too. You can see the image after the jump, and stay tuned for news on if the film is coming out this year or next. It all depends on who acquires the movie. Check out the full sized picture below…
It’s time to visit the week that was via our Around the Circuit piece, where we look back at articles that we feel are worth your time covering the Oscar race, new releases, or really just anything film related.
Link(s) of the week:
With the arrival of September comes the fall film festivals that we all look forward to hearing about. This week, Telluride and Venice got the party started, and the main attraction appears to have been Ben Affleck’s third film, Argo. The early word brings nothing but strong praise for his efforts, with many telling you what we’ve been saying since the film was just a synopsis and names on paper. After the trailer first dropped, most of us – and you – have felt like this was a no-brainer to snag a few of the biggest Oscar nominations this awards season. Gregory Ellwood, attending Telluride for In Contention, claims that Affleck’s “attention to detail in the picture is impressive,” and refers to the cast as one of the “better ensembles in recent memory.” Kris Tapley at the same site saysArgo is “the first major Oscar play to come along this year.” In their video blog, Slashfilm’s Peter Sciretta and First Showing’s Alex Billington callArgo Affleck’s “smartest film yet”, and “fascinating to watch unfold.” Pete Hammond at Deadlineagrees, proclaiming the film to be a major Oscar contender. His review clearly shows he enjoyed the balance Argo brings as it “not only works as a suspense thriller, it also has strong comedic elements.” Anne Thompson at Thompson on Hollywood is on board as well, praising Affleck who “delivers a movie that couldn’t be more timely, or more resonant with the world today.”
On this day where many of us are off either BBQ’ing or sleeping as late as possible, we are bringing you the weekly Awards Circuit Power Hour. A fun-themed show today, I’m joined by Terence, Joey, Mike, and Robert talking everything film. Also, don’t forget to rate us on iTunes and listen to us on Stitcher! The agenda is listed below: Read more on Awards Circuit Power Hour Episode 18: AMPAS Rule Change, Oscar Tech Talk, Affleck & Argo…
It’s no secret around these parts that Terrence Malick frustrated me more than he pleased me with ‘The Tree of Life’ last year, which basically has been the way his whole career has gone in my eyes (short of ‘Badlands’, which I love). However, I’ve been looking forward to seeing ‘To the Wonder’ more than I usual in regards to a Malick film, since it seemed like this could be the type of project to bring him back more to his roots. Apparently though, he’s taken the style of his last flick and run with it, leading to an even more mixed reaction at the Venice Film Festival this weekend than he had at Cannes last year. From adoring words to boos from the audience, there have been some lovers, but plenty of haters as well it seems. After the jump you can see a sampling of some of the early reactions, but in my humble opinion I think we can cross this one off as a major Oscar player. It’s not out of the hunt yet, but a Best Picture or Best Director win? Nope, that’s not happening. Read on below to find out why…
As summer comes to an end, The Awards Circuit knows that the year’s “hottest” days are ahead of us thanks to some fall releases that will really start to heat up the awards season. One such film, Terrence Malick’s To The Wonder, is surmised to be a major last-minute player for the 2013 Oscars® on our most recent episode of Power Hour. The staff also divulged on their favorite summer movie-going experiences, with anecdotes that drew laughter and fond nostalgia. Going to the midnight release of District 9 was my personal favorite time at the movies in the summer, in large part because of how utterly involved and participatory the audience was. District 9 managed to bowl everyone over and elicit every kind of explosive emotion and expletive. No one thought it was an Oscar® player then, but boy oh boy it was certainly the surprise of the year! Good times at the movies, indeed! Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 9/2)…
We’re very close to getting the first reviews of Terrence Malick’s film ‘To The Wonder’, but some interesting hints/innuendo are leaking out about the flick. We’d already heard months ago how the movie is supposedly even more experimental than ‘The Tree of Life,’ but now Ben Affleck himself has supposedly told the same to Jeff Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere, which he took to Twitter to pass along. You can see his tweets on the subject after the jump, along with a very detailed synopsis from Venice on the flick. Tread lightly with the latter, but then again…who knows, since it’s Malick. Read on below for more…
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”…
An interesting little bit of information has been uncovered in regard to Terrence Malick’s latest film. Over at the website for the Venice Film Festival (found here), there’s a running time listed for all of the films at the fest, including ‘To The Wonder’, and believe it or not, it’s going to be the director’s shortest film in some time. It’s a (by his standards) lean 112 minutes long, and after the jump you can see how long a Malick flick usually runs, but I’ll give you a hint…longer than this one. In fact, it’s the shortest since he first got started in the business. Read on for the actually times below…
Hot on the heels of the Toronto International Film Festival announcing their titles comes word from Venice about the films to be featured at the 69th Venice Film Festival. With 60 films, the selection includes a wide range of anticipated titles such as Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder, Passion from Brian De Palma and The Company You Keep directed by Robert Redford, as well as 20 films from female directors. Surprisingly, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master is not included in the lineup, might this mean it will be skipping the festivals? Check out the full list after the jump! Read more on 69th Venice Film Festival to include Malick, De Palma, Nair, Lee and Redford!…
With the big announcement yesterday of the titles that will be debuting/playing at the Toronto Film Festival, the first Plot Synopsis for Terrence Malick’s new film “To the Wonder” was revealed. The film stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, and Javier Bardem, and seems to be Malick’s most overt relationship drama in some time, though there are still rumblings that it’s also his most experimental one as well (which would actually be saying something). After the jump you can see the short summary of the picture, and it sets things up very nicely. I may not have been big on ‘The Tree of Life’ last year, but I recognize his talent, and this one has my attention in a big way. You can find the synopsis below.
The Toronto International Film Festival is often seen as the start of the Oscar season and judging by the lineup, we’re in for a doozy this year if the release from Variety is complete. Oscar contenders Argo, Anna Karenina, Cloud Atlas, and Hyde Park on Hudson will all be at the festival, as well as the Terrence Malick film To the Wonder and Joss Whedon’s adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. Coolest of all might be that Rian Johnson’s Looper, a time travel sci-fi pic with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt, was chosen to open the festival. It was one of my three favorite things I saw while at Comic-Con so it’s quite a feat that it manages the opening night slot of such a respected festival.
Now that the Cannes Film Festival has come to a close, we can now turn our attention to the more Oscar centric festivals that we’ll be seeing in the coming months (mainly the fall). First up is the Venice Film Festival, and the new artistic director of the fest is looking to have some high profile debuts, according to The Hollywood Reporterhere. After the jump you can see a few more names and my thoughts, but right at the top is Paul Thomas Anderson with ‘The Master’ and Terrence Malick with ‘To The Wonder’. Will they actually show up? Well, check out my quick thoughts below…
Terrence Malick is as much an enigma as he is an auteur. Famous for going 30 years between films, the titles of his movies are often evocative of more than just the plot therein. Since we are poised to get back to back years of Malick films, it was only a matter of time before his newest one got a title. Filmratings.com broke the news that Malick has decided to name his latest film To the Wonder. The movie starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem, and Rachel Weisz, will center on “a man who reconnects with a woman from his hometown after his marriage to a European woman falls apart.” Read more on Malick’s latest film gets a new title and plot summary!…
