Thompson on Hollywood

Palm Springs Weekend: Dogtooth, City of Life and Death

Nora and I drove out to the Palm Springs International Film Festival Saturday, already well under way (it winds up on the 18th). Fest director Darryl Macdonald and lead programmers Helen du Toit and Carl Spence not only play the pre-Oscar awards-tributes-red-carpet game with such films as Precious, An Education and The Last Station, but also assemble a large selection of foreign Oscar submissions (not all are deemed worthy). A Fipresci jury will choose the best film and performances of the 41. Altogether the fest brings in about 1000 assorted folk to the robust--and growing-local fest, with help from distribs as well as various foreign consulates. We registered along with the filmmakers from Ajami, a tough Palestinian/Israeli drama that is Israel's entry.

By Anne Thompson
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January 10, 2010 8:40 AM
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Oscar Watch: Winnowing Down the Art Directors Guild Nominees

The Art Directors Guild production design award nominees are all over the place: contemporary, period, and fantasy, 15 in the feature film category. So the trick is to figure out which movies get an Oscar boost from being nominated here.

By Anne Thompson
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January 9, 2010 6:01 AM
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What's Next for Avatar Sequels?

It's not news that Fox, Lightstorm and James Cameron expect to push through an Avatar sequel or two. They want to capitalize on all the time and money that went into creating the Weta "rigs" for the CG characters. Now they're up and running, ready to go.

By Anne Thompson
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January 8, 2010 7:29 AM
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Oscar Talk Episode Seventeen: PGA, DGA, Scripters and Top Ten

Kris Tapley and I track the Oscar impact of the recent PGA, DGA and USC Scripter noms. Of the top four, what's ahead? Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air or Inglourious Basterds? Is Christoph Waltz a lock to win best supporting actor? We also weigh the chances of Up, The Messenger, District 9, A Serious Man and Star Trek to make it into the best picture top ten. And we get into recent eligibility issues on Bright Star, District 9 and An Education with the Scripters, the Academy and the WGA.

By Anne Thompson
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January 8, 2010 6:26 AM
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Ferguson Riffs on Late Night Shifts

When my 20-year-old is home, she TiVos Oprah and Conan. (She refuses to watch Leno, Letterman or, God forbid, Charlie Rose.) In passing The Tonight Show mantle to O'Brien, NBC was trying to grow a younger viewer base, which takes time. By moving Leno to 10 PM, the network gambled that it could solve all its problems without losing talent or viewers, and lost. (Here's Kim Masters and the LAT.) While NBC's scrambling --which could return Leno to 11:30 and risks losing O'Brien altogether-- seems messy at best, it did feed this inspired Craig Ferguson monologue:

By Anne Thompson
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January 8, 2010 5:56 AM
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Oscar Duel: Do Sci-Fi Films Like Star Trek Belong in Race?

In this dueling blog, Moviefone.com Oscarologist Jack Mathews and I discuss the recently-announced Producers Guild of America nominations and ask the question, do such sci-fi movies as District 9 and Star Trek, which made the PGA's 10-best ballot, really belong in the Oscar Hunt?

By Anne Thompson
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January 8, 2010 2:00 AM
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Reitman's Up in the Air Press Tour Simulator

Jason Reitman not only put together a pie chart from his Up in the Air media rounds of most frequent questions, but now he's made a video of his endless global press tour that shows what a blur this whole thing must be. I talked to Reitman at the very start in Telluride with a flip cam interview before he had his patter down, and interviewed him again in L.A. at a Sneak Previews Q & A. While I see Peter Sciretta, Kris Tapley, Peter Travers and Rachel Abramowitz in the following montage, I don't think I'm in there:

By Anne Thompson
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January 8, 2010 1:25 AM
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Oscar Watch: DGA Noms Analysis

The big news in today's Directors Guild nominations was the selection of Precious director Lee Daniels, the DGA's first African-American nominee, over Invictus' Clint Eastwood.

By Anne Thompson
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January 7, 2010 9:00 AM
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Oscar Watch: BAFTA Voters Prune Long List

The Orange British Academy Film Awards can be influential on Academy voters. Thursday, BAFTA released their long list of 15 in each category (on the jump).

By Anne Thompson
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January 7, 2010 4:23 AM
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Polanski Asks To Be Sentenced in Absentia

The LAT is reporting that director Roman Polanski has asked an L.A. judge to be sentenced in absentia in his 1977 sex case. This is according to a notarized letter submitted to a Superior Court judge during a hearing Wednesday afternoon: