October
15
Weinstein Co. Under Assault as Usual
I don't blame the Weinstein brothers for getting tired of the constant barrage of media attention. The NYT's David Carr, who is paying more heed to the movie beat now that he's preparing to cover the Oscar race for the next few months, writes yet another story with the same old info. (One issue is that there are only so many key players with stories to tell in the provincial New York movie world, where the Weinsteins remain a constant subject of cocktail chatter.)
I wrote a Weinstein story during Cannes, in May.
In June, Fortune first announced that the WTC board wanted the Weinsteins to hire a CEO.
The NYT did a story in July.
And so did the LAT.
What's new here? That The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington, joins Grace is Gone as one of this year's Weinstein Co. Oscar hopefuls. (And yes, there are usually more.) One, Imagine's $100-million gangster saga American Gangster is going to be hard to beat. The ambitious Ridley Scott epic should score at the boxoffice and Washingon delivers a towering, larger-than-life performance. Universal will throw money at an Oscar campaign.
And two, Grace is Gone is starting to look like an Iraq movie that should have come out before there were so many Iraq movies. In January at Sundance, it looked like a fresh take on a powerful story. Now, it looks like just another entry in a dying trend. But the Weinsteins know how to play the Oscar game. John Cusack should rise above the fray and get some traction with his fellow actors. (BTW, I booked the pic for my UCLA Extension class; I think they will love it.) UPDATE: I'm Not There is another Weinstein Oscar contender. Cate Blanchett should be in the mix.
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i'll bet a dollar grace is gone does okay. movie offers something fundamentally different from other recent war-themed movies. also, cusack is hot coming off 1408 and this story is right in his wheelhouse
there's a chance grace could be the best of breed this year
Posted by: Alan | October 15, 2007 at 11:47 AM