October
27
Oscar Watch: Wall-E, Dark Knight Launch Campaigns
Oscar season is under way. How do I know? Well, Paramount Vantage has published its Academy screening schedule and is pushing hard for The Duchess, Defiance and Revolutionary Road. You'd never know that the label had been slashed within an inch of its life. That's because Paramount marketing co-head Megan Colligan is still on the Vantage case.
Another bellwether: LAT blogger Geoff Boucher's "three-part exclusive" interview with Christopher Nolan. Yes, Warner Bros. wants to sell The Dark Knight DVDs, but no director submits to a long interview in the LAT in advance of a DVD release unless Oscar is at stake.
The Dark Knight (which is sneaking up on Titanic's all-time worldwide boxoffice gross, as James Cameron well knows) should nab some Oscar noms and might even win some awards, for the late Heath Ledger, as well as various tech contributors. But director, screenplay, best picture---that's another kettle of fish for a comic book blockbuster.
While Dark Knight scored 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and many critics will put it on their ten best lists, it's not going to win year-end critics' group prizes, because they tend to spotlight smaller pics that need help, such as Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York or Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, two films that were summarily dismissed this weekend by at least one of At the Movies' Two Twerps. (Why do I keep watching? The habit is ingrained but painful.)
Iron Man is another example of a deserving film that nabbed better reviews than most films this year (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) and may be overlooked in major categories at Oscar time. On the other hand, Jonathan Demme's horrific thriller Silence of the Lambs and Peter Jackson's fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings weren't supposed to be Oscar bait either. Justin Chang examines the superhero Oscar phenom.
Also climbing up a high Oscar wall is the year's best-reviewed movie---as of late October, unlikely to be unseated--Disney/Pixar's Wall-E, from Andrew Stanton. It earned 97% when it first opened June 27. Here's my story about why it's tough going for an animated film to earn a best picture slot. Again, critics groups will likely stick the film in their animated category and focus on rewarding smaller fare.
But bowing to pressure from the community, Disney and Pixar are going for it. I've got insider info: Variety's running a Disney ad on Thursday that not only asks for Academy members' consideration for Wall-E for best animated feature but for best picture as well. (Here's the LAT's look at the new Disney animation under John Lasseter, who cracked the whip on Disney's upcoming Bolt, UPDATE and the NYT on big movies going for Oscar.) Disney's going to put on a concerted marketing effort to push Wall-E with AMPAS, the guilds, critics, producers, the works.
Wall-E deserves a shot at best picture. And it couldn't be more timely, in terms of nailing the zeitgeist. It won't take long, the way things are going, for us all to wind up in Wall-E's world.
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I'm a movie snob. Hate box office flicks, usually one of those coffee shop douches that make funny gestures when he hears that people are going to see "The Hulk" as if it really affects their minds. When award season comes, I'm happy to see some of the better sweat driven thought provoking films get the attention they deserve because of the O-S-C-A-R... but I'm going to be honest. The Dark Knight is the best film that has come out this year. If you took away masks and commonly associated characters and made this a regular movie we wouldn't be questioning the reasoning behind it getting a nod. I fear that because Lord of the Rings ( a movie that i thought shouldn't have won) took so much convincing to win a single award that TDK will be scratched off the minds of the Academy.
Yes, Heath will be nominated. But I don't think that Nolan's masterpiece will be remembered come spring time.
Posted by: SeanH | October 27, 2008 at 11:15 PM
I think if they nominate the Dark Knight for Best Film, it will be a huge mistake and it will push smaller films into obscurity.
people claim that the Oscars is snobby, but I say so what? Good. the Oscars put the spotlight on "serious" artsy films that no one bother to see in the cinema and after these films win, then more people flock to watch them on DVD.
No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood, for instance.
But I do think Heath should get an Oscar nod for the Joker, but that's all. (and for the record, I DO think the Dark Knight is an amazing film but there are other films that deserve recognition, too)
Posted by: DeafBrownTrashPunk | October 28, 2008 at 09:08 AM