Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

THE ARTIST Takes Homes Seven BAFTAs Including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 12th, 2012 at 3:48 pm

I’m really hoping for some surprises on Oscar night if only to make things interesting, but it’s looking less likely every day. Last night The Artist nearly swept the British Academy Film Awards (essentially the British Oscars), taking home the prizes for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Music, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design. Meryl Streep was named Best Actress for The Iron Lady, while Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer won Best Supporting Actress and Actor. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy wasn’t sent home empty-handed, as the spy thriller won Best British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. I was happy to see Senna get some well-deserved recognition, as the Formula 1 doc chronicling the life of driver Ayrton Senna was named Best Documentary.

While George Clooney seemed the favorite in the Best Actor Oscar race for his magnificent turn in The Descendants, The Artist’s Jean Dujardin could easily prove the spoiler. With the SAG Award in hand and now the BAFTA, the French comedian may very well step up to the podium come Oscar night. Hit the jump to see the full list of BAFTA winners. The Academy Awards will be handed out on February 26th.

Gary Oldman Talks THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, His Paralyzing Fear Of TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, CALL OF DUTY, and a Lot More

by Ron Messer    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 7:16 pm

Gary Oldman wrapped up his 3-day, 7-film retrospective at New York’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema with a fun, extended Q&A after Wednesday night’s screening of his Oscar-nominated performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The first time Academy Award nominee fielded questions from a theater filled with hundreds of his fans with nearly an hour.  Oldman also hung around for autographs, pictures and additional questions.  Hit the jump for stories from the set of The Dark Knight Rises, his paralyzing doubt on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and what he thought while watching Heath Ledger as The Joker.

2012 Oscar Nominations Announced; HUGO and THE ARTIST Lead the Pack

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 24th, 2012 at 6:05 am

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

Oscars 2012: Adam Predicts the Nominees

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 21st, 2012 at 2:38 pm

As I’ve been covering awards season pretty extensively here on the site over the past few months, I figured it would be appropriate to (foolishly) try to predict the upcoming Oscar nominations. It’s been a fairly tame year, as a few frontrunners were singled out early in the race and have held their ground throughout the grueling awards season. We haven’t been without a few surprises, as Steven Spielberg’s War Horse took a massive tumble following snubs from most of the major guilds, and David Fincher has surged back into the race bringing his adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with him.

Though there are plenty of safe bets when it comes to the 2012 Oscar nominations, there are still a few wildcards and tricky categories. I’ve put on my prognosticating cap (those interested can purchase one of these nifty hats at your local Target) and compiled a list of who and what I think will make the cut. Hit the jump to see how I think the nods will stack up when they’re announced on January 24th.

THE ARTIST and A SEPARATION Win Big at London Film Critics Circle Awards

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 19th, 2012 at 2:14 pm

Another awards ceremony, another The Artist triumph. Michel Hazanavicius’ silent film continues its near sweep of awards season as it took home the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor prize from the London Film Critics Circle Awards. Surprisingly, the other film to tie The Artist with three awards was the Iranian drama A Separation. The foreign film has been riding a wave of immense positive word of mouth, and the London Film Critics awarded the pic with Foreign Language Film of the Year, Best Screenwriter, and Best Actress.

Nearly shut out of the awards was Britain’s own Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The espionage drama failed to pick up any major prizes and was sent home with a win for Best Production Design. Elsewhere, We Need to Talk About Kevin was named Best British Film, Anna Paquin shared the Best Actress prize with Meryl Streep for her work in Margaret (quickly becoming the little engine that could), and Michael Fassbender won British Actor of the Year for his stellar work in Shame and A Dangerous Method. Full list of winners after the jump, which includes the critics’ top 10 films of 2011.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, HUGO, and THE ARTIST Lead 2012 BAFTA Nominations

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 17th, 2012 at 7:38 am

If you’re in a position to give out prestigious awards, chances are you’re partial to The Artist.  The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) handed out their nominations for 2011′s best films, and leading the pack was Michael Hazanavicius‘ silent film with 12 nominations.  Close behind were Tomas Alfredson‘s spy-thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (11 nominations), and Martin Scorsese‘s Hugo (9 nominations).  However, Hugo is not in the race for Best Film.  The Artist and Tinker Tailor will competed against The Help (boo), The Descendants (expected), and Drive (yay!).  Drive also netted nominations for Best Director (Nicolas Winding Refn), Best Supporting Actress (Carey Mulligan), and Best Editing (Mat Newman), but strangely no nomination for Albert Brooks for Best Supporting Actor.

There are some fun nominations scattered around the BAFTA nods, so hit the jump to check out the full list.  The 2012 BAFTA Awards will be handed out on February 12th.

American Society of Cinematographers Announce 2011 Nominees; WAR HORSE Snubbed

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 11th, 2012 at 10:06 am

Today, the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) announced their nominees for Best Cinematography of 2011.  Nominations went to Guillaume Schiffman, (The Artist), Jeff Cronenweth (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Robert Richardson (Hugo), Hoyte van Hoytema (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), and Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life).  The most notable snub is leaving out Janusz Kaminski for War Horse, and it looks like Steven Spielberg‘s movie is just about finished in the Oscar race after having also missed nominations from the Directors Guild and Writers Guild.  I would also say the ASC snubbed Roger Deakins for Rango, but I never really expected them to be open-minded enough to acknowledge an animated movie for Best Cinematography.

The ASC winner will be announced February 12th.  The ASC victor usually lines up with the Oscar winner. [Correction: /Film's Russ Fischer informs me that Kaminski couldn't have been nominated because he resigned from the society years ago.]

2012 Art Directors Guild Award Nominees Include HUGO, HARRY POTTER, DRIVE, and GAME OF THRONES

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 3rd, 2012 at 8:56 pm

I like to see the guild awards, because the specificity allows for nominees that you won’t see on more general lists.  The Art Directors Guild is especially interesting because they separate the films into three categories: period, fantasy, and contemporary.  The 15 nominees highlight everything from Oscar favorites Hugo and The Artist, to crowd-pleasers Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Captain America, to poorly received films like Cowboys & Aliens and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  There’s a similar contrast in the TV nominees between the classy HBO programs you’d expect (Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, and Mildred Pierce) and the critical punching bags American Horror Story and The Playboy Club.  The full list of nominees is after the break.

Los Angeles Readers: Focus Features Hosting 6-Film Gary Oldman Retrospective at ArcLight Hollywood

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 27th, 2011 at 2:22 pm

One of the greatest (and versatile) actors actors today is receiving a much-deserved retrospective. Focus Features is hosting a three-night series honoring the work of Gary Oldman with screenings of The Contender, Dracula, JFK, Prick Up Your Ears, and Sid and Nancy, culminating in a showing of this year’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The Tinker Tailor screening will be followed by a live Q&A with the actor, hosted by KCRW’s Matt Holzman. Oldman’s a great talent and I’m immensely jealous of those able to attend. I’d love to see what Oldman has to say not only about his work in Sid and Nancy and JFK, but other films like The Fifth Element and True Romance.

The first screening will be held on Monday, January 9th at the ArcLight Hollywood, with the other screenings set to follow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tickets are free, but you must RSVP through OldmanRSVP.com. Oldman’s work in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is picking up a good amount of Oscar buzz, and he’ll be seen next year in The Wettest County and The Dark Knight Rises. Hit the jump to read the full press release regarding the event.

97 Original Scores Up for Oscar; DRIVE and ATTACK THE BLOCK Ruled Ineligible

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 23rd, 2011 at 12:04 pm

As the 84th Academy Awards move closer, we’re starting to get a better sense of how things will pan out. We recently shared the 39 songs that will contend for the Best Original Song category, and now the Academy has announced the 97 original scores eligible for the Best Original Score award. AMPAS is notoriously picky when it comes to eligibility in this category, and as we feared the scores for both Drive and Attack the Block have been deemed ineligible. Also disappointing is the ineligibility of Alexandre Desplat’s mesmerizing score for The Tree of Life.

While it’s upsetting to see some of the year’s best work side-lined, there’s plenty to be happy about. I was a huge fan of Howard Shore’s work in Hugo and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as well as The Chemical Brothers’ brilliant work in the criminally underseen Hanna. Hit the jump for the full list, as well as who I think will make the cut.

Colin Firth TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Interview

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: December 21st, 2011 at 6:43 pm

Now playing in limited release is director Tomas Alfredson’s (Let the Right One In) great new movie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  Based off the 1974 British novel by John le Carre, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the first novel of the “Karla Trilogy” and the first installment that may spawn a franchise.  The spy thriller features Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch, just to name a few, and is set during the Cold War era and follows former spy George Smiley (Oldman) through his investigation of a possible double agent within MI-6.  It’s a hell of a movie and one you should definitely see.

Anyway, over the past few weeks I’ve been posting the video interviews I did at the New York City press junket and tonight I’ve got the last one with Colin Firth.  During our short interview we talked about how he got involved in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, his favorite karaoke song, how many takes does he like to do, the Oldboy rumors (he officially dropped out), and what was it like making Gambit (which was written by the Joel and Ethan Coen).  Hit the jump to watch.

DRIVE and TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Lead London Critics’ Circle Film Award Nominations

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 20th, 2011 at 7:55 am

In the U.S. awards race,  The Artist, The Descendants, and Hugo seem to have a steady hold on the lead, but across the pond it looks like they may have other (and better) ideas.  Today, the London Critics Circle Film Award nominations were announced and Drive and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy lead the pack with six nominations each.  A Separation and We Need to Talk about Kevin each landed five nominations a piece, and The Artist and Shame netted four nods each.  Attack the Block also got some love with nominations for Breakthrough British Filmmaker (Joe Cornish) and Young British Performer of the Year (John Boyega).

Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced on January 19th.

Gary Oldman TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Interview

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: December 15th, 2011 at 5:32 pm

Now playing in limited release is director Tomas Alfredson’s (Let the Right One In) great new movie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  Based on the 1974 British novel by John le Carre, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the first novel of the “Karla Trilogy” and the first film installment that may spawn a franchise.  The spy thriller features Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch, just to name a few.  Set during the Cold War era, the story follows former spy George Smiley (Oldman) through his investigation of a possible double agent within MI-6.  It’s a hell of a movie and one you should definitely see.

Anyway, when I was at the New York City press junket I interviewed Gary Oldman twice.  The first time was a video interview where we talked about how he found Smiley’s glasses (it was a very important part of discovering the character) and working with the IMAX cameras on The Dark Knight Rises. However, I also participated in a roundtable interview with the extraordinary actor where he talked about how he got involved in the project, working with the rest of the cast, if he used John le Carré as a source and if le Carré told him anything that he could share, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read what he had to say.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 9th, 2011 at 5:06 am

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a crackling, intense, complex, old-fashioned spy-thriller…but you need to wait over an hour to get there.  Director Tomas Alfredson does a fantastic job of painting a rich 1970s setting that swings between London, France, Istanbul, and Budapest, but we have trouble getting our bearings as we jump across timelines and struggle to understand the wide cast of characters.  Terrific performances begin to peek out and try to surface but are smothered in an overdone attempt to obfuscate rather than intrigue.  Alfredson wants to put us inside the web of confusion of trying to uncover the truth, but he strings us along for too long.  At some point, the spy game must begin.

Gary Oldman Talks TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY and Shooting THE DARK KNIGHT RISES on IMAX

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: December 8th, 2011 at 4:40 pm

Opening in limited release this weekend is director Tomas Alfredson’s (Let the Right One In) great new movie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  Based on the 1974 British novel by John le Carre, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the first novel of the “Karla Trilogy” and the first film installment that may spawn a franchise.  The spy thriller features Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch, just to name a few.  Set during the Cold War era, the story follows former spy George Smiley (Oldman) through his investigation of a possible double agent within MI-6.  It’s a hell of a movie and one you should definitely see.

Anyway, I was recently able to speak with most of the cast at the New York City press junket.  During my interview with Oldman, we talked about how he found Smiley’s glasses (it was a very important part of finding the character), what’s his karaoke song, the rumors that he might be doing Akira, and working with the IMAX cameras on The Dark Knight Rises. Hit the jump to watch.

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