Martin Scorsese

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.

First Trailer for Film vs. Digital Doc SIDE BY SIDE Featuring Interviews with Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, and More

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 18th, 2012 at 5:12 pm

A little over a week ago, a curious little documentary was announced called Side by Side. The project, spearheaded by Keanu Reeves, features interviews with a number of master filmmakers regarding the film vs. digital debate. Now the first trailer for the film has popped up and Side by Side is officially one of my most anticipated movies of 2012. The trailer showcases Reeves having candid conversations about the death of film (and the advent of 3D) with people like George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and Steven Soderbergh. It looks incredibly intriguing, and I can’t wait to hear today’s foremost filmmakers weigh in on the future of moviemaking.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Side by Side will be released sometime this year.

2012 Golden Globe Winners Announced; THE ARTIST and THE DESCENDANTS Take Top Prizes

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 15th, 2012 at 8:20 pm

I’ve just spent the past three hours watching and live-blogging the 2012 Golden Globe Awards.  My brain feels mushy.  After the jump and presented without comment is a list of this year’s winners. If you don’t even want to hit the jump, The Artist and The Descendants won Best Comedy/Musical and Best Drama, respectively.  If you want to awards prognosticate, I’ll save you the trouble: both were nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.  Those nominations haven’t been announced yet, but they were nominated.  Trust me.  I’m a professional.

Also, feel free to sound off on the winners and losers.  Lord knows I’ve been doing it for the past three hours.

Directors Guild Award Documentary Nominees Announced; includes PROJECT NIM, THE INTERRUPTERS, and Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison Doc

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 12th, 2012 at 1:07 pm

On the heels of announcing their nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2011, the Directors Guild of America have announced their nominations for Best Documentary Director.  The nominees are Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky for Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Steve James for The Interrupters, James Marsh for Project Nim, Richard Press for Bill Cunningham New York, and Martin Scorsese for George Harrison: Living in the Material World.  Scorsese also picked up DGA nomination this year for Hugo, which brings his total number of nominations to ten.  He previously won for The Departed.

While I’m rooting for Project Nim, this is a fine collection of nominees.  It’s much better than the Academy’s short list, which only includes Project Nim, Paradise Lost 3, and Bill Cunningham New York.  The winner of the DGA’s 2011 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary will be announced January 28th.

Keanu Reeves Documentary SIDE BY SIDE Tackles Film vs. Digital Debate; Includes Interviews with Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, and David Fincher

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 9th, 2012 at 11:10 am

A curious little website has popped up announcing a new documentary produced by Keanu Reeves that tackles one of the foremost issues facing filmmakers today: the advent of digital filmmaking. Entitled Side by Side, the documentary takes an in-depth look at the issue of film vs. digital, and “examines all aspects of filmmaking – from capture, to edit, to visual effects, to color correction, to distribution to archive.” Through interviews with numerous well-respected masters of the medium, Side by Side “explores what has been gained, what is lost and what the future might bring.” Take this sample quote from Christopher Nolan:

“No credible source really has been claiming to have invented something that is aesthetically superior to film at this point.”

The documentary will feature Reeves interviewing filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Lana and Andy Wachowski, George Lucas, James Cameron, Steven Soderbergh, and many more. Hit the jump for more details.

Directors Guild Nominations Announced; Contenders Include Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and David Fincher

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 9th, 2012 at 10:36 am

As we move ever closer to the Academy Awards, the director’s guild has just announced the five nominees who will contend for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2011. The DGA’s are a major prognosticator for the Best Director award at the Oscars, as only six times has the DGA winner not gone on to win Best Director. This year’s nominees include Martin Scorsese for Hugo, Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, Michel Hazanavicious for The Artist, Alexander Payne for The Descendants, and David Fincher for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Hit the jump for more, including my thoughts on the nominees.

Christopher Lee Talks THE HOBBIT, HUGO and DARK SHADOWS

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: December 29th, 2011 at 4:34 pm

In a Christmas address by the incomparable Christopher Lee, the actor remarked on his completed works of 2011 (including a tongue-in-cheek clarification of his role in The Wicker Tree). More notably, Lee also touched on his role in Hugo and his working relationship with director Martin Scorsese, his own personal vitality (Lee will turn 90 in 2012) and his work in Dark Shadows with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Oh and you might have been wondering about his reprisal of the role of Saruman in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit movies. Not to worry as Lee goes into some detail about his involvement and it’s safe to say the actor’s work has been completed on both films. Hit the jump to check out the video.

Southeastern Film Critics Association Chooses THE DESCENDANTS as the Top Film of 2011

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 19th, 2011 at 8:12 am

The Artist is currently the frontrunner in the 2011 awards race, but The Descendants continues to nip at its heels.  Today, the Southeastern Film Critics Association chose The Descendants as the top film of 2011, although The Artist came in second. SEFCA also bestowed The Descendants with Best Actor (George Clooney) and Best Adapted Screenplay, and also pulled runner-up awards for Best Supporting Actress (Shaileen Woodley) and Best Ensemble.

This was my first year as a SEFCA member, and sadly I disagree with most of the association’s choices.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners and my thoughts on them.

Martin Scorsese Says He’s Prepping SILENCE As His Next Project

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 5th, 2011 at 2:25 pm

Director Martin Scorsese is currently doing the rounds for his latest effort, the splendidly fantastic Hugo, but many are wondering which project he’ll tackle next. While he had previously stated that he planned on getting to his adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence after Hugo, he recently attached himself to an adaptation of The Snowman and a remake of The Gambler, throwing some doubt on whether or not he would actually get to the 17th Century Japan-set pic. Well now the director has confirmed that Silence will indeed be his next film, and said that they’re currently working to pull everything together. Hit the jump for more, including whether or not Daniel Day-Lewis is still set to star.

National Board of Review Names HUGO Best Film of the Year; DRIVE, THE ARTIST, and THE DESCENDANTS Make Top 10

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 1st, 2011 at 12:48 pm

The National Board of Review has announced their honors for 2011.  As always, the wide selection allows the NBR to technically have a say in directing awards season, and their picks remain solid.  While I didn’t go nuts over Hugo, a lot of people did and so it’s not surprising NBR gave it Best Picture and named Martin Scorsese as Best Director.  For the most part, I like all of NBR’s choices.  I’m glad any time Drive gets attention, the acting picks are all worthy, and I’m happy Crime After Crime and 13 Assassins got some love.  Notable snubs include Young Adult, Moneyball, and Martha Marcy May Marlene.  Of course, anything Clint Eastwood does has to make NBR’s Top 10 so that’s why a spot is wasted on J. Edgar.

Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

HUGO Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 22nd, 2011 at 2:32 pm

The most talented directors find a way to use their cinematic influences in order to build a new story, and then let the audience seek out those influences.  It’s a rewarding experience because we can see how well the director used the earlier work of other filmmakers, and then we seek out that work for ourselves, which in turn expands our knowledge and understanding of cinema.  Martin Scorsese is one of the most talented directors of all-time and has always proved a master of layering in his inspirations without ever overtly referencing them.  He leaves that direct reference for interviews where his infectious energy and enthusiasm shows that if he wasn’t a legendary filmmaker, he’d be a legendary film professor.  However, that energy and enthusiasm doesn’t translate to his new 3D movie Hugo where he moves his love of movies from subtext to text, and turns a child’s adventure story into a lecture on the importance of cinema pioneer Georges Méliès.

Martin Scorsese Confirmed to Direct THE SNOWMAN

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 21st, 2011 at 8:11 am

Martin Scorsese has officially added yet another movie to his list of potential projects.  THR reports that Scorsese has been confirmed to direct an adaptation of Jo Nesbo‘s best-selling crime thriller The Snowman.  Last month we reported that Scorsese was seriously considering Snowman as his next film, and would once again push aside his Jesuit priest-drama Silence as well as The Irishman, The Wolf of Wall Street, a remake of The Gambler, and a Frank Sinatra biopic.  Nesbo reportedly had to confirm Scorsese for the gig (I’m not sure why this would involve thinking twice), but didn’t insist that the movie retain the book’s setting of Oslo, Norway.

Snowman is in the seventh book in the “Harry Hole” detective series.  Per THR, Hole is “an anti-authoritarian, anti-sobriety cop, who investigates particularly gruesome killings. In The Snowman, a son finds his mother’s pink scarf wrapped around the neck of an ominous looking snowman. Hole realizes she is the latest victim of a serial killer.”  Also ominous: a magical top hat found near the scene.* Hit the jump for a full synopsis.  Scorsese’s new film, Hugo, opens in 3D on Wednesday.

Martin Scorsese May Make Mystery Novel Adaptation THE SNOWMAN His Next Project

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: October 26th, 2011 at 5:01 pm

I was among the cinephiles who were unmoved by the first trailer for Hugo.  I never should have doubted Martin Scorsese: an early screening at the New York Film Festival drew breathless praise from the lucky few who saw it.  Four decades later, Scorsese is still a master filmmaker.  As is customary for a master filmmaker, Scorsese has a lot on his plate: Silence, The Irishman, The Wolf of Wall Street, a remake of The Gambler, and a Frank Sinatra biopic among other things.  A report from Variety suggests a new project, The Snowman, could leapfrog the others for the next slot in Scorsese’s schedule.  The director has reportedly been circling the adaptation of the bestselling Norwegian mystery novel for the last month or so; Paramount has not yet made a formal offer, but Scorsese “is now seriously considering making it his next project.”

The Maguffin in The Snowman is the pink scarf of a missing woman, found wrapped around an “ominous-looking snowman” in what appears to be the work of a serial killer.  More on the project and a full synopsis after the jump.

New Trailer for Martin Scorsese’s HUGO

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 24th, 2011 at 10:48 am

Paramount has released a new trailer for Martin Scorsese’s Hugo.  A work-in-progress cut played to audiences at the New York Film Festival to mostly positive reviews.  The latest trailer plays up the dramatic aspects of the story (unfortunately through Mr. Movie Voice) but it’s the visuals that take center stage.  Hugo is Scorsese’s first 3D film but it looks like he’s handled the new technology like an old pro.  This will be one of the rare times I’ll be upset if I don’t get to see a movie in 3D.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour, Emily Mortimer, and Michael Stuhlbarg.  Hugo opens November 23rd.

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