wired

From late August to roughly mid-November, Capote‘s Phillip Seymour Hoffman was the far-ahead front-runner to take the Best Actor Oscar. But Heath Ledger has surged over the last two or three weeks, and it seems right now as if Ledger is ahead on points…sadness points, empathy points. Ennis del Mar feels like a sadder, more tragic figure than Truman Capote because he isn’t in the least bit brilliant, and enjoys far fewer opportunities and is overcome by “this thing” that he can’t quite make himself deal with. Capote is overcome also…by ambition, by a curiously deep love for Perry Smith, by his own self-interest. But his story is more complex and totally uptown and economically flush, whereas Ennis del Mar’s is rural and fumbling and hardscrabble. Hoffman is such a masterful actor, but Ledger so choked me up. I’m torn by these two performances…torn and divided. I know they’re both great, but I don’t know which way to turn.

I should have mentioned this earlier, but kudos to the Pheonix Film Critics for announcing an original independent thought by giving its Best Picure award to Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man…and also by naming George Clooney as Best Director for his helming of Good Night, and Good Luck.

Finally got around to reading the piece by Salon‘s Michelle Gold- berg about the political attacks against Munich (all by the pro- Israeli right), and I agree — it’s a very thorough and perceptive analysis. And the sympathy surge for this Steven Spielberg film continues…and that’s fine.

Looks like the transit strike will be over by tomorrow (i.e., Friday) or thefreabouts. Perhaps only one more exercise day remaining! Hollywood Elsewhere is planning another 140-block visit in Man- hattan later today. A visit with Capote director Bennett Miller, stopping by to pick up a script of Mike Binder’s Reign Over Me, visiting the AMC plex on 42nd Street, etc.

Fun With Dick and Jane…what is that? A movie? The title is on the marquees, the cans of film are in the booths, but to paraphrase Richard Burton’s line in Peter Glenville’s Becket, “In me there is only…a void.”

How is Munich faring so far with the critics? The big weigh-in happens on Friday, 12.23, with the limited opening…but right now it’s got an overall 70% favorable Rotten Tomatoes rating (not bad but not wonderful), and a 55% favorable with cream-of- the-crop critics. The thumbs-up crowd includes Entertainment Weekly‘s highly respected Owen Gleiberman, Ebert and Roeper‘s Richard Roeper, Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers (renowned for being an easy lay), the New York Post‘s Lou Lumenick, the Hollywood Reporter‘s Kirk Honeycutt and Reelview‘s James Berardinelli. The thumbs-down contingent includes The New Yorker critic Anthony Lane, Variety‘s Todd McCarthy, New York Observer critics Andrew Sarris and Rex Reed, and the Village Voice‘s Jim Hoberman.

I’m the last guy to run this but yeah, I see it…a subliminal flash-frame of bearded Apocalypto director Mel Gibson on the just-up preview trailer for the film on Apple’s movie trailer site. The movie looks intriguing….very high-end spooky stuff. But it’s wacko Mel’s appearance that’s getting all the media attention. Pause the trailer about 3/4 of the way through and start pushing along bit by bit, and suddenly there’s Mel, standing next to a couple of extras covered in white body paint and looking like a mad prophet from the outback on Ecstasy. Nutso smile, lit cigarette, eyes a-poppin’, wild-ass hair, unbuttoned plaid shirt. And it’s not a joke. The key thing for me is the film’s marketing slogan: “When the end comes, not everyone is ready to go.” So now we have the film’s central religious allusion — End of Days, the Rapture, Judgement Day, etc. A civilization (i.e., ours) destroying itself from within. Give me Michael Tolkin’s The Rapture and spare me another foaming-at-the-mouth right wing God-rant…please.

I actually agree with the Broadcast Film Critic’s Association’s decision to give special Distinguished Achievement in Performing Arts Award to ape impersonator Andy Serkis and the King Kong special effects gang on 1.9.06 at the 11th annual Critics’ Choice Awards gala. The group is creating the award to recognize “the singular achievement in creating this character, representing a revolutionary leap forward in synthesizing visual effects with an actor’s performance,” said BFCA president Joey Berlin . The award will be accepted by Serkis and Kong animation guys Christian Rivers and Joe Letteri.

Reader Tom Van watched the Brokeback Mountain discussion on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” last night and didn’t think it amounted to much. “The main push of this piece was Bill’s assertion that the left-wing media constantly pushes films on people that support the liberal political agenda, and in the case of Brokeback the gay movement and gay marriage,” Van reports. “O’Reilly said that a paper like the New York Times does it all the time through ‘stealth’ methods and yet the at same time he said it’s constantly ‘in your face.’ Conservative film critic Michael Medved agreed, of course, and said that Narnia made more in a weekend than Brokeback will make overall. (He must understand the concept of per-screen averages, so I don’t get it.) He followed that gem up with ‘Why isnt’ the New York Times pushing family films like that?’ Fascinating stuff. He also mentioned Brokeback is destroying the legacy of John Wayne. Uhhm….okay. Critic Jeanne Most tried to bring up the box-office discrepancy and inject the notion that Brokeback Mountain is first and foremost a quality film, but she didn’t have the chutzpah to compete against Medved and O’Reilly. It was a pretty silly piece and nothing surprising but as always, good for a few laughs.”

Munich supporters will probably curse me for saying this, but I think it’s entirely fair to observe that after today’s “Big Picture” Patrick Goldstein column in the L.A. Times about the media’s pre-release bashing of Munich that the game is all but over. Munich was hurting already but this is the crashing left hook to the jaw. Munich has not fallen to the canvas, but — quickly pop in a DVD of Raging Bull and chapter-search to the final fight between Jake La Motta and Sugar Ray Robinson — this pretty good movie that has won the admiration of several critics and some Academy members…this decently-made film with a tedious third act is against the ropes and bent over and bloodied with a swollen left eye. And its manager-director, Steven Spielberg, isn’t even at ringside, and seems to be a little bent-over himself. He was described a few days ago by L.A. Times writer Rachel Abramowitz (in the one non-Time magazine interview Spielberg has given to help support the film) as “slumped — almost curled up against a pillow — on a banquette by a window overlooking the Pacific…his hair is gray, his face pale, his manner muted. He seems tired — soul-tired — almost emptied out, as he talks.” And the publicists are still in a hunker-down mode. There have evidently been no interview pieces about Munich star Eric Bana in newspapers. There are no interviews with screenwriter Tony Kushner I’ve run across. Munich costar Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, isn’t doing any press as far as I know. (I’m told there will be forthcoming features about one or two of these guys, but appearing more in concert with the nationwide 1.6.06 opening rather than the 12.23 limited break.) And Spielberg, Kushner and Bana won’t be doing the standard q & a thing after Munich plays this evening at the Variety Screening Series…even though this series is considered an essential by Oscar-consulting publicists all over town. (This is due to a conflict with an industry screening this evening with Spielberg, Kushner and Bana attending, but such conflicts can always be finessed if there’s a will to do so.) I want to be fair and even-handed, but add all this mishegoss to what my Manhat- tan-based Academy friend told me about Munich this morning [see the 12.20.05, 9:17 am item below], and it seems that even the doggedly-Munich-supporting David Poland would have to admit that the crowd, sensing defeat, is on its feet in anticipation of what appears to be a fait accompli.

Carmike Cinemas Inc. has pledged to install 2300 digital projection systems in its 37-state theatre chain by October 2007….good. Carmike is the first U.S. exhibitor to step up to the plate, dig deep and start rolling with this. The investment will cost them about $150 million. There are currently only about 100 screens in the entire country capable of showing digitally-projected movies. There are roughly 36,000 movie screens in the U.S., so this is only a small first step.

Words about Steven Spielberg’s Munich from a Manhattan- dwelling Academy member: “I have not seen it but I know several people who have and they are unanimous — it is too long, it is repetitive, it is pretentious, and they all wondered if anyone would have the guts to say that. I mean, Jeffrey…I have not heard more negative responses on what is supposed to be a quality film this year.”