It’s so easy to criticize the Academy Awards’ ignorance of the merits of comedy (even if such criticism is unfounded), but the Golden Globes have rarely been so deserving of scrutiny in their exclusion of the funny business. After all, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association actually has a category for best comedies of the year. Sure, the genre is still considered second fiddle to drama and has to share its category with musicals (which are sometimes musical dramas), but at least we know there’s a place that honors Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and Crocodile Dundee as one of its year’s best pictures (thank goodness for the musical-less ’80s!). The problem is, now that the musical genre is back in (near) full force, comedies are not getting as much recognition, even in their own (shared) category.

Following the Globe nominees yesterday, there was a good deal of complaining going on that Knocked Up wasn’t one of the Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nominees. At New York magazine’s Vulture blog, they said, “what’s a Comedy award for, if not to reward the best-reviewed and most successful comedy of the year? Apparently, it’s to reward quasi-musicals like Across the Universe, quasi-comedies like Charlie Wilson’s War, or quasi-movies like Hairspray.” Dave Karger at Entertainment Weekly actually thought the “best-reviewed comedy of the year” got snubbed in the best actress and best supporting actor categories, too. And Carpetbagger David Carr points out that if the Best Motion Picture Drama category can have seven films listed, the Musical or Comedy box should get to have two more picks. But would Knocked Up have really gotten one of those two slots?

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• Sunday night strike stories: According to Carl DiOrio at The Hollywood Reporter, “The WGA will respond to studio reps’ latest contract proposal on new-media pay by advancing its own new proposals.” Though DiOrio admits that “the simple fact is that nobody knows where this roller-coaster ride of collective bargaining will end,” his is still the glass half-full take compared to Variety’s take. Dave McNary says that while the WGA has been surprisingly lenient in the past few days about allowing writers to work on benefits and awards shows, “Optimism for a quick resolution as negotiations resume Tuesday has faded to nearly nonexistent.”
• With Enchanted expectedly taking the number one spot at the overall box office for the second week in a row, the real story this weekend is in the specialty market. The Savages opened to the best per-screen average of the week, with $38,280 in each of its five locations; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly opened to $85,300 across three screens, making it Julian Schnabel’s most impressive opening to date; and I’m Not There dropped a respectable 33% whilst expanding to 138 screens. To their credit, this time Variety managed to report it without being totally condescending.
• Deals: Ridley Scott will direct a Gucci family biopic for Fox 2000; Variety confirms fanboy whispers that Christian Bale is “closing in on the role of John Connor in Warner Bros.’ reboot of the Terminator franchise.”

We didn’t do a New in Theaters last week, and many Thanksgiving releases are expanding this weekend, so this is basically a recap of every film we’ve reviewed that’s been released in the past two weeks.

• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Paul was “blown away” by Julian Schnabel’s latest at Telluride; at NYFF, Karina called the film “an almost excessively beautiful aestheticization of misery [that's] often a little too good at conveying Baudy’s isolation within his own head.” Check out today’s podcast, which includes an interview with Schnabel from Telluride, and an argument between Karina and Paul.
• The Savages: At Telluride, Paul called Tamara Jenkin’s long-awaited feature follow-up to Slums of Beverly Hills “a really rich movie, full of dark humor you have to develop when things aren’t funny.”
• Starting Out in the Evening: Karina caught Andrew Wagner’s second feature in Denver and had this to say: “[Evening] unfolds in comfortably-worn indie drama territory: New York academics and struggling artists collide cross generations, their almost complete lack of self-awareness failing to keep them from brutally criticizing and actively manipulating one another…but Lauren Ambrose and Frank Langella make each moment on that path feel startlingly real.”
• I’m Not There: Kevin saw it and loved it at Telluride; Karina saw it at NYFF and, um, didn’t. Also check out Kevin’s interview with Haynes here, and audio from Haynes’ NYFF press conference here.
• Protagonist: Guest SpoutBlogger Pamela Cohn on Jessica Yu’s experimental tackling of Euripedes: “Juxtaposing live interviews with four different male characters, and using archival footage of their lives intercut with highly-stylized scenes of puppets reciting Euripides‘ in the original Greek acting out the tragedies being narrated on-screen, Yu orchestrates a provocative and deeply-thoughtful chorus based on the structure of a Greek tragedy…yes, it is quite challenging to watch, but far from boring.”

October 12 (Chicago Public Radio): Our kind of town, Chicago is… Filmspotting covers the 43rd Annual Chicago International Film Festival, including quick reviews of the new Tony Gilroy thriller “Michael Clayton” and the fest’s closing night film “The Savages.” Plus, Jake and Elwood… er, Adam and Matty… reveal their Top 5 (or 10) Chicago Movies — films set and shot in the Windy City … The show kicks off with your hosts on a spiritual quest to India via Wes Anderson’s “The Darjeeling Limited.”

New music by Deadstring Brothers courtesy of Bloodshot Records.

Filmspotting #181
:21-11:41 - Review: “The Darjeeling Limited”
Music: Deadstring Brothers, “Ain’t No Hidin’ Love”
14:18-20:01 - CIFF Review: “Michael Clayton,” Poll Results
20:02-24:56 - CIFF Review: “Control”
24:57-28:26 - CIFF Review: “The Savages”
Music: Deadstring Brothers, “Silver Mountain”
29:05-31:17 - New DVDs, Donations
31:18-34:38 - Massacre Theatre (Winner: Lia Elder)
34:39-45:07 - Listener Feedback (Yuma, Jesse James, Brothers Movies)
Music: Deadstring Brothers, “If You Want Me To”
46:06-57:23 - Top 5: Chicago Movies
57:24-59:01 - Close/Next Show

CORRECTIONS/NOTES

Have a comment or Top 5 list you’d like to share? Send an e-mail or short mp3 clip to feedback@filmspotting.net. Or give us a call at 206-203-CINE and leave a voice message.

The rite of passage into taking responsibility of another life–having a baby–has been the topic of a lot of popular movies. We don’t see very many movies about another rite of passsage, taking responsibilty over death. Specifically, the death of a parent. Prenatal wards are fun, nursing homes are not. The death of a parent brings far more complexity and reflection. So, when I saw the logline for Tamara Jenkin’s new film, The Savages, I thought this is a movie that will either be great or awful.

Wendy (Laura Linney) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman)–both struggling playwrites–are unexpectedly given the responsibility to care for a father (who was not much of a father) as he suffers from dementia in his last few months of life. I don’t know if it’s an easy film to connect to if you’re not somebody who has admitted a parent to a nursing home. Or if you don’t have siblings choosing divergent paths in dealing with a tragi-family. But if you fall into one of those two categories, The Savages is a really rich movie, and it’s full of dark humor you have to develop when things aren’t funny. (Linney and Hoffman have unexpectedly amazing chemistry to pull this off.)

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