You may not be obsessing about the Oscars yet, but come Tuesday morning, when the nominations are announced, you might find yourself in need of a little insight from entertainment media professionals. Fear not! For a free Tuesday lunchtime panel on the Oscars, the Gene Siskel Film Center has assembled the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips, the New York Times‘ A.O. Scott and ABC-7’s Janet Davies. Then they got a little crazy and invited me. So to that reputable group, add zany wildcard and Time Out Chicago Film Editor Hank Sartin. We’ll try to bring some insight into what the nominations mean, who got slighted and what to expect come Oscar night. The event is free and takes place on Tuesday, February 2, at noon at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

The South by Southwest Film Festival (often thought of as the under-appreciated younger brother of the more famous music fest) has announced that the teen-superhero-wannabe comedy Kick-Ass will be the fest’s opening night film. A flurry of plays on words followed this morning on film-related websites (I should note in all fairness that SXSW started it by headlining their press release “SXSW Film Festival to Kick-Ass in 2010″). Note that I refrained from saying it’s a Kick-Ass start to the festival, or that SXSW is once again poised to kick ass, or anything like that. Dignity is our byword around here. Yeah, right.

Also announced were several other titles: James Franco’s doc Saturday Night, about what goes into the making of an episode of Saturday Night Live; Elektra Luxx, in which Carla Gugino plays an adult film star trying to make it outside the porn biz (indie prince and my future husband Joseph Gordon-Levitt also stars); Lemmy, a doc about Motörhead singer Lemmy Kilmister; and Cold Weather, a drama about a detective-fiction junkie and former forensic science major who runs into some trouble. More titles will follow soon.

The SXSW Film Festival runs from March 12th to 20th, and I’ll be blogging from the fest.

Got an e-mail from a local film producer who needs extras for some upcoming film shooting in Chicago. No, there are no famous Hollywood types involved, so if you’re in it for the star-gazing, skip it. But if you’re interested in being an extra on a local film shoot, here’s the info:

We are currently casting extras for our upcoming feature film “Fall Away” (http://www.fallawayfilm.com), written and directed by award winning filmmaker Julian Grant (www.juliangrant.com), and produced by Boris Wexler. This is a great opportunity to participate in a professional film project and spend time on set.

Please see dates and times we are casting for below. If you would like to participate, please send an email titled “FALL AWAY EXTRAS” with the dates/times you are available, your full name, phone number, and email address to our Production Coordinator Brian Johnston, ironmistproductions@gmail.com. Please attach a picture of yourself to the email - not necessarily a headshot, any picture is acceptable. We will contact you during the first week of January to indicate which slots we would like you to attend. This is an unpaid position.

Some of the available slots are odd/nighttime hours. If at all possible, please try to make yourself available for at least one of those. Thank you!

Boris Wexler  - Producer - Fall Away

Saturday 01/16  02:00 AM- 08:00 AM (Bar scene)

Saturday 01/16 (night between Friday and Saturday)  10:00 AM - 03:00 PM  -  (Bar scene)

Monday Jan 01/18  07:00 AM - 11:00 AM   (Record shop scene)

Friday 01/22   04:00 PM - 05:00 AM  (diner scene - several groups needed in 5 hour timeslots - please submit times available)

Saturday 01/30  03:00AM - 09:00AM (night between Friday and Saturday)  -  (bar scene)

Sunday 01/31 12:30 PM - 04:30 PM - (park scene)

Saturday 02/06 (night between Friday and Saturday) 02:00AM - 10:00AM - (bar scene)

The Hurt Locker picked up two Gotham Independent Film Awards last night in New York: Best Feature and Best Ensemble Cast. That’s interesting and exciting on its own merits, of course, especially if you’re Kathryn Bigelow or anyone linked to Summit Entertainment (assuming that the folks at Summit get up from rolling in the piles of Twilight Saga: New Moon cash to read the press release…). I should note that the Gothams do not have a Best Director category, so there’s no “snub” story here. (They have a category for Breakthrough Director, which was won by Big Fan director Robert Siegel, a choice I thought was a bit iffy, but never mind.)

But prepare for the film punditry to start factoring this win into Hurt Locker’s Oscar chances. Though the Gothams are chosen by small juries and are, surprise, New York-centric, it’s not an unreasonable leap—we’ve been banking on Hurt Locker getting Oscar noms in at least four categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Jeremy Renner and Best Cinematography. These awards aren’t going to hurt Hurt Locker, which can use a little buzz right about now, as Academy members are starting to hit screenings and receive screeners to make their picks for nominees.

In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf have been exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Last night they saw the film, and today they do a post-screening exchange on the film’s merits.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

Josh,

You were certainly right yesterday about one thing: the real auteurs—or at least the real source of energy—in Twilight Saga: New Moon are the audience members. It’s rare that a studio logo gets an anticipatory gasp and keening sigh, but so it was last night when the Summit logo came up on the screen. And they certainly added some needed zing when things started to drag a bit in the middle, which for me was at the fiftieth email from Bella to vamp Alice, a device that surely works better on the page than on the screen. The audience’s pleased but slightly self-aware laugh at how often and easily the film gets Taylor Lautner out of his shirt made me feel like I wasn’t wrong to find it a little comical.

Nope, I haven’t read New Moon. Made it through Twilight, thought in a vague way that I ought to read the second book before the film came out, and never did anything about it. And last night I didn’t feel too bad. I imagine the book does a better job of explaining how exactly Jacob is so in thrall to Sam and his pack of werewolves-without-a-cause. And maybe the book makes more sense of the fact that after months of his daughter waking up screaming from horrible nightmares, Bella’s dad doesn’t insist on the services of a good psychotherapist. Most parents would wonder if she’d been raped based on the deep psychosis she seems to enter. But I’m with you when it comes to reading source material: when you can, fair enough, but in general, if appreciating the film demands it, there’s something wrong.

For me, the film feels a bit monotonous. Bella is depressed. Edward is gone. Bella hangs out with Jacob and is marginally less depressed, which does make one wonder at Jacob’s nakedly randy obsession with her (refreshing as it is compared to Edward’s “I daren’t touch you” cool flame of a love). For me, the energy jump in the film finally comes when Michael Sheen starts swanning around just acting the pants off all these monster-wannabe whippersnappers. The scenes with the Volturi are amusingly purple.

But overall, I’ll counter your ’sequels are often better’ thesis with a counter: when the film is part of a planned trilogy or tetralogy, the second film is doing a lot of bridgework, but doesn’t get you to the farther shore. Think of how frustrated we were at the end of The Empire Strikes Back (back when that was its full title) to find so many plot threads left hanging. I felt that way about New Moon. Werewolves introduced. Check. Love triangle established. Check. Threat from Volturi made clear. Check. But so much is left up in the air in that last scene. I’m sure that’s okay with the fan base, who know damn well what comes next, but for the casual filmgoer, it’s like walking into the middle of a film and then walking out again before the plot resolves. Mostly what we get is the mopey middle.

Hank

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In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Tonight, they’re finally seeing the new movie, so today they discuss their expectations.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

Josh,

Tonight’s the night we finally get to see The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and only this morning I hear that in a MovieMaker interview, director Chris Weitz says he thinks he’s got one more film in him and he’s done. (What is it with directors announcing they’re bailing out?—Soderbergh is making the same noises). Not that it matters to the Twilight crowd, since they’ve got director David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) working on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse as we speak.

I’ll confess I’m actually pretty excited, and here’s why: As you rightly noted yesterday, Kristen Stewart is a good actress, and there’s every indication that this film will give her some fun stuff to do (feeling rejected by Edward’s departure, getting wild on motorcycles with Jacob). And honestly, though I’ve been the house crank in this debate, I think Weitz might bring an interesting energy to the story. To be honest, while I didn’t like Golden Compass much, I felt the reactions to it were more negative than it deserved, and I thought Weitz did pretty well (he’s pretty frank about how the film was taken away from him in editing, and I wonder if it might have felt more coherent if he’d retained control).

So there you are. The cranky naysayer admits he’s pretty excited about seeing New Moon tonight. What about you?

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In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Today, they talk about marketing.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

Josh,

I think I reached the official Twilight media saturation point the other day when I saw a rather breathlessly excited news story on the coming release of the Jacob Black doll (shirtless, natch) from Mattel. But I have to give credit to the publicity department at Summit Entertainment; they’ve played the media like a violin. Looking back on the past year, the strategy seems to have been give a little at a time, and don’t let your clients out to too many media outlets at once. A well-placed rumor about Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson having a romance is worth far more than ten talk show gigs. No hosting Saturday Night Live (imagine Pattinson trying to be funny, or Stewart valiantly putting up with some SNL mocking of her fame…). No Twilight Happy Meals—the tie-ins and merchandising have been carefully chosen.

And the drip-drip-drip leaks of images and footage has been timed to perfection. Just when interest seemed to have flagged in April, Summit started making the trailers available online, one by one, and sent Stewart and Pattinson to the talk shows. That might seem weird—scheduling them to chat up a movie that wasn’t coming out for months, but Summit knew that all they had to do was fan the flames for a while. The soundtrack was released this fall, long before the release, once again drawing attention to the movie. And they worked social media, keeping buzz alive on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iTunes. Pure gold.

I’m not suggesting that the frenzy doesn’t have a strong basis in real fans out in the world; based on the angry responses I’ve been getting for criticizing Twilight, people care and care deeply. But their passion has been fueled by a smart campaign from people who know about the idea of the slow build.

But now, in the last week, I wonder if it’s getting too omnipresent. The only thing saving us is Sarah Palin, whose book release has taken some of the media oxygen away from Twilight. Otherwise, it would be All Twilight All the Time on the morning shows, Entertainment Tonight and in the glossies. So, once again find myself in the strange position of  thanking Sarah Palin (the first time, of course, was when she helped scuttle McCain’s campaign by being such a nutjob). Weird world, huh?

Cynically yours,

Hank

New York’s response after the jump

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In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Today, they muse on the appeal of Edward and Jacob.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

I’ve been thinking about all the mania around Robert Pattinson and his portrayal of Edward in Twilight. As an actor he reminds me of all the early hype around Hayden Christensen, who was sold as the next big thing circa Life as a House and Shattered Glass. Now he’s doing Jumpers 2. Pattinson’s Edward seems to me like a placeholder—he doesn’t have to do much except look dreamy and aloof, so girls can project their fantasies onto him.

It seems to me that the appeal of Twilight comes largely from the fact that the romance can’t be consummated (and I don’t just mean sexually—it’s all about frustrated love). As I said in my tirade on all things Twilight, I find the opposition of Edward and Jacob suggestive. Jacob has a dark secret too, but there’s none of the stuff about irresistible yet abstract charisma with him. Jacob’s much more normal than the vamps, except when he, you know, turns into a wolf. With options like these, it’s no wonder Bella is confused.

But the more I think about these characters, the more I get their appeal for teen readers and viewers. They’re archetypal and easy to fantasize about, and their darkness makes them more adult. Still doesn’t explain why adults are so taken with them.

Thoughts?

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In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Here are the opening salvos from both sides.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

We’re a week away from the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and as I recall you came out as more of a supporter of the first film than I was. So I watched Twilight again, and I stand by my first take; I like the new-girl-in-town stuff the best. Now if we could just get rid of those dye-job vamps. And, though I know this is heresy, I don’t get the hype around Pattinson. He’s got dead eyes that aren’t an acting choice, just a lack of any interesting spark. And the last act of Twilight just doesn’t work at all—a sudden jump into Perils of Pauline action that feels rushed and messy.

My resentment of Twilight has actually grown over the last year, because the damn thing has been so unavoidable. Everywhere I turn, I have to read about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s romance and Taylor Lautner’s abs (Taylor himself? Who cares. But if his abs did interviews on their own, journos would line up). It all feels contrived, like fake grassroots to me.

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Doc Films has snagged a free advance screening of Werner Herzog’s new film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which stars the generally batshit Nicolas Cage as a drugged and drunk cop in the Big Easy. Our very own Ben Kenigsberg weighed in on the film when he caught it at Toronto. The flick will show Tuesday evening at 9pm. Based on our experience with Doc’s sneak previews, we’d advise arriving early, like seriously early. Honestly, bring-a-book early.