BAFTA Nominations (or how I have completely lost faith in the British)

These are ridiculous! Completely ridiculous! Almost every review in the UK of 'The Reader' has been middling, the same with 'Benjamin Button'. I do not understand how they could snub, not only 'The Dark Knight', but also 'Viola Davis' (who has been getting the majority of the praise here in the UK) in favour of Amy Adams, But then they go and snub one of the best performances of the year with Sally Hawkins! UNTHINKABLE!
Then to give Freida pinto a nomination. That is embarrassing. People are going overboard for 'Slumdog Millionaire' and the expense of better films and definitely much better acting jobs.
And no Anne Hathaway! Shocking. The reviews over here are unanimous in their praise of her.

Anyways....read 'em and weep.

BEST FILM

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Ceán Chaffin
FROST/NIXON – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard
MILK – Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen
THE READER – Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Christian Colson

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

HUNGER – Laura Hastings-Smith, Robin Gutch, Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh
IN BRUGES – Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh
MAMMA MIA! – Judy Craymer, Gary Goetzman, Phyllida Lloyd, Catherine Johnson
MAN ON WIRE – Simon Chinn, James Marsh
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Christian Colson, Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD
for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film

SIMON CHINN (Producer) – Man On Wire
JUDY CRAYMER (Producer) – Mamma Mia!
GARTH JENNINGS (Writer) – Son of Rambow
STEVE McQUEEN (Director/Writer) – Hunger
SOLON PAPADOPOULOS, ROY BOULTER (Producers) – Of Time And The City

DIRECTOR

CHANGELING – Clint Eastwood
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – David Fincher
FROST/NIXON – Ron Howard
THE READER – Stephen Daldry
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Danny Boyle

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BURN AFTER READING – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
CHANGELING – J. Michael Straczynski
I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG – Philippe Claudel
IN BRUGES – Martin McDonagh
MILK – Dustin Lance Black

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Eric Roth
FROST/NIXON – Peter Morgan
THE READER – David Hare
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Justin Haythe
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Simon Beaufoy

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX – Bernard Eichinger, Uli Edel
GOMORRAH – Domenico Procacci, Matteo Garrone
I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG – Yves Marmion, Philippe Claudel
PERSEPOLIS – Marc-Antoine Robert, Xavier Rigault, Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Parannaud
WALTZ WITH BASHIR – Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahl Ieli, Ari Folman

ANIMATED FILM

PERSEPOLIS – Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Parannaud
WALL•E – Andrew Stanton
WALTZ WITH BASHIR – Ari Folman

LEADING ACTOR

FRANK LANGELLA – Frost/Nixon
DEV PATEL – Slumdog Millionaire
SEAN PENN – Milk
BRAD PITT – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
MICKEY ROURKE – The Wrestler

LEADING ACTRESS

ANGELINA JOLIE – Changeling
KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – I’ve Loved You So Long
MERYL STREEP – Doubt
KATE WINSLET – The Reader
KATE WINSLET – Revolutionary Road

SUPPORTING ACTOR

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. – Tropic Thunder
BRENDAN GLEESON – In Bruges
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – Doubt
HEATH LEDGER – The Dark Knight
BRAD PITT – Burn After Reading

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

AMY ADAMS – Doubt
PENÉLOPE CRUZ – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
FREIDA PINTO – Slumdog Millionaire
TILDA SWINTON – Burn After Reading
MARISA TOMEI – The Wrestler

MUSIC

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Alexandre Desplat
THE DARK KNIGHT – Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard
MAMMA MIA! – Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – A. R. Rahman
WALL•E – Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY

CHANGELING – Tom Stern
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Claudio Miranda
THE DARK KNIGHT – Wally Pfister
THE READER – Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Anthony Dod Mantle

EDITING

CHANGELING – Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
THE DARK KNIGHT – Lee Smith
FROST/NIXON – Mike Hill, Dan Hanley
IN BRUGES – Jon Gregory
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Chris Dickens

PRODUCTION DESIGN

CHANGELING – James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
THE DARK KNIGHT – Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Mark Digby, Michelle Day

COSTUME DESIGN

CHANGELING – Deborah Hopper
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Jacqueline West
THE DARK KNIGHT – Lindy Hemming
THE DUCHESS – Michael O'Connor
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Albert Wolsky

SOUND

CHANGELING – Walt Martin, Alan Robert Murray, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff
THE DARK KNIGHT – Lora Hirschberg, Richard King, Ed Novick, Gary Rizzo
QUANTUM OF SOLACE – Jimmy Boyle, Eddy Joseph, Chris Munro, Mike Prestwood Smith, Mark Taylor
SLUMDOG MILLIONARE – Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Tom Sayers, Ian Tapp
WALL•E – Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Matthew Wood

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Eric Barba, Craig Barron, – Nathan McGuinness, Edson Williams
THE DARK KNIGHT – Chris Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul Franklin, Tim Webber
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL – Pablo Helman
IRON MAN – Shane Patrick Mahan, John Nelson, Ben Snow
QUANTUM OF SOLACE – Chris Corbould, Kevin Tod Haug

MAKE UP & HAIR

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Jean Black, Colleen Callaghan
THE DARK KNIGHT – Peter Robb-King
THE DUCHESS – Daniel Phillips, Jan Archibald
FROST/NIXON – Edouard Henriques, Kim Santantonio
MILK – Steven E. Anderson, Michael White

SHORT ANIMATION

CODSWALLOP – Greg McLeod, Myles McLeod
VARMINTS – Sue Goffe, Marc Craste
WALLACE AND GROMIT: A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH – Steve Pegram, Nick Park, Bob Baker

SHORT FILM

KINGSLAND #1 THE DREAMER – Kate Ogborn, Tony Grisoni
LOVE YOU MORE – Adrian Sturges, Sam Taylor-Wood, Patrick Marber
RALPH – Olivier Kaempfer, Alex Winckler
SEPTEMBER – Stewart le Maréchal, Esther May Campbell
VOYAGES D’AFFAIRES (THE BUSINESS TRIP) – Celine Quideau, Sean Ellis

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD

MICHAEL CERA
NOEL CLARKE
MICHAEL FASSBENDER
REBECCA HALL
TOBY KEBBELL

BAFTA Predictions

Well the british Oscars announce tomorrow.
These are so tough to predict as they tend to go for a mixture of truly great, popular, home talent and completely out there.
How else do you explain Eddie Murphy's (deserving) nomination for 'Shrek' in Best Supporting Actor?

I am not confident at all with these nominations, but I gave it a whirl anyway:

BEST FILM

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“The Dark Knight “

“Milk”

“Slumdog Millionaire”

“Wall-E”


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“The Dark Knight “

“Frost/Nixon “

“Persepolis”

“Slumdog Millionaire”

DIRECTOR

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“The Dark Knight “

“Milk”
“
“Slumdog Millionaire”

“The Wrestler”

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“Happy-Go-Lucky”

“In Bruges” 


“Milk”
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

“Wall-E”


LEADING ACTOR

Benicio del Toro - “Che Part One”

Frank Langella - “Frost/Nixon” 

Michael Sheen - “Frost/Nixon” 

Mickey Rourke - “The Wrestler”

Sean Penn - “Milk”

LEADING ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway - “Rachel Getting Married”

Kate Winslet - “Revolutionary Road”

Kristen Scott Thomas - “I’ve Loved You So Long”

Meryl Streep - “Doubt”

Sally Hawkins - “Happy-Go-Lucky”


SUPPORTING ACTOR

Eddie Marsan - “Happy-Go-Lucky”

Heath Ledger - “The Dark Knight”

Josh Brolin - “Milk”

Peter O’Toole - “Dean Spanley”

Ralph Fiennes - “In Bruges”


SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams - “Doubt”

Emma Thompson- “Brideshead Revisited”

Marisa Tomei - “The Wrestler”

Penélope Cruz - “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Viola Davis - “Doubt”

'Killshot' trailer

Meh...not my cup of tea, but Rourke could be on a role.

Costume Designers Guild nominations

Excellence in period film:

Deborah Hopper for “Changeling”
Jacqueline West for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Michael O’Connor for “The Duchess”
Danny Glicker for “Milk”
Albert Wolsky for “Revolutionary Road”

Excellence in contemporary film:

Laura Jean Shannon and Rebecca Bentjen for “Iron Man”
Ann Roth for “Mamma Mia!”
Patricia Field for “Sex and the City”
Suttirat Larlarb for “Slumdog Millionaire”
Amy Westcott for “The Wrestler”

Excellence in fantasy film:

Isis Mussenden for “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”
Lindy Hemming for “The Dark Knight”
Sanja Milkovic Hays for ” The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”

So SAG is the only guild that hs not nominated 'The Dark Knight', hmmmmmm.
Slumdog Millionaire continues to sweep the guilds in terms of nominations.

Mini Review: 'The Wrestler'

Darren Aronofsly is one of the most interesting film makers currently working. From the headache mind games of 'Pi', to the visually stunning nightmare of 'Requiem for a Dream', to the eternal love sci fi epic 'The Fountain' he has made his name as a director with the ability to merge both story and visuals in an always interesting way.
For 'The Wrestler' he goes a different direction. The emotional story is still there, but the pristine look is not. This film is ugly to look at, and with reason. The people in this film are real people living with and in the grime, there is no glorious technicolour in their lives.

Mickey Rourke brings such subtle emotional shifts to his role. It is not a loud performance at all, it is all quiet despair and self loathing. When he is in his wrestling world he is somebody to a few fans, but when he is out of it he is not able to exist. He can’t form relationships, yet alone hold on to them. The two relationships he has are either bound to fail or have no chance at surviving. In the hands of Rourke, you can see the resignation of his fate in his eyes.

His relationship with his daughter is broken, he has wasted the one chance to salvage it and wasted it. Even Rachel Wood give a wonderful performance as his daughter. All little girl in need of a father wrapped up with an adult angery with constant rejection, all bound loosely in one package. She allows you to see her pain as both the adult and the child.

As good as those two performances were, nothing prepared me for how honest Marisa Tomei was going to be. She is this woman, and knows her inside out. The forced smile and not so thick skin become her amour, but the caring sensitive woman constantly gives her away. Oscar should take note. She has no big scenes, but as a viewer you latch onto her. She becomes your safety net.

The Wrestler is a film about how we deal with rejection. We either grow skin like leather, turn away from that aspect of our lives, or grab on to one thing that can keep you going.

Darren Aronofsky has created one of the films of the year.

A-

Best Supporting Actress Race

Best Original Song

I guess these four and the two that followed before are going to be my picks for Best Original Song (you know I have 6 nominees right?).
Wish Madonna would record a few original songs so I could really excited by this category.

Regina Spektor – ‘The Call’ from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’



A R Rahman featuring Sukhvinder Singh - ‘Jai Ho’ from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’



Charlie Kaufman and Jon Brion featuring Deanna Storey – ‘Little Person’ from ‘Synecdoche, New York’



Nora Jones – ‘The Story’ from ‘My Blueberry Nights’

“O… Saya” - A R Rahman & M.I.A

Maybe there is:


But then again I will love anything M.I.A. does.

Down to Earth - Peter Gabriel

Not really sure if there is a better song in competition this year.


Is there?

My...what a lovely pair of Golden Globes you've got.

Someone had to make that joke.

The Editors Guild nominations

These are almost as important as the DGA in terms of Oscar predicting.

The nominees are:

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC):

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter
The Dark Knight - Lee Smith, A.C.E.
Frost/Nixon - Mike Hill, A.C.E. & Dan Hanley, A.C.E.
Milk - Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire - Chris Dickens

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL):

In Bruges - Jon Gregory, A.C.E.
Mama Mia - Leslie Walker
Tropic Thunder - Greg Hayden
Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Alisa Lepselter
WALL-E - Stephen Schaffer

Someone really needs to have words with Justin Timberlake.

He just cannot go around ripping the tops off of women during public events.


I mean seriously. I am in the UK and did not get to see the Golden Globes. I was ok with that until I saw this picture. Now I am on the floor screaming.
How could I miss this!!!???
There is nothing I would have liked more that to witness the public nervous breakdown of lemon face. I mean the woman is clearly crazy.

To steal a quote from those brilliant Fug Girls:

"She looks like Crazy Aunt Ne-Ne, who's been let out of her attic for the first time since TV was black-and-white, crawled down a gin bottle, tasered her minders, and is now trying to hail a cab to the nearest military base to show our boys some real gratitude."

Mini Review: 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

And I promise to keep this as mini as possible. For a film that was slightly too long, and emotionally distant, the last half hour moved me to tears. Perhaps it was the tragic fate of the lovers, perhaps it was the sight of this old lady full of love holding this baby, or perhaps I was just in need of a good cry.

For a movie about age and mortality it hardly seemed to this viewer, to celebrate life.

David Fincher needs to be commended on his vision, and indeed the film is a technical marvel, however it was missing something. Many critics have said it was a cold movie, and this simply is not true, it had warmth to spare, it just need a big ole injection of adrenaline.

Brad Pitt plays the title character in a strange and rather lifeless way. He never seems to be fully invested with living, even when he gets younger. It is as if he delivered the entire performance while on prozac.
Taraji P. Henson is wonderful and warm in the rather 'stereotypical' role of Benjamin's black adoptive mother, but is given very little to work with and therefore does not have much to do. (nothing awards worthy there I am afraid)

Blanchett seems to walk away the best in the picture, conveying wonderfully the selfishness of the early 20's, the wanting of the 30's, the battle with age of the 40's and the wise love of the later years.

The cinematography is stunning, and, again the CGI is flawless, but for a film asking questions about life and death, it seemed unable to portray either with any great insight.
Instead it portrayed how women are able to put themselves through so much grief for the ones they love. In fact this film, at least to me, is a celebration of the strength of women.

B

Best Supporting Actress Race

Golden Globe winners!

Of course I did not see them, but will have comments later.

* Best Picture, Drama: Slumdog Millionaire
* Best Picture, Comedy Musical: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
* Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
* Best Actor, Drama: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
* Best Actress, Drama: Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
* Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
* Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
* Best Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy: Slumdog Millionaire
* Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir
* Best Animated Feature: WALL·E
* Best Actor, Musical/Comedy: Colin Farrell, In Bruges
* Best Actress, Musical/Comedy: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
* Best Original Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millonaire
* Best Original Song: Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler
* Cecil B. DeMille Award: Stephen Spielberg

Just a reminder