Screen Actors Guild Awards

Really hoping for a few spanners to be chucked into the awards race this year.

The SAG awards sometime do like to throw some odd choices out there when picking their winners. These are actors voting so I am hoping that performance will win over popularity.

Could Gabby get some recognition here? It seems likely as I cannot imagine actors rewarding Bullock. Sure she may be popular, but by performance it should be a race between Sidibe, Mulligan and Streep. Streep just won so could they reward a fellow American in Sibide?

Lets hope so.

My out of left field predictions are ripe for upset and mocking, but what the hey.

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges - 'Crazy Heart' - He has yet to win one and is well respected.

Best Actress: Gabourey Sidibe - 'Precious' - I am sure I will be disappointed here, but how wonderful would it be for her to get some credit for a turn as equally wonderful as Mo'Niques.

Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer - 'The Last Station' - Remember Ruby Dee. They like to pay respect to a veteran.

Best Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique - 'Precious' - Head and tails above all the other performances.

Best Ensemble - 'Inglourious Basterds' - Has to be really, unless they go with 'Precious'. Both are truly wonderful examples of ensemble performance.

GO GO GABBY GO!

Mini Review - 'Whip It'

The trailer for this did absolutely nothing for me. Sure I thought it looked cute, but I was not in a rush to see it.

Perhaps it was because of these lowered expectations that I found this story of a girl who, suffocated by her mother and the small town in which she lives, joins the girls roller-derby team - so damn delightful.
The film flows wonderfully, but it is the top notch cast that make for this film to be as buoyant as it is. Marcia Gay Harden, Ellen Page, Alia Shawkat, Landon Pigg, Daniel Stern, Jimmy Fallon, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell, Eve, Drew Barrymoore, Andrew Wilson and Juliette Lewis all give fully rounded performances and create wonderful and lasting characters with what little, or how much screen time they are given.
This is the sign of a true ensemble. They each compliment each other.
First time director Drew Barrymoore proves her chops with this. Being able to create such chemistry on film is hard to do, but she does it with ease. You can almost imagine how much fun this group of people had on set with this film.
When just jubilation spills over and already entertaining story, well I am truly thankful.

Grade - A-

BAFTA Nominations

BEST FILM
AVATAR James Cameron, Jon Landau
AN EDUCATION Amanda Posey, Finola Dwyer
THE HURT LOCKER Nominees TBC
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
UP IN THE AIR Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Daniel Dubiecki

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
AN EDUCATION Amanda Posey, Finola Dwyer, Lone Scherfig, Nick Hornby
FISH TANK Kees Kasander, Nick Laws, Andrea Arnold
IN THE LOOP Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy, Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche
MOON Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler, Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker
NOWHERE BOY Kevin Loader, Douglas Rae, Robert Bernstein, Sam Taylor-Wood, Matt Greenhalgh

DIRECTOR
AVATAR James Cameron
DISTRICT 9 Neill Blomkamp
AN EDUCATION Lone Scherfig
THE HURT LOCKER Kathryn Bigelow
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Quentin Tarantino


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE HANGOVER Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
THE HURT LOCKER Mark Boal
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Quentin Tarantino
A SERIOUS MAN Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
UP Bob Peterson, Pete Docter

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
DISTRICT 9 Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
AN EDUCATION Nick Hornby
IN THE LOOP Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE Geoffrey Fletcher
UP IN THE AIR Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BROKEN EMBRACES Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Carole Scotta, Caroline Benjo, Philippe Carcassonne, Anne Fontaine
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Carl Molinder, John Nordling, Tomas Alfredson
A PROPHET Pascale Caucheteux, Marco Chergui, Alix Raynaud, Jacques Audiard
THE WHITE RIBBON Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Margaret Menegoz, Michael Haneke

ANIMATED FILM
CORALINE Henry Selick
FANTASTIC MR FOX Wes Anderson
UP Pete Docter

LEADING ACTOR
JEFF BRIDGES Crazy Heart
GEORGE CLOONEY Up in the Air
COLIN FIRTH A Single Man
JEREMY RENNER The Hurt Locker
ANDY SERKIS Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

LEADING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN An Education
SAOIRSE RONAN The Lovely Bones
GABOUREY SIDIBE Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
MERYL STREEP Julie & Julia
AUDREY TAUTOU Coco Before Chanel

SUPPORTING ACTOR
ALEC BALDWIN It’s Complicated
CHRISTIAN McKAY Me and Orson Welles
ALFRED MOLINA An Education
STANLEY TUCCI The Lovely Bones
CHRISTOPH WALTZ Inglourious Basterds

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE-MARIE DUFF Nowhere Boy
VERA FARMIGA Up in the Air
ANNA KENDRICK Up in the Air
MO’NIQUE Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS Nowhere Boy

MUSIC
AVATAR James Horner
CRAZY HEART T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton
FANTASTIC MR FOX Alexandre Desplat
SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL Chaz Jankel
UP Michael Giacchino

CINEMATOGRAPHY
AVATAR Mauro Fiore
DISTRICT 9 Trent Opaloch
THE HURT LOCKER Barry Ackroyd
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Robert Richardson
THE ROAD Javier Aguirresarobe

EDITING
AVATAR Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
DISTRICT 9 Julian Clarke
THE HURT LOCKER Bob Murawski, Chris Innis
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Sally Menke
UP IN THE AIR Dana E. Glauberman

PRODUCTION DESIGN
AVATAR Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair
DISTRICT 9 Philip Ivey, Guy Poltgieter
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS Nominees TBC
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco

COSTUME DESIGN
BRIGHT STAR Janet Patterson
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Catherine Leterrier
AN EDUCATION Odile Dicks-Mireaux
A SINGLE MAN Arianne Phillips
THE YOUNG VICTORIA Sandy Powell

SOUND
AVATAR Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, Addison Teague
DISTRICT 9 Nominees TBC
THE HURT LOCKER Ray Beckett, Paul N. J. Ottosson, Craig Stauffer
STAR TREK Peter J. Devlin, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Mark Stoeckinger, Ben Burtt
UP Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, Michael Semanick

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
AVATAR Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones
DISTRICT 9 Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, Matt Aitken
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE John Richardson, Tim Burke, Tim Alexander, Nicolas Aithadi
THE HURT LOCKER Richard Stutsman
STAR TREK Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh, Burt Dalton

MAKE UP & HAIR
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Thi Thanh Tu Nguyen, Jane Milon
AN EDUCATION Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS Sarah Monzani
NINE Peter ‘Swords’ King
THE YOUNG VICTORIA Jenny Shircore

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
LUCY BAILEY, ANDREW THOMPSON, ELIZABETH MORGAN HEMLOCK, DAVID PEARSON Directors, Producers –
Mugabe and the White African
ERAN CREEVY Writer/Director – Shifty
STUART HAZELDINE Writer/Director – Exam
DUNCAN JONES Director – Moon
SAM TAYLOR-WOOD Director – Nowhere Boy

SHORT ANIMATION
THE GRUFFALO Michael Rose, Martin Pope, Jakob Schuh, Max Lang
THE HAPPY DUCKLING Gili Dolev
MOTHER OF MANY Sally Arthur, Emma Lazenby

SHORT FILM
14 Asitha Ameresekere
I DO AIR James Bolton, Martina Amati
JADE Samm Haillay, Daniel Elliott
MIXTAPE Luti Fagbenle, Luke Snellin
OFF SEASON Jacob Jaffke, Jonathan van Tulleken

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
JESSE EISENBERG
NICHOLAS HOULT
CAREY MULLIGAN
TAHAR RAHIM
KRISTEN STEWART

I am in love with Nurse Jackie

12 all too short episodes and I am in withdrawal at the moment.
Sure it can border on silly at times, but it is another piece of brilliance on TV.
Is TV the new cinema?
What with this, 'United States of Tara', 'Glee' and 'Modern Family' I am in heaven.

Please suggest other shows I need to discover! I am all ears in the comments!

Actress - The Race

Actress - The Race

Ohhhhh - Interesting

Apparently Tim Burton wants to do the story of sleeping beauty, but told from the point of view of Maleficent.
That gets me excited, but also worried that when/if it happens the role will go to Helena Bonham Carter as per usual.

Who would make a great Maleficent? Think of actresses tall and slender and in there 40's or 50's.

Nicole Kidman? Toni Collette? Angela Basset? Michelle Pfeiffer?

Mini Review - 'The Princess and the Frog'

'The Princess and the Frog'

Not the return to form I was hoping in terms of songs and story. There was something missing from the usual Disney magic I was used to, or perhaps I have just been spoiled by the sheer animated genius of Pixar as well as the wealth of stop-motion pictures that have come out this year.

Many people have complained about the racial stereotyping in this film, and to be honest, I was aware, but not bothered as stereotypes in general do not bother me (we constantly live up to them so why complain - celebrate them).
What did bother me is the sense of déjà-vu I got whilst watching the film. The characters all looked so recycled from old Disney stock, as did some of the sets.

There were strong points in the film.
The shadow hunters were clever and extremely eerie, and the landscape animation was astonishing using clever methods of lighting to make the bayou a thing of frame-able beauty.
Still the end effect was un-effecting. The art was there, but they never spent enough time fine tuning the story to make the viewer really care about the story.

Grade - C+

Gabby x 2 (with quote)

“People always ask me, ‘You have so much confidence. Where did that come from?’ It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl….It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see. Your body is your temple, it’s your home, and you must decorate it.”

Mini Review - 'Avatar'

Let me get this out of the way first.
James Cameron needs to hire a script doctor. Not for plotting (although it would help) but for dialogue.
It is really not his strong point at all. Calling the life force of the planet the "Tree of Souls" is so 'Ferngully'.
Do not translate the Na'vi language - it is seriously distracting.

That being said I was completely blown away. The story may have been weak, but the momentum never wavered.
I was never bored.
Absorbing this new world was humbling. So much thought went into it that you cannot help but be awed. From the plants, animal life and landscapes, it all felt organic. The highest compliment I could give is believed in this world and am very sorry it does not exist.

The other think that blew me away was the character animation. I was doubtful at first, but the Na'vi blew me away with their authenticity. Zoe Saldana impressed me to no end as the warrior princess. I honestly believe that a motion capture performance should be considered in the major awards acting categories. When they are good you can tell. People may argue that a performance is enhanced, but what is the difference between that and a CGI tear added to Jennifer Connelly in 'Blood Diamond'? None in my book.
Saldana's Neytiri is up there with Andy Serkis as Gollum and King Kong. A true performance, captured. The passion displayed in her is astonishing.
She even makes the dialogue work for her.

This was my first movie in 3D and I have to say I am a convert.
What Cameron managed to do is pure cinematic magic.

Grade - A-

Actress - The Race

The Golden Globes

What I liked:

The wins for Toni Collette, Mo'Nique, Glee, Meryl Streep, Drew Barrymoore, Mad Men, Michael Giacchino and Christoph Waltz.

The fashion - It was nice to see some colour on the red carpet. I thought Toni Collette, Nicole Kidman, Fergie, Meryl Streep and Gabby Sibide looked so pretty.

Martin Scorsese's speech. Lovely and so very humble.

Sadly that was it - there was not much to like about the proceedings.

The wins for Robert Downey Jr., and Sandra Bullock are only about the most popular. It happens every year but I still get annoyed that people are not rewarded for the work they have done. Thank God we have Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz who are actually winning because of the performance. Sure SaBu and RDJ have charisma to spare, so get them to present.

Ricky Gervais - I thought he was terrible. A few good gags, but just not very funny and sometimes a little bit rude. His comedy just does not translate to this type of event.

I am sorry if I want a little pizzaz from my host. He just came across as a little pug faced man very upset that he was in a room of people prettier than he.

Golden Globe Winners

Favourite wins in bold. Least favourite in italics

Best Picture, Drama — Avatar
Best Picture, Comedy/Musical — The Hangover
Best Director — James Cameron, Avatar
Best Actress, Drama — Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Actor, Drama — Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Actress, Comedy/Musical — Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Best Actor, Comedy/Musical — Robert Downey Jr, Sherlock Holmes
Best Supporting Actress — Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Supporting Actor — Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Foreign Language Film — The White Ribbon
Best Animated Feature — Up
Best Screenplay — Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Best Original Score — Michael Giacchino, Up
Best Original Song — The Weary Kind, Crazy Heart
Best TV Series, Drama – Mad Men
Best TV Series, Comedy — Glee
Best TV Miniseries — Grey Gardens
Best Actress, TV Miniseries — Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
Best Actor, TV Miniseries — Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance
Best Actress, TV Drama — Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Best Actor, TV Drama — Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Best Actress, TV Comedy — Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Best Actor, TV Comedy — Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Best Supporting Actress, TV — Chloe Sevigny, Big Love
Best Supporting Actor, TV — John Lithgow, Dexter

Mini Reviews - 'Amreeka'

‘Amreeka’

Sadly this is one of the forgotten gems of the movie year, mainly because they do not want to know anything about the war in Iraq.

Any of us not in the U.S. during the aftermath of 9/11 and the beginning war kind of looked on with a sense doom for both sides. Reports of people in the states thought to be Iraqi being attacked crept over airwaves making us sick with dread. This didn’t stop in the U.S., it spread everywhere, the U.K. was just as bad, but is was the U.S. who the eyes of the world were on.

‘Amreeka’ shows how it was for people, not even from Iraq, living in America at the time. It was hard, and probably is still pretty bad. The film does not go into horrors that may have occurred, but rather in the smaller, spirit crushing manner (bullies, being turned away from jobs, looks in the supermarket, hate mail).

However this is a surprisingly upbeat approach to such a dark matter. Muna (a miraculous Nisreen Faour) moves to middle America with her son. They will live with her cousin Raghda (the brilliant Hiam Abbass) who is married to a successful doctor and she will get work in a bank like she did in Palestine, and her son will go to school to be a doctor or lawyer.

Of course things do not go as planned, and set back after set back, mainly due to ignorance and prejudice threat to diminish Munas’ dreams.

However due to assured direction and an unsentimental screenplay by Cherien Dabis, the film does not fall into schlocky trappings. This is also mainly due to Faour who is strikingly beautiful as well as a very gifted comedic and dramatic actress. She will do what she can to survive in this strange new world, and she will do it with a smile on her face. Equally as strong is Abbass. Raghda misses her home, and does not give herself to the American way. Constantly suspicious of the world around her she pushes back what is happening to her home and lives in an ideal vision of it, which is much better than her present. Abbass makes this woman so heart breakingly real that you are thankful you never have to see her visit her home, to see what it has become.

‘Amreeka’ does have a few pacing and plot issues, but they are made up for by two strong female performances and some solid supporting players.

Grade - B+

Actress - The Race