10 Finest Fellas in a 2010 Film

Happy Hump Day! 2011's list, if you were bored.

10. Ken Watanabe, Inception

10 Fittest Men in Film, 2015.

Happy Hump Day! I realised that I enjoy making these shallow lists (and going search for gifs and pngs of evidence of Hollywood stars' gorgeousness) that I will make it a Wednesday Hump Day tradition. A list every week. 2015's ladies list, and 2016's men and women, for those who care to peruse.

The only constraint on the list is that I have to have actually watched the performance which I'm listing.

10. Domhnall Gleeson, Ex Machina

2017 Screen Actor Guild nominations!!

I’d just come out of a meeting to check the nominations and when I saw my girl Emily Blunt got a surprise nomination, I almost started hyperventilating!!!!! I was not expecting that one at all, as the film was terrible, and usually when people nominate a performance in a film, they tend to take the quality of the film into consideration. But so happy to be proved wrong! Here be some of my quick thoughts on the film nominations (don’t know enough about TV to comment)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
CASEY AFFLECK  – “MANCHESTER BY THE SEA”
ANDREW GARFIELD– “HACKSAW RIDGE”
RYAN GOSLING–“LA LA LAND”
VIGGO MORTENSEN– “CAPTAIN FANTASTIC”
DENZEL WASHINGTON– “FENCES” 

Would love to see Denzel win, but unfortunately, we all know this award is going to the Groper of Women when they Sleep, Casey Affleck.

Andrew Garfield’s SAG nomination means we get (sort of) his-and-hers nominations for him and his ex-girlfriend Emma Stone; although they’ve broken up, they parted ‘very amicably’ and by all intents and purposes seem to adore each other. Awww.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
AMY ADAMS– “ARRIVAL”
EMILY BLUNT– “THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN”
NATALIE PORTMAN– “JACKIE”
EMMA STONE– “LA LA LAND”
MERYL STREEP– “FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS” 

Elated for Amy and Emily!!!!

Amy I was pretty sure was getting in, as she’s in a strong film and is popular with awards bodies, and she bloody deserves it. Adams is so talented she can even act well in Batman v Superman.

But I really did not see that Blunt nomination coming. The Girl on the Train was an absolute chore, tediously written and directed, but Blunt was far away the best thing about it. And she was absolutely phenomenal, one of the best drunk performances ever, even more impressive given she didn’t touch a sip of alcohol during the shoot. 

I just love how the top two performances from my Best Actress list so far this year have gotten recognised!

Now BAFTA better f_cking nominate Emily too and build some momentum for her to get that Oscar nomination! I'm not sure they will, tho, they didn't even nominate Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years last year...

The main loser from this list, sadly, is Isabelle Huppert, who had been gaining quite a lot of awards traction by scooping the majority of critics awards. Not being nominated here calls her chances of an Oscar nomination into doubt.

Her omission is good news for Natalie Portman and Emma Stone, who will probably go head-to-head for that Oscar.

Natalie has already won one (for being histrionic and taking the credit for her body double's excellent ballet dancing in Black Swan), so the odds probably favour the "half-Asian", Emma Stone.

Really hope Isabelle Huppert scuppers the both of them come Oscar time :P

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
MAHERSHALA ALI– “MOONLIGHT”
JEFF BRIDGES– “HELL OR HIGH WATER”
HUGH GRANT– “FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS”
LUCAS HEDGES– “MANCHESTER BY THE SEA”
DEV PATEL– “LION” 

I haven’t seen Florence Foster Jenkins, but the fact that Hugh Grant got nominated for Lead Actor at the Golden Globes suggests some category fraud here. Happy for him, nonetheless. 

Speaking of category fraud, this is the second time the SAGs have shamelessly enabled category fraud on the part of Dev Patel; he was nominated for Supporting Actor in 2009 for Slumdog Millionare. Supporting. When the whole film’s about his character! (but I’m very pleased for him;  he was great in Skins and seems a thoroughly sweet chap!)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
VIOLA DAVIS– “FENCES”
NAOMIE HARRIS– “MOONLIGHT”
NICOLE KIDMAN – “LION”
OCTAVIA SPENCER– “HIDDEN FIGURES”
MICHELLE WILLIAMS – “MANCHESTER BY THE SEA” 

With her Golden Globe and now SAG nominations, Octavia Spencer’s shots at an Oscar nomination for Hidden Figures have sky-rocketed. Her The Help co-star Viola Davis must be favourite for the win here, although her closest competitor is probably Michelle Williams.

I would have loved to have seen some recognition for Lily Gladstone's beautifully realised turn in Certain Women, but that film was probably too small-budget for major movie awards. Hopefully she'll win at the Independent Spirit Awards, tho.

I so, so wish Viola had campaigned for Lead; maybe then, someone could have put the brakes on Natalie’s second Oscar or the "half-Asian" winning. :'(

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
FENCES
HIDDEN FIGURES
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
MOONLIGHT 

This is the SAG category that is most correlative to ‘Best Picture’ at the Oscars, so it may seem strange not to see Best Picture frontrunner La La Land on here. But as many who’ve seen the film have commented, La La Land is essentially a duet between Stone and Gosling, and there’s not much in the way of memorable support. So fair play to SAG for actually nominating films for the category that it says, rather than bending to populism.

Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight were always going to get nominated in Ensemble, but the other three: Fences, Captain Fantastic and Hidden Figures not necessarily so, so their chances with Oscar have just been boosted. I think Moonlight will win this category, making it La La Land's main competitor for Best Pic.

The race just got exciting!

BAFTA better nominate Emily Blunt for Best Actress!!! She’s one of your own, BAFTA!

So many explanation marks in this post. I’m just so giddy on Emily Blunt’s behalf. What a week. Between Jonah’s surprise Golden Globe nomination on Monday and Emmy’s surprise nom today, I am just loving these noms!

Predictions: 2017 OSCAR NOMINATIONS (three months before the ceremony).

The aim is to also post predictions in a month's time, and before when they get announced, on January 24th 2017, as well, so I can see how my guesses change. Here goes!

Disclaimer: as I haven't seen a lot of these films, a lot of what I'm saying is just guesswork. I could end up despising a bunch of these movies once I view them, and completely alter my predictions! For  predictions more grounded in research and opinion, check out Nathaniel's impressive compendium. He's a professional film writer so he's seen most of the films discussed, and thus, his word carries a lot more clout!

Picture
Any number between 5 and 10 could get nominated, so I'm going...
01. La La Land
02. Fences
03. Moonlight
04. Silence
05. Manchester by the Sea
06. Jackie
07. Arrival
08. Lion

Of these titles, I've so far only seen Arrival, which I was very impressed with, particularly given my innate aversion to sci-fi. It was a smart movie, but more importantly, it was a humane movie, and that, coupled with the tight, unostentatious visuals, means it deserves to get nominated.

Of the other seven, Jackie interests me the least, but then again we all know my thoughts about Natalie 'earnest' Portman, haha.  La La Land, Fences and Moonlight look absolutely captivating in their own ways, and I can't wait to watch them. 

Despite the fact that Scorsese is my favourite director, Silence's trailer left me a bit cold. I'm not sure what's up with Adam Driver and Andy Garfield's accents, and it just seems to lack the energy of a Wolf of Wall Street or The Depahted. But, we'll see.

Director
01. Damien Chazelle, La La Land
02. Pablo Larraín, Jackie
03. Martin Scorsese, Silence
04. Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
05. Denis Villeneuve, Arrival

Pablo Larraín has two films that are in serious contention at the 2017 Oscars, the other being Chile's entrant in to the Foreign Language Film category, Neruda, starring Mexican hottie Gael García Bernal (I totally just said his name out loud with an affected Latinamerican accent whilst typing this, haha). Chazelle's Whiplash was my favourite film of 2014, and his direction on it (particularly the scenes where JK Simmons yells at Miles Teller) were superb. Apparently La La Land is even more assured than Whiplash so that, the strong critical response the film has garnered, surely render him the frontrunner.

Actor
01. Denzel Washington, Fences
02. Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
03. Ryan Gosling, La La Land
04. Tom Hanks, Sully
05. Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge

Andy Garfield is a bit of a left-of-field shout, but I just think that he can't appear in two prestige pictures and get totally ignored, and Silence's trailer didn't really seem like it had a 'proper' lead, so I've plumped for this. Plus, he was HELLA snubbed for The Social Network (fourth favourite performance of 2010, just saying).

Tom Hanks impressed audiences in both Bridge of Spies and Captain Philips and most people were surprised he didn't get nominated for at least one of them, particularly given the Academy are fond of him (he's the only actor to have won Best Actor back-to-back, for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, respectively. Although Eddie Redcarpet sure tried hard to achieve that feat by stealing roles from transgender actresses, just saying). So many feel Hanks is due a nomination this year.

I currently have Denzel listed as frontrunner just because I don't want creepy Casey Affleck to be frontrunner, given his past history of groping a sleeping woman. Hopefully that holds him back from achieving the gold and leads Denzel to receive his third Oscar.

Actress
01. Natalie Portman, Jackie
02. Emma Stone, La La Land
03. Annette Bening, 20th Century Woman
04. Amy Adams, Arrival
05. Jessica Chastain, Miss Sloane

Sigh. I am so gutted that Viola Davis is campaigning as Supporting Actress for Fences rather than Leading. From reports of people who have seen the film, it's one of those borderline cases (so not as brazen as, say, Felicia Vikander in The Danish Girl and my girl Rooney Mara in Carol last year), and Viola just submitted herself in Support to give herself more of a fighting chance of getting the gold. Which I get, #YouDoYou, but even from her clips in the trailer, she was immense, and I feel that, even with less screen time than Portman, she would have run her and Stone close. Viola is a leading lady and deserves no less than to be acknowledged as one!!!!!

Anyway, yeah, looks like Natalie Portman's heading towards her second Oscar.

Jessica Chastain for Miss Sloane is a bold pick, given most predictions have listed Isabelle Huppert, an icon of French cinema, for Elle in her place. It is indeed a travesty that Huppert doesn't even have one Oscar nomination. But as we know, talent only comes to play about 15% of the time at the Oscars. Emily Blunt doesn't have an Oscar nomination, either. 😒

I feel Miss Sloane, about a gun lobbyist, has a strongly political slant that could play well into Hollywood's hands given the recent US elections. I follow Chastain on Facebook and she's already been pointing out the parallels between the movie and life, so...

Finally, Amy Adams is very well-liked by the Academy, and is due an Oscar statuette at some point. Her performance in Arrival won't win, as it was too muted and unflashy, but the overall quality of the film, her popularity, and the fact that she was also in Nocturnal Animals makes me feel it would be churlish of them to deprive her of her sixth nomination.

Supporting Actor

01. Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

02. Peter Sarsgaard, Jackie

03. Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea

04. Liam Neeson, Silence

05. Stephen Henderson, Fences

Ali has been picking up raves everywhere for his performance in Moonlight, so much so that I highly doubt his limited screen time (the film is told in three parts so every actor bar Naomie Harris is only in, at most, a third of it) will be to his detriment. Plus a really solid piece of acting lingers with your regardless of how short the running time was (think: Anne Hathaway in Les Mis).

From the trailers, Lucas Hedges looks like he's doing great work in Manchester by the Sea. Oscars can be a bit sexist in that in the Supporting Actress category, they're more than happy to nominate/award young girls (eg Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, Saoirse Ronan in Atonement, Anna Paquin in The Piano), whereas they're stingier with dishing out slots for boys of comparable ages. But with their egregious omission of Jacob Tremblay last year for Room, they've got some atonement of their own to do. Hopefully Hedges reaps the dividends. 

Supporting Actress

01. Viola Davis, Fences

02. Naomie Harris, Moonlight

03. Nicole Kidman, Lion

04. Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures

05. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Miss Sloane

I'll admit that the prevalence of women of colour in this category is influenced by some heavy wishful thinking on my part! But seriously, no-one needs to make reparations more than the Oscars for last year's complete whitewash. By all means nominate a white actor if they were good, but 'talent' argument doesn't really work given they nominated Eddie Redcarpet for The Danish Girl, Jennifer Lawrence for Joy, Mark Ruffalo for Spotlight and Christian Bale for The Big Short, performances that compare very unfavourably to Oscar nominated-performances in the past. To say those selections were mediocre would be an insult to mediocrity.

So yeah, I don't give a sh_t if the Oscars go too far the other way in terms of affirmative action this year; performers of colour are owed some kudos. 

Naomie Harris is apparently amazing in a de-glam role as the junkie mum of the protagonist in Moonlight. She was always charming as flirty Moneypenny in the James Bond movies, so looking forward to seeing her in this role. Hidden Figures sounds great: uncredited women of colour who did all the grunt work for NASA and didn't get the credit for it. Apropos, and pretty similar to the Oscars, actually.

And Britain's very own Gugu Mbatha-Raw is a luminous screen presence (Mark Kermode, in his review of Free State of Jones, described a scene where she smiled, saying 'the whole screen lit up'), and should have been given the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast instead of Emma Watson. Gugu is strikingly beautiful, has musical and dramatic training (unlike Emma), has previously played someone called Belle (in Amma Asante's Belle), and, most importantly, can actually act. 

But ofc Emma Watson got the part.

As I said, Hollywood has some serious reparations to make.

Original Screenplay

01. Jackie
02. 20th Century Woman
03. Manchester by the Sea
04. Moonlight
05. Zootopia

Adapted Screenplay
01. Fences
02. Lion
03. Arrival
04. Silence
05. Hidden Figures
--

I'm not going to bother predicting the technicals, foreign film and short films until closer to the time when I've seen more.

I shall check back after the actual nominations come out and compare how I did! =)

Learning French via film posters.

The French don't seem to be a fan of American movies' original titles. They've sexed up Mel Gibson's film, Hacksaw Ridge, starring Andrew Garfield in what should be part of an Andy Garfield one-two-punch, along with Silence also being released. 

Google translate tells me that the title here is French for You Will Not Kill. That definitely entices me more than the rather pedestrian American title. Still better than The Accountant, mind.

Review: CINEWORLD UNLIMITED CARD.

Last July, after got my MSc Summer exam results and I fared better on them than I was expecting, I treated myself to a Year's Cineworld Unlimited card subscription as a celebratory impulse buy. I figured it would be win-win, as I study in central London, which is quite close to several of the Cineworld cinemas, and I was planning to revive my dormant blog in 2015-2016 as it was the year that Leonardo DiCaprio would finally win his Oscar, so I figured I'd have a tonne of online fangirling to do.

Well, I was half-right. Leo did win the Oscar for The Revenant, and such is my affection for his acting work in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, The Aviator, Titanic, The Depahted, Blood Diamond, The Wolf of Wall Street, Django Unchained, Catch Me If You Can etc etc etc that I would never for a second entertain the thought that it was undeserved. I feel he was the best in his category (hey, it's not my fault Jacob Tremblay and Andrew Garfield weren't nominated), and even if him rolling around in the mud for 2.5 hours isn't a fraction as good as, say, his physical comedy in the Quaaludes scene in WoWS, I was delighted my man finally got his trophy.

But such was my ambivalence, nay, downright antipathy towards Alejandro González Iñárritu's thirsty Oscar-begger overall (don't know if you heard, it was a cold shoot. And Leo had to eat RAW BISON LIVER #thirst), that The Revenant, and all its awards buzz, made me a little reticent in the Oscar race, and as such, I wasn't quite as prolific with my film-critque as I was in 2008, when I was earnestly campaigning for Saoirse Ronan to win for Atonement, or 2009, when I declaring my love for Slumdog Millionaire from the rooftops, etc.

Anyway, I digress. The purpose of this entry is to review the Cineworld Unlimited card. I shall start with the pros: it was extremely easy (and versatile) to use. I could book tickets on the day of the film at the cinema desk, or, if it was a film I felt might sell out (for example, Captain America: Civil War was one of the movies I saw on the day of its release), I could pre-book tickets online. You could also book tickets for friends, and my friend Anusiya has an Unlimited card too, and we were able to book for each other, no problem.

I visited several central London cinemas (and a few suburban ones) in my year on the Cineworld Unlimited card, and the cinema which I enjoyed the most was, unsurprisingly, the newly-built Picturehouse Central. It was so plush, polished and sleek; I absolutely adored watching films in there, even if the picture was crap, like Legend. What's more, when Picturehouse Central had just started out last Summer, they had particular films where if you watched them, you could get a free drink/popcorn/poster. So if anything, they were treating you for going to that cinema! I loved it.

Unfortunately, Cineworld Unlimited holders were only eligible to watch films at Picturehouse Central for free until the end of September, after which they had to pay a £5 uplift. I was damned if I was going to shell out £5 a movie when I'd paid in excess of £230 to watch as many films as I wanted for free.

And so, I set up cinematic digs mainly at Cineworld West India Quay and Haymarket, both of which were fine; perfectly functional. I've actually had a Cineworld Unlimited card in 2006 (when my blog was first incepted) as I'd come Runner-up in a Young Film Critic of the Year competition, and I must admit I gained some sweet nostalgia from using a new Cineworld card in the same place, some ten years on. Some highlights of my cinemagoing experience on the Unlimited card include the beautiful love story between Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in Carol, Pixar's innovative, cerebral Inside Out,  Brazilian comedy of manners The Second Mother, Andy Garfield unleashing his inner Brando in 99 Homes and Saoirse Ronan giving a cinematic tour-de-force as a young woman torn between two men - and two countries, in Brooklyn.

Unfortunately, as you can probably tell from the 42 films I've recorded in the spreadsheet above, Cineworld are, shall we say, selective in the types of films they screen. One film that I had been dying to see was the Oscar nominated Mustang, but not one of the Cineworlds in central London (or around) screened it. So I still haven't watched a film that has been described by critics as 'the Turkish Virgin Suicides'. The Virgin Suicides, FYI, is one of my favourite films, so I consider this poor.

In fact, if I wanted to watch any arthouse, foreign or independent film, I was generally left wanting. Only the Picturehouse Central screened a decent selection of foreign films (indeed, that's where I watched The Second Mother and A Girl at My Door, both solid 8/10s or above), and as I couldn't go there without a surcharge after October, it meant I wasn't able to enrich my otherwise quite Hollywood-range of films I viewed.

But it wasn't just obscure arthouse films that Cineworld let its audience down with. In January, Quentin Tarantino's much-heralded The Hateful Eight was released in the UK, yet Cineworld were unable to obtain rights to screen it, as the Odeon managed a coup on that. As it turned out, The Hateful Eight was a pretty hateful movie, with far too much casual racism and misogyny for me, but it's the principle of the matter: if Cineworld couldn't obtain rights to H8, what would be next? It sets a dangerous precedent.

The excuse that Cineworld had for not screening Hateful Eight was that they didn't have the fancy 70mm Ultra Panavision presentation equipment to show it. To put that into Real Talk, obtaining the rights to it would have been too expensive and they didn't want to put themselves out of pocket. They're more than happy to take your money, folks, but when it comes to spending it, they're a bit more reserved. Funny, that.

And, because I'm not one to be dicked around (in my film subscriptions, as in life, I prescribe to Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl's mantra: let the punishment fit the crime), I shan't be renewing my Cineworld Unlimited card. I will be taking my business to their rivals, the Odeon, who have also released an unlimited card-type business model. After all, the Odeon actually show the films I want to see.

Grade: C

My 10 Favourite Performances in 2015

Not necessarily a definitive list of the best acting performances, per se (although quality of the performance and convincingness are important in my judgement of it), but also how much it spoke to me, whether it be due to the character, the way the actor gave their role depth, or both. For an example of a past list, here be 2010's Hall of Fame.

10. Daisy Ridley & John Boyega, Star Wars: The Force Awakens 

My Favourite Performances of 2010.

Standard, a yearly tradition of mine! I must re-iterate that these are my *fave* performances of last year, by no means am I trying to claim they're the *best* ones. For example, I recognise that Colin Firth was pretty good in The King's Speech, but it didn't do anything for me. Hence, performances that I bladdy loved.


I recognised Sheen's face throughout the film, but couldn't quite put a name to it, before realising that it was "her off Fanny Hill", wherein she played a prim hotel owner. In Another Year, she and Jim Broadbent make for the stable, comfortable married couple who are the centrepiece for some more dysfunctional characters through the course of the year. Sheen plays a likeable woman with a touch of smugness to perfection and it is the painfully accurate performances in Another Year that made it the touching film it is.


Maaaan, when I was trawling the net for images of Bonham-Carter as Bellatrix in the seventh Harry Potter film, the image I wanted the most was of her - in my opinion - best scene in this film - when she was torturing Emma Watson. Her acting in that scene was perfection, it capture Bellatrix's sadistic evilness to a T. I've developed quite a penchant for rating performances in the HP movies (Tom Felton made the list last year), and it's no coincidence that so far the two performances I've rated have been portrayals of Slytherin characters. Nasty pieces of work they may be, but playing the bitch is so much more fun than playing the angel. HBC in Harry Potter >>>>>>>>> HBC in The King's Speech.


Mila Kunis is a flawless queen, and I am one of the few who actually believed her to be stronger than Natalie Portman in this film, who, despite being very good, I feel didn't quite merit her Oscar win over performances like Michelle Williams'. Anyway, Mila was the epitome of smouldering sexuality in Black Swan, a performance so sexy that I felt the need to devote an entire blog entry to it. Get it, goddess. (note, Mila's second time in being on this list in three years).



From a woman to performed cunnilingus to a man who performed cunnilingus, it's somewhat of a disgrace that Gosling was completely overlooked at the Oscars. His performance was so gut-wrenching, so moving, so raw, that I wanted it to work with Cindy. But, in films as sometimes in life, we can't always get our happy endings, but such is the emotional gravita of Gosling's turn that, when it didn't, I genuinely felt gutted for his character. :(


Right, quiet you! :p Chloe Moretz was hollering c-bombs in 2010, Justin Bieber had girls in a frenzy and Smith's lil sis Willow Smith was whipping her hair back and forth, but it's Jaden Smith's straightforward, gutsy performance as the boy who learns karate to fight off bullies was as engaging a child performance as you'll see all year. Much of his performance owed to the rapport he had with Jackie Chan, who actually gave a very moving performance indeed; his scene in the car during the anniversary of his wife & daughter's death moved me to tears. Much more than just karate, trust me.


As swaggerous, strong, and gritful a girl with plaits as I've ever seen in cinema.

Oh, Andy.


I am so, so, so glad Christian Bale won the Oscar this year for his amaze performance as Dicky Eklund, a fighter who has flaws from top to bottom, but remains a magnetic watch. His gentle chemistry with on-screen brothers Mark Wahlberg and mother Melissa Leo are completely riveting and convincing, his drug-related mistakes are as hilarious to watch as they are painful, and the scene wherein he sees his son on the TV screen from prison is absolutely heartbreaking.  The Fighter was a somewhat predictable - but still winning - film, but Christian Bale's energy as Eklund meant that I was captivated throughout.

Interesting tidbit that only interests me: he was born in Haverfordwest, where one of my best mates at Uni is from! \o/


Leonardo DiCaprio never fails to be fine, but after he starred in my second least favourite film of 2010, Inception, I found his shaggability slightly on the wane. Nonetheless, if I remember that he was in a much superior movie that was released earlier in 2010,  Shutter island, I can just about still love him. A big motif of Shutter Island is what is reality and what is imagination, and it is a testament to DiCaprio's performance that even at the end, we were never really sure.


I watched Another Year yetserday, and it's a shame I didn't do so before I'd compiled my favourite films of 2010 list, because it would have easily gotten fourth place (a phrase that I hope I can say of my team Chelsea football club, heh heh heh), thus knocking off Streetdance 3D and hence shielding the list from some of the snarking I got from my bezzo Luke. :p But yeah, delightful, honest, sweet movie, and Lesley Manville, to me, was even more of a centrepiece than Ruth  Sheen & Jim Broadbent's married couple. I thought that Imelda Staunton's devastatingly real cameo at the start of the film would hold the title for best performance in the film, but from the moment I came to watch Lesley Manville as a jittery, insecure, aging woman ala Blanche DuBois who just wants to love and be loved, I knew I was wrong. A bit of Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky, a bit of Vivien Leigh, this is an acting tour-de-force. I pitied her, I found her irksome, I cringed with her, but, above all, I felt for her. There's your amazing performance.

My 10 Favourite Films of 2010.

I can’t tell a lie, I wasn’t exactly blown away by the majority of 2010 releases. Much of this was my own fault/ I didn’t frequent my little arthouse digs quite as much last year, which explains the highly commercial nature of the majority of my top 10. 

Whilst there are usually two or three obscure little treats in my top list, due to the fact that I barely watched any indie films this year, the top 10 is the most blockbuster it’s been for a while. And what I did see, on the whole, I wasn’t impressed with. 

Should I have time I may do a least favourite 10, but until then, the goodies.

10. StreetDance 3D [full review here]

I have big, unapologetic love for my dance movies (Step Up 2 made the same position on my top list of 2008 two years ago). StreetDance 3D is very similar to the Step Up movies; it centres around dance and disaffected youth and looks at how dance gives them a raison d'etre, and like with the original Step Up with Channing Tatum, it fuses hip hop and street dancing with the more refined skills involved in ballet. 

As so much of the film revolves around the dancing spectacles, the acting, plot and dialogue aren’t the greatest, but they more than suffice, plus there’s the novelty of seeing Charlotte Rampling cast as a ballet teacher; even in autopilot, she’s nothing less than a queen. 

Set in inner-city London, the city is shot in a way that Woody Allen captured London in Match Point- practically on a pedestal, and the cameos from Britain’s Got Talent acts such as Diversity and Flawless, the acting debut from the wonderful cheeky chappy George Sampson, the trendy soundtrack and the modern day Romeo and Juliet parallel all somehow fit together slickly. 

So whilst it’s a simple enough film in terms of character and plot, the dancing is anything but, and StreetDance 3D is one of the few films wherein watching it in 3D genuinely does heighten the viewing pleasure. Definitely worth singing and dancing about.

BAFTA Predictions, 2011.

I'm excited for the BAFTAs tonight! Lovely costumes, loads of film banter and the majority of Hollywood showing up and looking fine, fresh fierce. What more could a movie buff and fangirl ask for? So, here are my predictions for who'll win what!

BEST PICTURE The King's Speech.
Alternative: The Social Network.

Personally I greatly prefer The Social Network to The King's Speech, but I'm not sure, I think the Britishness of the latter may sway it for BAFTA voters.
BEST DIRECTOR David Fincher.
Alternative: Christopher Nolan.

BAFTA don't tend to make a habit of giving both Best Film and Director to the same film (though they have done this quite a lot in recent years, Brokeback Mountain and Slumdog Millionaire bagging both, as did, weirdly, The Crap Locker), so I'm going for different predictions here. It wouldn't surprise me at all of Chris Nolan won Best Director this evening actually, BAFTA could give it to him as a "sorry you weren't nominated at the Oscars" thing.

BEST ACTOR Colin Firth - The King's Speech.
Alternative: Javier Bardem - Biutiful.

As if it's going to go to anyone other than Colin Firth! The biggest lock of the night, to be honest.

BEST ACTRESS Natalie Portman - Black Swan.
Alternative: Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit.

I think Natalie's got this one locked, although I would love, love love for Hailee to win it; she characterised what is and will be the fiercest young character to ever wear braids. Her character really did have true grit.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Christian Bale - The Fighter.
Alternative: Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech.

I would love for Andy Garfield to be walking up to the podium collecting this prize, but I highly doubt it. Oh, Andy. At least you win something. I know, it's cold comfort. :p Nonetheless, I can't begrudge Bale of his win. He is a terrific actor and was uncannily good in The Fighter. What is it with men with the surname Bale who were born in Wales? They're all exceedingly talented.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Lesley Manville - Another Year.
Alternative: Miranda Richardson - Made in Dagenham.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY The King's Speech
Alternative: Inception

If Inception takes this, I will figuratively choke up a kidney from the lolage.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY The Social Network
Alternative: True Grit
BEST BRITISH MOVIE  Another Year
Alternative: 127 Hours

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Alternative: The Secrets in their Eyes

CINEMATOGRAPHY Inception
Alternative: True Grit

COSTUME DESIGN Black Swan
Alternative: Alice in Wonderland

SOUND Inception

Alternative: True Grit

EDITING Inception

Alternative: The Social Network

It'll make me chuckle if Inception actually does win this, as I found the film tediously boring, and surely a sign of good editing is that the film doesn't feel overlong? Anyway.

FILM MUSIC Inception

Alternative: 127 Hours (oh good god I hope not)

So all in all, I don't hope for much. I'd much rather The Social Network or True Grit won Best Film over Inception and The King's Speech, and I would lovelovelove for Hailee Steinfeld to win Best Actress. Or anyone other than Natalie Portman, to be quite honest. And Inception to not get anything important. I would like BAFTA to pleasantly surprise me by giving How to Train Your Dragon a Music Win and Toy Story III a screenplay win, but, I doubt it!

A Look Ahead to Best Original Score, 2010.

The nominees: 

• 127 Hours: A.R. Rahman
• How to Train Your Dragon: John Powell
• Inception: Hans Zimmer
• The King's Speech: Alexandre Desplat
• The Social Network: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

My rankings and grades:

01. How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell)

Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon is a fresh, cute film about a lad and his dragon. From the very first couple of notes of the score (which begin as the film does), I thought “oh here we go ago, another standard boring Disneyesque film”, with an unequally uninspired score to match. But I was wrong, for, as soon as the narrator subverted my thoughts in his narration, the score also did, and went from cheesy to cheeky. 

There’s barely a scene in How to Train Your Dragon where music isn’t employed, but it never feels intrusive and its playfulness is an absolutely joy; listen to how the music modulates into schmaltz pastiche when the protagonist’s crush walks onto the screen. 

Exuberant, lively, and adventurous, John Powell has sculpted a score which embodies the film perfectly, and, in honestly, is a huge factor for why I enjoyed it so. He clearly had a huge amount of fun writing the score, and we as the audience share the enjoyment in listening to it. 

A

(but don’t just take my word for it, check out the amaze tracks yourself! The Drowned Dragon / See You Tomorrow / The Vikings Have Their Tea)

02. Inception (Hans Zimmer)

Hmm, Inception. It’s very difficult for me to be even in the same room as this film without wanting to throw something at it. But, credit where credit is due, Hans Zimmer knows how to – and clearly enjoys – penning the scores to action/adventure/thriller films. And often, as with Inception and The Da Vinci Code, his music proves to be the best thing about the lame excuse for a film. 

The track Mombasa, played when the action for the film was just kicking in, is terrifically fresh and frenetic, and at that point still gave me enough false hope to believe the film might be worth bothering with; the fusion of hyper-drumming and electro-rock give the film a huge sense of urgency and excitement. 

The finale track Time is full of hope, sadness and despair in its elegiac string chords and powerful surges of crescendo as well as the blend of semiquavers and minims played in the beautiful 528491, a track which I will forever now associate with Pete Postlethwaite. 

Unlike Christopher Nolan with the plot, Hans Zimmer keeps the musical ingredients relatively simple for Inception. And, by doing so, he shows that less is more. Take note next time you try to write/direct something about dreams ever again please, Chris Nolan. A-

03. The King’s Speech (Alexandre Desplat)

Alexandre Desplat, who also scored 2010’s Ghost Writer and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, finds himself getting his fourth nomination in five years for his score to what is now, after recent DGA and SAG ensemble wins, the front-runner for Best Film come February 27th. His other three nominations have come for his music to films about a wily fox, a man who ages backwards, and, curiously enough, the Queen of England. But Desplat avoids doing what many composers must be tempted to do; go through their rolodex of old musical notes used for The Queen and bung it in to The King’s Speech, justifying that, they are, after all, “both about monarchy in England.” No, Mr Desplat is nothing if not original, and the music to The King’s Speech dances with wit and whimsy. On personal listening, the tinkling piano, the sparse use of woodwork and the orchestral melodies don’t delight quite as much as they do with the pictures, and it far from sits in my personal top 5 Desplat scores (that, for your information, would be Birth, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Syriana, Lust, Caution and The Upside of Anger) but in fitting in with telling of King George’s journey from zero to hero, they certainly fit the bill. B+.

04. The Social Network (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)

Whenever I try to remember the score to The Social Network, literally all I can ever remember is just a bunch of piano chords at all the most dramatic moments. Literally. Seriously, the score was a total non-entity and it absolutely confounds me how two people were required (one of which, Mr Reznor, is actually Nine Inch Nails' frontman), to put together such a musicalling mediocrity. I have no beef with the film whatsoever, in fact, I’d quite like it to win Best Film ahead of The King’s Speech, which left me somewhat cold, but please, not the score. That was crap, and the academy should definitely have deprived The Social Network of a nomination in this category and given it to the film where it deserved it - Best Supporting Actor. Oh yes, I'm still stanning Andrew Garfield. E.

05. 127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)

Speaking of crap, Jesus. I don’t get any joy out of ragging on A.R. Rahman, he did, after all, produce what I consider to be one of the most ingenious scores of recent years in Slumdog Millionaire’s terrific soundtrack. But if The Social Network was just a mishmash of sad-sounding piano chords, 127 Hours was just a mish-mash of weird sounds, with a bit of acoustic guitar thrown in to try and evoke the eerie, ethereal effect. I was not won over; the music left me feeling as viscerally sick as much as the arm amputating. F.

Who will win: The Social Network (urgh)
Who deserves to win: John Powell for How to Train Your Dragon
Who deserved to be nominated: Alexandre Desplat for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?? idk. On the whole, it wasn't the most memorable year for film scores. Pity. But John Powell's score to How to Train Your Dragon is absolutely adorable, and I'm actually quite pleased I forsaw this one getting nominated.

The Oscar Nominations 2011: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Full list here



Good
- Hailee Steinfeld's nomination! It's her first film role and a child performance as good as Saoirse Ronan in Atonement and Ivana Baquero in Pan's Labyrinth, two other performances I adore. The whole "pushing her into support" was a severe case of category frauds, but it's not the first and won't be the last time a kid has been pushed into supporting to boost their chances (see also: Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon) and let's be honest, everyone does it (see also: Jake G in BBM, Jamie Foxx in Collateral), and she's not hurting anyone (apart from maybe Mila Kunis. Whom I also love, but in a more lesbian way), and if I get over my massive girlcrush on Mila I'll happily admit that Steinfeld's performance eclipsed Kunis', so in that sense, good is good!

- Christopher Nolan not getting a Best Director nomination for Inception. Oh, how I laughed. :DDDDD Cannot stand that film. Second least favourite of 2010. If I had my way, it would be leading the charge at the  Razzies

- Screenplay & Song love for my favourite film of 2010, Toy Story III.


- Melissa Leo, Amy Adams and Christian Bale getting duly nominated for their excellent performances in The Fighter (though they were sure-locks). The latter two will be favourites to go on and win, and deservedly so.

Bad
- 127 Hour's score getting nominated. I mean, really? It was just bloody sounds.

- The Social Network for Sound Mixing. Are you joking me?!

- Jeremy Renner getting nominated for The Town. I'd heard so much hype for his performance, but really, he just came off as surly. I cannot believe he got in ahead of Garfield. Speaking of which...


Ugly
- The Academy treating Andrew Garfield not dissimilar to how Mark Zuckerberg treated Eduardo Saverin. This was my reaction to his snub:


I am NOT a happy bunny!

2011 Oscar Nomination Predictions.

I’m in the middle of exams, so I’m just predicting the main categories. And score, 'cos I love me my film music :-)

Best Film

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Alt: Winter’s Bone

I'm still not used to this 10-instead-of-5 nominations malarky. It really, really devalues the Oscars, if you ask me. And Inception? PAH.

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Chris Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Alt: Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Pretty standard, I’d say. I’ve seen all but The King’s Speech, and of them, Fincher is my favourite and the likely eventual winner. I’ll keep my (less than impressed) opinions about Inception to myself, no?

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Robert DuVall, Get Low

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King's Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

Alt: Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

I’ve only seen Bridges’ and Eisenberg’s performances, both of which are solid turns. I really enjoyed Marky Mark in The Fighter, but he doesn’t seem to have gathered as much pre-cursor buzz, so I’m not predicting him, despite him being one of my favourites.

Best Actress

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
Alt: Julianne Moore, The Kids are All Right

I don’t know what’s going with Hailee Steinfeld in terms of category placement; she’s quite clearly lead, but I think the FYCs have pushed her as supporting. Now sometimes, the Academy make up their own minds (like Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider), but if they accept her as lead, I don’t think she’ll get nominated, which is a shame so I’ll take her getting nominated in supporting because even though it’s category fraud, a nomination’s better than none at all, non? And I love Julie Moore, so despite the fact that I haven't seen The Kids are All Right yet, I want her to get another nomination <3

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Fighter
Andrew Garfield , The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech
Alt: John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

I’m not gonna lie, I really don’t see the big deal with Jeremy Renner’s performance; he was just all psycho-y. Rebecca Hall was the best performance in that film. I don’t see the Oscars “doing a BAFTA” and nominating Pete Postlewaite for the same film, so this is the safe five. I will CUT A BITCH if Andrew Garfield doesn’t get nominated, he was wonderful. Oh, Andy.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Alt: Mila Kunis, Black Swan

Awww, I really, really, really wish Mila Kunis were getting nominated, but the pre-cursors just don’t seem enough for her, plus I don’t know if her free-spirited ballerina is “baity” enough for the Oscars. Anyway, I’d love for her to get nominated. However, were Kunis to get nominated, it seems that Hailee Steinfeld would be the opportunity cost, and I loved Steinfeidl in True Grit, her getting nominated would be a score one for the young action heroines that Ivana Baquero in Pan's Labyrinth missed out on. Plus Steinfeld was so natural and wonderful. So I'm so conflicted! Having seen The Fighter last night, I am fully in support of Adams’ and Leo’s nominations; I can’t decide whom I like more, but if Melissa Leo does win the Oscar, good for her!

Original Screenplay
Blue Valentine

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids are All Right
The King’s Speech
Alt: Black Swan

Right, so, why am I going for a Black Swan snub in favour of Blue Valentine? I dunno, I just think they might do it to “compensate” for Ryan Gosling not getting nominated. Plus I’ve heard reviews about how ~~true to life~~ the script is, so perhaps it will resonate with the Academy voters who are stuck in loveless marriages. Again, I’m shaking my head at Inception’s joke of a script getting nominated, but whatever.

Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story III
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Oh dear god, I sincerely hope 127 Hours’ script doesn’t get nominated (hai. I’m on a rock. Hai, I’m chopping off my arm. Hai, film’s ended.), but I can see Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy (the twosome responsible for Slumdog Millionaire’s script – now that was a nice screenplay) getting nominated. The others, I’m cool with. I’d love if Toy Story III (my favourite film of 2010 at this moment in time) won over The Social Network, but that ain’t happening, and The Social Network is my second fave film of 2010 and I loved the banter, so I can deal. The lines coming out of this guy's mouth were hilar:

Score
Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech
Randy Newman, Toy Story III
John Powell, How to Train Your Dragon
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Hans Zimmer, Inception

Whilst I deeply enjoyed The Social Network, one thing I cannot for the life of me fathom is all the hoo-ha over its score. That’s the only Oscar that I have a problem with it getting. I really liked Desplat’s score to the seventh Harry Potter film, but obviously The King’s Speech is the score he’ll be getting nominated for. And despite holding Inception in the absolute lowest regard, the music in it was pretty decent.

Other?
My main Oscar wish is that “Never Say Never” from The Karate Kid gets nominated for Best Song. It’s actually written by Justin Bieber, and I don’t know if I can be dealing with him as an Oscar nominee, but the song sums up the film so well, plus there’s a swaggerous breakdown rap in the middle. I rate it.


Oh, and should Andrew Garfield not get nominated? This is gonna be my reaction:

Three film reviews: 127 HOURS (Danny Boyle, 2010), THE SOCIAL NETWORK (David Fincher, 2010) and THE TOWN (Ben Affleck, 2010)

Screening log 10/01/11-16/10/11

I watched three films this week, all 2010 releases, two set in Boston, one set in between a rock.

127 Hours (Danny Boyle, 2010)

You’ve seen the trailer, you’ve heard the hype, you know what it’s about. While I don't treat IMDb scores as gospel, the film received a notably high rating on the site, so truth be told, I expected more. Instead, I found 127 Hours to be fairly boring at points. What we have here is about 60 minutes of material dragged out into a cinema release with the help of some fancy digital effects. 

Sexiest film Characters of 2010.

Not gonna lie, I am a bit of a horny bung. I love doing these lists, because it is essentially just an excuse for me to trawl through the web for yummy pics of yummy people.

Men

01. Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

I remember, back in 2009, when me and my two best friends Luke and Anna were in the Little Theatre, Bath, watching The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus. It was a horrifically shoddy movie and we were not impressed. However, there was one bright spot to the entire film, and that came in the form of Jewish cutie pie Andrew Garfield, or, as I thought of him, “him off Sugar Rush.” 

It was such a delight to see him cast as the awkward, clumsy comedy part, as that is a role that I feel suits him to a T. Little did I know that in 2010, he’d be turning heads in a huge fashion in sci-fi drama Never Let Me Go alongside Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan, as well as the probable Oscar winner for Best Pic, The Social Network, a film I’d just watched yesterday. And not only does he give a wonderful performance, but he is just so, irresistibly cute, dorky and fine! I would quite happily be his groupie.

02. Rupert Grint, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

Oh, Rupert! Whilst the seventh Harry Potter film didn’t fill me with as much childish glee and thrill as, say, Prisoner of Azkaban or Order of the Phoenix did, Rupert Grint, was, as ever, a joy to watch throughout. And, when he takes his shirt off? Goddamn. Little boy’s all grown up!

03. Zac Efron, Charlie St. Cloud

Watched this on New Year’s Eve with my mates and, I was the topic of some jesting because my cheeks were literally going red whenever Mr. Efron was on screen. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Zac Efron, but one thing remains sure – I do think he’s fit.

04. Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy & Cillian Murphy, Inception

Now, as you may or may not know, I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of Inception. Ha, that’s somewhat of an understatement; it currently stands as my second least favourite film of 2010, just behind Enter the Void. But, I can’t deny no way my d-d-dirty mind was perving on the fit guys instead of watching the pretentious film itself. I was loving the homoerotic undertones between Gordon-Levitt and Hardy, Cillian Murphy is never not beautiful, and Leo, even though he had more than a touch of the Shutter Island crazy that he sported in the other film of 2010, works a suit very well indeed.

05. Taylor Lautner, Twilight: Eclipse

I hate me too, don’t worry. But that body! UNF.

And, a few Non-film entries…

Peter Crouch, footballer (Spurs)

Standard, innit. Crouchie didn’t exactly set goal-scoring records alight in 2010, but one of his few goals that he did score – the winner in the fourth place showdown between Manchester City and Tottenham, was enough to bung Spurs into the Champions League. I still maintain that he should have started in all the games for England in the World Cup too, then we may have actually got somewhere. But oh well. Tall giant is tall. And awesome.

Robert Sheehan, The Misfits

The Misfits was one of my main discoveries of 2010, and I now adore the show. It’s essentially Heroes-meets-Skins, but unlike Heroes, there’s a small number of characters so that we can actually follow the plot and we’re not swamped with pseudo-Science, and unlike Skins, the characters aren’t posers who think they have swagger when they’re just slutty. Anyway, Robert Sheehan’s Irish accent, corkscrew curls and cheeky chappy demeanour made him completely irresistible, especially when he’s slashing it up with Iwan Rheon.

Frank Lampard, footballer (Chelsea)

Huh. As if he wasn’t gonna get a mention!

Gurls

01. Mila Kunis, Black Swan

02. Eva Mendes, The Other Guys

03. Emma Stone, Easy A

04. Kaya Scodelario, Shank

05. Tamsin Egerton, 4.3.2.1