2017 Golden Globe nominations!

Here be the 2017 Golden Globe nominations, announced earlier today! As I haven't seen the majority of the films yet, I shall just post the lists unless I have something of value to say XD

Best Picture, Drama 
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Where on earth is Arrival? No way is Mel Gibson's tedious-looking Hacksaw Ridge more deserving of a Best Pic nomination than the beautiful sci-fi movie! I'm glad to see Hell or High Water get some love, tho.

Best Picture, Comedy or Musical 
20th Century Women
Deadpool
Florence Foster Jenkins
La La Land
Sing Street

Of these, I've only seen Deadpool, which was solid (7/10), although comedies I rated higher this year include Zootopia, Cafe Society, War Dogs, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, The Edge of Seventeen, Ghostbusters and Love and Friendship, so I can't say I think it totally deserves its place on the list.

Best Director 
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

I'm not convinced Tom Ford's ponderous brand of perfume commercial 'directing' in Nocturnal Animals was better than what Denis Villeneuve achieved on the other Amy Adams film, but there you go. I know I haven't seen Hacksaw Ridge but ew at that raging anti-semite Mel Gibson being recognised.

Best Actor, Drama 
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences

I haven't seen any of these titles yet, but Casey Affleck  has been absolutely decimating the competition in all the Critics Awards so far, so he's considered front-runner for Best Actor. Which is annoying as he groped a woman whilst she was asleep, but hey-ho, I guess Hollywood has short memories about sexpesting when you're white and your big brother does all the campaigning on your behalf, precluding you from looking thirsty.

(The irony of me complaining about a sibling showing off on their younger brother's behalf is a bit rich, given I'm constantly bragging about my brother's grades on Facebook, but not like me to be a hypocrite, now is it? *cough* have a go at Blahra Delevingne for using her father's connections to get into films when I didn't do a dissimilar thing to get on my MSc *cough*)

Best Actress, Drama 
Amy Adams, Arrival
Jessica Chastain, Miss Sloane
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie

Yesss at Amy Adams getting nominated for the right movie. And yessss for her fellow redhead Jessica Chastain getting a nom; an Oscar nom is probably out of the question now, but it's nice to see Queen Jessica recognised somewhere! 

Isabelle Huppert has been slaying at the Critics Awards so far, and whilst the overlap between critics (who tend to favour arthouse, European performances) isn't identical with the Oscars and HPFA, their star-f_cking Hollywood counterparts, this nomination builds good momentum for Isabelle. I hope she wins the Oscar!!!!

Best Actor, Comedy 
Colin Farrell, The Lobster
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Jonah Hill, War Dogs
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

Ma boi Jonah Hill for War Dogs had me like 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

I've been trawling Oscarwatch websites and the dismay and shade at Hill getting nominated here has me trollfacing, so hard. He provoked a similar reaction when he got his second Oscar nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street, as if because he's rotund and a comedy man, he's not allowed to recognised for his acting performances???

My money is on 99% of the naysayers not even having seen War Dogs, because Hill was immense in it. His unsettling giggle and his portrayal of a self-aggrandising, jumped up prick was just so on point and I would know about self-aggrandisement. He fully deserves this nomination, haters gonna hate. SO PROUD OF JONAH!!!!

Best Actress, Comedy 
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Lily Collins, Rules Don't Apply
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

And so proud for young Hailee Steinfeld as well!!!!!! Hailee was snubbed of a Golden Globe nomination for her majestic turn in True Grit, although she eventually went on to get an Oscar nomination for that film, so it didn't harm her too much. I love her, she's in Taylor Swift's Bad Blood music video (along with another actress who I love and never discredit, Cara Delevingne) and she's a sick singer too; Love Myself needs to be everybody's masturbation anthem.

Plus Hailee was absolutely radiant in Edge of Seventeen, bringing empathy and pathos to a character who (on paper) was an absolute nightmare. Her expressive face just lit up the screen.

I hope Hailee wins this category, although that's very unlikely. Emma Stone will certainly be frontrunner for this award, not least because La La Land will win multiple categories at the Globes. I be hella petty and fangirlish; I don't want Emma Stone to win an Oscar until her Superbad co-star Jonah Hill wins his first. (also, she played a half-Asian in Aloha. Just sayin').

Best Supporting Actor 
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Simon Helberg, Florence Foster Jenkins
Dev Patel, Lion
Aaron Taylor Johnson, Nocturnal Animals

I'm so happy ATJ got credit for Nocturnal Animals!! In all the other precursors so far, it's Michael Shannon who has been getting nominated for Supporting Actor, so the fact that the Golden Globes bucked the trend is both surprising and welcome. Aaron was creepy AF in Nocturnal Animals, what a transformation given he's quite the dish in real life. And I know this isn't related to his acting, but I just love that he took on his wife' surname.

Simon Helberg is ace on The Big Bang Theory as smarmy Howard, so it's nice to see he's transitioned to films well!

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Strong category. I haven't seen any of the performances yet, but currently in my personal Supporting Actress ballot, I have Viola Davis fifth (for Suicide Squad) and Michelle Williams sixth (for Certain Women), and these aren't even the films they're in awards contention in, so I'm sure  they'll bring a lot of gravitas to their nominated roles.

Best Screenplay 
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water

Surprised to see Hell or High Water nominated, but very pleased about it. I'm not convinced about Nocturnal Animals' screenplay, as I was with the direction. It was just a pulpy revenge movie? A very sleek pulpy revenge movie, but a pulpy revenge movie nonetheless. Unless I'm missing something... Personally, I thought the best thing about the film were the performances (particularly ATJ).

Best Original Score 
Moonlight
La La Land
Arrival
Lion
Hidden Figures

Yay for Arrival! Jóhann Jóhannsson's ethereal score suited the vibe of the film perfectly.

Best Animated Feature Film 
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
Sing
Zootopia 

Zootopia is currently my third favourite film of the year and Kubo and the Two Strings my sixth, so I would be happy with either winning.

Best Foreign Language Film 
Divines
Elle
Neruda
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann

No Handmaiden here, hmmm. But Elle, Neruda and Toni Erdmann, the latter which was named Sight and Sound magazine's top film of 2016, are high up on my to-see list.

A film I was surprised to see completely shut-out at the Golden Globes was Martin Scorsese's Silence. Here be a film poster of it I spotted yesterday:

Silence has its BBFC rating, by the way, 15 for 'strong violence, scenes of torture'. Which is actually tame by Scorsese's standards~~~~

Quantity not Quality in BBFCInsight.

In addition to its eye-catching trailer, one of the things which caught my interest regarding pulpy neo-noir Nocturnal Animals was its BBFCInsight, which featured no less than five causes for ascertaining its 15 certificate:

Just for the sake of completeness of trivia, here are a few other 15 certificate films with 5 classification issues:

In terms of 12A-rated feature length films, the title that I can find with the most classification issues is Tim Burton's Dark Shadows:

As noted in the extended information, threat was an issue too, but the moderate violence, horror, gore and threat were all closely related, and the BBFC examiners (justly) assumed that by highlighting three of those issues, the four was almost a given.

Ironically, what got me to view the very charming Luck-Key wasn't the plot synopsis, but the fact that it had four issues for its 12A certificate. There's some BBFC nerdiness for ya.

Below are four more 12As which had four classification issues, two of which feature the lovely Hailee Steinfeld:

EDIT: 17 November 2016:

season 4 of Nashville has 6 category-defining issues at 12:

And War on Everyone, and Goat, respectively, have not five but six and seven reasons for getting a 15!

It makes me wonder: if a film reached eight or nine reasons to get a 15 certificate, wouldn't it just make the BBFC examiners' lives easier if they slapped an 18 on it?

As for 18s, Hyena has five classification issues, and bunged together starkly in one sentence, it doesn't make the film sound all that palatable.

If you know of any 12As and 18s with more than five classification issues, do let me know!

Film review: MISSION MILANO [WANG PAI DOU WANG PAI] (Wang Jing, Jing Wong, 2016)

Wang Jing and Jing Wong's painfully unfunny spy spoof sees Andy Lau's Interpol officer Agent Sampan Hung joining forces with Huang Xiaoming's playboy entrepreneur to retrieve a 'Seed of God' which has been stolen from them by a shady Japanese crime syndicate, Crescent. Their mission sees them bounce from Macau to Milan before ending up in eastern Europe. Along the way is all manner of comedy of errors as the directors and writers try to desecrate the memory of all decent spy films by pastiching them, woefully.

I was intrigued by Mission Milano, mainly because I noticed that the broadsheet papers, which review about ten film releases a week, didn't review this title. Having watched it, I can see why. This is one of the cheapest, tackiest films I've ever seen. It's an OTT satire, and thus, the audience are not supposed to take things too seriously. I'm not sure the cast and crew are supposed to heed that advice so rigorously, though. Characters have a nonplussed look on their face for the majority of the film, even when a knife is pressed up against their faces. The props alone would give any Hollywood set director nightmares; even the knives which get thrown around look plastic!

There's a big case of 'you don't know what you're doing' which indicates that the film could have done with a European script consultant. The film title pays homage to Milan, an Italian metropolis. Yet the Bond-inflected score which runs throughout, has a distinctly Spanish flavour. Furthermore, one of the scenes is supposed to take place in AC Milan's final. Due to budgetary restrictions (something which is all too prevalent throughout the film), the filmmakers were unable to properly superimpose footage of such a busy match, and instead show shots of the football-going crowd that is half empty. AC MILAN'S FINAL WOULDN'T BE HALF-EMPTY, YO!!!

I'm sympathetic to the fact that Chinese films don't get the eye-watering funding that their Hollywood counterparts do, so they can't compete with them on elements like CGI. But if that's the case, Chinese film companies shouldn't strive to be making films like this, which require extensive amounts of CGI, and thus nakedly reveal the gulf in quality of special effects in American and Chinese movies. When there's a disconnect between ambition and means, the result is Mission Milano.

The cast are all pretty awful, save 16-year-old Nana Ou-Yang, who has the fresh-faced naiveness of an oriental Hailee Steinfeld, and was winning in her scenes. I don't blame the flat acting so much on the cast, as I do the thinly sketched / inconsistent characters. For example, Andy Lau's Agent Sampan is supposed to be a hard man and a suave lady's man, all in one (massive Bond rip-off). Yet at inopportune moments, he's found longing over his ex-wife. This isn't even a Casino Royale case of cause-and-effect, where his character is crusty because he was burned in the past. The film wants him to be both sensitive and frosty at the same time.

I would be lying if I said I was stony faced for the entire 102 minute running time. There were several occasions when I let out a splutter - often of disbelief at how much they were insulting the audience's intelligence with such a gaping plot-holes, and when the writers ran out of spy movies to send up, they turned to Star Wars, which took me by surprise. There were some cheap visual gags which tickled me, including a weird seduction sequence featuring some toe-sucking which quite frankly, I was amazed the BBFC passed at 12A (not the first time the BBFC have dubiously classified a 2016 Chinese film, now is it?). But overall, this is mindless,  tonally uneven, low-rent film making.

Barely anyone will see this film (there was only one other person in the audience other than me). And that's how it should be.

4/10

Film review: MALEFICENT (Robert Stromberg, 2014)

Turning the well-known story of Sleeping Beauty on its head, Wicked-style, Maleficent tells the story of two lands. One is ruled by a vain King, and inhabited by discontent mortals, unhappy at the extent of inequality facing them (an apt parable for society today, perhaps). The other is full of mythical creatures, including pixies, walking trees and lots of fairies, one of the most prominent of which is the titular Maleficent.

At the start of the film, Maleficent is but a girl, and, given her advanced magical powers, already somewhat of a protector of her land and those in it. She is alerted of a human boy of about her age, Stefan, who has crossed boundaries to her land, and tried to pickpocket a diamond. Confronting him, she forces him to return the diamond, but, despite the compromising circumstances in which they meet, she comes to like him. He, like her, is an orphan, and, when he accidentally singes her with his iron ring, throws it away as a gesture of goodwill. Maleficent is deeply moved by this, and the two become friends, and then lovers.

However, whilst the young Maleficent is a romantic, Stefan is more of a pragmatist. After he hits adulthood he leaves her to fulfil his ambitions, and makes his way up to become one of the King’s cronies. On his deathbed from a failed siege of Maleficent’s land, the King promises he will name his heir and betroth his daughter to anyone who can slay Maleficent. 

Stefan is fond of Maleficent, but he is much, much fonder of power and glory, and, whilst he stops short of killing her, abuses her trust, drugging her to sleep, and cutting off her wings so as to give the impression that he did indeed slay her. And that is where our good girl turns into the embittered, malevolent figure of villainess that we remember from the Disney cartoon.

Hot on the heels of last year’s multiple-Oscar-winner Frozen, Maleficent is another Disney movie that subverts the traditional ‘girls need a Prince Charming to swoop in and save them’ trope, and instead, promotes solidarity between womanhood.

The central dynamic here is between Jolie’s horned fairy ruler and Elle Fanning as Aurora, the good-natured, trusting princess whom she had cursed as a baby. Both are well-cast; Jolie’s English accent is spot-on and she delivers her sarcastic lines with relish and genuinely instills fear into the audience. We genuinely believe hell hath no fury like a fairy scorned.

Elle Fanning impresses in a role that, in just about every other young actress, save perhaps Hailee Steinfeld, I would have found extremely grating. Aurora is naive, bordering on gullible (in one brilliant display of dramatic irony, she calls Maleficent her ‘fairy godmother’), but Fanning's winning smile and sweet performance keeps her endearing rather than dopey. 

The relationship between the two is the strongest part of the film, and when Aurora comes to learn the horrible truth, it is genuinely emotional; we feel as disappointed as she does.

Whilst the leading ladies are well-cast, the supporting men is more of a mixed bag. As Diablo, Maleficent’s sidekick raven, Sam Riley is an inspired choice. I’m so used to seeing him in offbeat indie movies like On The Road and Control, so to see him in such a high-profile blockbuster was a delight in itself. Diablo is a bird Maleficent rescues, with the view to becoming her wings after her’s are stolen from her, and whilst Diablo goes about his tasks, he is not afraid to question his mistress and give her lip back, elevating him into a much more interesting character than the standard Crabbe/Goyle-type yeomen.

However, as King Stefan, Sharlto Copley is a bad, bad choice. I feel the film’s casting directors missed a trick, because, whilst we’re obviously not supposed to sympathise with the man who broke Maleficent’s heart and betrayed her trust, there’s nothing wrong with making him dastardly handsome, just to yo-yo with our loyalties a bit. Copley is not conventionally handsome, and sports an angry Scottish accent. As such, I was firmly on Maleficent’s side, no matter how horrible her actions. Not ideal.

The middle act of Maleficent dragged, and some of the dialogue is pure cheese (such as when Aurora meets the young pup who we believe to be her Prince Charming). I was also somewhat underwhelmed with the three good fairies; I adore Imelda Staunton and Juno Temple, and cheered inside when I saw them. But whilst I found them amusing, I feel their foolish antics somewhat outstayed their welcome in the film, as did the meandering sequences where Aurora gets to see Maleficent’s kingdom.

That being said, the fantasy action sequences are nothing short of breath-taking: hyper-energetic and thrilling without being overly violent, and the showdown finale was brilliantly staged. All in all, a good popcorn movie that was a little on the messy side, but it promoted empathy and girl power. And that’s never a bad thing in my eyes.

6.5/10

You've got a smile that could light up this whole town.

I've been revisiting the Taylor Swift tracks on my iPod recently, and I don't care what anyone else says, I still find her songs a delight. One lyric in her "You Belong with Me" song, particularly rings out to me, I find it charming in its corniness, you've got a smile that could light up this whole town. And it got me thinking, several of my favourite celebrities genuinely do have smiles so fabulous they could metaphorically light up a town. Here be a few of my favourites!

06. Adam Johnson



There are plenty of footballers whom I fancy more than AJ, but his smile, but the unadulterated joy radiating from the half moon on his face is just a joy to behold. Adorable!

05. Selena Gomez




Her cheeks are absolutely gorgeous and I love how easily her lovely smiles come. Her hair, a cascade of curls also frame her face perfectly and the endless supply of lipgloss she has only makes her smiles lovelier.

04. Mila Kunis



The cheekiness that comes with her grins adds to their awesome, and she has the largest, most unforgettable eyes ever.

03. Harry Styles

This boy most certainly does know he's beautiful, but I don't even care. He's a jack the lad, but so, so, hot with it. And that cheeky grin, goddamn.

02. Hailee Steinfeld

This gif of Hailee giggling is one of my all-time favourites. Her effortless charm and unpretentious, natural happiness is completely infectious. I adore her!

01. Dianna Agron
Oh, she is divine. The combination of Lolita lips, exquisitely unusual eye colour and long eyelashes, as well as her flawless skin and bone structure, make for the most beautiful smile I have ever seen, bar none.


How lovely! *___*

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!

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: