10 Finest Fellas in a 2009 Film

Happy Hump Day! My picks for male babes of 2009. If you were wondering if I had a 'type', feel free to peruse my lists from previous years!

10. Michael Fassbender, Inglourious Basterds

It’s Only Real when you’re not around (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. And, not that I take IMDb ratings as a messiah, but, it received a pretty high rating on IMDb, and truth be told, I expected more. Instead, I found 127 Hours to be fairly boring at points; quite clearly what we have here is about 60 minutes of material dragged out into a cinema release with the help of some fancy effects on the computer. But on the bright side, James Franco is excellent; he almost makes the film worth watching and although his character seems fairly everyday and I found it hard to care about his “flashbacks” to mistakes he’d made, his survival strategies when stuck made for compelling watching. Needless to say, I was more than a little grossed out by THAT infamous arm amputation scene, but I thought Franco’s dedication to the role and all-round performance was brill. He, and he alone, ensures that this film was not a total bust. Must try harder Danny Boyle; Slumdog Millionaire and Sunshine this most certainly ain’t.

The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)

Two years ago, two of the five (remember when the Oscars only nominated five films for Best Picture? Those were the days) Oscar nominated films for Best Picture were Slumdog Millionaire, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, directed by Danny Boyle, and David Fincher, respectively. In the case of those two films, I loved the former, didn’t mind the latter. Now the tables are turned, though not totally; I think 127 Hours is “alright”, and The Social Network is “very good”, though the intensity of my feelings toward it aren’t anywhere near as strong as they are towards Slumdog (do you remember when I first saw it, how hard I bummed it on my blog , in a manner that I save for bumming films I only truly really adore a film, as I did with Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds). Random bout of nostalgia is random, I know, but my point is, I find it quite sad that as of yet, no film in 2010 has really blown me away. I really like Toy Story 3, but I like it less than I liked Up, Inglourious Basterds and Fish Tank, my top 3 from 2009, and less than I like Slumdog Millionaire and WALL-E, my top 2 from 2008, and less than The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Atonement from 2007. Every year there’s one or two films that really blow me away. I need a film from 2010 to make me go “woah”, and to quote that whiny do-gooder Bono, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I enjoyed The Social Network a fair bit. I didn’t think the story of how the smug anti-social nerd who invented Facebook would be of interest to me, but I got extremely engrossed in it and, lamentably, recognised myself in him. Obviously I’m never going to be a billionaire, of course not, but what I recognised in him was how he came home from a bust date and went straight on livejournal to whine about it. Now that, is familiar behaviour, haha. I think Jesse Eisenberg did a very good job in the lead role, making his hard-to-like character at least compelling to watch, and his on-screen chemistry with wingman Andrew Garfield was nicely done. I LOVED Andrew Garfield in it (surprise, surprise), his “you’d better lawyer up, asshole” speech was mega, and his character gives the film sound grounding. Justin Timberlake was an embarrassment, I can only imagine Fincher bunged him in the film to get teenage girls to watch (a similar strategy that is employed by Ben Affleck with Blake Lively in The Town, more on that debacle later) and there were various other supporting actors who didn’t cut it for me. But overall, I found the story of the origins of Facebook just about justified a two-hour screentime, with some moments of comic relief coming from these two twins and Max Minghella’s character. Also, I’m not purposely being a philistine here, but I did detect tones of Citizen Kane throughout, especially in the ending, when Zuckerberg, having made his dynasty and lost some money in the settlement (but what’s a few million for the creator of Facebook?) just sits there and refreshes the page constantly after adding his ex-girlfriend on Facebook. The message could not be more clear; he wanted to be a billionaire, so frigging bad. But it couldn’t buy one thing, no matter how he tried. That, right there, is Mark Zuckerberg’s very own Rosebud moment.

The Town (Ben Affleck, 2010)

From the trailers, I was all over this film, and was deeply disappointed when I couldn’t go see it with my housemates, time constraints non-permitting. However, I managed to watch it on a sleepless night this week, and I’m… still in two minds about the film. On one hand, you’ve got a perfectly interesting heist movie with a glittering A-list cast and some tense, gripping scenes (Jem surprising Doug when Doug is on a date with Claire, the woman they took hostage when carrying out the first bank robbery). On the other, it just… didn’t really do it for me. One of my main problems with The Town was Blake Lively’s acting (or lack thereof); obviously as a non-Bostonian I can’t rip her too hard for the accent, but from the likes of Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River, I have a vague idea about how it’s supposed to sound, and I think she got that, and turned it up to 20. Her acting was also just terribly over the top and all-round cringe inducing; I totally get that her character is clutching at the straws and realising that the one thing she has – her beauty – isn’t enough in this day and age, and that’s a terribly sad revelation, but instead of making Christa a tragic icon, she was just, well hilarious, with her half-drunk stagger and mumble mouth. Ben Affleck was tolerable, John Hamm has the blandest of characters but does well with him, and I’m undecided about whether Jeremy Renner’s surly, borderline psychopathic turn as Jem was genius or ridiculous. Pete Postlethwaite, in his second-to-last performance, is fairly terrifying. But the one standout performance from the film comes from Rebecca Hall, and oh how she lights every scene she’s in. It’s her and her alone that makes The Town worth watching; Claire is just about the only character I didn’t find totally deplorable (apart from the police) and we, like Affleck, find ourselves falling in love with her. And, whilst the whole “bad-guy-gone-good due to his love for a beautiful woman” isn’t exactly new, I did like the romantic strand of The Town, and I found myself half-rooting for the Affleck/Hall romance, half wanting Rebecca Hall to get with John Hamm for some reason. Lol. Oh, and the score irked me, scored by David Buckley and Harry Gregson-Williams, it was clearly a case of “too many cooks … decided to plagiarize Thomas Newman”, because I heard shades of the Cinderella Man and Shawshank Redemption scores throughout. Furthermore, the ending, that was all a bit Shawshank-y, but, unlike Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption, I didn’t find myself ever wanting Ben Affleck to have a happy ending. Plus, I don't take too well to having my favourite film plagiarized, funny that. Thus, I have very mixed feelings towards this film. If there were any justice in the world, Rebecca Hall ought to be garnishing awards buzz for her turn. The rest of the movie? I can live without it, truth be told.

As for TV, this week I've been watching Come Fly with Me and Not Going Out, both which make me chuckle. The banter is strong in the latter! Oh, and Hollyoaks! The lulz.

Soundtrack to 2009.

Original, non-original, movie songs… all the tunes from films that I loved.

Almost There, The Princess and the Frog (Randy Newman)
Un Amico, Inglourious Basterds (Ennio Morricone)
Blue Jeans, Confessions of a Shopaholic (Jessie James)
Californian Dreamin’, Fish Tank (Bobby Womack)
Carl’s Maiden Voyage, Up (Michael Giacchino)

Cat People/Putting Out Fire with Gasoline, Inglourious Basterds (David Bowie)
Discombobulate, Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)
Dopo La Condanna, Inglourious Basterds (Ennio Morricone)
Down in New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog
Drop, 17 Again (Ying Yang Twins)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Confessions of a Shopaholic (Greg Laswell)
The Green Leaves of Summer, Inglourious Basterds (Nick Perito)
Fashion, Confessions of a Shopaholic (Lady Gaga)
Hero, (500) Days of Summer (Regina Spektor)
L.E.S. Artistes, 17 Again (Santogold)
Married Life, Up (Michael Giacchino)
Mushaboom, (500) Days of Summer (Feist)
Naïve, 17 Again (The Kooks)
Please, Please, Please, Let me Get what I want, (500) Days of Summer (The Smiths)
Rabbio e Tarantella, Inglourious Basterds (Ennio Morricone)
Sugar Town, (500) Days of Summer (Zooey Deschanel)
There is a Light that Never Goes Out, (500) Days of Summer (The Smiths)
Us, (500) Days of Summer (Regina Spektor)

The Friday Five.

Five things that make me happy
01. My birthday presents
02. Melanie Lauren't fierceness in Inglourious Basterds. I'm still not over it.

03. This week's Madonna-inspired episode of Glee. It was terrific.

04. Being a poser with my Lolita sunglasses
05. hai 

You’re very unsatisfactory, scram.

Only saw six movies in two weeks. Poor.

Dorian Gray (Oliver Parker, 2009)
Curious little adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s world-known novel. The acting from Ben Barnes was ok, Colin Firth was amazing as ever and I was absolutely beguiled by Ben Ben Chaplin’s depiction of Basil Hallward, but Rachel Hurd-Wood was turdtacular. Dorian Gray’s downfall was interesting and bizarre at the same time, and the way the painting of him deteriorated over time was genuinely creepy. The rest of the film itself was pretty unspectacular.

Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009)
I expected to loathe this film, as Luke and I saw the trailer to it many, many times, and lol’d each time. However, I ended up loving it. I just adored how unashamedly old-fashioned and uncool the film was, as well as the sheer love and depth of emotion on display. Ben Wishaw and Abbie Cornish made a terrific couple and their interactions were beautiful. The entire film built up to one, solitary kiss (aye, there are no bunging scenes at all in this love story), and the kissing, when they came, were so moving and powerful. The ending, as you’ll know, was heartbreak, but I got a bizarre sort of relief from the sadness and woe. Gorgeous movie, inside and out.

Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

LOVE THIS FILM

Hairspray (Adam Shankman, 2007)

Aww! One of the sweetest, loveliest, most enjoyable films I’ve seen in my life. Nikki Blonksy is terrific fun in the lead, and I loved so many of the songs: The Legend of Baltimore Crabs, I Can Hear the Bells, Good Morning Baltimore, Mama I’m a Big Girl Now, and more. The supporting cast were all wonderfully charming: Amanda Bynes, adorably dappy, Queen Latifah oozed wisdom, Michelle Pfieffer made a delicious bitch and John Travolta was loltacular. Also, I feel so dirty saying this considering the amount I’ve slagged him off in the past, but, I’m starting to accept my crush on Zac Efron. He can be rather awesome sometimes, and in Hairspray, he was. Anyway, so much fun, and I loved all the messages it promoted: equality, the power of friendship, and it’s what on the inside that counts.

The Last Seduction (John Dahl, 1994)
Famous for that scene against a fence, Linda Fiorentino is half-fierce, half completely psychotic as Bridget, a modern day femme fatale. The background music was so Sex and the City-esque, which gave mixed messages about the genre about the movie, but, not putting it into boxes, I totally enjoyed it .The plotting was intelligent and appropriately cruel and there were plenty of moments of black comedy.

The Major and the Minor (Billy Wilder, 1942)

Terrific fun! Ginger Rogers ditches the all-singing, all-dancing schtick she usually does (though she does get to display her happy feet, albeit briefly) plays a woman who masquerades as a 12-year-old girl to avoid paying the full train fare. In doing so, she meets Ray Milland’s army major, a nice, charming, but slightly guileless guy who believs her when she lies about her age. He takes to becoming her uncle and introduces her into his world (including a less-than-keen fiancé), but, rather predictably, both parties end up falling for each other. A wonderful prelude to the gender-swapping in Some Like it Hot, The Major and the Minor instead deals with age-lying, with Ginger Rogers giving a brilliantly double-edged turn; sweet and sour, she’s 12 and 21 at the same time. There are some sequences when the young army trainees who date Rogers try to shag her which border on paedophilic, but on the whole, it’s a wickedly funny comedy of errors. The title is also a work of genius =)

Oscar Predictions, 2010.

So, Oscars tonight. I’m not actually staying up to watch tonight (for the first time since I was 13), purely because I have to be up at half seven tomorrow, and because, due to Inglourious Basterds and Up not having a donkey’s chance of winning Best Picture, and I am just beyond apathetic to the zomg Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker showdown! So yes, I’m giving it a miss this year. Still, here are my predictions!

Best Picture
The Hurt Locker  (Piece of tat.)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
I’d personally pick Firth. Freeman is my favourite actor of the five but I haven’t seen Invictus, whereas I have seen Colin Firth, and was greatly impressed by him.

(if it were up to me though, this man would win. And he wasn't even friggin' nominated. Guh.)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
I am not happy that Sandra will win this. Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s totally charming (loved her in Miss Congeniality), but Carey Mulligan was much better and Gabby Sidibe was much, much better. There just wasn’t anything out-of-the-ordinary to Bullock’s work,

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds
YAY!!! :D As terrifyingly convincing Stanley Tucci was in The Lovely Bones, there was one movie villain in 2009 who was acted even better than him, and that would be Christoph Waltz. Epic, epic performance, and I’m delighted that he’s garnished the attention that he has, because my lord, he was amazing!

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
And rightly so. I’m beyond pissed that neither of the Inglourious Basterdesses Melanie Laurent or Diane Kruger, as well as Marion Cotillard (for either Nine or Public Enemies) were nominated, but thankfully, Mo’Nique will be awarded for an absolutely chilling performance.


Best Achievement in Directing
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
Agggggh, the freakin’ irony. The one movie where I loved Tarantino’s direction, he won’t win for. Agh. And I've always been pro-female directors, yet the first one that's going to win, and it is going to be so, so undeserved. What a sad state of affairs.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Either Up or Inglourious Basterds deserve this. The Hurt Locker really, really doesn’t.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner)
Although I prefer the snappy, swear-a-minute work in In the Loop, I was surprisingly taken with Up in the Air’s cynical-yet-sweet screenplay, so I can live with it winning.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Avatar (Mauro Fiore)
I don’t even know.

Best Achievement in Editing
The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski, Chris Innis)
It baffles me somewhat what Precious is doing in this category, as I thought it extremely sloppily edited. Oh well.

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Avatar (Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair)
Noticing a pattern yet?

Best Achievement in Costume Design
The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)
Finally! A category that neither Avatar nor The Hurt Locker was nominated for! Phew!

Best Achievement in Makeup
Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, Joel Harlow)
SYLAR.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Up (Michael Giacchino)
Up has totally rocked the pre-cursors (BAFTA, Golden Globe), and deserves to win for the mixture of sweet/sour and major/minor in “Married Life” alone.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman ("Almost There")

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson)
Personally, I think Inglourious Basterds deserves to win for that ick-inducing finger-in-the-wound squelch, but what do I know.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
The Hurt Locker (Paul N.J. Ottosson)

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andy Jones)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Up (Pete Docter)
Finally! A rightful win.

I love this film. <3 Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)(Germany)
It’s definitely between The White Ribbon and The Prophet. A total toss-up, but I feel A Prophet might be just a bit too adult for the academy choices.

Best Documentary, Features
The Cove (Louie Psihoyos, Fisher Stevens)

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Królik po berlinsku (2009): Bartosz Konopka, Anna Wydra

Best Short Film, Animated
Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death' (2008) (TV): Nick Park

Best Short Film, Live Action
Miracle Fish (2009): Luke Doolan, Drew Bailey



As you can probably tell, I’m dead excited about tonight. NOT.

My Top 10 Performances of 2009.

Last year's list 'cos I know you're dying to see it.

Runners up:

Diane Kruger in Inglourious Basterds, Mario Bello in Downloading Nancy, Mia Wasikowska in That Evening Sun


Rupert Grint in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Nisreen Faour in Amreeka, Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes














BUNGBUNGBUNG <3

(I want his linguistic skills. That's a bingo!)


Captures Brian Clough's arrogance and hubris wonderfully.


Intelligent, swaggerous, deep, beautiful and effortless chic. There's your Tarantino leading lady.

BAFTAs, 2010.

Ever since I've started this movie blog, it's been a tradition for me to write a full report of the BAFTAs, (2009's, 2008's, 2007's and  2006's), but I honestly don't have much to say about tonight's show. Jonathan Ross was efficient if not excellent as a presenter and some of the guests caught my eye with their stunning outfits/looks - Anna Kendrick had a beautiful dress (and her Jimmy Choos! I want) and Matthew Goode looked so damn bungable even if he did pile on the hair gel way too much. The worst acceptance speech was easily Kristen Stewart's; I couldn't tell if she had diarrhea or a stinkbomb in her mouth, but she looked so uncomfortable and her pseudo-modesty simply pissed me off further. Bitch looked anaemic. I genuinely shouted with glee when I saw Christoph Waltz, beard and all, and Saoirse Ronan carried herself well too. The most entertaining acceptance speech fell when the translator for the director of A Prophet was blatantly bananawasted. Har. Bonnie Wright in Prada made me almost chunder the chocolate cake I'd consumed earlier today out; get the f_ck out, bitch, you have no talent and are only famous for shagging someone off Twilight; come back when you've had some acting lessons. That said, I liked the double Brit winning duo of Carey and Colin for Actress and Actor respectively. Mulligan should have kept her hair brunette though. I noted Colin Firth get a celebratory back pat from Stanley Tucci; apparently they're mates; I find this absolutely precious! Also, though I usually switch off by the time we get to that "BAFTA Fellowship" bollocks, this time I was genuinely fixated and thought Vanessa Redgrave's speech was very moving. Gabby Sidibe smiling throughout was rather heartwarming; you can tell she's a healthy, happy girl. Um, not much else to say really; I did squee pretty hard at the start of the show when I saw Anne-Marie Duff, Gabby Sidibe, Saoirse Ronan, Matthew Goode, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and various other celebrities I like arrive on the red carpet. As much as I love Romola Garai, her multi-coloured "dress" was not a good idea. Vera Farmiga, on the other hand, looked downright gorgeous, whilst Robert Pattinson looked like he really needed a shave. But it was definitely one of the lesser BAFTAs; classy rather than heart-stopping. As ever, they proved to be nowt much but a dry-run for the Oscars. Except in London tonight, it wasn't even dry.

I don't know why, but I seem to have a fair bit of apathy towards the awards season this year. It doesn't make sense as I love Inglourious Basterds as much as I loved Slumdog Millionaire last year. But all this hoo-ha over Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker (the former of which I haven't seen, but if Titanic was anything to go by, oh dear, and the latter I saw last week and left me nodding off at the parts when I wasn't downright irritated) is actually boring my bollocks off. Of course, there's excitement to be had in predicting the acting categories, some of which are wonderful - even though I loathed Precious, even I can tell that the performances in them were stellar. And Christoph blimmin' Waltz; legend! But I dunno. George Clooney, James Cameron, Katherine Bigalow, Lee Daniels and various others are all people I'd probably bung on a dartboard, and hence, the prospect of seeing even more of them makes me want to curl in a ball and diaf.

My BAFTA predictions.

It’s the BAFTAs tonight!! I have chocolate cake to eat with my buddies Luke and Anna whilst we watch the ceremony, bitch about the clothes and whine about bad calls. Yay!

Here are my predictions:
Best Film Not in the English Language: Das weisse Band

I found Coco before Chanel, Let the Right One In and Broken Embraces all very disappointing. Of course, that doesn’t mean BAFTA will, but I also feel they’re not “BAFTA” type movies. I reckon it’ll be between The White Ribbon, which was very well received over here, and The Prophet, which won the London Film Critic’s Award for Best Film.

Best Film: Avatar

I still haven’t seen Avatar. My housemates tell me it’s very good and all, but I dunno, it looks a bit too… blue for me. Then again, I do support Chelsea, so, maybe. Having seen The Hurt Locker this week I genuinely do not understand all the fuss over it, and having seen Precious the week before and witnessed a how to guide of how not to direct a film, I really am baffled at this lol of a category. At least An Education was good.

Best Leading Actor: A Single Man - Colin Firth
Quite hard to predict this category. Colin Firth was sublime in A Single Man, and I really enjoyed Jeff Bridges’ performance as well. Serkis is well liked by BAFTAs so it could well go to him. I’m praying to god that Clooney doesn’t get it. Ugh.

Best Leading Actress Nominees: An Education - Carey Mulligan
It could go to anyone, but I feel the homegrown element will be in Mulligan’s favour.

Best Supporting Actor: Inglourious Basterds - Christoph Waltz

This is actually a surprisingly good category. McKay, Tucci and Waltz were all great. But Waltz was so unbelievably, amazingly badass!

Best Supporting Actress: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire - Mo'Nique
I reckon the fact that Up in the Air has two actresses nominated and Nowhere Boy has two actress nominated will split the votes for respective movies. Plus Mo’Nique was amazing. So disappointed that my Goddess Melanie wasn't nominated. Ack.

Best Director: Inglourious Basterds  - Quentin Tarantino
I dunno, serious wishful thinking here. I think I know it’ll go to Cameron or Bigalow. But I really want QT to get it.

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Nowhere Boy - Sam Taylor Wood
Best Screenplay – Original: Inglourious Basterds
Less wishful thinking here; BAFTAs are a little more out there with their screenplay awards, and Inglourious Basterds’ multi-layered babel revenge tale could well find itself ticking the panel’s boxes.

Best Screenplay – Adapted: In the Loop
I reckon it’s between In the Loop and An Education. In the Loop was just so creative with its swearing; love it.

Best Cinematography: Avatar
Best Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Best Sound: Star Trek
Best Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Special Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Music: Avatar
Short Film: Mixtape
Best Short Animation: The Gruffalo
Best Animated Film: Up
Best Production Design: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Best Make Up & Hair: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Outstanding British Film: In the Loop

I would be over the moon if my #2 film of 2009, Fish Tank, won this category. But I think In the Loop will probably get it.
Rising Star Award: Nicholas Hoult (ugh)

Film review: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Quentin Tarantino, 2009).

It opens with a beautiful Spanish guitar spin on Beethoven's Für Elise by Morricone and ends with an epic a cinematic shoot-out as you're likely to see. In between, we have plucky female plotting, scalping of Nazi soldiers, close-ups of strudels, feet fondling and a whole babel of languages. It can only be Tarantino.