Film review: FALLEN ANGEL (Otto Preminger, 1945)

Eric Stanton, a penniless, down on his luck conman arrives in a Californian coastal town and instantly falls for Stella, the resident siren. Unfortunately for him, he’s not the only one to have fallen under her spell, as all the men in the town are equally smitten with her.

BAFTAs so beige.

So, the BAFTAs were on Sunday, and such were the uninspired, bland, going with the crowd wins, that I really didn't feel motivated to do a debrief post, because it would consist almost entirely of me whining (and, as Jennifer Lawrence's essay on how underpaid she was for American Hustle demonstrates, complaining is never a good look).

But, some time has elapsed (to quote Frozen, 'it's funny how some distance, makes everything seem small'), thus, I will share my thoughts on the ceremony and what it means for the Oscar race (spoiler alert: nothing. We've become predictors rather than influencers).

I was ecstatic for Brit Daniel Kaluuya, who won the Rising Star Award. This prize is voted for by the British public and essentially weathervane of who the audience likes best. Given that cinemagoers are the people who make film stars who they are, it's not a bad prize to win.

Statistical Analysis of the 141 films I watched in 2017, with BBFC analysis.

Just like last year, when I put my hard-earned coding skills into practice by analysing all the marks I’d awarded every film I watched in 2016, I repeated the process again this year.

The arithmetic mean of the 141 films was 6.64, a fractional increase from last year, meaning that my discernment skills to have improved slightly. That being said, the lowest mark out of 10 I gave last year was a 2, whereas I gave 1/10 to two films this year, and zero out of 10 to one, Darren Aronofsky’s bloated stinker, mother!, which is the worst film I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and featured that movie ingredient that I am so averse to: Jennifer Lawrence screaming her head off.

Thoughts on the 2018 BAFTA nominations

On Tuesday, I woke up to the blandest bunch of BAFTA nominations ever. Each year, the British Academy – which have recently morphed into a glorified Oscar prognosticating body – find new ways to disappoint me, but this year, there were extenuating factors which meant that they did so with more panache than ever.

Film

Call Me by Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

My 10 favourite performances of 2016.

I've done the trash performances list, now for the good eggs!

10. Emily Blunt, The Girl on the Train

Clown music film is clown music, but Emily Blunt really deserves a shout-out on this list, for working her ass off in The Girl on the Train. Her unvain performance as a pathetic alcoholic was spot-on. 

My top 10 films of 2016 [5-1].

Part 1 of this rundown was here, which also featured five films you ought to avoid like the plague.

05. Elle

A Silent Microaggression.

You know, for a newspaper who loves to lecture their readership about racial stereotyping (in a case of timing you couldn't make up, just four days ago they ran this hectoring piece about Asian stereotypes), you'd think they'd bother to learn the difference between Japanese films:

The caption pertains to A Silent Voice. Yet the image is a still from Your Name. I guess all Japanese animes look the same to Guardian sub-editors.

Perhaps of Guardian writers focused on say, actually doing the research they're paid to do, rather than preaching piously or shagging about, they wouldn't have made such a mistake. Just suggesting.

This isn't the first time they've confused two compatriots, with embarrassing circumstances. In their tribute to the passed away Cruyff, they published a photo of Rob Rensenbrink:

No wonder The Guardian are begging for money now. #FakeNews

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Bonus graphic, from The Evening Standard, which perfectly encapsulates my confusion on how Isabelle Huppert's icy tour-de-force in Elle lost to Yellowface Felicia dancing like she had two left feet:

Restaurant review: SALVADOR AND AMANDA (Bloomsbury)

I’m slowly starting to get the hang of buying tapas from Groupon. Whereas when you buy cocktail deals, the fact that it’s a deal doesn’t restrict you to having just a subsection of the drinks menu comprising of the cheapest, most basic drinks, but instead, let you order any drink you wish (as testified to by my pleasant experiences drinking at The Escapologist and Adventure Bar). 

However, when you buy tapas deals from Groupon, such as The Cuban in Camden (one of the worst run places I’ve had the misfortune of having visited), which purported to have a RRP of the price of nine full dishes, actually only provided the diner to the most minute, insufficient quantities. Salvador and Amanda is another agonising case where a restaurant has two separate menus for their regular customers, and the plebs who dared to show up with a deal.

Needless to say, the sh_tty sidebitch menu reeked of afterthought; almost as much of an afterthought as Emma Stone's BAFTA speech when she tried to play Katniss political and failed. The voucher holder was entitled to six options from a very limited tapas menu. This is what we went for:

BAFTA predictions.

I'm seeing Fences later, and then immediately after the winners of the BAFTAs will be available online. I will have to avoid the internet for 2 hours until 9pm so I can watch them 'live' on the BBC and check how I fared in my predictions, swoon at the fit celebrities and their wardrobe and bask in the general movie love!

Even though I expect La La Land to sweep comfortably tonight, a film I am very 'meh' about, I'm still looking forward to the BAFTAs tonight; following movie awards in the 2006 season and rooting for Brokeback Mountain was the reason I started this blog, after all. 

I heard on the grapevine that Isabelle Huppert (who wasn't nominated for Elle, which was ineligible due to British release dates, but was eligible but not nominated for Things to Come) will be presenting Best Actress. That is some very cheeky/brazen campaigning from Sony, worthy of the character Michèle Leblanc! If Leonardo DiCaprio or Felicia Vikander had pulled such a move last year, I would have cringed at dat thirst, but as it's La Reine Isabelle, I dig her audacity.

So, without further ado, the predictions!

Some BBFC nerdiness at the Oscar nominations.

Hey Em, don't make it sad. Take a shite batch of Oscar nominations and make it better! With BBFC stats and shiz, of course.

Those Bloody Oscar Nominations

Below be my thoughts on the Oscar nominations, which came out on Tuesday. Belated post is belated because I’ve had somewhat of a busy week, and I couldn’t bring myself to blog on the day because I was too busy seething.

[picture credit] This image works on so many film banter levels: 1) Ben and Amy appeared together in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, one of the frontrunners.... for the Razzies, 2) Although not nominated, Ben Affleck will play a prominent part in the Oscar race, campaigning his ass off for his brother, and 3) AMAZING AMY WAS MISSING.

2017 Oscar nomination predictions.

The Oscar nominations come out on Tuesday, and seeing as there aren’t any awards shows/major critics circles announcing their wins/nominations before then, I thought there couldn’t be any harm in predicting Tuesday’s nominations now!

Best picture

Arrival

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell or High Water

Hidden Figures

La La Land

Lion

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Alt: Fences, Nocturnal Animals, Zootopia

2017 Golden Globe Winners!!

:: Best motion picture (drama) - Moonlight
:: Best motion picture - (musical or comedy) - La La Land
:: Best performance by an actor in a motion picture - Casey Affleck - Manchester By The Sea 
:: Best performance by an actress in a motion picture - Isabelle Huppert - Elle
:: Best performance by an actor in a motion picture - (musical or comedy) -Ryan Gosling - La La Land 
: Best performance by an actress in a motion picture - (musical or comedy) -Emma Stone - La La Land 
:: Best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture - Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Nocturnal Animals 
:: Best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture - Viola Davis - Fences
:: Best director - Damien Chazelle - La La Land 
:: Best original screenplay - La La Land 
:: Best motion picture - foreign language - Elle - France 
:: Best motion picture - animated - Zootopia
:: Best original song - City Of Stars - La La Land
:: Best original score - La La Land

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Seven out of seven is an unprecedented sweep for La La Land, so they must be buzzing. The majority of the wins were not unexpected, bar, perhaps, in Screenplay, where I would have thought a 'talkier' film such as Manchester by the Sea would have won. A musical winning Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes is pretty unheard of. The fact that La La Land won Screenplay and Director acts as a barometer that this was by far the most loved film by the 90 or so voters in the HPFA.

One of the two biggest surprises in the acting categories was Aaron Taylor-Johnson winning for Nocturnal Animals. He bloody deserved it tho; I was on a knife edge every time he was on screen. It's unusual; most other awards bodies have awarded/nominated his Nocturnal Animals co-star Michael Shannon instead of Taylor-Johnson, for his more internal performance, but in this case, I much preferred the showier turn from ATJ. He probably won't get an Oscar nomination, so I'm ecstatic he got recognised at the Golden Globes.

The other acting shock was Isabelle Huppert winning Best Actress in a Drama for 'rape revenge comedy' Elle. Huppert has been sweeping the Critics awards, but I would have thought with the film's dicey subject matter, as well as the fact that Portman has been in Hollywood since she was a child and the HPFA love honouring celebrities, they would have awarded her. More than happy to be proved wrong!! 

I hope this Golden Globe win gives IsabElle the momentum to get an Oscar nomination and even win the thing; I have confused feelings towards the frontrunner Emma Stone, who, despite being very pretty and charming, did play a half-Asian in Aloha, something I simply can't overlook given how hard it is for my Asian sisters to find acting work. It's funny; that yellow-facing Felicia dedicated her Best Actress in a Comedy win to 'anyone who's ever had the door slammed in their face' regarding failed auditions. What about the Asian actresses who had the doors slammed in their face as a result of you accepting a white-washed role, Emma? #JustWondering

One thing that's hampering Isabelle Huppert's campaign is that, annoyingly, due to Elle being released over here in March, it isn't eligible at the BAFTAs. If she'd got a BAFTA nomination, she probably would have won, because we tend to be more receptive to European fare than the Americans are (we correctly awarded Emmanuelle Riva back in 2013 for her amazing performance in Amour, was one of the catalysts for pushing Riva's Oscar campaign almost all the way), thus raising her profile even more. BAFTA nominations come out tomorrow, and Huppert could still get a nomination for Things to Come, so that's something.

Moonlight got a standing ovation when it won Best Drama, showing that whilst La La Land may be the favourite of the HPFA, the audience had a different favourite. Although I haven't yet seen it, I'm already a fan given its subject matter, and wish for it to do well all Awards season. Also delighted for Viola Davis although I've not yet seen Fences. And yay Zootopia! My third favourite film of the year so far, tremendous fun, film references aplenty and featuring one foxy lead.

I got 9 out of 14 correct in my predictions which is pretty good for me!

I didn't watch the ceremony but have seen a couple of clips and Tom Hiddleston accepting his win for The Night Manager is the most White Saviour thing I've seen for a while. Naomie Harris side-eyeing him during the speech encapsulates my thoughts to his narcissistic speech perfectly. 

Finally, the tradition at the Golden Globes is that winner of Best Actress Drama last year has to present the award to recipient of Best Actor Drama this year. This meant that Brie Larson, an advocate for Victims of Sexual Assult, had to present the award to Casey Affleck, as she'll probably have to do at the Oscars as well. Apparently she could barely veil her disgust (Affleck is riddled with accusations of groping a woman whilst she was asleep), refusing to so much as pat him when he came up to accept his award. Attagirl.

2017 Golden Globe predictions.

It's the annual Star-f_cker's annual awards ceremony tomorrow, and as per the tradition, I will try to predict the winners in each category! If you'd like to play predictor too, here are the nominations.

Best Motion Picture, Drama: Moonlight (alternative: Manchester by the Sea)

Best Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy: La La Land (no alternative needed)

Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama: Natalie Portman, Jackie sigh (alternative: Amy Adams, Arrival)

Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy: Emma Stone, La La Land (alternative: Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea  sigh (alternative: Denzel Washington, Fences) 

Best Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water (alternative: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight)

Best Performance by Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Viola Davis, Fences (alternative: Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea)

Best Director: Damien Chazelle, La La Land (alternative: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy: Ryan Gosling, La La Land (alternative: Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins)

Best Screenplay: Hell or High Water (alternative: Manchester by the Sea)

Original Score: Hidden Figures (alternative: La La Land)

Best Motion Picture, Animated: Zootopia (alternative: Moana) 

Best Original Song: “City of Stars,” La La Land (alternative: “How Far I’ll Go,” Moana) 

Best Foreign Language Film:  Toni Erdmann (alternative: Elle)

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I've basically gone with all the predictable choices that most people are picking; bearing in mind that the Golden Globes like to kiss up to the big names, and thus are more likely to honour the Hollywood A-listers, rather than lesser known European actors. Predicting Moonlight to beat Manchester By the Sea is probably my only 'bold' choice.

I really hope they'll be some upsets tomorrow night, such as Isabelle Huppert grabbing Best Actress Drama from Blahtalie Portman, or Denzel trumping Casey 'gropes women when they're asleep' Affleck. Just anything to make the Oscar race a bit more exciting, such as Dev Patel picking up Best Supporting Actor!

But I'm not getting my hopes up.

A few bits of BBFC geekery when I was doing Christmas shopping yesterday.

From the DVD boxset of the final season of The Good Wife. A bit on the descriptive side!

From American Horror Story: Hotel's boxset. Notice the distinction between 'sexual violence' (i.e., rape) and 'sexualised violence' (the conflation of violence and sexual images, e.g. a stabbing during a sex scene).

Not gonna lie, reading this tells me I'm right in my convictions never to watch an episode of this scabrous show!

This is from How to Get Away with Murder. I was quite taken aback by this; all I know about this show is that Viola Davis is in it, and she is typically excellent. I was not expecting it to be an 18 cert! A quick glance over the American TV rating (TV-14), tells me that this might be the BBFC being weirdly strict.

Two other TV shows that I've noticed are TV-14 in the States and 18 over here are The 100 and Scandal. A telltale sign that a show is aiming for the TV-14 market when you're watching is extensive sexual dialogue and maybe even steamy sex scenes featuring nudity, but not once does anyone say the f-word (this also applies to many a TV-14 show that have gotten 15 over here, such as the aforementioned The Good Wife). 

I find it amusing that you can put quite a lot of adult content in a TV-14 and get away with it, but once you say 'f_ck', that's when you cross the line into TV-MA...

From Gotham's boxset. Again, I was just amused because of the juxtaposition of those four disparate classification issues.

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Whilst the BBFC are playing hard to get with regards to their rating of Elle, for which Isabelle Huppert is gaining Oscar buzz (I know I haven't seen it yet but I really hope she wins!), their Irish counterparts aren't so coy, and have released it with an 18. Given that the two awards bodies more often than not align, I'm guessing that this will be my second 2016 release that I've seen of an 18 cert! I've been very lax with watching 2016 releases of this rating; the only other has been The Neon Demon.

By the by, I noticed in HMV yesterday that on the occasions when the BBFC and IFCO don't agree on a film, they just bung the British rating on the front (otherwise, they put both, side-by-side):

Eddie the Eagle is a 12 in Ireland and A Hologram for a King is 15 in Ireland. I think this precaution is sensible; you wouldn't want to confuse buyers!

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Finally, I have no intention of watching this, but, nice wall mural for Assassin's Creed:

This same wall has also hosted Star Trek art in the past as well!

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I adore BBFC geekery. My entire compendium of BBFC posts is here, check it!

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~~~~