24/1/11

- GOLDEN GLOBES - The Social Network was unsurprisingly named Best Film- Drama, with its director David Fincher also winning Best Director and its writer Aaron Sorkin winning Best Screenplay. I was very pleased to see The Kids Are All Right do well, winning Best Film- Musical or Comedy, and Best Actress- Musical or Comedy for Annette Bening. Best Actor and Actress went entirely as expected, with Colin Firth winning for The King's Speech and Natalie Portman for Black Swan- both were incredibly deserving winners, though. Toy Story 3 was an obvious Best Animated Feature winner, while Danish film In A Better World was a rather more surprising choice for Best Foreign Language Film. Paul Giamatti was Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for Barney's Version, Christian Bale, often badly overlooked at the awards ceremonies, won Best Supporting Actor for The Fighter, a film that also got Melissa Leo the Best Supporting Actress award. Ricky Gervais as host caused some epic-scale controversy over in the States for his actually rather amusing opening speech, which you can view here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvHXzP2SpLA. It's actually very funny to me just how controversial this proved with many Americans, and apparently with the show's producers- you knew what you were going to get, he'd hosted before, if you don't like it why ask him back? He had the balls to stand up and say what he thought, to tease people as he would his friends, or any person off the street, and there lies the question- why should the people at the Globes be treated any differently? It's also worth checking out the Ricky Gervais interview with Piers Morgan a few days later, as Gervais actually raises some really interesting and intellectual discussion points about comedy- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlfYX9MMK0k.

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- BAFTA 2011 NOMINATIONS - Announced the other day. I'll list each of the 'main' categories and try and predict which I think will triumph in each. We'll find out how right I am on February 13th.

BEST FILM: Black Swan, Inception, The King's Speech, The Social Network, True Grit (The Social Network is going down as the favourite for the Oscars, but I can see BAFTA siding with the Brits and favouring The King's Speech in this category. It would be well deserved too)

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: 127 Hours, Another Year, Four Lions, The King's Speech, Made In Dagenham (if The King's Speech doesn't win Best Film it will almost certainly win this. It might even both! If not, i'd like to see Mike Leigh's brilliant Another Year triumph)

OUTSTANDING BRITISH DEBUT: The Arbor, Exit Through The Gift Shop, Four Lions, Monsters, Skeletons (Very difficult to choose- some fantastic debuts there. Banksy might just about deserve it for Exit Through The Gift Shop)

DIRECTOR: 127 Hours (Danny Boyle), Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky), Inception (Christopher Nolan), The King's Speech (Tom Hooper), The Social Network (David Fincher) - (I'd give it to Aronofsky just because I'm in love with him. But I think this is probably Fincher's to lose)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Black Swan (Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, John McLaughlin), The Fighter (Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson), Inception (Christopher Nolan), The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg), The King's Speech (David Seidler) - (Probably go to Seidler; deservingly so, too)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: 127 Hours (Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy), The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel), The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin), Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt), True Grit (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen) - (Would be shocked if Sorkin didn't walk away with this one)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: Biutiful, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I Am Love, Of Gods And Men, The Secret In Their Eyes (Difficult one. The Secret In Their Eyes may have been released too early for voters to remember it. Biutiful, meanwhile, will be fresh in their memories and also has an awards-darling of a director)

ANIMATED FILM: Despicable Me, How To Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3 (Toy Story 3, without a shadow of a doubt)

LEADING ACTOR: Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Colin Firth (The King's Speech), James Franco (127 Hours) - (some very strong competition, but this should be Firth's)

LEADING ACTRESS: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore (both The Kids Are All Right), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Noomi Rapace (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) - (Should be Portman's)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale (The Fighter), Andrew Garfield (The Social Network), Pete Postlethwaite (The Town), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right), Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech) - (between Bale and Rush)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams (The Fighter), Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech), Barbara Hershey (Black Swan), Lesley Manville (Another Year), Miranda Richardson (Made In Dagenham) - (between Helena Bonham Carter and Lesley Manville for me)

ORIGINAL MUSIC: 127 Hours, Alice in Wonderland, How To Train Your Dragon, Inception, The King's Speech (I'd give it to Hans Zimmer for Inception if it was me)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: 127 Hours, Black Swan, Inception, The King's Speech, True Grit (I'd like to see Matthew Libitique get this award for Black Swan)

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I'm still kinda reeling from 3 straight days of cinema in which I got to see The King's Speech, Blue Valentine and Black Swan. I feel like I need a breather! A chance to sit back and actually think through each film- they've sort of become one big blur of awesomeness with how quickly I saw each one after the next. I thought I'd write a very quick review of each of them, though, and suffice to say that each one was a fantastic, visceral piece of cinema- well made, well acted, well shot, etc.


THE KING'S SPEECH - 5/5

Colin Firth was of course fantastic- I think, given the universal praise of his performance, I was unlikely to think otherwise! Geoffrey Rush surprised me with just HOW good he is- his performance is one of humour, sincerity and warmth, and he would be a deserving winner of Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards. Likewise, Helena Bonham Carter surprised me with her terrific performance as the Queen Mum- a very different sort of role for her, she represented well both Elizabeth's cheeky nature but also the agonising heartache of watching her husband struggle with his speech. The music throughout (by Alexandre Desplat) was superb. Strong support comes from Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce and Timothy Spall. The screenplay by David Seidler is terrific, full of moments of touching, heartbreaking beauty but also moments of warm, delightfully British humour. I hadn't given a film five stars for a long time before this, but The King's Speech deserves every five stars, and every award, it gets.



BLUE VALENTINE - 4/5

A stunningly frank and real portrayal of the beginning and end of a relationship, this movie is almost unbearably honest, making it a hard watch but always worth persevering with. We aren't really shown the middle of the relationship, the events that begin to shift the dynamic from the happiness we see at the beginning, to the extreme sadness of the end- we are left to work this out for ourselves, and the movie is all the better for it. The soundtrack, which features the gorgeous music of Grizzly Bear, and also the voice of lead actor Ryan Gosling on 3 songs, works fantastically within the story. The film, in its frank reality, becomes intensely voyeuristic- we really feel at many stages as though these are moments that we should not be watching, that are too private and personal. It brilliantly evokes an uncomfortable, can't-look-away feeling in the audience. The real driving force of the film, however, is the performances of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in the lead roles. If they aren't Oscar-nominated then it is a travesty, for they lay themselves so physically and emotionally bare in these roles that their performances are almost unbelievably raw and naturalistic.



BLACK SWAN - 5/5

Now, to get it out of the way- I love Darren Aronofsky. I think he's one of the very finest filmmakers working today, and being as young as he still is, there is such an exciting future ahead of him too. Bearing this in mind, I probably view any new film he makes with some level of bias. Having said that, I think Black Swan is probably an exceptional movie with or without that bias, and Aronofsky is on fine form once again. Many people have drawn the similarities between this film and his previous feature, The Wrestler, and they are definitely there to be seen. Both portrayals of a physically destructive, under appreciated art, both portrayals of a person who seems only truly able to connect with that art- the people and things outside of it seem alien to them. Where Black Swan differs from The Wrestler, of course, is in its descent into a real psychological, fantastical hell- something which could easily slip too far into silliness and melodrama were it not anchored by Aronofsky's stylish direction and Natalie Portman's exquisite performance-of-a-lifetime as the troubled ballerina Nina. Black Swan borrows heavily from the body horror of early Cronenberg, from the psychological thriller genre, from the classic ballet movie The Red Shoes, but manages to find an originality all of its own. Clint Mansell, possibly my favourite ever soundtrack composer and a regular Aronofsky collaborator, contributes a superbly eerie score that twists and subverts Tchaikovsky's original Swan Lake music. The support from Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassell and Barbara Hershey is terrific, but the film is Portman's, and her performance must be a dead cert for the Oscars now. A delightfully twisted and dark fantasy horror of a ballet movie, full of psychosexual undertones (and overtones) and a disturbing view of the madness of both mind and body.

Ten Most Anticipated Films of 2011, etc

Well it's been about two weeks since my last post- this is mainly due to being ridiculously bogged down with uni work of late, as I once again left myself far too much to do in such a short period of time! I had 2 4,500 word essays due in, one which I wrote on the themes of temporality and 'boredom' in Andy Warhol's films, and the other on Scorsese's classic Taxi Driver, from its creation to the legacy it has had since 1976. Both went ok, and most importantly, both are now handed in! Now I have a week of 'downtime' before I start my new uni courses (the ones I will write my dissertations on- eeeeek!) for this term, and this week I intend to get some reading done, making a start on Simon Pegg's autobiography and a 100 Greatest Thrillers book that I got for Christmas. I also hope to get some serious scriptwriting done, now I'm in a more motivated and productive mode!

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After publishing my 'Review of 2010' I decided it was time to look ahead to 2011 and what should be a fantastic year for films. Here, listed below, are my ten most anticipated films of 2011. I am not judging these films on any possibility of critical, commercial or awards success, but am instead simply listing the ten films that are most on my radar for the year, films that intrigue me in some way and that I cannot wait to see. Some I know lots about and am fairly confident will be good, while others I know little about and could go either way. Of course, there are plenty of films that are not 'on my radar' and will take me by surprise this year. This list will not, I know for sure, look a lot like my 'Review of 2011' blog post will at the end of the year. But that's the beauty of looking ahead I suppose- it's all unknown. There were several films that just missed the cut, including Duncan Jones' Moon follow-up Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal and Vera Farmiga, Joe Wright's girl-assassin flick Hanna, Jodie Foster's bizarre-looking, Mel Gibson-starring comedy The Beaver, and The King's Speech (which I think missed out because I have heard so much about it and will be seeing it next week). I also once again chickened out of ordering the ten!

- THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - 26th December 2011

David Fincher's new film is the Hollywood remake of the hugely popular Swedish original, which was itself based on the equally popular book by Steig Larsson, the first of the Millennium Trilogy. Script by Steve Zaillian (considered to be more of a new take on the book rather than a direct remake of the Swedish film). It was recently announced that Trent Reznor is on board to contribute the music, having written a superb score for Fincher's last film, The Social Network. Rooney Mara is the girl tasked with trying to match Noomi Rapace's feisty, punky, terrific performance in the Swedish trilogy- she has big boots to fill, and it will be interesting to see how she copes with this challenge. The film will also display the acting talents of Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright and Christopher Plummer. Intriguingly, this remake is being filmed in Sweden, and there have been rumours that the actors will speak with Swedish accents. Whether this is true remains to be seen (personally, I can't see that working). But the original material does seem a perfect fit for Fincher and I am very interested to see how this film plays out upon its December release.

- BLACK SWAN - 21st January 2011

Written lots about this already. Has been on my radar for a very long time now, and the anticipation isn't dipping as the release date comes around. Darren Aronofsky is one of the finest directors working today, and his latest is getting all kinds of success with the critics and with various different awards from various places. Natalie Portman looks like she could be putting in a career-best performance, the trailer has hinted at a dark and rather twisted tone, and Aronofksy's regular collaborator Clint Mansell (the man behind that superb theme for Requiem For A Dream that you hear EVERYWHERE) is providing the score. Should be seeing this very soon after it comes out- can't wait!

- X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - 2nd June 2011

Very interested to see what is done with this X-Men prequel of sorts, or a 'Young X-Men' as it could be called, following the early relationship of Charles Xavier (here played by James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender), the two men who would become Professor X and Magneto respectively. The pedigree involved with this film is terrific, with director Matthew Vaughn and writer Jane Goldman coming into this off the back of the hugely popular Kick-Ass, McAvoy, Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence (after her superb turn in Winter's Bone), Kevin Bacon, January Jones and Nicholas Hoult providing the impressive acting talent, and of course the story being a particularly intriguing one for X-Men and comic book afficionados. The X-Men series took a downslide with X-Men 3 and Origins: Wolverine , but hopefully this new film will be closer to the superb first two instalments. We shall see!

- TRUE GRIT - 11th February 2011

The Coen Brothers very, very rarely let me down. In fact, only The Ladykillers could I say I didn't really like. Which, in the long and productive career they've had, is pretty damn good. Critics have raved about this new Coens film, a Western and adaptation of Charles Portis' novel, so far and it topped the North American box office last week. The acting talent on display is incredibly solid (I'm a huge fan of Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin) and the story sounds like something the Coens will handle effortlessly. Look forward to seeing this one as soon as it comes out.

- SUCKER PUNCH - 1st April 2011

Zack Snyder's latest is one of those I mentioned that could very much go either way; it doesn't seem like we are looking at a film that could be average here, rather amazing or terrible. What it seems that it will definitely be is... crazy. Completely barmy. It seems to be Snyder's take on girl power, as a posse of institutionalized girls (led by Emily Browning's Baby Doll, and also including Abbie Cornish's Sweat Pea, Jena Malone's Rocket, Vanessa Hudgens' Blondie, and Jamie Chung's Amber) try to devise a plan to escape the facility. It is here that it descends into the chaos that the trailer hints at. And DRAGONS. On the face of it, this film looks a little like my teenage fantasy squeezed into 2 hours. And my excitement for this film has nothing to do with how Emily Browning looks in those outfits. Absolutely nothing.

- BLUE VALENTINE - 14th January 2011

Written about this one a lot too. The Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams starring indie flick has been described as one of the worst date movies ever, aiming as it does to paint a portrait of a couple very far away from happiness. The film has gained some great reviews thus far, and plenty of plaudits heading Gosling's and Williams' way. They're both fantastic actors, so I look forward to seeing how they work together. Should be seeing this next week if all goes to plan!

- HUGO CABRET - 9th December 2011

Martin Scorsese's new film looks like it will be fairly unlike anything the great man has ever done- a possibly family-friendly film in the pre-Christmas period? Genuinely intrigued as to how this will turn out. Not a lot is known about the plot- IMDb has it down as thus- 'Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.' The cast list looks very impressive, with Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone and Richard Griffiths all involved (but then when has Scorsese struggled to get good actors involved in his projects?), and Asa Butterfield as the titular character. How will Scorsese deal with material so unlike what he is used to? Fantastically, I can only imagine.

- RESTLESS - 11th March 2011

Gus Van Sant, a man responsible for the brilliant likes of Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, Elephant, Last Days and Milk, sees his new film Restless released in March. The film concerns itself with 'the story of a terminally ill teenage girl who falls for a boy who likes to attend funerals and their encounters with the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII.' (IMDb) Sounds interesting, different, and stars the growing talent of Mia Wasikowska in the lead role.


- COWBOYS AND ALIENS - 12th August 2011

Not two groups of beings that you generally see combined in film. Could well make for a fantastically barmy combination, if done right by director Jon Favreau. The talent's there, with Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell and Paul Dano on board, and of course the fabulously B-movie sounding story. One to watch this summer- could be one of the more inspired blockbuster efforts.

- CONTAGION - 21st October 2011

Steven Soderbergh is an extremely prolific director (the last few years he has made two films each year), but his latest Contagion seems like one to particularly watch out for, in large part thanks to the fabulous cast he has managed to put together- Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Jude Law all have major roles in this 'action-thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.' (IMDb) Sounds like a film for our times, with bird flu and swine flu scares setting off worldwide paranoia.

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Reviews of a few films I've seen in the cinema of late.


THE TOURIST - 2/5

Considering Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's last film was 2006's magnificent German conspiracy thriller The Lives of Others, his English-language debut is something of a disappointment. The film takes the implausible plot turns a little too far, and the much-anticipated chemistry between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie never quite hits the highs that it could have. The film is plenty of fun, however, two hours in which to forget about everything, sit back and enjoy the silliness of this Venice-set caper.


LONDON BOULEVARD - 3/5

Writer of The Departed William Monahan combines with producer of The Departed Graham King on this film that is remarkably similar to The Departed. Well, a British-set The Departed. And nowhere near as good as The Departed. Monahan's directorial debut, that somehow managed to go fairly unnoticed by critics and audiences, is a strong enough gangster film, full of violence, liberal use of the C-word and of course Ray Winstone (what modern gangster film would be complete without him? He does rather phone this performance in though). Colin Farrell's cockney accent takes a while to get used to, but he puts in a decent performance- the same of which can't really be said for Keira Knightley, who once again shows herself to be the queen of bland. The supporting performances are the strongest, especially from David Thewlis, Ben Chaplin and Anna Friel. The film is full of plotholes and probably takes itself more seriously than it should, but it's an entertaining enough thriller.


SOMEWHERE - 4/5

Sofia Coppola's latest is more Sofia Coppola than anything she has previously done- anyone that found Lost In Translation to be a little laborious need not bother with this, the film playing out at an almost unbearably slow pace as we begin to feel the boredom that lies within Johnny Marco's (Steven Dorff) outwardly glamorous and cool lifestyle. Audiences unready for this slow pace may well be asleep within the first half hour, but the film majorly rewards the patience of those who aren't. Marco's life is finally given some meaning when his daughter Cleo(Elle Fanning) has to stay with him for a while- he doesn't seem to see it like this, however, and fails to give Cleo the time she really deserves. This film has the subtlest beauty I have seen in a film in some time, helped by fantastically good work from Dorff and Fanning (a performance that should make her a star, if there is any justice). A lot of the people who don't understand this film are probably those who want emotion forced upon them- fine, but Somewhere is really a film for those that want to do some searching, to attempt to get inside the characters and understand their every minor facial twitch and tones of voice. If this can be managed, the film is a very rewarding experience indeed, particularly in one line that Johnny utters to Cleo above the noise of a helicopter (a nod of sorts to the whispered line at the end of Lost In Translation).
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Just a few little snippets of recent film news that has caught my eye.

NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS AWARDS - The Social Network cleaned up at this year's awards ceremony, scoring Best Film, Best Actor for Jesse Eisenberg, Best Director for David Fincher, and Best Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin. Giovanna Mezzogiorno won Best Actress for her performance in Vincere, Geoffrey Rush was Best Supporting Actor for The King's Speech, and Olivia Williams Best Supporting Actress for The Ghost Writer.

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS AWARDS - Best Film was once again The Social Network, which also scored Best Director for David Fincher. Annette Bening was Best Actress for The Kids Are All Right and Colin Firth Best Actor for The King's Speech.

RISING STAR AWARDS - The five nominees for the Orange Rising Star Award at this year's BAFTAs are Gemma Arterton, Andrew Garfield, Tom Hardy, Aaron Johnson and Emma Stone. You can vote for your favourite here- http://bafta.orange.co.uk/. My vote went to Andrew Garfield!

SCORSESE AND DE NIRO TO WORK TOGETHER AGAIN - The great old team is back. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro haven't worked together on a film since 1995, but they appear to have finally found a project they both want to work on- a film called The Irishman, based on a book by Charles Brandt (Steve Zaillian is working on the script). The story revolves around the life of Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran, a labor union official with ties to organized crime. De Niro hasn't starred in a truly great movie in what feels like forever, but with his old pal Scorsese at the helm this may well be the boost that he needs. Great news.

BOND 23 CONFIRMED - Things are finally kicking off on the long-mooted 23rd James Bond movie, with a release date now pencilled in for November 9th 2012. Daniel Craig is back as Bond, with Sam Mendes directing.