BAFTA 2012: and the winners are...

The stars were out in celebration of the last 12 months of film at London's Royal Opera House in Covent Garden on February 12th 2012 for this year's BAFTAs. First and foremost, Stephen Fry has risen in my estimation. As the host for the evening, his one-liners were spot on, his dry delivery perfectly timed and his enthusiasm for film clear for all to see.

After a rousing entrance number from Tom Jones, belting out the classic Bond theme Thunderball to celebrate the Bond series' 50th anniversary this year, the awards got under way; the first of which a deserved triumph after 10 years of nominations for the Harry Potter series. Deathly Hallows Part 2, the final film in the series, picked up Special Visual Effects. Outstanding British Film went to Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a film that had 11 nominations at this year's ceremony and would pick up a further award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Rango took the Animated film award home and Scorsese's Hugo won Best Sound and Production Design, as well as the BAFTA fellowship award for the brilliant director.

Meryl Streep's depiction of Margaret Thatcher earned her Best Actress - if she also wins the Best Actress accolade at this year's Oscars it will be the first time she has won the award since Sophie's Choice in 1983. Christopher Plummer took home Best Supporting Actor for Beginners, Octavia Spencer took home Best Supporting Actress for The Help and perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night was that Gary Oldman lost out on Best Actor to Jean Dujardin for The Artist.

In the end, the night firmly belonged to Michel Hazanavicius' remarkable silent film The Artist. Receiving 7 BAFTAs including the Best Film gong, it goes to show that original and audacious concepts are becoming ever more welcome in an industry permeated with sequels. The results of this year's BAFTAs should leave film lovers eager for the Oscars ceremony which can be seen in the UK on Sky Movies Premiere/Premiere HD on Sunday February 26th 2012.

One for the Weekend...

It's February meaning that once again the Awards season is upon us, the time for the stars to shine and the deserving films to get the gongs. First up it's the Baftas, hosted by Stephen Fry. They can be seen on BBC One and BBC One HD from 9pm this Sunday February 12th 2012.

Below are the nominations for this year's awards.

Best Film

• The Artist


• The Descendants


• Drive


• The Help


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Outstanding British Film

• My Week with Marilyn


• Senna


• Shame


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy


• We need to talk about Kevin

Outstanding debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

• Attack the Block (Joe Cornish, Director/Writer)


• Black Pond (Will Sharpe, Director/Writer)


• Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes, Director)


• Submarine (Richard Ayoade, Writer/Director)


• Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine, Director)

Film not in the English Language

• Incendies


• Pina


• Potiche


• A Separation


• The Skin I live in

Documentary Film

• George Harrison: Living in the material world


• Project Nim


• Senna

Animated Film

• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn


• Arthur Christmas


• Rango

Director

• Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)


• Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)


• Martin Scorsese (Hugo)


• Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)


• Lynne Ramsay (We need to talk about Kevin)

Original Screenplay

• The Artist


• Bridesmaids


• The Guard


• The Iron Lady


• Midnight in Paris

Adapted Screenplay

• The Descendants


• The Help


• The Ides of March


• Moneyball


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Lead Actor

• Brad Pitt (Moneyball)


• Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)


• George Clooney (The Descendants)


• Jean Dujardin (The Artist)


• Michael Fassbender (Shame)

Lead Actress

• Berenice Bejo (The Artist)


• Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)


• Michelle Williams (My week with Marilyn)


• Tilda Swinton (We need to talk about Kevin)


• Viola Davis (The Help)

Supporting Actor

• Christopher Plummer (Beginners)


• Jim Broadbent (The Iron Lady)


• Jonah Hill (Moneyball)


• Kenneth Branagh (My week with Marilyn)


• Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Ides of March)

Supporting Actress

• Carey Mulligan (Drive)


• Jessica Chastain (The Help)


• Judi Dench (My week with Marilyn)


• Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)


• Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Original Music

• The Artist (Ludovic Bource)


• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)


• Hugo (Howard Shore)


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alberto Iglesias)


• War Horse (John Williams)

Cinematography

• The Artist (Guillaume Schiffman)


• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Jeff Cronenweth)


• Hugo (Robert Richardson)


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Hoyte Van Hoytema)


• War Horse (Janusz Kaminski)

Editing

• The Artist (Anne Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius)


• Drive (Mat Newman)


• Hugo (Thelma Schoonmaker)


• Senna (Gregers Sall, Chris King)


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Dino Jonsater)

Production Design

• The Artist (Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould)


• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Stuart Craig, Stephanie McMillan)


• Hugo (Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo)


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald)


• War Horse (Rick Carter, Lee Sandales)

Costume Design

• The Artist (Mark Bridges)


• Hugo (Sandy Powell)


• Jane Eyre (Michael O'Connor)


• My week with Marilyn (Jill Taylor)


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Jacqueline Durran)

Make up and Hair

• The Artist (Julie Hewitt, Cydney Cornell)


• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin, Nick Dudman)


• Hugo (Morag Ross, Jan Archibald)


• The Iron Lady (Marese Langan, Mark Coulier, J. Roy Helland)


• My week with Marilyn (Jenny Shircore)

Sound

• The Artist (Nadine Muse, Gerard Lamps, Michael Krikorian)


• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener)


• Hugo (Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley)


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley)


• War Horse (Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

Special Visual Effects

• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Joe Letteri, Keith Miller, Wayne Stables, Jamie Beard)


• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery)


• Hugo (Rob Legato, Ben Grossmann, Joss Williams, Alex Henning)


• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Daniel Barrett)


• War Horse (Ben Morris, Neil Corbould)

Short Animation

• Abuelas


• Bobby Yeah


• A Morning Stroll

Short Film

• Chalk


• Mwansa The Great


• Only Sound Remains


• Pitch Black Heist


• Two and Two

Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award

• Adam Deacon


• Chris Hemsworth


• Chris O'Dowd


• Eddie Redmayne


• Tom Hiddleston

BAFTA Fellowship this year will be awarded to Martin Scorsese

Outstanding Contribution award will be awarded to John Hurt.

Where possible, I have highlighted in blue the ones that I think are the potential winners.

In many ways the shape of the outcomes of the BAFTAs often pre determines the winners of the Oscars. Tune in on Sunday to find out if your favourite is the winner.

The Artist review

At the top of the critics' lists and the biggest Oscar bait for 2012's awards season is Paris born director Michel Hazanavicius' sublime film The Artist. Shot entirely in black and white, the story follows George Valentin, a cock sure, hugely successful silent film star in Hollywood in the late 1920s. Valentin's conflict comes upon the advent of talkies in the motion picture industry. Younger stars are hogging the limelight and Valentin is reduced to a has been; a personification of the destruction of silent cinema and artistry on the screen.

It is for newcomer Peppy Miller, played with grace and sincerity by Argentinean beauty Berenice Bejo, to help Valentin to overcome his hubris at being rejected from the industry and shine once again on screen in a new age of cinema. Arguably not since Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's Singin' in the Rain 60 years ago has a film about dance, artistry and the history of the cinema left such an indelible, lasting image on the screen and in our hearts. From Ludovic Bource's beautiful score, both uplifting and melancholic in equal measure, to the faultless performances of the film's leads, including an extraordinary Jack Russell dog, to the sumptuous cinematography that paints an incredible picture of the passion of filmmaking and originality in 1920s Hollywood, it is easy to see why people are falling for The Artist.

In an industry saturated with endless sequels and tired cliches, here is a reminder not only of the beauty and effectiveness of a simple narrative, but of the reason why we love going to the movies. A welcome and long overdue return for the silent era, arguably the most audacious and original period in the history of film. Hollywood, take note. Let's have more of the same.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Review

When it was decided that Hollywood were to get their hands on Stieg Larsson's conspiracy thriller novel and translate it into the English language, there seemed to be only one director to handle this kind of material. After his success with films like Seven (1995), Fight Club (1999) and more recently with The Social Network (2010), David Fincher seemed the ideal choice to bring the raw violence and intensity of this story to audiences. He hasn't disappointed. From the hypnotic, Bondian title sequence to the abrupt editing and stark cinematography, Fincher's Dragon Tattoo excites and engages the audience from the get go.

Having not completed Larsson's first novel I admit coming into the film a little clueless as to what to expect, but my nerves were unnecessary. Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in particular are inspired casting for Blomkvist, a shamed journalist who is given the task of discovering who murdered a teenage girl 40 years ago, and Salander, a sharp, intelligent, socially and mentally unstable reporter who eventually assists Blomkvist in solving the mystery. The film is dark because the subject matter upon which it is based is dark; therefore there is both a rape and a torture sequence, both of which are thankfully not prolonged, yet still difficult to watch for those with a nervous disposition. Don't let this put you off if you are intending to see the film. These scenes make up roughly 10 minutes of screen time in an otherwise highly watchable and intriguing film.

What Fincher does particularly well is stylishly deviate from the violence in order to flesh out the characters. In Seven the crimes committed are vital to the narrative but it is the relationship between Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman's private detectives; the pro and the rookie, that is afforded the greatest depth and audience investment. Similarly with Fight Club, it is Edward Norton and Brad Pitt and the conflicts of personality that capture our attention over the physical violence of the fight club itself. Here, Fincher gives our protagonists more than adequate screen time in order to flesh out their characters.

Mara's Lisbeth may be anti social and dangerous but she is an asset to Blomkvist in solving the case. She is tenacious, she stands up for herself and her body image and we are engrossed in her ability to convey so much with just a glance. Short cuts between the narrative - of Salander being mugged in the underground and overcoming the mugger, and being raped and getting her revenge on the rapist, develop this character to the level that although she is one of few women in the story, she is the strongest character.

Craig's Blomkvist begins by jeopardising the future of his company and his reputation but ultimately redeems himself by solving the case, though crucially with the help of Lisbeth. Craig and Mara spark off each other brilliantly and their relationship seems entirely plausible. Some of the casting is questionable - Joely Richardson as one of the central characters of the story seems an offbeat choice - and a fair amount of back story and explanation is cut to quicken the pace of an already long film, but this is ultimately another impressive film to add to Fincher's catalogue. This could be the first of I hope many films in 2012 that make you go "I need to see that again."

One for the Weekend...

My choice for this weekend is another network premiere on Channel 4, of Danny Boyle's follow up to the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire... 127 Hours. Nominated in 2010 for 6 Academy Awards, it tells the true story of Aron Ralston (James Franco) who whilst canyoneering alone in Utah has a boulder fall above him and trap him. What measures will Ralston take in order to free himself? Gripping drama.


The film is showing at 9pm on Channel 4/4HD on Sunday 22nd January 2012.

The Iron Lady review

Having previously worked with this actress on 2008's summer hit Mamma Mia, director Phyllida Lloyd sure knows how to exact a rousing performance from Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. Nominated more than almost any other actress working in the business today, it has been almost thirty years since Streep took the Best Actress crown for her work in Sophie's Choice (Alan J Pakula, USA, 1982) but it is looking likely that she may have a third golden statue to add to her mantle this season as her performance in Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady is nothing short of remarkable. From Consolata Boyle's exquisite costume design to Thomas Newman's subtle score, the film is simultaneously a delicate portrait of a frail old woman and a biography of an undeniably powerful leader with an even more powerful public presence.

Whatever your opinion of Thatcher's regimes and her miscalculated decisions during her 11 year reign in office between 1979 and 1990, she carried a heavy burden. She was the first female Prime Minister in this country in a government dominated by masculinity and she overcame adversity and misogyny in order to stand up for her beliefs. In this respect she was every bit the leader a nation could hope for. Just contrast this with the pitiful attempts of David Cameron and there is no argument as to who has made the bigger difference to this country, albeit for good or bad. The film thus presents Thatcher as both a woman who stands by her morals and begs to be heard at the same time as generating audience pathos for a woman who, in old age, reminds us all of the futility of life. She made decisions that cost lives, she brought economic destruction but she will be remembered.

It is in Streep's heartfelt declaration to husband Dennis, (played with great comic relief by Jim Broadbent), that she wants to make a difference in her life and does not want to die in the kitchen washing up a tea cup, that the human being emerges. Thatcher is such a duplicitous character and as such the film will seem controversial to many. I am in agreement with critics that praise Streep's meticulous mimicry of Thatcher from her speech to her body language, yet at the same time the story seems to be a little choppy. The narrative seems to dispense wth much of Thatcher's actions during her time in office and only sporadically uses actual footage to highlight the effect that her irrational decisions had on the United Kingdom and the world.

As a character study, this is Streep's film. As the eponym of the title she puts her all into the physicality and the emotion of the character and the moment that she finally lets Dennis go reminds us that this is a woman who, despite being power hungry and neglecting her children in favour of this power, has a heart and a voice, whether we choose to listen or ignore.

One for the Weekend...

Continuing my look at the best on the box this week with Stephen Daldry's The Reader (2008) which gets its premiere on Channel 4/4HD this Sunday January 15th 2012 at 9pm.

This drama, set in post-war Berlin, focusses on the story of Michael Berg (David Kross and Ralph Fiennes) as he begins a secret relationship with an older woman, living alone, who seeks company and his storytelling. After going off to study criminlogy years later and observing the Nazi War crime trials, Berg learns the shocking truth of Hanna Schmitz' (Kate Winslet) involvement in the concentration camps. A powerful drama with unsurprisingly brilliant performances particularly from Winslet who, after having been nominated 5 times for various Best Actress Oscars, was finally granted with the golden statue for this film. Highly recommended.

If you're looking for something a little lighter, you can't go wrong with Entrapment (Jon Amiel, USA, 1999), a cat and mouse thriller with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones which, though often implausible, is great entertainment. This can be seen on Channel 4/4HD on Sunday 15th January 2012 at 3.15pm.

Failing that, if screwball comedy is your cup of tea, give one of Jim Carrey's zaniest films a whirl. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (Tom Shadyac, USA, 1993) is full of laughs and good Sunday afternoon fun. This is showing on Sunday 15th January 2012 on Channel 5/5HD from 5.00pm.