Allow Me to Make Your Day...

Not only is The Artist the best film of 2011, it also has the best and most charming bloopers reel ever. Get ready to smile.

'Haywire' Review

Haywire (dir: Steven Soderbergh, 2011/2012) Cert: 15

My review for Steven Soderbergh's latest is now available over at Nerditorial. Click the poster for the review. 

'A Dangerous Method' Review

A Dangerous Method (dir: David Cronenberg, 2011/2012) Cert: 15

What you need to know:

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Oh, and it's really good too btw.

The Oscars - What Should Win, What Will Win

Like always, the Academy's decisions for nominations are both pleasing and frustrating. The complete omissions of masterful films such as Steve McQueen's Shame and Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is both disgusting and sadly predictable, but one is not here to moan about what pictures were unfairly left behind, I'm here to tell you what should and what will win at this year's Oscars by providing an entirely factual list (the 'entirely factual' bit is debatable...)

Best Picture

What Should Win:

The Artist

(dir: Michel Hazanavicius)

What Will Win:

The Artist

(dir: Michel Hazanavicius)

Best Actor

Who Should Win:

Jean Dujardin

The Artist

Who Will Win:

George Clooney

The Descendants

Best Actress

Who Should Win:

Rooney Mara

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Who Will Win:

Viola Davis

The Help

Best Director

Who Should Win:

Martin Scorsese

Hugo

Who Will Win:

Martin Scorsese

Hugo

Best Supporting Actor

Who Should Win:

Nick Nolte

Warrior

Who Will Win:

Christopher Plummer

Beginners

Best Supporting Actress

Who Should Win:

 

Berenice Bejo

The Artist

Who Will Win:

Octavia Spencer

The Help

Best Original Screenplay

What Should Win:

Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen

What Will Win:

Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen

Best Adapted Screenplay

What Should Win:

The Descendants

Alexander Payne, Jim Rash & Nat Faxon

What Will Win:

The Descendants

Alexander Payne, Jim Rash & Nat Faxon

Best Animated Film

What Should Win:

Rango

(dir: Gore Verbinski)

What Will Win:

Chico and Rita

(dir/s: Fernando Trueba/Javier Mariscal)

Best Original Score

What Should Win:

The Artist

Ludovic Bource

What Will Win:

The Artist

Ludovic Bource

Best Foreign Language Film

What Should Win:

A Separation

(dir: Asghar Farhadi)

What Will Win:

A Separation

(dir: Ashgar Farhadi)

Cinematography

What Should Win:

The Tree of Life

Emmanuel Lubezki

What Will Win:

War Horse

Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design

What Should Win:

The Artist

Mark Bridges

What Will Win:

The Artist

Mark Bridges

Best Visual Effects

What Should Win:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler & John Richardson

What Will Win:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler & John Richardson

And now for who and what that were wrongly missed...

Shame

Best Picture

Best Actor - Michael Fassbender

Best Actress - Carey Mulligan

Best Director - Steve McQueen

Best Original Screenplay - Steve McQueen & Abi Morgan

Best Original Score - Harry Escott

Drive

Best Picture

Best Actor - Ryan Gosling

Best Actress - Carey Mulligan 

Best Director - Nicolas Winding Refn

Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks

Best Adapted Screenplay - Hossein Amini

Best Original Score - Clint Martinez

Tyrannosaur 

Best Picture

Best Actress - Olivia Colman

Best Director - Paddy Considine

Shailene Woodley

Best Supporting Actress - The Descendants

The 2012 Academy Award Nominations - Full List

BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

BEST DIRECTOR
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants - Alexander Payne
Hugo - Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
The Tree of Life - Terrence Malick

BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir - A Better Life
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt - Moneyball

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help

BEST ANIMATED FILM
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants - Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon &
Jim Rash
Hugo - John Logan
The Ides of March - George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball - Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call - J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

ART DIRECTION
The Artist - Production Design: Laurence Bennett, Set Decoration: Robert Gould
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Hugo - Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
Midnight in Paris - Production Design: Anne Seibel, Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
War Horse - Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo - Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life - Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse - Janusz Kaminski

COSTUME DESIGN
Anonymous - Lisy Christl
The Artist - Mark Bridges
Hugo - Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre - Michael O’Connor
W.E. - Arianne Phillips

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth
Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

BEST FILM EDITING
The Artist - Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants - Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball - Christopher Tellefsen

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Bullhead - Belgium
Footnote - Israel
In Darkness - Poland
Monsieur Lazhar - Canada
A Separation - Iran

BEST MAKEUP
Albert Nobbs - Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and
Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part 2 - Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
The Iron Lady - Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Adventures of Tintin - John Williams
The Artist - Ludovic Bource
Hugo - Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Alberto Iglesias
War Horse - John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Man or Muppet - The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
Real in Rio – Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown
Lyric by Siedah Garrett

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Dimanche/Sunday - Patrick Doyon
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore - William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
La Luna - Enrico Casarosa
A Morning Stroll - Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
Wild Life - Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

BEST LIVE FILM
Pentecost - Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
Raju - Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
The Shore - Terry George and Oorlagh George
Time Freak - Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
Tuba Atlantic - Hallvar Witzø

BEST SOUND EDITING
Drive - Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Ren Klyce
Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse - Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
Hugo - Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
Moneyball - Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and
Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse - Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and
Stuart Wilson

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part 2 - Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and
John Richardson
Hugo - Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and
Alex Henning
Real Steel - Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Depressed for a Nation

As you all know, Michel Hazanavicius' masterpiece The Artist was crowned as Haydon's Movie House Best Film of 2011 - it's without a doubt the most joyous, beautiful and uplifting cinematic experience one has had for many-a-year.

 The film has barely been out of the press for the last two months and it's racking up an array of nominations and awards at the major film ceremonies in 2012. In fact, it's been so greatly publicised and debated that surely any human being with either a television, an internet connection or a spare 40p to pick up a newspaper would know about the film and it's format right? Well not in Britain. 

 After the truly jaw-dropping story of an idiotic woman in the USA who attempted to sue the producers of Drive because she thought she was seeing a film similar to The Fast and the Furious franchise, one hoped no more of these ridiculous stories would surface but now it's Blighty's turn to pile on the stupidity and indeed arrogance; in fact, I think this is worse than the Drive incident. 

 According to The Daily Telegraph, a series of people, particularly in Northern England have made complaints  to their cinemas and demanded refunds after seeing The Artist because of the lack of words. A LACK OF WORDS. Apparently a group of viewers from a Liverpool-based Odeon had no idea it was a silent film and were disgruntled at it's lack of dialogue and visual formatting. 

 It saddens me to think that some people are capable of such mindlessness and lack of appreciation. So sorry to the wider world - we aren't all simple-minded.

The BAFTA Film Awards 2012 Nominations

After staying up disgustingly late on Sunday night/Monday morning to bring you all live coverage from the Golden Globe Awards, I now have gotten up disgustingly early this morning to post the nominations for this year's BAFTA awards. The nominations were read out by Daniel Radcliffe and Holliday Granger at 7:40am this morning. My computer is playing up today for some reason, so rather than re-write all the nominations, click on the image above to see the full list from BAFTA.