BAFTA 2014 Nominations

BAFTA 2014 nominations are in with Gravity leading the way followed closely by 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle. I've already placed my bets with William Hill for who I think will win even though I have not seen the films I picked. I'm taking the safe option and going with the clear favourites.

I've highlighted those I've seen already and made a note of those I need to see before the ceremony on Feb 16th. The ones I think will win are helpfully written in red. If the film title is underlined, then click it to check out my review. Without further ado, here are the nominees:

BEST FILM
12 Years A Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Gravity
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
Philomena
Rush
Saving Mr. Banks
The Selfish Giant

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Colin Carberry (Writer), Glenn Patterson (Writer) Good Vibrations
Kelly Marcel (Writer) Saving Mr. Banks
Kieran Evans (Director/Writer) Kelly + Victor
Paul Wright (Director/Writer), Polly Stokes (Producer) For Those in Peril
Scott Graham (Director/Writer) Shell

DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen - 12 Years A Slave
David O. Russell - American Hustle
 Paul Greengrass - Captain Phillips
 Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity
Martin Scorsese - The Wolf Of Wall Street

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell - American Hustle
Woody Allen - Blue Jasmine
Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón - Gravity
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - Inside Llewyn Davis
Bob Nelson - Nebraska

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
John Ridley - 12 Years A Slave
Richard LaGravenese - Behind The Candelabra
Billy Ray - Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope - Philomena
Terence Winter - The Wolf Of Wall Street

LEADING ACTOR
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
Christian Bale - American Hustle
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips

LEADING ACTRESS
Amy Adams - American Hustle
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Emma Thompson - Saving Mr. Banks
Judi Dench - Philomena
Sandra Bullock - Gravity

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle 
Daniel Bruhl - Rush
Matt Damon - Behind the Candelabra
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
Oprah Winfrey - The Butler
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The Act Of Killing
Blue Is The Warmest Colour
The Great Beauty
Metro Manila
Wadjda

DOCUMENTARY
The Act Of Killing
The Armstrong Lie
Blackfish
Tim's Vermeer
We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks

ANIMATED FILM
Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Monsters University

ORIGINAL MUSIC
12 Years A Slave - Hans Zimmer
The Book Thief - John Williams
Captain Phillips - Henry Jackman
Gravity - Steven Price
Saving Mr. Banks - Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 Years A Slave - Sean Bobbitt
Captain Phillips - Barry Ackroyd
Gravity - Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis - Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska - Phedon Papamichael

EDITING
12 Years A Slave - Joe Walker
Captain Phillips - Christopher Rouse
Gravity - Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
Rush - Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
The Wolf Of Wall Street - Thelma Schoonmaker

PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 Years A Slave - Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
American Hustle - Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
Behind The Candelabra - Howard Cummings
Gravity - Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woodlard
The Great Gatsby - Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn

COSTUME DESIGN
American Hustle - Michael Wilkinson
Behind The Candelabra - Ellen Mirojnick
The Great Gatsby - Catherine Martin
The Invisible Woman - Michael O’Connor
Saving Mr. Banks - Daniel Orlandi

MAKE UP & HAIR
American Hustle - Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
Behind The Candelabra - Kate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
The Butler - Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, Candace Neal
The Great Gatsby - Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug - Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater

SOUND
All Is Lost - Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur
Captain Phillips - Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney
Gravity - Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro
Inside Llewyn Davis - Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff 
Rush - Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Gravity - Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
Iron Man 3 - Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick
Pacific Rim - Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner
Star Trek Into Darkness - Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett

Rising Star nominee Will Poulter and I

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Dane DeHaan
George McKay
Lupita Nyong'o
Will Poulter
Lea Seydoux

What do you think of this year's nominees?

Rush Review

Ron Howard feels the need, the need for speed! Getting inside the beautiful minds of not one but two Formula One race car drivers in Rush, his latest film grips as hard as the drivers grip the wheel. It's frequently buttock clenching, white knuckle stuff as engines roar, gears shift and rain pours on unforgiving race tracks.

Dreamy Chris Hemsworth is long haired British lothario, the cocksure and arrogant James Hunt. His nemesis is rat faced German, the know-it-all Nikki Lauder played by Daniel Brühl. The pair are contemporaries and fierce competitors, making their far too fast on-track showdowns breeze by in breathless set pieces. Off the track the sparks also fly with Lauder and Hunt trading insults and revving each other up so much their rivalry becomes their reason to live... and very possibly their reason to die.

Hunt and Lauder's fight for the championship is the stuff of Formula One legend with both racers refusing to give an inch or back down in the face of incredible danger, personal injury and in the case of Nikki Lauder a particularly terrifying brush with death.

As fun as some of the off track scenes can be, the supporting characters never get much room to breathe. Hemsworth and Brühl hold the film together, the film starting with dueling voiceovers from each of the pair. Despite both playing seriously flawed characters with little to like in either, the stars find room to wrap around your heart and skid into likeability by the end. Brühl is particularly adept at making Lauder completely understandable, and if not wholly likeable, at least deserving of a huge amount of respect.

Formula One is still very much a man's world and the women, including Olivia Wilde get little to do except mope on the sidelines. Though Hemsworth might be unacceptably sexy, it is easy to see why beautiful women are attracted to the drivers for other reasons. Though the thought of grown men racing round and round a track, risking their lives for money, glory and the title of champion might seem silly to some, the bravery of the men and the risks they rush into become quickly clear and surprisingly alluring even to those of us who have no interest in watching race cars whizz round a track.

It is on the track however where Rush really races into pole position. For a film about Formula One the track scenes are relatively few and far between and rush past in a blur of inventive angles, slick editing and roaring sound design. Freeze frames, intense close ups and cameras in every place imaginable make the race scenes incredibly tense, especially when the rain starts to pour. Director of Photography Anthony Dod Mantle captures every drop and frames the moody skies over the proceedings like ugly portents of doom. With cameras even right next to the eyes of the actors as their helmets are put on, we are right there in the action as the cars race, collide and crash their way round the tracks.

Though many will know the story and may even have seen the races or the terrible crash that nearly killed Lauder, they will not have seen behind the helmet of the man as he recovered in hospital. The scarily real recreation of the crash is brutal and heart stopping and the race that leads up to it is terrifically tense whether you know the story or not. The stakes are raised each time either Hunt or Lauder gets in a car and it is a shame that so many of the races are rushed when the cinematography and score are so effective. For a film that could have done with a bit more action, the mood is more sombre, the score adding to the sense of dread and sadness at what is to come.

However Rush does not dwell on the down sides. It is a film that finds the humour in the characters, their rivalry and even their tragedy. Hunt and Lauder may have faults but they made each other better racers and Howard and writer Peter Morgan find the insecurities and arrogance endearing and worthy of investigation. 

Some moments of the script might steam ahead into obvious sound bites but Rush never fails to raise a smile or take its lead pair too seriously, making it easy to forgive the odd line that spells out the characters motivations, feelings or the message of the film. Hemsworth and Brühl consistently sell their real life characters and manage to make both men surprisingly warm and likeable antagonists despite their conflict, an admirable achievement for both actors in the circumstances.

Peter Morgan continues his fine work with real life figures and particularly two-handers in the tradition of his previous collaboration with Howard, Frost/Nixon. His knack for character and dialogue could be the reason the film comes in at the two hour mark while giving short shrift to vital race scenes that could have fuel injected Rush onto the 5 star winners podium. Whether you like cars or not, Rush will get your heart beat racing.

Release date:  September 27^th, 2013

Running time: 123 minutes

Director:  Ron Howard

Writer: Peter Morgan

Cast:  Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde

 
Here is the trailer:

Recent reviews at I Love That Film: 

The Lone Ranger Review

You're Next Review

We're the Millers Review

2 Guns Review

Man of Steel Review

This is the End Review 

Fast and Furious 6 Review

Iron Man 3 Review

August 2013 Movie Reviews and Round Up

I'm going to come right out and say this. My August has been pretty lousy for movie watching. I was in Thailand for the first couple of weeks but as there were monsoon rains battering my cabin in the woods (rainforest) one evening, I sat in and watched Green Lantern as it was playing and I was sick of watching Al Jazeera. Then I watched five films on the plane ride home (but I'd already seen most of the decent films on offer) and then I've been rushing to catch up with new releases ever since. My biggest regret is that I think at this rate I might have missed Pacific Rim on the big screen. Must try and catch Elysium instead to make up for it.

Anyway here's what I watched this month:

Green Lantern: Not sure why everyone hated this so much. I had incredibly low expectations which must have helped but Ryan Reynolds is likeable, the constant CGI didn't completely alienate me and Peter Sarsgaard is perfect for playing baddies. Then again I've never read the comics so have no idea if this adaptation is a disgrace to the fans.

Admission: First film I watched on the plane home. Paul Rudd and Tina Fey in a strange but mildly entertaining dramedy. Strange tone and mixed messages but quite memorable characters and occasionally amusing script.

Identity Thief: Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman star in a suprisingly sweet road trip comedy that was not the complete car crash I expected. McCarthy struggles with such an unlikeable character and Bateman plays the same old schtick but it had some amusing moments.

The Croods: Family animation that angered me at first but vaguely charmed me by the end. Ryan Reynolds again too.

Broadcast News: Classic satire and irritating love triangle from James L. Brooks. Great performances from Holly Hunter and Albert Brooks and enthralling look behind the scenes of the news room. Also the last film I watched on the plane home from Thailand.

2 Guns: "For an action comedy, 2 Guns delivers plenty of shoot outs and a healthy dose of exploding stuff but the script is weaker when it comes to the comedy. Without the charisma of Washington and Wahlberg, it is easy to assume this might have gone straight to DVD. It's quite fun while it lasts but you certainly don't want to spend any time afterwards pondering the plot. 2 Guns is neither Washington nor Wahlberg's best but it's still worth a shot, just probably not 2"

Lovelace: "fails to fully penetrate the dark heart of the story despite some hard core performances from an excellent cast. It is however an eye opening look at an industry that I suspect is only getting more vicious and more worrying as time goes on."

Headhunters: Finally got round to seeing this bonkers Jo Nesbo adaptation. Not sure if I was feeling overly sensitive for some reason but I found this incredibly violent. Obviously that means I quite enjoyed it. Fast paced thriller with some crazy moments of pitch black humour.

We're The Millers: "may not break boundaries in its border crossing but it is a road trip fueled by excellent comedic performances and a few side splitting scenes; a comedy about a family that is definitely not suitable for the whole family"

You're Next: "The comparisons to Scream and the touting of You're Next as the future of horror are forced and not fair to Scream or this film. While it shows some great potential and has some beautifully scored moments, it will be even more interesting to see what director Adam Wingard has in store for us next"

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa: Mildly amusing throughout but like most British TV characters when they make it to the big screen, a little lost and stretched thin. Steve Coogan is game and the hostage crisis set up provides good laughs but loses its way towards the end.

Dark Tourist: Watched this at FrightFest 2013 but was too tired to stay awake and kept nodding off and then waking with a jump moments later. Not sure I missed much but I did get to interview the star and director before the film.

Rush: review coming soon at Static Mass Emporium.

The Lone Ranger: "According to Box Office Mojo, The Lone Ranger may have only just managed to scrape back it's over $200 million budget with a particularly poor domestic take. It looks likely that instead of becoming a Pirates size franchise, this might be the Standalone Ranger after all"

Apart from film watching, I've also been writing at Yahoo Movies and Filmoria, continuing to read the second Game of Thrones novel, A Clash of Kings and keeping up to date with Breaking Bad series 5. I've also just started watching Dexter series 7 so I'm only about a series behind on that one!

Best film of the month: Rush

Worst film of the month: Dark Tourist

Most popular phrase of the month judging by my mini-reviews above: Mildly amusing

How was your August? What did you see? What did you like? What did you hate?