BAFTA Predictions

The BAFTA awards take place this Sunday and while once again the viewing public will have to deal with a two hour delay to watch the ceremony on BBC1, it is time to make my predictions on the winners in the categories that due to Brits being British, could throw up some surprises that we might not see at the Oscars. Plus it is nice to see Blade Runner 2049 get a bit more love and attention as it completely deserves it.

Best Film

Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Winner

Outstanding Best Film

Darkest Hour
The Death Of Stalin
God's Own Country - Winner
Lady Macbeth
Paddington 2
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

The Ghoul
I Am Not A Witch
Jawbone
Kingdom Of Us
Lady Macbeth - Winner

Film Not In The English Language

Elle
First They Killed My Father
The Handmaiden - Winner
Loveless
The Salesman

Documentary

City Of Ghosts
I Am Not Your Negro - Winner
Icarus
An Inconvenient Sequel
Jane

Animated Film

Coco - Winner
Loving Vincent
My Life As A Courgette

Director

Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape Of Water
Luca Guadagnino - Call Me By Your Name
Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk - Winner
Denis Villeneuve - Blade Runner 2049

Original Screenplay

Get Out
I, Tonya
Lady Bird
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Winner

Adapted Screenplay

Call Me By Your Name - Winner
The Death Of Stalin
Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool
Molly's Game
Paddington 2

Leading Actress

Annette Bening - Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool
Sally Hawkins - The Shape Of Water - Winner
Frances McDormand - Three Billboards
Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan - Lady Bird

Leading Actor

Jamie Bell - Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool
Timothee Chalamet - Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis - Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out
Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour - Winner

Supporting Actress

Alison Janney - I, Tonya
Lesley Manville - Phantom Thread - Winner
Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
Kristin Scott Thomas - Darkest Hour
Octavia Spencer - The Shape Of Water

Supporting Actor

Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
Hugh Grant - Paddington 2
Woody Harrelson - Three Billboards
Christopher Plummer - All The Money In The World
Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards - Winner

Original Music

Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Phantom Thread
The Shape Of Water - Winner

Cinematography

Blade Runner 2049 - Winner
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Editing

Baby Driver - Winner
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Production Design

Beauty And The Beast
Blade Runner 2049 - Winner
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water

Costume Design

Beauty And The Beast
Darkest Hour
I, Tonya
Phantom Thread - Winner
The Shape Of Water

Make Up & Hair

Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour - Winner
I, Tonya
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder

Sound

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk - Winner
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Special Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War For The Planet Of The Apes - Winner

EE Rising Star Award

Timothee Chalamet
Daniel Kaluuya - Winner
Josh O'Connor
Florence Pugh
Tessa Thompson

Mudbound (Netflix Originals) - review

2017 was quite the year for Netflix. Not only was it the year that it broke through with its original film programming, it was the year I finally discovered that "Netflix and Chill" was not just about watching movies on the sofa!
They had quality genre hits such as The Babysitter and the excellent Gerald's Game that caused several people, including me, to do this...

But 2017 was the year that Netflix decided that they wanted to compete with the big boys and be taken seriously. Could they do it? "Yes we Cannes!" and Netflix went to France to compete in the Cannes Film Festival with Book Jong-Ho's Okja and Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories.
Did it go as planned? Not quite. The French in particular were against the idea of films playing in competition that would not receive a cinematic release, head judge Pedro Almodovar said that the films would never win a prize and the controversy overshadowed two good films and a very rare thing... a great Adam Sandler performance.
Netflix decided they were not going to let that stop them and have doubled down on their original programming; organising a deal with Curzon for limited runs of the films to appear on their screens, financing $100 million for Martin Scorsese's The Irishman starring DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci and now they have gone legit are entered the Oscar race with Mudbound.
Amazon Studios were the first to the podium last year with Manchester By The Sea but Mudbound is the sole streaming film in the race this year and received 4 Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Song, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
The cinematography nomination is well deserved, and history making as Rachel Morrison became the first female cinematographer to be ever receive one. The film looks stunning and every shot captures the feeling of the Deep South in Forties America.
Mudbound tells the story of two families, the Macallan's and the Jackson's. Linked by land, the film explores their relationships defined by race, class and the fall out of WWII with both families giving their men to the war but find they are treated differently upon their return.
Performances across the board are as strong as the liquor and tensions that brewed in Mississippi, with particular standouts being Garret Hedlund, Jason Mitchell and Jonathan Banks as the deeply racist Pappy.
The film really comes into its own once the war is over and it explores the friendship between Hedlund's Jamie and Mitchell's Ronzell, which will ultimately come to define both families.
The main issue with the storytelling is the decision of director Dee Rees and screenwriter Virgil Williams is the over-reliance on voice-over narration.
Given it is adapted from a novel and this was the structure of the book, it is understandable however as Robert McKee in Adaptation would scream "...and God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character."
So not only does the audience get one voice-over, it gets six different characters narrating their own parts of the story and at times, the narrative becomes as clear as mud.
Thankfully the narration does not overshadow the performances and the result is a film that shows that if the commissioning team at Netflix continue to fund films and stories like this, they are Bound for glory.

3 stars

When it comes to the Oscars, there is no such thing as a snub...

There is something that always bothers me about the 24 hour period after the Oscar nominations are announced. It happens every single year and this year is no different. Within hours of the announcements being made, the internet was awash with articles listing the "biggest snubs and surprises" of this year's nominations and it is the word snub that always riles me up.
The dictionary definition of snub is as follows:

Snub - "rebuff, ignore or spurn disdainfully" or "an act of rebuffing or ignoring someone or something"; "to insult someone by not giving them any attention or treating them as if they are not important"

This implies that a wilful intent to deliberately ignore the merits of a film or individual's contribution to that film but when it comes to the Oscars this is not really the case.
People do not go out of their way to actively campaign against someone getting a nomination and the system does not ask for members to vote against a person's performance.
If you want to look for something that cruelly mocks and rebuffs the efforts of filmmakers, then look no further than the Razzies e.g. mother! being nominated for multiple "awards".

Academy members are given one vote in each category to choose the single performance or work they were most impressed with. In certain categories, only members working in the same field may vote for their counterparts, as they are the most qualified to judge the work.

With 6687 members across a number of disciplines, it is an inevitability that some people will be overlooked or not even seen by everyone. No matter how much publicity certain films may receive or how many screeners are sent out.

So when a certain name is not read out during the nominations, it is not a snub. It is simply down to the fact they did not receive enough votes.

The more appropriate word would be "surprise" or "disappointment".

For example, it is deeply disappointing that Michael Stuhlbarg was not nominated for Call Me By Your Name. Particularly when you consider that he is in three of the nine nominated films for Best Picture. His monologue at the end of the film is beautiful and moving and the very definition of a supporting performance. Sadly he was up against strong performances from the five eventual nominees but also his co-star Armie Hammer who is the co-lead but placed in supporting category to avoid competing against Chalamet. Ultimately both missed out, potentially due to their votes being split between them.

Some of the names mentioned when it comes to the issue of today's "snubs" include Tom Hanks, The Florida Project, Wonder Woman, Martin McDonagh and James Franco.

Of these, the only one that could be considered a legitimate snub would be Franco. It is possible the negative news stories surrounding his sexual conduct put voters off, with the Academy keen to avoid any potential embarrassment on the night.
For everyone else, to complain about their omission from the list, implies that someone else who made the cut is not worthy of their spot. Can you say that, for example, Paul Thomas Anderson is not deserving of his Director nomination?

So when we talk about the Oscars, which is meant to be a celebration of film, let's stick to the positives and not the negatives.

Roll on March the 4th.

Oscars 2018 - Predicting the Nominations!

The Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow Tuesday 23rd January at 1:22pm and I thought it would be fun to try and predict who will be nominated in the main categories.

Best Picture

Best Picture is always a difficult one to accurately predict correctly ever since 2008 when The Dark Knight was shockingly left out of the nominations due to only having five nominees. I think we can all agree that it is a better film than all the nominees that year (Benjamin Button, The Reader, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire).
Ever since then there has been anywhere between 5 and 10 nominees depending on the number of votes received. Then when it comes to the final vote once the nominees are announced, the ballot is done on a preferential vote system with the films ranked by choice by the voter.

So, given this year's Awards race. Here are my thoughts on what will appear on the final list:

Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Post
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


Best Director

Del Toro, McDonagh and Nolan are all locks in this category. Given the current climate in Hollywood, there will be a riot if a woman isn't nominated given the fact that the likes of Bigelow, Coppola and Jenkins all produced quality films and so Gerwig's indie darling so produce a nomination.
The only question mark is Jordan Peele who might end up making way for a more established name like Steven Spielberg or Denis Villeneuve.

Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape Of Water
Greta Gerwig - Lady Bird
Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk
Jordan Peele - Get Out

Best Actress

As far as this category goes, there are four guaranteed names on the list with the fifth and final place up for grabs (even if this is still going to be a slam dunk for Frances McDormand this year).
With her pedigree and role in The Post, it would surprise no one to see another nomination for Meryl Streep but the acting categories often throw up a wild card and I'm going out on a limb and say it will be Jessica Chastain for Molly's Game.

Jessica Chastain - Molly's Game
Sally Hawkins - The Shape Of Water
Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
Saiorse Ronan - Lady Bird


Best Actor

Even though personally I wasn't that big a fan of his performance, the people of the Academy are pretty much already engraving Gary Oldman's name onto the Best Actor Oscar.
Chalamet's place is pretty much confirmed as well as he has been present and gracious runner up every step of the way. The Academy will not miss the opportunity to give Day Lewis a nomination for his final film. Although this must be the first time he will not be the favourite to win.
That leaves two places still to play for. Daniel Kaluuya has been consistently nominated for Get Out but I worry his performance is not "showy" enough for the academy and he might just miss out, opening the door for someone like Hanks or Washington. Similarly, having been a sure thing with the Globe win, Franco's place is on shaky ground given the recent new stories. However this was probably too late for the nomination process so expect his name to be read out.

Timothee Chalamet - Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day Lewis - Phantom Thread
James Franco - The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out
Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour



Best Supporting Actress

This the Oscar season where Mommy knows best with Janney and Metcalf's turns as the protagonist's mother guaranteed to be nominated and, given the SAG nomination, Hunter is likely to join them.
There is potential for a Wild Card entry in the form of Tiffany Haddish for Girls Trip. By all accounts it is a breakout star making performance and Melissa McCarthy was similarly nominated for Bridesmaids so there is form in this category.

Tiffany Haddish - Girls Trip
Holly Hunter - The Big Sick
Alison Janney - I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer - The Shape Of Water


Best Supporting Actor

The Oscar is Rockwell or Dafoe's to lose at this point but this is probably the most wide open category going into the nominations as the other three spots have varied from award to award. It is likely that Plummer's last minute replacement on All The Money In The World will score a nod.
That leaves the final two places as a fight between Woody Harrelson and the two men classified as Supporting Actor for Call Me By Your Name. Armie Hammer is one of the two lead characters in the film but placed here to avoid competing with Chalamet. This means that Stuhlbarg's pivotal supporting performance could potentially go unrewarded (which is a shame as his monologue at the end was one of the standout moments from 2017). He is also starring in 3 potential Best Picture nominees which hasn't happened since John C. Reilly in 2003.

Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Plummer - All The Money In The World
Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Michael Stuhlbarg - Call Me By Your Name


Best Original Screenplay

The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


Best Adapted Screenplay

Call Me By Your Name
The Disaster Artist
Logan
Molly's Game
Mudbound

Golden Globe Predictions 2018

The Golden Globes are this Sunday and it is time for my annual attempt at predicting the winners. This year more than any will be difficult to do as the majority of the films have not yet received a UK release, which means that I will have to rely on guess work rather than actual opinion in most cases... although public opinion and critics views often can amount to nothing when it comes to the Globes!

Expect the ceremony and speeches to be more important and talked about than the actual results.

Best Picture - Drama

• Call Me By Your Name
• Dunkirk
• The Post
• The Shape Of Water - WINNER
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The Post is the most topical film but The Shape Of The Water is the most nominated film on the night so my vote goes to Del Toro's unconventional love story.

Best Picture - Comedy or Musical

• The Disaster Artist
• Get Out - WINNER
• The Greatest Showman
• I, Tonya
• Lady Bird

The Globe will come down to two of the best reviewed films Lady Bird and Get Out. Get Out is "The Martian" of the category and this could tip the odds in its favour so expect it to win on the night.

Best Actress - Drama

• Jessica Chastain - Molly's Game
• Sally Hawkins - The Shape Of Water
• Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - WINNER
• Meryl Streep - The Post
• Michelle Williams - All The Money In The World

Hawkins is the front runner on paper but expect McDormand's foulmouthed tour-de-force performance to scoop the gong.

Best Actress - Comedy or Musical

• Judi Dench - Victoria & Abdul
• Margot Robbie - I, Tonya - WINNER
• Saiorse Ronan - Lady Bird
• Emma Stone - Battle Of The Sexes
• Helen Mirren - The Leisure Seeker

Dames Mirren and Dench don't stand a chance but receive their obligatory nominations anyway. The odds are in favour of Saiorse Ronan but I have a feeling Margot Robbie will sweep in with a crowbar and take the victory from under Ronan's feet.

Best Actor - Drama

• Timothee Chalamet - Call Me By Your Name
• Daniel Day-Lewis - Phantom Thread
• Tom Hanks - The Post
• Gary Oldman - The Darkest Hour - WINNER
• Denzel Washington - Roman J. Israel, Esq

I could see the Globes giving the award to Day-Lewis as a glorious farewell, if the rumours of retirement are true, but the money seems to be on Oldman's cigar and scenery-chewing turn as Churchill which wins the bonus points of playing a real life person.

Best Actor - Comedy or Musical

• Steve Carell - Battle Of The Sexes
• Ansel Elgort - Baby Driver
• James Franco - The Disaster Artist - WINNER
• Hugh Jackman - The Greatest Showman
• Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out

Can't see anyone but Franco taking this one due to his total commitment of transforming into Tommy Wiseau.

Best Director

• Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape Of Water - WINNER
• Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk
• Ridley Scott - All The Money In The World
• Steven Spielberg - The Post

Given the current political climate in Hollywood, it would be tempting for them to award Ridley Scott for managing to recast and reshoot Spacey's role in just a few weeks before release, but I think that Del Toro will take the prize.

Best Supporting Actress

• Mary J. Blige - Mudbound
• Hong Chau - Downsizing
• Alison Janney - I, Tonya
• Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird - WINNER
• Octavia Spencer - The Shape Of Water

I haven't seen any of these films so going to have to go with the popular opinion on this one with Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird but Janney could run her close from what I have seen in the trailers for I, Tonya.

Best Supporting Actor

• Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
• Armie Hammer - Call Me By Your Name
• Richard Jenkins - The Shape Of Water
• Christopher Plummer - All The Money In The World - WINNER
• Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

This is a year where Dafoe, Rockwell or Hammer could easily win and be worthy winners but I can't see anyone but Plummer winning due to the incredible story that goes with his late replacement taking over from Spacey.

Best Original Score

• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• The Shape Of Water
• Phantom Thread
• The Post
• Dunkirk - WINNER

Fully expect Hans Zimmer's score that drives the entire movie forward and had audiences' knuckles turning white with tension to win.

Best Screenplay

• The Shape Of Water
• Lady Bird
• The Post
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - WINNER
• Molly's Game

Not surprised to see Sorkin nominated but McDonagh's scripts are always incredibly quotable so Three Billboards will win One Globe.

Best Foreign Language Film

• A Fantastic Woman
• First They Killed My Father
• In The Fade
• Loveless
• The Square - WINNER

Having not seen any of the nominated films, picking the winner of the Palme D'Or The Square.

Best Animated Film

• The Boss Baby
• The Breadwinner
• Ferdinand
• Coco
• Loving Vincent - WINNER

Going for a punt with Loving Vincent. Not your traditional nominee but would be a worthy winner.

August: Osage County - review

We've all probably had a family dinner like the one that is the centrepiece of August: Osage County.

Arguments as heated as the roast potatoes, secrets are revealed, dirty laundry is aired, a ruined dish here, spilt drink, spilt blood there, etc, etc.

All bets are off as the Weston family spectacularly implodes over the funeral dinner that brought them all back together.

Based on the play by Tracy Letts (who also wrote Killer Joe); the story, action and resulting fallout take place over a few days however I feel that if it had all taken place in the space of a couple of hours over dinner, then this could have been a great film.

Unfortunately it doesn't really come to life until this moment (ironic being that it is a death that causes this) and then fails to recapture that magic later on (although Julia Roberts does here best with a foul-mouthed tirade about eating the "f*cking fish bitch!").

No mistake about it, this film is all about the Weston Girls (played by Streep, Roberts, Lewis, Nicholson and Martindale), and people claim there are no good roles for women out there. I have no doubt that this particular film would pass the Bechdel Test multiple times over.

Don't get me wrong, they do talk about men but it ain't pretty. Men do not come off well in this story. At all! One dies, one has cheated on his wife, one is possibly slightly mentally retarded and another is a potential drug-taking paedophile.

Each man is there as a plot point or way for Meryl Streep's matriarch Violet to pour scorn on her daughters, which leads to the ultimate showdown between herself and eldest daughter Barb (Roberts).

It is here that Roberts comes into her own, going toe to toe with Streep and delivering an excellent performance which will leave us all asking the same question: are we destined to turn into our parents or can we change our fate?

August, with a mouth-watering buffet of talent on offer might make it seem like a Michelin-star feast awaits yet with some meaty turns on show here it will ultimately leave you slightly in satisfied and hungry for more.

3 stars

P.S. this may seem incredibly harsh given the reasons for her character's appearance but I could not get this image out of my mind after Streep's first appeared on screen...