The 1st Annual BWAP Awards: Nominees

Welcome one and all to the first ever Annual BWAP awards, where I shall be giving it awards to films that actually deserved them, as opposed to what happened at the BAFTA's, the Golden Globes, the Oscars and so on. Without further ado, these, are the nominations...


Best Film

• Hugo
• The Ides of March
• Drive
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Director

• Martin Scorsese - Hugo
• Tomas Alfredson - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
• Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life
• Lynne Ramsey - We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Actor

• Gary Oldman - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Ryan Gosling - The Ides of March/Drive
• Asa Butterfield - Hugo
• Brad Pitt - The Tree of Life
• Owen Wilson - Midnight in Paris

Best Actress

• Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin
• Kirsten Dunst - Melancholia 
• Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
• Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids

Best Supporting Actor

• John Hurt - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy/Melancholia
• Phillip Seymour-Hoffman - The Ides of March
• Benedict Cumberbatch - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Ben Kingsley - Hugo
• Albert Brooks - Drive

Best Supporting Actress

• Carey Mulligan - Drive
• Evan Rachel-Wood - The Ides of March
• Marion Cotillard - Midnight in Paris
• Chloe-Grace Moretz - Hugo
• Charlotte Gainsbourg - Melancholia

Best Original Screenplay

• Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
• Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids
• Lars von Trier - Melancholia

Best Adapted Screenplay

• George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon - The Ides of March
• Bridget O’ Conner and Peter Straughn - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Lynne Ramsay and Rory Stewart Kinnear - We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Visuals

• Hugo
• The Tree of Life
• Drive

Best Audio

• Drive
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
• Hugo

Best Cast

• The Ides of March
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Drive
• We Need to Talk About Kevin
• Hugo

The winners will be announced one week from today.

My 84th Academy Award Predictions: Final Amendments

Well, we are just one day away from the eagerly anticipated academy awards (although perhaps at this point we should just call them The Artist awards). After 20 days of reflection, the BAFTA's and other things, I have made a few key amendments to my final predictions:

Best Picture
Will Win: The Artist
Could Win: Hugo
Should Win: Hugo
Biggest Snub: The Ides of March

What I thought was a much closer race at the time of my last blog has now become almost a formality for Michael Hazanavicious’s love letter to cinema, The Artist. It has been gathering momentum, and it’s competitors’ momentum has been waning. All in all, I think it’s going to be a comfortable win for another supremely overrated film. If not The Artist, then Hugo is probably the next in line, but don’t hold your breath.

Best Director
Will Win: Michael Hazanavicius - The Artist
Could Win: Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Should Win: Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life
Biggest Snub: Bennet Miller - Moneyball

The race Best Director is a little more interesting. I predicted Scorsese to do well here in my last predictions, and after his Golden Globe win, I’ve seen nothing to change my mind. With that said, I didn’t think The Tree of Life, great film though it is, would trouble the Oscars this year, so if the Academy are in the mood to nominate it, perhaps they’re in the mood to give Terrence Malick a directing nod, where it fares a much better chance than the Best Picture category.

Best Actor
Will Win: Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Could Win: George Clooney - The Descendants
Should Win: Gary Oldman - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Biggest Snub: Michael Fassbinder -Shame/Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar

What seemed to be sewn up for Clooney is now Dujardin’s oscar to lose, The Artist now being a full on juggernaut at this point, there aren’t many categories it won’t win in, and Dujardin will probably clinch the award here.

Best Actress
Will Win: Viola Davis - The Help
Could Win: Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Should Win: Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Biggest Snub: Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin

Probably the closest race in the major categories, the Best Actress award really could go either way, with Viola Davis and Meryl Streep set to battle it out for the statue. The Academy may wish to reward The Help, it would no doubt be seen as a good PR move, given The Help’s racially themed subject matter, but the Academy love Streep, and they love Britain, and they love seeing great Actors/Actresses giving great performances of British politicians during a time of strife in the country, such as war, such as The Falklands war, for those of you who don’t know your history. If you pushed me, I’d probably say Davis will take the award, but it really could go either way.

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win: Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Could Win: Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Should Win: Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Biggest Snub: Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Ides of March

I was going to stick my neck out and say Kenneth Branagh, but the overwhelming feeling that it’s Plummer’s Oscar to lose is just too irresistible to ignore. Still, Branagh could nick it, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win: Octavia Spencer - The Help
Could win: Bérénice Bejo - The Artist
Should Win: Idunnolol
Biggest Snub: Jodie Foster - Carnage

Spencer probably takes the statue, but I can’t help but feel that The Academy smuggling Bérénice Bejo into a category she clearly doesn’t belong might just be a sly ploy to give The Artist another award. It should also be said that the other three nominees are all in with a shot, and it’s shaping up to be a tight race.

Best Original Screenplay
Will Win: Michael Hazanavicius - The Artist
Could Win: Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Should Win: Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Biggest Snub: There really weren’t any

I really, really, really don’t want to say The Artist here, but I think I have to, after it’s BAFTA win, and given The Artist’s power going into the awards, I can’t see Midnight in Paris taking the award.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Win: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash - The Descendants
Could Win: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin - Moneyball
Should Win: George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon - The Ides of March
Biggest Snub: John Logan - Hugo

Difficult to predict, there’s no one powerhouse screenplay that seems poised to take the cake, I’m going to say The Descendants, but take it with a pinch of salt.

Best Animated Feature
Will Win: Rango
Could Win: Chico and Rita
Should Win: None of them
Biggest Snub: The Adventures of Tintin

After the baffling snub of The Adventures of Tintin, Rango is probably the most likely candidate to take the statue.

Best Foreign Film
Will Win: A Separation
Could Win: Bullhead
Should Win: A Separation
Biggest Snub: I don’t see many foreign films lol

I’m not quite as confident in this prediction as I was, but I still think A Separation will take it

My knowledge gets a little hazy and my predictions less well informed after this point, so take everything after this with a pinch of salt

Best Documentaries/Short films
Haven’t a clue, I’d be flat out guessing here

Best Original Score
Will Win: Ludovic Bource - The Artist
Could Win: John Williams - The Adventures of Tintin
Should Win: Howard Shore - Hugo

Best Original Song
Will Win: “Man or Muppet” - The Muppets
Could Win: Well, “Real in Rio” - Rio, seeing as it’s the only other nominee
Should Win: Haven’t heard either of them

Best Sound Editing
Will Win: Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis - Drive
Could Win: Ren Klyce - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Should Win: Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis - Drive

Best Sound Mixing
Will Win: David Parker, Ren Klyce, Michael Semanik and Bo Persson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Could Win: Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Peter J. Devlin - Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Should Win: David Parker, Ren Klyce, Michael Semanik and Bo Persson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Art Direction
Will Win: Hugo
Could Win: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Should Win: Hugo


Best Cinematography
Will Win: Guillaume Schiffman - The Artist
Could Win: Robert Richardson - Hugo
Should Win: Robert Richardson - Hugo

Best Makeup
Will Win: Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland - The Iron Lady
Could Win: Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Should Win: Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland - The Iron Lady

Best Costume Design
Will Win: Mark Bridges - The Artist
Could Win: Sandy Powell - Hugo
Should Win: Sandy Powell - Hugo

Best Film Editing
Will Win: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Could Win: Thelma Schoonmaker - Hugo
Should Win: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Visual Effects
Will Win: Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barret - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Could Win: Will Win: Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Should Win: Will Win: Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Review

Summery
Engaging, superbly acted, elegantly written and expertly brought together, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a rampant success on every level, with a particularly standout turn from Gary Oldman

Full Review
Tomas Alfredson is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors. After his 2008 vampire masterpiece, the majestic “Let the Right One In”, my hopes where high that he would be able to deliver on this adaptation of John le Carré’s classic espionage tale: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Alfredson demonstrates his directorial range in a film that is a very different beast to Let the Right One In, but carries a few fundamental similarities. As with Let the Right One In, the star of the film really is the tone of the film its self, as Alfredson masterfully creates a world that, while often gloomy and industrial feeling, manages to feel deep and fleshed out without ever really seeming to try too hard at all. It’s a dark and gloomy film with a complex and engaging narrative, it would have been an easy film to lose control and make a mess of, and without a master film-maker, there is a lot that could have gone wrong. Fortunately, Tomas Alfredson seems to be just that. Alfredson is a director with an unparalleled control of tone and mood, in addition to being an all round brilliant film-maker, and it shines through in every scene.

Tinker, Tailor gets so much right that’s hard to know where to begin, but one could do worse than start with one of the most talented casts ever assembled in any film, and it pays, delivering as good an ensemble performance as I can remember seeing. Gary Oldman is a roaring wonder in the main role as George Smiley, a British spy, forced out of British intelligence, but asked to come out of retirement to find a suspected mole. It’s a subtle, elegant performance from one of the most talented British actors of his generation, and probably the best lead performance in 2011. John Hurt and Benedict Cumberbatch in particular stand out, amongst the supporting characters, Cumberbatch in particular delivering a teriffic performance. Arguably the best scene of the film comes from a dialogue between Oldman and Cumberbatch that I wouldn't dream of spoiling, but it replays in my head as I write.

But what are great actors without great writing, and Bridget O’ Connor and Peter Straughn deliver a belter of a screenplay. Tinker, Tailor is about 90% dialogue, and a film like that just doesn’t work without great writing, it will make or break a film, and in this case, Tinker, Tailor delivers with panache and flair, without ever succumbing to flamboyance, it’s not a Social Network screenplay where the script steals the show. Rather, it gives the actors and the film exactly what they require to do their jobs to the fullest, in addition to a few show-stealing moments (particularly the aforementioned scene between Oldman and Cumberbatch). As much as the film gets right, I would be shirking my responsibilities if I were not to add, without giving anything away, that the ending does feel a little anticlimactic. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I couldn’t help but feel somewhat let down by an ending that the film had been building so brilliantly towards. That aside however, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a masterful piece of work, every man and woman in the process working magic, every cog in the machine doing it’s job, creating a phenomenal ensemble piece, the kind that only comes along a few times a decade, and that should be appreciated and heralded as what it is… a pretty damn good film.

Should I see it?
Tinker, Tailor doesn’t treat you like a child, and if you’re the sort of viewer who just wants a bit of escapism and popcorn for a few hours, than maybe give it a miss. But for the more intelligent and demanding viewer, don’t miss it for the world. See it ASAP.

Overall Score: 88