After seeing some delightful results from the BAFTAs and other winners that were pretty much a given *COUthekingsspeechGHS*, I thought it might be nice to play a game with myself on who will win. Clearly this will be incredibly bias and not at all accurate as I haven't seen all the films... So, here we go:
Best Picture - The King's Speech
Best Director - David Fincher
Best Actress - Natalie Portman
Best Actor - James Franko
Best Supporting Actress - Helena Bonham Carter
Best Supporting Actor - Christine Bale
Best Original Screenplay - Inception
Best Adapted Screenplay - The Social Network
Best Animated Film - Toy Story 3
Best Foreign Film - Biutiful
Best Score - Inception
Best Song - I See The Light from Tangled
Best Cinematography - Black Swan
Best Costume Design - Alice in Wonderland
Best Art Direction - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Best Visual Effects - Inception
Best Sound Editing - Toy Story 3
Best Sound Mixing - True Grit
Best Documentary Feature - Exit Through The Gift Shop
Best Live Action Short Film - The Crush
Best Animated Short Film - Day and Night
Best Documentary Short Subject - Strangers
Best Editing - Black Swan
Best Make-up - Barney's Version
Who's gonna give me a £1m if these are all right? To be honest, I don't really mind as long as James Franco is on screen for most of the evening. That's my reward.
Well, there's only so much you can say about this film focusing for an hour and a half on a man in a box. No wait, what am I talking about? There's everything you can say! This previous conception of the feature may have put a lot of people off, but the amount of tension, focus and detail Buried has makes it a fantastic thriller. Along with this, the acting from Reynolds is spot on bringing all the elements to a very high standard.
Minimalist is the first word that comes to mind, but actually, the impact this film has makes the pleasure of viewing it so opposite to the word that you find yourself breathless (excuse the pun). Yes, the film is confined to a wooden coffin, a lighter, torch and mobile phone, but these apparatuses make for some damn exciting action.
I want to call this an action film, which is ridiculous because the most amount of action we see is him shuffling from one end of the box to the other. But this is exactly it; the way Rodriogo Cortes has gone about creating huge anxiety through little exertion makes it such an intriguing watch. We're taken through the film from phone call to phone call, feeling every moment of stress and frustration. You're wrapped up in this world trying to decipher why he's in the box, who's put him there, what's going to happen next. All these questions start building and building right from the get go, meaning we have no other choice than to sit on the edge of our seats, waiting for a long awaited answer. It's this waiting that holds the film together. But it's not drawn out in the slightest - Everything that's been put into this movie is a necessity.
Saying that, to film this must have been quite a challenge. The amount of takes, scenes reshot and editing to bring this up to scratch with a mainstream audience's tastes makes it somewhat of a masterpiece for filmmaking. You're given the confines of a rectangular shape yet making such lasting impression on the audience. The use of music, lighting, close up shots, interesting pans and raw definite elements makes this a treat for the eyes... Besides the whole pain element, but we'll block that out of our memories for now.
Speaking of pain, the amount of emotion that's gone into the creation of this claustrophobic movie means we feel everything Paul (Ryan Reynolds) does. Who would have thought the player from Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place could have brought to the audience this desperate character in need of something to help him so painfully that you want to jump out of your seat and into the setting to save him?
What's also nice is that he's not glamourised. If you take him in, say, The Amityville Horror, there is clear fetishism of his body. But in this he's sweating, bleeding, crying and yelling truthfully as if he were actually buried. There's still a little part of me that believes he was and it was all a tormenting game the director played - That's how believable his performance is. But, I'm also not stupid and realise this is fiction (I hope...).
To call this exciting lets the film down. You need to go into the film expecting nothing and receiving everything (which is hard to do after that statement, I realise). You'll either truly be astonished or be completely baffled at the concept. I do hope it's the former, otherwise this review will have been wasted on you.
When receiving an email asking whether I wanted to attend the red carpet event for the BAFTAs, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind. When the official invitation came through, I think the words “I’m going to the BAFTAs” were repeated several times, causing much annoyance to my friends.
Here’s what happened on the night:
After arriving early in the very wet, windy and cold London, I headed straight for the very posh hotel “The Strand” and was greeted by the other bloggers who would be joining me right in the heart of the red carpet. We were there to tweet about what happened and to live blog. Once given our passes, we were sent to The Royal Opera House to take our places.
But before actually getting to the “pen” as the promoters like to call it, we had to walk the red carpet. Surrounded by cameras, fans and photographers, us humble bloggers who were wrapped up as best we could be for a black tie event, walked quickly to our spot. (You tend to find writers aren’t so comfortable in front of the camera, but walking the red carpet was quite a highlight for me)
Once we were placed, the action began. We saw Kimberly Walsh, Claudia Winkleman, Rachel Steven, Edith Bowman and Steve Jones all setting up, getting ready to present the show for various different audiences. Mark Kermode was also among them, but took the time to come speak to us. He told us he really wanted Made in Dagenham to win best British film, even though he knew The King’s Speech would clean up.
After watching a few unknown faces walk down in some very suggestible clothing, the real stars that drew the screaming crowds started to turn up. Rupert Grint arrived nice and early and was snapped up by the press almost immediately. His ginger hair stood out in the crowd, and when the fans spotted him, chants of his name began, along with the lyrics “Ron Weasley” to the famous Youtube video.
Tim Burton looked surprisingly smart for his usually casual look and was soaked up in the crowd’s affection. We then saw the likes of Kevin Spacey, Minnie Driver, Dominic Cooper and James McAvoy all wave to the adoring screams. Cooper in particular seemed to not shy away from having his photo taken by the hormonal teen girls.
Surprisingly it was Jesse Eisenberg that struct most popular with the fans. As he was going from one interviewer to the other, he ignored the loud yells of his name. But once he’d finishes, he shyly made his way over telling the crowd to “calm down”. After posing for numerous digital cameras, he strolled back to the carpet, leaving some to claim “oh my god, I love him so much”.
But then, just when we thought a reception couldn’t get any better, a faint cry said “There’s Andrew!” and it all kicked off. Anticipation rose as he came closer and closer centre of the carpet, and when he finally greeted fans, he was genuinely lovely as always. Just to wind them up even more so, he waited a few minutes, came back and stood by the fans, went to walk over but paused, causing them to scream, then he smiled his smile and allowed even more autographs to be signed. At that point I fell in love with him, but that’s another story...
After this we were greeted with the uber cool Samuel L Jackson waving, Aaron Johnson and his partner looking loved up as ever, Emma Stone wanting so desperately to talk to the crowd but having to do interviews, Gemma Arterton smiling graciously, and a timid Jessica Alba not really knowing whether to approach the mental screamers or not. Eventually she gave in and signed very few pieces of paper.
I looked over in the distance of the arrival area on the red carpet and thought I could see Paul McCartney. What I actually saw was a great looking McCartney talking to the main man himself, Colin Firth. What a duo to have together on the red carpet, ay? They signed and took photos very quickly as at this point, the stars were being rushed to be inside for the main event.
After the last few unfamiliar faces made their way inside the magical room, we were allowed to leave the pen. But what was most unsettling was the fact we’d all been standing in the freezing cold for so long, our feet were frozen and numb causing us all to walk back down the red carpet not so elegantly. I’m not going to complain though - Getting to attend one of Britain’s greatest award ceremonies turned out to be as fun, exciting and crazy as I’d imagined.
So, as I write for the wonderful Blogomatic3000, they've kindly sent me to the BAFTA awards taking place on Sunday 13th February.
Standing on the red carpet for when the talent arrive, I'll be tweeting away to all you lovely readers. My name is @KellyAlyse, funnily enough.
Don't worry if you don't have Twitter, a live feed will be on this blog straight from my account in the centre of the screen so all you'll need to do is refresh evert 10 minutes or so.
I'll be letting you know about the talent arriving, the dresses and suits they wear and any surprise activities that occur.
After that, you can sit back and watch the ceremony on TV.
This all starts from about 4.30pm so I hope you all get a chance to take a look!
This is Simon Pegg and Nick Frost with a little guy calledPaul (Voiced by Seth Rogen), an alien in trouble who just wants to go home. This isn't your E.T. story however. This is a tale involving drugs, a Christian who likes to swear and some very poor policemen. You'reprobably wondering whether it works without Edgar Wright directing it with his comic charm. Well, it does, extremely well, making the film a very successful sci-fi comedy with added little lines and props to make any fan of this out of the world genre pee their pants.
We'll start with the alien, because that's what everyone wants to know about. He's rude, in your face and isn't shy about himself. Stumbling across the space loving couple on a dust road, Paul joins Pegg and Frost on an adventure of a lifetime. You could say this is a crazy twist of a road movie, watching them travel through the various parts of America to find his iconic way home. You can also call it a buddy movie, because this alien likes to drink, smoke weed and pretty much do anything an Englishman on holiday in Benidorm would do. With this he has Seth Rogen's comedy input making him that little bit more awesome.
The way he's put into the film is pretty much perfect. There are a few hiccups with eye-line matching, and it does become apparently that he's not actually there while some actors do a take of the scene, but this doesn't matter. You're so caught up in the fact that this alien is an original type of character in film that any mistakes are soon to be forgotten with your laughs filling the space.
The direction by Greg Mottola (Adventureland, Superbad) to make him almost casual as part of the film means Paul is just brilliant. The activities he partakes in and the way in which he just strolls along shouldn't be taken for granted. He's a very human alien, if that makes sense...The team creating Paul used facial expression from Rogen, as well as top editing skills to make him one of the favourite sci-fi creatures to hit cinema in recent years.
As for the enjoyable twosome Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, they are everything you'd expect them to be. With their loveable friendship, this movie takes you on a journey with them making these seemingly ordinary guys just as fun and silly as they've always been. A formula has been found with these two, and it works wonders on screen.
The real appreciation has to go to Kristen Wigg. She's just brilliant at playing outrageously kooky roles which leave you breathless from laughter. She seriously deserves as much attention as possible, because it's not often you see a woman playing a comical role effortlessly. Naturally she's great on screen and can sync into what seems to be any surrounding and make it work for her. Once again, she's done it.
Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver bring take this film from minor to major with their appearances. They take the piss out of themselves and love every moment of it. Joe Lo Truglio and, of course, Bill Hader are absolute gems for their roles as the not so good authority. These teams of characters all just make for one stupidly fun watch.
Really pay attention to the mise-en-scene and dialogue. A lot of creativity and natural flows of references have been placed into this film to really cater to the fans that Paul is going to attract. I don't want to spoil it for you but 'Alien bitch fight' is all I have to say. Because of an idea that's been floating about for several years, you have to go and watch this. You won't regret it. But if you do, you have no soul.
