RAZZIES 2012

Today is about the best and the worst for films, and below is a list of the Razzies nominations for 2012. Adam Sandler cleaned up this year (deservedly) and I'm pretty sure he now holds the record for the most nominations in one year...Other big names joining Adam include Katie Holmes, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman and Al Pacino.

2012 RAZZIE AWARDS: FULL LIST OF NOMINEES 

Worst Picture:  I'm not sure what to pick here...they are all soooo deserving!!

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
Jack & Jill
New Year’s Eve
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Worst Actor:

Russell Brand, Arthur
Nicolas Cage, Drive Angry 3-D, Season Of The Witch, and Trespass
Taylor Lautner, Abduction and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I
Adam Sandler, Jack & Jill and Just Go With It
Nick Swardson, Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star

Worst Actress:

Martin Lawrence (As 'Momma'), Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
Sarah Palin (As 'Herself'), Sarah Palin: The Undefeated
Sarah Jessica Parker, I Don’t Know How She Does It and New Year’s Eve
Adam Sandler (As 'Jill'), Jack & Jill
Kristen Stewart, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I

Worst Supporting Actress:

Katie Holmes, Jack & Jill
Brandon T. Jackson (As “Charmaine”), Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
Nicole Kidman, Just Go With It
David Spade (As “Monica”), Jack & Jill
The Underwear Model (Aka Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Worst Supporting Actor:

Patrick Dempsey, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
James Franco, Your Highness
Ken Jeong, Big Momma’s #3, Hangover Part 2, Transformers #3 and Zookeeper
Al Pacino (As 'Al Pacino'), Jack & Jill
Nick Swardson, Jack & Jill and Just Go With It

Worst Screen Ensemble:

The Entire Cast of Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star
The Entire Cast of Jack & Jill
The Entire Cast of New Year’s Eve
The Entire Cast of Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
The Entire Cast of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I

Worst Director:

Michael Bay, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
Tom Brady, Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star
Bill Condon, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I
Dennis Dugan, Jack & Jill and Just Go With It
Garry Marshall, New Year’s Eve

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel

Arthur
Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star (Rip-Off of Boogie Nights and A Star Is Born)
The Hangover Part 2 (Both a sequel and a remake!)
Jack & Jill (Remake/Rip-Off of Ed Woods’ Glen or Glenda)
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I

Worst Screen Couple:

Nicolas Cage & Anyone Sharing the Screen with Him in Any of His Three 2011 Movie
Shia Lebeouf & The Underwear Model (Aka Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Transformers #3
Adam Sandler & EITHER Jennifer Aniston OR Brooklyn Decker, Just Go With It
Adam Sandler & EITHER Katies Holmes, Al Pacino OR Adam Sandler, Jack & Jill
Kristen Stewart & EITHER Taylor Lautner OR Robert Pattinson, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I

Worst Screenplay:

Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star, Written by Adam Sandler, Allen Covert and Nick Swardson
Jack & Jill, Screenplay by Steve Koren & Adam Sandler, Story by Ben Zook
New Year’s Eve, Written by Katherine Fugate
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, Written by Ehren Kruger
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I, Screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, from the novel by Stephenie Meyer

It's really hard to predict the Razzies, when I really just want to vote for everything that's been nominated!! I especially liked the nomination for Nicolas Cage and anyone sharing the screen with him in any of his 3 2011 movies! Quite amusing!

Full list of winners will be posted after the ceremony on April 1st. 

Oscars Predictions

It's here! The 84th Annual Academy Awards and I'm about to head off to the most exciting event on the industry calendar - the Nova Oscars Gala. Basically everyone gets frocked up, has a few drinks, schmoozes a bit and then we all gather to watch the ceremony telecast live on the big screen. Funsies!! There's a prediction competition with prizes and it's all very competitive. 


I've adjusted my predictions a little since my last post, so here's my updated list. I'll be posting the actual winners after the event today. 

Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
"The Tree of Life"

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

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 Actor
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

Best Director
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
JC Chandor, "Margin Call"
Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
John Logan, "Hugo"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, "Moneyball"
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Best Animated Feature
"A Cat In Paris"
"Chico & Rita"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)

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 Achievement in Art Direction
"The Artist"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Cinematography
"The Artist"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Costume Design
"Anonymous"
"The Artist"
"Hugo"
"Jane Eyre"
"W.E."

Best Documentary Feature -  I've only seen PINA so I chose it, but I can't really make a sound judgement here as I haven't seen any of the others!
"Hell and Back Again"
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
"Pina"
"Undefeated"

Best Documentary Short Subject - I haven't seen any of these at all, but I like the sound of TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM, so I chose that 
"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 Achievement in Film Editing
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"

Best Achievement in Makeup
"Albert Nobbs"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"The Iron Lady"

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Live Action Short Film
"Pentecost"
"Raju"
"The Shore"
"Time Freak"
"Tuba Atlantic"

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
"Drive"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Real Steel"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

THE HUNGER GAMES - Trailer

Apparently this film is going to be huge...I don't know much about it, but there's a whole swarm of people that love the books who are gearing up for this big time. Cinemas have just announced midnight screenings (12:01am) on the 22nd of March and for those of you familiar with cinema, midnights usually mean big things are anticipated for the film.

This is the latest trailer released for the film, set to hit screens on March 22nd. What do you think?

THIS MEANS WAR - Review

Not quite a rom-com, not quite an action, this mish-mashed genre film does quite work in my opinion.

Two CIA special agents - partners and best friends - meet and fall for the same girl. Then it becomes all-out special agent warfare to win the girls affections. Who will she choose? I didn't really care to be honest, I was just bored by the end of it.

Predictable and sloppy, the story-line was a little too far-fetched in a story that was trying to be honest. Would the CIA really let two men who are suspended to desk duties utilise all their resources when they have a major case to solve? Would the girl really not notice that the man she's on a date with blows up a surveillance plane that's following them? Really? I'm not normally a skeptic, but I did find it hard to get into the vibe of this film.

That was not helped by the fact that Tom Hardy and Chris Pine, shared more chemistry between them than either of them shared with Reese Witherspoon. I believed more in their bromance than in their pursuit of Reese and I was so relieved when they went back to being friends.

I give THIS MEANS WAR 2/5. I can't even pass it off as a piece of enjoyable fluff.

Releasing This Week

Trailers for the films that opened yesterday...nothing I'd rush out and waste my weekend on!

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE - Might as well be titled Extremely Loud & Incredibly Annoying, as by most reviewers accounts that's what the main character is! I don't have a lot of interest in this film, it's over 2 hours long, and the trailer doesn't entice me to want to spend over 2 hours watching it.

KILLER ELITE - Everything with Jason Statham is same-same these days, and whilst I don't think there will be much involved in the story, as a bang-bang, action I think it might be ok. Again, not sure it's worth 2 hours of my time this weekend.

CONTRABAND - Looks ok, the story seems like it might have a bit more substance than KILLER ELITE with the added bonus of Marky Mark Whalberg.

GONE - A suspense thriller with quite an interesting premise...The only thing the trailer doesn't give away was whether she's crazy or whether the serial killer exists which is a shame, but it does look like it could be exciting to watch.

84th Academy Awards Presenters

There has been a lot of speculation in the lead up to the Academy Awards this year regarding host and presenter. I've already told you Billy Crystal will be hosting the night, and now most of the presenters are confirmed (although not what they'll be presenting) so I thought I'd bring you that list as well.

Christian Bale
Halle Berry
The cast of BRIDESMAIDS
Cirque Du Soleil
Bradley Cooper
Tom Cruise
Penelope Cruz
Cameron Diaz
Michael Douglas
Will Ferrell
Tina Fey
Colin Firth
Zach Galifianakis
Tom Hanks
Anglelina Jolie
Mila Jovovich
Melisa Leo
Jennifer Lopez
Natalie Portman
Chris Rock
Ben Stiller
Emma Stone
Meryl Streep

J. EDGAR - Review

J. EDGAR explores the public and private life of one of the most powerful, controversial and enigmatic figures of the 20th century. As the face of law enforcement in America for almost fifty years, J.Edgar Hoover (played by Leonard DiCaprio) was feared, admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life. --(c) Warner Bros.

That little synopsis gave me great hope that this film was going to be insightful, exciting and dramatic. With Clint Eastwood at the helm and Leonardo DiCaprio starring I was fairly sure I wouldn't be let down. Sadly however, I was. It's like Eastwood is trying too hard to make a masterpiece that he's letting that get in the way of actually making a masterpiece.

J. EDGAR was slow and drawn out and I felt every one of the 137 minutes that it runs for. I was interested and slightly captivated in the beginning, but as the story went on I found myself caring less about the characters and more about my need to pee. Now, don't get me wrong the directing and acting were both superb, but someone needed to take to the script with a red pen, or at least left a few reels on the cutting room floor.

This film brought out some fine performances from the support cast including Judi Dench, Naomi Watts and Armie Hammer. Armie shone in THE SOCIAL NETWORK in 2010, and does not disappoint in his role as Clyde Tolson, number two man to Hoover and secret companion. There was a real connection between all the main characters, and that was the real winner for this film. You felt their hurt, anger, joy not only within the individual characters, but also how they felt toward each other and those emotions and relationships is what kept me going through the film.

Overall, the premise of the film was great, the acting superb, but beware it is long and feels long. 3/5

SHAME - Review

Oh Michael Fassbender...How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...300, HUNGER, FISH TANK, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, JANE EYRE, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and SHAME.

The first thing I'd like to say about SHAME is 'wow', that and I'm not at all surprised it received a 7 minute standing ovation after its premiere at Venice Film Festival, because, well, wow.

I'm not sure how I feel about sex addiction, whether I totally believe in it or not, I don't know enough about it really to make the call, but Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender have swayed me in the direction of believing it's a real possibility.

Not for the prudish or faint hearted SHAME takes a look at Brandon, a troubled New Yorker who has carefully constructed his life so that he may indulge his addiction to sex. His already complex life becomes even more complicated when his equally troubled sister Sissy turns up for an indefinite stay, stirring up memories of their shared troubled past.

I still can't believe that Michael Fassbender did not receive an Oscar nomination for this role, he was absolutely mesmerizing. It might be hard to feel sympathy for a man so well endowed who is always getting laid, but you could see the torment in his eyes every single moment of this film. There was no enjoyment, no fulfillment, no intimacy, no love, just an unrelenting, insatiable, carnal desire.

There is a lot of buzz about The Fass in this film and all of it is deserved, but Carey Mulligan's performance as Sissy was equally disturbing and enthralling. Sissy is the flipside to the seemingly calm and collected Brandon: emotionally unstable, needy and oozing neuroses. I've always been a big fan of Carey's, but I think this is her most standout performance by far. In my opinion she is equally deserving of an Oscar nomination for this performance and her rendition of New York New York will stay with me forever. It was haunting and tormented and said so much about these siblings and their past without saying anything at all.

The camera angles, soundtrack and lighting were all manipulated superbly by Steve McQueen, who is well known for doing what he wants and not giving a damn about whether he makes any money or not. The best scene was where Brandon is on a date and McQueen has set a still camera on a tripod and captured the scene from afar. It really brings you into the restaurant with this couple and has you hanging on every word as they discuss themselves and relationships. Now I'm not a prude and I will say that the majority of the nudity was justified, appropriate and very tastefully handled by McQueen. I did however feel that the first full frontal was a little unnecessary (although I'm not complaining) it didn't really add anything to the story and probably wouldn't detract from it if it wasn't there. It didn't tell you anything about Brandon except that he was sleeping in the nude and seemed a little gratuitous compared with the way nudity was handled in the rest of the film.

The psychology of this film will keep you captivated and enthralled even with it's themes of detachment and isolation. I felt equally drawn to and repulsed by Brandon, but most of all I felt deeply sorry for him. His perfectly calculated life, his attempts to manage his addiction and in the moments where he was losing control I was afraid of what he might do.

If you're not across The Fass, you should do some investigating. Watch HUNGER in particular, and then for something a little easier check him out as Magneto in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS if you haven't already. We're going to be seeing a lot more of him in the future, both in mainstream and art house cinema projects.

I will say this film is not for everyone, it is an art film not a major studio blockbuster, but I loved it and I'm going to give it 5 out of 5. SHAME is a film that is going to stay with me for a while.

THE MUPPETS - Review

Retro is in this season and the new Muppets film is no exception! This film had the potential to go along the commercial cash cow path and I was scared, but all my fears were allayed by the end of the opening number.

Gary and Walter are brothers who love The Muppets. Walter has always felt he was more like a Muppet than a man (mostly because he is). Mary is Gary's girlfriend and they are planning a trip to LA for their 10 year anniversary. Gary invites his Muppet brother Walter along so that they can all go to the Muppet Studios - a life long dream of theirs.

Walter discovers a secret plan by oil magnate Tex Richman to destroy Muppet Studios and drill for oil unless the Muppets can raise 10 million dollars to buy it back. So Walter, Gary and Mary join forces with Kermit to get the Muppets back together to put on a telethon to save the studio.

My childhood was brought to life in this film by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, you could feel their love for The Muppets emanating through every scene. I will also give Bret McKenzie a special mention here too for his most wonderful songs including my favourite 'Man or Muppet'.

There were some fantastic cameos in the feature, which I appreciated much more than the cameos in the show when I was a kid. My favourite was Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) who features as Walter's 'man' in the 'Man or Muppet' song.

I went along to a preview of this last year and raved about it to anyone that would listen (although I wasn't allowed to review it at that time) and then went and watched it again last week and I'm still raving to anyone that will listen.

This film is truly joyous and uplifting and it's bringing some of the best characters from my childhood into the lives of a while new generation of kiddies. Kudos to Segel and Stoller for this magical piece of cinema, I think Jim Henson would be most pleased.

5 out of 5

Next Week

Here's the trailers for a couple of the films opening next week...

ANY QUESTIONS FOR BEN?
Don't let the trailer fool you, this picture is by Working Dog productions, and is said to be much better than the trailer! I'll let you know how it is a bit later as I'm off to the premiere tonight!

SHAME

Cannot wait for this! Hello Michael Fassbender!! I've loved the Fass since I saw him in HUNGER in 2008 and he is yet to disappoint and it doesn't look like he's about to start!



THE VOW

Rachael and The Chan, he's not the best romantic lead, but he's definitely improving! I'm pegging this as the Valentine's Day movie for 2012 - gents, this might not be for you, but the ladies will eat it up.