BAFTAs
A lot of talk is floating around of the nominations and film snubbing at the Oscar’s. The British BAFTA’s seem to be following suit. Latest Bond “Skyfall” has 8 award nominations, less than “Casino Royale” (2006). Despite high praise for the film it hasn’t even received a nomination for Best Picture or Best Director for Sam Mendes. It is also now the most commercially successful film of all time in the UK. A lot of American films have received attention instead, “Lincoln”, “Zero Dark Thirty” all have nominations for big awards whereas “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” only has one. Another film that has lost out on the bigger awards in the BAFTA’s is “The Hobbit” which hasn’t received any nominations in the big categories. Instead it has been put up for technical awards like Special Visual Effects and Best Sound. Perhaps Peter Jackson used up all his award winning material in the three ‘Rings films. We’ve seen it all before, and got the t-shirt. Hopefully everyone remembers Scottish “Brave” which is in the running for Best Animated Film.
“A Song For Marion”
Terence Stamp (“Elektra” (2005)) finds himself in a different role than in previous films. He plays curmudgeonly Arthur who cares for his terminally ill wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave, “Mission: Impossible” (2006)). She attends a local choir group filled with oldies called the OAPZ (the ‘Z’ is to make them sound street). Arthur goes with her for support, watching incredulously by the sidelines. Due to the embarrassing use of pensioners it’s not really aimed at the usual crowd who would watch films like “The Queen” (2006) so who will actually pay to see this movie is a mystery.
“I Give It A Year”
From the producers of “Bridget Jones’ Diary” (2001) and “Love Actually” (2003), and one of the writers of “Borat”. The story follows newlywed couple Nat (Rose Byrne, “Bridesmaids” (2011)) and Josh (“Life of Pi” (2012)) in their first year of marriage. This doesn’t go smoothly which is probably down to the reappearance of Josh’s ex played by Ana Faris and a colleague of Nat’s (Simon Baker). They also have the worst help from marriage counselor (Olivia Coleman, TV’s “Peep Show”). There should be lots of good laughs here, including a very cringey best man speech from Stphen Merchant (co-writer of “The Office” with Ricky Gervais). Hopefully the comedy will overshadow the negativity that will come from the newlywed couple struggling in their first year.
What We Can Expect From “The Hobbit” 2 and 3
Despite not being strictly a British film the original story belongs to the mind of English author Tolkien and stars a whole host of great British actors and actresses; Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman to name three.
So, here’s a brief summary of what we can expect from the next installments. To the surprise of many, Peter Jackson has divided up the smallest of Tolkien’s novels based in Middle Earth into three films. Two is understandable, but what could he possibly squeeze into a third? Luckily, rights are held to additional material from the book, extra notes from Tolkien and rights to his other novel The Silmarillion. It still seems not very much story spread thinly over a trilogy, considering how much material was crammed into the three ‘Rings.
Beorn the shape shifter will aid the dwarves in their quest to reach the Lonely Mountain and battle Smaug. Bilbo confronts oversized spiders in the forest, seen briefly in “An Unexpected Journey”. They communicate with each other psychically, much to the disadvantage of Bilbo, although the One Ring will help here.
In a part which should be fraught with tension the dwarves are imprisoned by their nemesis the wood elves but are rescued by Bilbo. He smuggles them out in wine casks which are then inadvertently pushed down a river by the elves.
How will Gandalf fare in the fight against the Necromancer, a foe which he, Galadriel, Radagast, Elrond and Saruman will battle with? Legolas returns and the first man of the series, Bard the Bowman makes an appearence. There’ll be an epic battle between dragon Smaug and Bowman, something that was exhausting and very difficult to film. Lastly, expect a mega battle involving all the races, probably in the last film.