UK Film Network

NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button have each received 11 nominations for the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2009.

The Dark Knight has 9 nominations and Changeling has 8 nominations.

Frost/Nixon has 6 nominations, The Reader has 5 and In Bruges, Milk and Revolutionary Road all have 4 nominations each.

Slumdog Millionaire has been nominated in the categories Best Film, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Music, Production Design, Sound and Outstanding British Film. Danny Boyle is nominated for Director, Dev Patel is nominated for Leading Actor and Freida Pinto receives a nomination as Supporting Actress.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been nominated for Best Film, Director for David Fincher, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Make Up & Hair, Music, Production Design and Special Visual Effects. Brad Pitt is a double nominee: he features in Leading Actor for his role as Benjamin Button and Supporting Actor for Burn After Reading. Tilda Swinton is nominated in the Supporting Actress category for Burn After Reading, and the film also receives an Original Screenplay nomination.

The late Heath Ledger is nominated for Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight. The film’s other nominations are: Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Editing, Make Up & Hair, Music, Sound and Special Visual Effects.

Angelina Jolie has been nominated for her Leading Actress performance in Changeling. The film has also been nominated for Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Production Design and Sound, with Clint Eastwood receiving a Director nomination.

Ron Howard is nominated for Director for Frost/Nixon. The film is nominated for Best Film, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Make Up & Hair and the film’s Nixon, Frank Langella, receives a nomination for Leading Actor.

The Reader has been nominated for Best Film, Director for Stephen Daldry, Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography. Its star, Kate Winslet, is nominated for Leading Actress. Kate is nominated a second time for Leading Actress for her performance in Revolutionary Road, which is also nominated for Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design and Production Design.

Sean Penn’s performance as Harvey Milk has received a Leading Actor nomination. Milk has also been nominated for Best Film, Original Screenplay and Make Up & Hair.

In Bruges has been nominated for Original Screenplay, Editing, Supporting Actor for Brendan Gleeson and Outstanding British Film.

Also nominated for Outstanding British Film alongside Slumdog Millionaire and In Bruges are Man on Wire and Hunger and Mamma Mia!, which has also been nominated for Music. Judy Craymer, the producer of Mamma Mia!, Simon Chinn the producer of Man on Wire, Steve McQueen, director/writer of Hunger, Solon Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter who produced Of Time and the City and Garth Jennings, writer of Son of Rambow have all been nominated for The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film.

Doubt received three performance nominations: Leading Actress for Meryl Streep, Supporting Actor for Philip Seymour Hoffman and Supporting Actress for Amy Adams. Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei were nominated for Leading Actor and Supporting Actress for The Wrestler. Robert Downey Jr. is nominated for Supporting Actor for Tropic Thunder and Penélope Cruz is nominated for Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Wall•E has been nominated for Music, Sound and Animated Film. The other Animated Film nominees, Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir are both nominated for Film Not in the English Language alongside The Baader Meinhof Complex, Gomorrah and I’ve Loved You So Long.

I’ve Loved You So Long also receives nominations for Original Screenplay and for Kristin Scott Thomas for Leading Actress.

The Duchess received nominations for Costume Design and Make Up & Hair.

Nominated for Special Visual Effects alongside The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Dark Knight are: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron Man and Quantum of Solace, which also received a Sound nomination.

The nominees for the Orange Rising Star Award, announced earlier this month, are Michael Cera, Noel Clarke, Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Hall and Toby Kebbell. This audience award is voted for by the British public and presented to an actor or actress who has demonstrated exceptional talent and promise.

The Orange British Academy Film Awards take place on Sunday 8 February at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

Orange has sponsored the Film Awards since 1998.

The Unborn
By: Davor Mamuzic

World wide cinemas like to build the terror of the unknown by focusing more on the story and less on the visuals, while North American audiences anticipate extreme gore shots, fast close-ups and in-your-face "quick frights". The Unborn, set in Chicago, stays true to its North American roots and delivers just as expected.

The story jumps all over the place (from evil entity of the unborn child, to Holocaust, Nazi experiments, and a bit of recycling The Exorcist ideas), while "quick frights" quickly erase your short term memory of the bad dialogue which sounds as though it was written by a group of high school students.

The story focuses on Casey, played by Odette Yustman , as she is confronted by an evil spirit and it slowly tries to break her down and take possession of her. The spirit itself gets stronger as the story gets weaker. The spirit's growth in strength is the only growth in the character as it is the only character that actually has a purpose in the storyline, and we are more focused on cheering for the actual evil spirit rather than the protagonist itself.

Other than the creepy next door neighbour's kid (Atticus Shaffer), Odette and Gary Oldman are the only ones that keep the acting real.  Even though it is hard to connect Gary as a Rabbi, he still did a great job doing it.

If you are looking for gore, anticipated closes up and bad dialogue, then this might be up your alley.

2/5

Trailer
IMDB

Released Jan 9th in the North American theatres.

  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

By: Davor Mamuzic

People everywhere could debate for hours if films they’ve seen are better than the actual books, and in most cases the literature would stand victorious in this battle.  Your mind is a highway to infinite imagination when a great book is in your hand taking you across worlds and fantasies, even adding different emotional stages to the reader. 

Since most of the films in today’s cinemas worldwide are, sad to say, remakes or comic book superheroes.  It seems that the only original storylines or even concepts are witnessed in today’s computer animated films distributed by Pixar, DreamWorks or Blue Sky Studios (to name a few). But, every once in awhile we come across something new, something original, something that keeps you quiet, or smiling as you are exiting the cinema.

 Eric Roth, who already won an Academy Award for his screenplay of Forrest Gump, brings us a coming of age story, literally, adapting it from the 1920s short story by F. Scott Fitzgerarld. The story is retold by Daisy (Cate Blanchett), hospitalized on her deathbed, with her daughter Caroline (Julia Osmond) by her side.  The diary in Caroline’s hands focuses on the life story of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), who was born at the end of the World War One in the heart of New Orleans.  His disadvantage: he was born as an eighty-year old man, and as he ages, his body gets younger.

Benjamin was raised by Queenie (Taraji Henson) whose kind heart takes him in after she finds him on the doorsteps of the old age home where she lives and helps out. Benjamin as a young kid, but really an old man on the outside, blends in with all the residents off the old age home. This is the place where Benjamin also meets Daisy.

Directed by David Fincher, who already had a chance to explore Brad’s acting abilities and transformations in Se7en and Fight Club, now has a chance to add better makeup and special effects to Brad’s looks. At one point, as Benjamin and Daisy both enter their 60s, Brad, thanks to the digital re-touches, looks seventeen years old, somewhat close to how he looked in Thelma and Louise.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will stay with you for years to come. The film itself flows as if a great book just landed into your palms, packing great dialogue, as well as comedic, dramatic and suspenseful moments.  

5/5


Trailer - http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/thecuriouscaseofbenjaminbutton/
IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421715/

Released in North American theatres December 25th, 2008

Imagine if you decided that your new year’s resolution was to say "yes" to everything. Think you could do it? I know I certainly couldn't!

But Jim Carrey can - and has done it his new film "Yes Man".

The plot consists of a Mr. Carl Allen (Carrey) going nowhere in his life. Continually saying "no" to everything, not only does he become a predictable average Joe, but he also gets nothing exciting from life. That is, until he signs up for a self-help program with a simple covenant: say ‘yes’ to everything. It soon changes his life, but his enthusiasm starts to work against him. In this particular new addition to Jim Carrey's CV, he has toned down the physical characteristics that once made him famous in such films as Bruce almighty and in the process of doing so, has indeed made it an impossible challenge for him to pull off this particular comedy adaptation of Danny Wallace’s bestselling book. Don't get me wrong, the idea that you say yes to everything is a great plot device, but in this bland and somewhat predictable comedy, the clever notion of the original book just gets buried.

I will admit at this point however, that there are some relatively good parts in the movie, but the film’s original promise disappears soon after Allen’s life changes, as he begins dating the stanchly, eccentric and ridiculously pretty Allison (a cute nosed, red-lipped Zooey Deschanel) and starts to connect with his boss, Norm - played by Flight Of The Conchords’ singer Rhys Darby (who pulls off a rather charismatic, even if inexperienced performance). Allen lives life to the full, taking everything in her stride and even courageously saving a suicide case at one point - but after one particularly appalling, clunking plot twist (which we must assume took three writers to conjure up) his life - and the movie for that matter - begins to unravel like an old jumper.

My conclusion? A alright comedy, with some witty jokes and funny moments, but overall, don’t be afraid to give the “Yes” movie a “No”.

Valkyrie
By: Davor Mamuzic

Films made on the war themes usually carry their own propaganda agenda, glorifying one side over the other, but Valkyrie offered the inside look at the German SS army, and how not one, but thousands officers, staff, or even soldiers didn't agree with Germany's politics, and wanted a change for better.

 Valkyrie, directed by Bryan Singer (X-men, Usual Suspects) is a classic story of good versus evil, and choices made by individuals who believed in the light at the end of the tunnel. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, played by Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds, Mission Impossible), who saw that light, and took it into his own hands as he was followed by a small team of high-ranking officers plotting to assassinate Adolf HItler, and hopefully end the war of all wars. Hitler, played by David Bamber (The Bourne Identity, Gangs of New York) gave a perfect performance as he painted Hitler's potrait of being extremely misterious, but yet, very intimidating character. His presence on the screen is almost as chilling as the opening sequence as Nazi soldiers are giving their oath to the great "Führer".

Fortunately, this film did not feature any fake German accents, and having the over-the-top performance by extremely great talents, such as Bill Neighy (Pirates of the Carribean), Tom Wilkinson (RocknRolla), and Cruise helped this dialogue-driven film to be extremely intense and suspensful.

Trailer
IMDB
 
This film opens in the North American theatres December 25th.


Rating: 4/5