Oscar prediction time

So it's the day of the Oscars - and everyone wants to know who you're rooting for as a critic.

Well, it's time to lay my neck on the line and give you the picks for the main categories. Also, whilst I remember, I'm pinning WETA and Bret McKenzie to take home the little gold statuettes too.

Here's my main picks - but here's a full list of the Oscar contenders for you to peruse here.

Best picture:
The winner will be - The Artist. It's been a success at the various awards ceremonies in the run upto the event so it should be a surefire winner today. Which is despite box office returns but critics love it.
The winner should be - The Descendants. A great film with great performances all around - it'll be a shame if this one gets overlooked.

Outside chance - The Help.

Best actor:
The winner will be - George Clooney for his role in The Descendants. I reckon with various successes pre today's show, it should be Clooney stepping up to the plate.
The winner should be - George Clooney. See above.
In with a chance - Jean Dujardin. It just depends how much of a sweep the board is going for. I wouldn't rule him out - but in my mind, Clooney was the better actor.

Best actress:
The winner will be - Viola Davis for The Help - again, she's had good form and it really would be a surprise if that didn't count for anything. Plus I just have a feeling The Help will get some token recognition.
The winner should be - Rooney Mara. Her role in Girl with Dragon Tattoo was simply sensational. But there's no way the stuffy Academy's going for her in such a dark role. Shame, shame, shame
Commiserations to - Meryl Streep - well, you've had enough nominations for now right?

Best director:
A really tough category to call this one - no-one really stands apart - while Scorsese's had his statue before, you'd never rule it out again...
The winner will be - Michel Hazanivicus for The Artist. Again, if it's clean sweep time, then this is the logical if suprising choice.
The winner should be - Scorsese for Hugo - he did such a wonderful job with this - but again, lacklustre box office returns may count against.

Best supporting actor:
The winner will be - Christopher Plummer for Beginners. I utterly adored him in this role - and he's won prior to tonight's show. It'd be a nice nod for Plummer.
The winner should be - I'm torn with this one - while Plummer deserves it, Kenneth Branagh is very good as Laurence Olivier and steals a lot of the scenes he's in with My Week With Marilyn.

Best supporting actress:
The winner will be - Octavia Spencer for The Help.
The winner should be - Half of me would love Melissa McCarthy to win for Bridesmaids, but I reckon this was a token nod; the other half thinks Berenice Bejo from The Artist will win as well.

We'll have to see later though - add your guesses and comments in below!

Adam Sandler is as good as Scorsese's Hugo...?

It's Oscars day today and while that can only mean the good and the brilliant of the film world will get nods, let's not forget the annual Razzie awards, which salute the worst work done by the Hollywood talent.

And this year, Adam Sandler has been nominated one more time than Scorsese's Hugo has been for the Oscars, setting a new Razzie record of 12 nominations for Jack and Jill.

His film with the likes of Al Pacino and Katie Holmes will be in with a chance of winning worst picture, worst actor (for Sandler and Pacino) and worst actress for Katie Holmes (don't tell Tom).

But in a twist, because it's a cross dressing film, Sandler's also been nominated for the Worst Actress as well - here's hoping he gets to win both trophies because that would be a truly awesome acceptance speech.

Also on the worst picture list are New Year's Eve, Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1. Twilight also got 8 nods for various crimes against acting too.

Other nominees include Nicole Kidman for Just Go With It and Nicolas Cage for three different films; Rosie Huntington-whatsherface for Transformers 3 and Russell Brand for Arthur.

In a twist in tradition, the Razzies, normally announced on the night before the Oscars will be announced on April 1st.

Fright Night: Blu Ray Review

Rating: R13
Released by Sony Home Ent

So it's a remake of the 1985 flick of the same name - and despite the fact you're probably rolling your eyes wondering if Hollywood's run out of ideas, this ain't half bad.

Anton Yelchin is Charley Brewster, who lives in a small suburban settlement just outside Vegas; his mom (Toni Collette) is an estate agent and he's just starting a new relationship with popular girl Amy (Poots) having graduated to the cool kids from a group of geeks he used to hang around with.

One of them, Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) believes the third member of their former gang has been taken by a vampire named Jerry (Colin Farrell) who just happens to be Charley's next door neighbour...

And when Ed goes missing and Charley begins to investigate, it transpires there may be a grain of truth in the accusations.

Fright Night is a whole bunch of bloody fangtastic fun.

A good horror these days needs several key ingredients in the mix; a dose of self knowing humour, some genuine scares, spooky atmosphere and some quality acting.

Thankfully, Fright Night has all of that and more.

Colin Farrell pulls a stunningly menacing turn out of the bag as the shifty and frightening neighbour who just wants to get to know his neighbours; Yelchin also impresses having enough presence to make you believe he's just graduated from the geeks to leading man status and David Tennant brings a lizard lounge swagger to the Vegas magician to give him enough charisma on the screen. And the FX when the vampires burn up in the sun is stunningly good.

All in all, Fright Night represents a great piece of popcorn entertainment; it's a clever film whose easy mix of occasional tongue in cheek tone and masterfully eeked out tension ensure you're kept on the edge of your seat throughout.

Extras: Deleted/ extended scenes, bloopers, music videos, spoof guides

Rating:

The Help: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

Taken from a best selling novel published in 2009 by Kathryn Stockett, The Help stars the very talented Emma Stone as Skeeter Phelan in the time of the Civil Rights movement in 1960s America.

The film follows Skeeter's relationship with Aibileen (Viola Davis), an African American maid who's been raising white children for many years. It also charts her time with fellow maid Minny (Spencer) whose outspoken nature has got her fired from several positions.

Skeeter's just finished university and decides the way into journalism is to try and pitch an article about the maids and their relationships and tales of working with the prejudices and racism of 1960s America.

But as the story unfolds, it appears all kinds of relationships are about to be tested in Jackson, the heartland of the American South.

It's into inspirational and formulaic chick flick territory we go with The Help - a tale that covers all the bases from the time with a solid performance from a good ensemble. Once again, Emma Stone demonstrates why she's fast becoming Hollywood's go to girl for slightly feisty chicks with a heart; she's very watchable in this as her character trail blazes the fight against racism; Viola Davis is stoic as the long suffering Aibileen who is the victim of prissy bitchy Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) the leader of a snooty pack of women and Octavia Spencer brings a smattering of humour to the maid who takes vengeance on Hilly after years of mistreatment.

That's the thing with The Help; it does exactly what it says on the tin. While it's a little overlong and could have done with a hint of editing, this tale of empowerment and standing up, mixed with a dash of social commentary, is what you'd expect and is the perfect mother and daughter kind of outing - or a good night out for the girls.

Emotional and moving, The Help is a sturdy showcase of talent with some great performances- however, with a slightly more experienced eye behind the camera, it could have transcended from something a little middle of the road to something a little more sensational.

Extras: Deleted scenes and a music video

Rating:

The Three Musketeers: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

The latest version of Alexandre Dumas' infamous Musketeers book sees an odd mix of history and fantasy - mixed in with action scenes and lots of things blowing up.

Logan Lerman is D'Artagnan, a young cocky wannabe Musketeers who leaves his small rural village to head to Paris to join the "All for One, and One for All" band.

Unfortunately though, Porthos, Arames and Athos (Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans and Matthew MacFadyen respectively) are somewhat washed up and obsolete warriors who no longer have a cause to fight for; Athos in particular is the most bitter, as he was betrayed by his love Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich) during their last outing.

But when Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz) moves to rid the kingdom of the Musketeers and plunge France into a war against the English (led by Orlando Bloom's Duke of Buckingham), the quartet of Musketeers are called into action to save the day...

The Three Musketeers is a somewhat campy, at times, pantomime style and bizarre kind of film. It's an odd mix of fantasy with flying airships being thrown into the story (I'm guessing those weren't historically accurate even if they are apparently based on plans from Leonardo da Vinci) and it's because of these little things that it doesn't quite gel as well as it could have done.

Some of the cast seem to be acting tongue in cheek - MacFadyen seems particularly in on any potential joke with his rather bored delivery - though I don't think anyone told Orlando Bloom, whose Duke of Buckingham appears to be a mix of pantomime villain (minus requisite moustache twirling) and wannabe Johnny Rotten with quite the most bizarre choice of English accent I've heard this year. Logan Lerman, bless him, acts his heart out and is perhaps one of the more earnest of the cast - equally, Christoph Waltz delivers another great character performance, and James Corden takes bumbling comic foil to a new level in the film and provides some pretty basic comic relief.

As an aside, there's such a mix of accents (English, American, German) on display within this film as well - because none of the main actors decides to even try to capture the period detail - which is a shame because the costumes and scenery are a stunning recreation of 17th Century France.

Anderson's brought a mix of explosions, aerial Pirates of the Caribbean style ship wars, destruction and silliness to a bizarrely entertaining odd film. The mix of the ludicrous and at times, Monty Pythonesque levels of humour delivers a mix of the fantastic with the swashbuckling - but ultimately and weirdly, The Three Musketeers may actually end up entertaining some of the younger end of the audience.

Extras: Commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes

Rating:

UFC Undisputed 3 - Game Review

Rating: 15
Released by THQ Studios
Platform: PS3

Ever fancied taking on the role of one of your favourite fighters and taking them on in a no holds barred smackdown?

Well, then UFC Undisputed 3 is for you. It's the third outing of the Mixed Martial Arts fighting game and is proof that the franchise is on strong a footing as ever before and is as playable as any fighting smackdown should be.

If you're a relative newcomer to these types of games, worry not - UFC Undisputed 3's designers have wisely taken this into consideration and made the game easy to access whether you're a watcher of the sport or not. Smart tutorials take you through how to execute a successful fight and get you ready for an actual bout. Normally with these games, it's about remembering combos and executing them with precision and perfection. UFC Undisputed 3 certainly has that but you don't lose all your time thinking about which buttons to press and in which order to be able to enjoy what's on the screen.

You get to play some of the biggest names in the sport and of all nationalities, giving this plenty of scope for action and interaction as well as the chance to prepare for bouts rather than just diving headlong into them. And you have to be a little patient as there are a fair few cutscenes to get through as well - each bout though is more about the long haul than the immediate smackdown as they rarely end in KO before time.

All in all, UFC Undisputed 3 is a good solid fighter and will reward a lot of long term investment.

Rating:

Paranormal Activity 3: Blu Ray Review

Paranormal Activity 3

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent
Horror franchises - let's be honest, they start to run out of steam after maybe the second outing, right?

Not in the case of Paranormal Activity.

Following on from the sleeper success of the first film which saw Katie Featherston's Katie being terrified by a "ghost" in her home, a second was rolled out within a year; and now the same's happened with the latest as the studios aim for an annual Hallowe'en release. But it's good news for fans of this particular genre, because the latest outing is a deeply unsettling and unnerving experience.

Essentially, it's a prequel to the first film and delves back into 1988 when Katie and Kristi were young girls living with their parents Dennis and Julie in California. Once again, there's an entity spooking the house and so Dennis, an amateur wedding video creator, decides to set up cameras around the house to try and find out what's going on. Coupled with the fact Kristi's got an imaginary friend Toby, there's plenty to keep him occupied.

But over the course of some 14 nights, the presence really makes itself felt and things escalate into a terrifying conclusion...

I'm loathe to give away too much of this film for the simple reason that a lot of the fun/ heart in mouth moments in the Paranormal Activity films tend to come from not knowing what's ahead - sure, there's a few predictable shocks and jolts, as well as a couple of fake outs, but it doesn't stop what unfolds on the screen in the dark of the cinema from being quite horrifying.

I think half of the horror of this film is due to the fact it involves young children. The young Katie and Kristi are well played by their kiddie charges and you really feel their terror as the entity exerts its might. Lauren Bittner and Christopher Nicholas Smith play the parents well and there's a primal fear being played to here that they can't appear to protect their own in their home which really does grip you.

In the days pre-cutting edge technology, the 1988 setting gives an occasional feeling of retro as video cameras are mounted on desk fans to ensure all sides of the rooms are covered - it's a clever touch which forces you to quickly look at what's on the screen and identify any fleeting images as it pans left and right. It's a smart move and adds to the tension - particuarly during key scenes in the kitchen areas.

Ultimately, some may argue this latest is very similar to what's gone before and there's a chance the ending may polarise some like The Blair Witch Project denouement did; but Paranormal Activity 3 is a thrilling, horrifying, unsettling, heart in mouth rollercoaster ride, which is packed full of genuinely unnerving scares.

Extras: Extended cut, a commercial and a scare montage - nothing spectacular.

Rating: