BAFTA Nominations 2013 Announced

BAFTA Nominations 2013 Announced

It's nearly time for the Oscar 2013 nominations.

But the Brits have got there first with the announcement of the BAFTA Nominations 2013.

It looks Lincoln's the leader by a clear cut beard and Les Miserables by a song.

In a brief overview, Lincoln receives 10 nominations. Les Misérables & Life of Pi Movieare each nominated in 9 categories; Skyfall has 8 nominations,Argo has 7 nominations & Anna Karenina has 6. Django Unchained & Zero Dark Thirty are each nominated 5 times.

Whether that'll have any influence on the Oscar nominations remains to be seen.

The winners will be announced on Sunday 10 February in a ceremony at the Royal Opera House hosted by Stephen Fry.

Here's the full list of the BAFTA Nominees for 2013:

BEST FILM
Argo
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Anna Karenina
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Misérables
Seven Psychopaths
Skyfall

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER 
Bart Layton (Director), Dimitri Doganis (Producer) The Imposter
David Morris (Director), Jacqui Morris (Director/Producer) McCullin
Dexter Fletcher (Director/Writer), Danny King (Writer) Wild Bill
James Bobin (Director) The Muppets
Tina Gharavi (Director/Writer) I Am Nasrine

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 
Amour
Headhunters
The Hunt
Rust And Bone
Untouchable

DOCUMENTARY
The Imposter
Marley
McCullin
Searching For Sugar Man
West Of Memphis

ANIMATED FILM
Brave
Frankenweenie
Paranorman

DIRECTOR
Michael Haneke - Amour
Ben Affleck - Argo
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
Ang Lee - Life Of Pi
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Michael Haneke - Amour
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master
Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola - Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chris Terrio - Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin - Beasts Of The Southern Wild 
David Magee - Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner - Lincoln
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

LEADING ACTOR
Ben Affleck - Argo
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

LEADING ACTRESS
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin - Argo
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Javier Bardem - Skyfall
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams - The Master
Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Judi Dench - Skyfall
Sally Field - Lincoln

ORIGINAL MUSIC 
Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli
Argo - Alexandre Desplat
Life Of Pi - Mychael Danna
Lincoln - John Williams
Skyfall - Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Anna Karenina - Seamus McGarvey
Les Misérables - Danny Cohen
Life Of Pi - Claudio Miranda
Lincoln - Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall - Roger Deakins

EDITING 
Argo - William Goldenberg
Django Unchained - Fred Raskin
Life Of Pi - Tim Squyres
Skyfall - Stuart Baird
Zero Dark Thirty - Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Anna Karenina - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Les Misérables - Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life Of Pi - David Gropman, Anna Pinnock
Lincoln - Rick Carter, Jim Erickson
Skyfall - Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock

COSTUME DESIGN
Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran
Great Expectations - Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
Les Misérables - Paco Delgado
LIincoln - Joanna Johnston
Snow White And The Huntsman - Colleen Atwood

MAKE UP & HAIR
Anna Karenina - Ivana Primorac
Hitchcock - Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
Les Misérables - Lisa Westcott
Lincoln - Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou

SOUND
Django Unchained - Mark Ulano, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Wylie Stateman
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Tony Johnson, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Brent Burge, Chris Ward
Les Misérables - Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst
Life Of Pi - Drew Kunin, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton, Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill
Skyfall - Stuart Wilson, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
The Dark Knight Rises - Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
Life Of Pi - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer
Marvel Avengers Assemble - Nominees TBC
Prometheus - Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Trevor Wood, Paul Butterworth

SHORT ANIMATION 
Here To Fall
I’m Fine Thanks
The Making Of Longbird

SHORT FILM 
The Curse
Good Night
Swimmer
Tumult
The Voorman Problem

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Elizabeth Olsen
Andrea Riseborough
Suraj Sharma
Juno Temple
Alicia Vikander
 

Celeste and Jesse Forever: Movie Review

Celeste and Jesse Forever: Movie Review

Cast: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Ari Graynor, Emma Roberts, Chris Messina, Elijah Wood
Director: Lee Toland Krieger

So, for 2013, a quirky and fresh rom com with a hipster twist.

Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg star as Celeste and Jesse, a couple who seem perfect for each other.

They compliment and complement each other, seem to finish each other's sentences and work perfectly. The only problem is they were married and are now separated. But they still live in the same house and hang out every day, do dinner with friends and so forth.

But when a couple of their friends tell them they can't cope any longer with this closeness which seems unnatural after separation, cracks begin to form in Jesse and Celeste's relationship.

When Jesse starts dating someone else, Celeste starts to go off the rails and pretty soon, everything's heading for a total implosion.

There's a truth which permeates this bittersweet rom com and both the leads, Jones and Samberg, encapsulate it perfectly. With each side veering between being back in love with the other, this could have been one of those cloying, deeply annoying and totally irritating films where everything's oh-so cutesy and it all works out in the end.

Thankfully, due to a very real (and borderline annoying in places) performance from Jones, this feels real. Jones herself even wrote the screen play and it benefits from the truth and veracity of someone who's clearly been through such real life events.

There's a rich vein of humour throughout as well which helps punctuate any pretentiousness on show. Of which, there is occasionally some. With moving camera work and a hipster OST, this does, very occasionally, try a little too hard to be too cool for school and there is a feeling towards the end that it's run over length and out of steam.

Celeste and Jesse Forever is a good, solid, quirky, offbeat romcom which really benefits from an honest script and strong performances. It captures the twilight of a relationship which neither party wants to sacrifice and chronicles the reality of life while avoiding many of the genre cliches. Fresh and original, with a hipster heart at its centre, some people will utterly adore this film.

Rating:

New LEGO Game announced

New LEGO Game announced

WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT, TT GAMES, THE LEGO GROUP

AND MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT ASSEMBLE TO CREATE

LEGO® MARVEL™ SUPER HEROES

Marvel Super Heroes Build Their Way into LEGO Games Spring 2013 with an

All-New, Action-Packed LEGO Videogame Adventure

SYDNEY, Australia – 9^th January, 2013 – Marvel Super Heroes are assembling for an action-packed, brick-smashing good time!  Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, The LEGO Group and Marvel Entertainment announced today thatLEGO® Marvel™ Super Heroes will be available from spring 2013 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Wii U™ system and Windows PC, as well as the Nintendo DS™ handheld system, Nintendo 3DS™ handheld system and PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system.  LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is the first instalment in the highly successful LEGO videogame franchise to feature famous Marvel characters.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes complements the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes construction toy collection, which brings the characters, vehicles and action of Marvel’s renowned universe to the world of LEGO build-and-play adventure. There are currently eight iconic scenes from the X-Men, Iron Man and Spider-Man franchises available and more construction sets tied to the new Iron Man 3 feature film will launch later this autumn.  

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes offers an original storyline in which Nick Fury calls upon Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, Wolverine and other heroes spanning the Marvel Universe to save Earth from such threats as the vengeance of Loki and the hunger of Galactus, Devourer of the Worlds.  LEGO and Marvel fans will enjoy classic LEGO videogame adventure and humour, while playing as their favourite Marvel characters.

“We’re very excited to bring a myriad of classic Marvel characters to life in LEGO form for some fun, family-friendly gameplay in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games Publishing. “Players will brave the ultimate mission to save the world as they explore famous landmarks in LEGO New York and take the adventure beyond Earth to iconic locations in the Marvel Universe.”

“Fans of both LEGO and Marvel have wanted this game for years, and we’re addressing that demand with more Marvel Universe characters than ever in a console game,” said TQ Jefferson, Vice President, Games Production, Marvel Entertainment.  “If you’re a fan of Spider-Man, the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy or scores of other Marvel characters, this is the game for you.”

In LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, players will unlock more than 100 characters from across the Marvel Universe, including fan favorites like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Deadpool, Loki and Galactus!  The game will pack in a plethora of super-cool character abilities, combat-like action sequences, epic battle scenes, puzzle-solving and a unique story told with playful LEGO humour.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is being developed by TT Games and will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time: PS Vita Preview

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time: PS Vita Preview

The weasel is heading back to the world of the PlayStation.

Well, I say weasel, it's more Raccoon.

Sly Cooper is one of those characters who's become kind of synonymous with the gaming world; from the recent HD outing of the three main adventures to a bit of background in the PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale, there's always been a hint that Sly was readying himself for a return.

And here is the first hint of what lies ahead.

In this demo of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, it's access all areas (well, two at least) for the thieving raccoon and his buddies. Following the cartoonish opening which relates how someone's stealing all of the family thieving secrets from the Thievius Raccoonus and that simply can't happen. So, despite settling down with Carmelita Fox (who's been tracking his alter ego Sly), it's back into the world of the sneaky stealth with an adventure aimed at going back and forth in time.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will be out on the PS3 too, so it's perhaps a little unfair to say that the PS Vita demo I had some time with does little with the features of the VITA. Sure, there's a bit of tapping the screen front and back, but no real sign yet that it's likely to utilise all that's been on show. As I say, early days...

The platformer skews young and cartoony but it's actually quite knockabout fun. Taking on the roles of Sly, sidekicks Murray and Bentley, this animated Back to the Future theft story is going to really appeal to families, looking to gather around the PS for a bit of fun and frolics in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time.

Sly can do all of his usual antics - sneak, rush, jump and collect tokens; Murray bashes everything in sight and Bentley uses computer wizardry to help from behind the scenes. In one section, you get to be the firewall breaker by a mini game aimed at you taking down a CPU from within. It's great bitesize fun with heaps of collectibles to gather, loot to unlock and treasure to collect. After breaking into a museum in Paris (the opening level) it's off to feudal Japan for a bit more sneakery - and it's here the game starts to reveal a few treasures of its own.

An open plan world gives the sense of sandbox, while not exactly widening up the scope of it, it certainly gives you more of a desire to explore rather than just do a mission, beat a boss and move on. Mini games lie within as well as the collectibles, so there seems to be hints of plenty to do if you feel like veering off from the main story and investing a bit of time in other mini quests. Throw in upgrades of costumes and an arcade section and there's scope aplenty.

All in all, Sly Cooper fans will get what they'd expect of this series and its latest outing which mixes time travel and platforming suggest plenty of fun ahead. Hopefully, the PS Vita will be tested a little (otherwise the simple port over from the PS3 could annoy some) but Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time looks like a promising addition to the platforming world.

Sly Cooper Thieves in Time is due out March 2013.

God of War: Ascension Controller revealed...

God of War: Ascension Controller Revealed

In anticipation for the release of Santa Monica Studios' epic mythological masterpiece; God of War: Ascension, Sony Computer Entertainment has created a special edition DUALSHOCK®3 Wireless Controller for God of War fans.

The Kratos themed controller will be available to purchase at launch (13th March) alongside software for the game.

Sounds good to us!

Zero Dark Thirty: Movie Review

Zero Dark Thirty: Movie Review

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Mark Duplass, James Gandolfini, Joel Edgerton
Director: Kathryn Bigelow

From the Academy Award winning director of The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, comes this film, a look at the decade long hunt to track down and bring Osama bin Laden to justice. Based on first hand accounts of what happened, there's already critical buzz circling around this film, with talk of an Oscar on the way for its star (who has already claimed a Golden Globe).

Jessica Chastain stars as Maya, a CIA agent brought in to the hunt for bin Laden after the September 11th terror attacks. Initially reticent to take part in the controversial methods of torture (waterboarding, deprivation techniques) the CIA used out in the field, Maya begins to work a series of leads which she thinks will find bin Laden's courier.

But, at every turn, she finds obstacles in her path to pursuing this route - from the bosses at the CIA insisting she prevent attacks on the homeland rather than following a vendetta which isn't coming to fruition to reticence from agents in the region who believe she's wasting her time.

However, when Maya finds the compound where bin Laden's hiding, suddenly her decade long quest moves into sharp focus...

Zero Dark Thirty is a terrifically thrilling film, which takes its time to inveigle its way under your skin, but when it does, it refuses to let go.

Chastain is electrifying as Maya, the initially wet behind the ears agent, who refuses to take part in the torture of suspects but whose life outlook is changed when her friends are killed and she goes from wavering agent to steely determined agent, who's looking for success no matter what the outcome. But Chastain's great strength in this role is how it gradually builds up to this point and how plausible she makes the character's motivations. When her friends are killed in a bomb attack, Maya explains how she believes she was spared and intones that she's going to "smoke everyone involved in the operation. And then I'm going to kill bin Laden." It's to Chastain's credit that this key line is delivered plausibly and not in true Hollywood fashion with gung ho music and fists being punched in the air. We also know little of Maya outside of the job too - so it's understandable that she's so consumed by it all - and none of that lack of outside life matters to the portrayal as everything we need to know is up there on the screen.

And some of that credit must also be given to director Bigelow, who's fashioned a quiet thriller of a film which builds to a stunning final sequence which follows the Navy SEALS who took down bin Laden's compound. That edge of your seat action is so compelling, heart-stopping and clinical in its direction and execution. Kathryn Bigelow's also pulled together a film which gets the best from its actors and delivers a career defining acting killer punch from her lead. It's also respectful too - there are no gloating shots of bin Laden's body, which is only subtly seen through a digital camera snap. Some may feel it's a propaganda piece, but that's missing the point - at the end of the day, this is about one of the CIA's best kept secrets, an examination of the drive and determination of one woman, out to get justice.

Tautly paced, superbly directed and powerfully acted, Zero Dark Thirty deserves all the acclaim it's currently getting. I'd be highly surprised if this doesn't receive an Oscar nod when the time comes a little later this year.

Rating:

The Imposter: Movie Review

The Imposter: Movie Review

Cast: Frederic Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly Dollarhide, Bryan Gibson
Director: Bart Layton

This documentary tore up the New Zealand Film Festival this year, with those who saw it raving about it. And now, those of us a bit slower on the hype bandwagon get to see what the fuss is all about.

Crikey, it's well worth a watch as well.

Director Bart Layton's taken the 1997 case of Frederic Bourdin, a serial chameleon, whose MO is to take on the lives of missing children. In 97, Bourdin decided to take on the persona of a missing teenager, Nicholas Barclay, who'd gone missing from his Texas home.

Only at the time, Bourdin was in Spain, and managed to persuade the authorities that Barclay had been kidnapped by the military and trafficked abroad....

Consequently, Barclay's family welcomed him into their home and believed him to be back in their lives....but that's when the alarm bells began to ring.

The Imposter is a superlative documentary, a richly woven tale which grabs you from the minute you read the premise to how it spools out on screen.

Every twist and turn has you screaming "WTF" and "How is that even possible" for a 23 year old man to inveigle his way into a family's life and to tell such barefaced and outrageous lies to get into their lives. But the real kick in the piece comes as the documentary begins to truly show its hand - and to reveal any more of that is to totally destroy the experience.

Using recreations, re-enactments and interviews from Bourdin and Barclay's family, Layton's pulled together an utterly slick and compelling piece which grips you in its vice and doesn't let go throughout its 90 minutes duration. He's employed some clever narrative techniques as well which keep you engaged as the story is told.

But, here's the thing about The Imposter - it's jaw dropping in its execution as the mystery really starts to set in. Everything in you questions how the family could believe that it's their child, how the authorities could be taken in and how Bourdin had the audacity to get as far as he did. Even Bourdin himself confesses, he never thought he'd get as far as he did - given the missing boy was a blonde haired blue eyed all American kid - and he was a brown eyed, half Algerian/ French dark haired man. He's got Keyser Soze like tendencies as he looks around him, initially when found by authorities to absorb his surroundings to his own benefit.

Layton manages to provide some answers about why Bourdin does what he does and delves a little into the psyche of the chameleon, but even more than that, you don't quite get the resolution on why the family goes along with it all. There are suspicions as this Pandora's box is opened wide, but this slickly put together piece has the cumulative effect of picking you up, spinning you around in your seat and plonking you back down puzzled, incredulous and confused as to how it may end.

Placing into sharp focus the closed minds of some Americans (one family member when told Nicholas was in Spain says "Isn't that, like, across the country?") this tonally deft piece of film-making demands you see it. It's a contender for one of the films of the year - already - and it's an utter must see for its story alone, as well as its high production values.

Compelling, riveting and sensational, it's one of the smartest films of 2013 - narratively rich and technically impressive, it raises the bar for future documentaries by being simple, yet sleek and never losing focus of what it's doing.

Rating