It's always nice when an Oscars ceremony keeps you on your toes. Tonight's broadcast came with a couple of surprises which kept my interest.
Let's address this point first, because it's usually the first thing that is scrutinised post-mortem. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the show worked without a host. In fact, it proved that the event doesn't really need one (although Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, and Amy Poehler would be good choices based on their bit this year). I didn't miss the opening monologue, but then I don't think many people did with Queen and Adam Lambert kicking the show off in spectacular style.
The links were the usual mix of pretty funny and utterly dire- I thoroughly enjoyed Melissa McCarthy's and Brian Tyree Henry's outlandish get-up to announce Best Costume Design (a mad mix of all five nominees), and Michael B. Jordan's and Tessa Thompson's little bit before announcing Best Original Score was also good. I liked the little shake-up with the presenters of each section- tradition usually has the previous year's Supporting winners giving this year's ones. I did think the way the In Memoriam section was handled was very good this year too, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra playing a piece by John Williams as the film rolled.
I was also pleased that the Academy dropped the frankly stupid idea of presenting four awards during the commercial breaks; I know BAFTA have a truncated two-hour window but the show isn't broadcast live and they can pick and choose which awards to put in their 'also awarded' section. In fact, the show ran to around 3hrs 20mins, which isn't bad going.
Onto the awards themselves.
So what surprised me? Well, the screenplay categories for a start. Whilst I don't try and predict them, I had a sneaking thought you'd be looking at The Favourite and If Beale Street Could Talk as winners (although I'd have given Adapted Screenplay to Can You Ever Forgive Me? to be honest). I was pleasantly surprised that Olivia Colman won- as indeed was she, by the looks of things- as, like most people, I was expecting Glenn Close to finally take home an Oscar. I was also surprised at Green Book winning Best Picture, although I did enjoy it as a film (and I enjoyed it more than Roma, which I admired more than liked). A brief vandalisation of Wikipedia renamed Green Book 'Wack Ass Oscar Bait' which seems a bit harsh. I also thought the Visual Effects Oscar might have gone to Avengers: Infinity War.
I got four out of six in my predictions. I'll take that, although I should have had the courage of my convictions and gone with Green Book for Best Picture. Mind you, I don't mind at all being wrong about Best Actress because it was worth it to see Olivia Colman's utterly endearing and very British acceptance speech. Humble, a bit scatty, and incredibly self-effacing, she will have won a lot more fans by the end of this evening. Rami Malek's acceptance speech was similarly touching, especially his heartfelt shoutout to girlfriend Lucy Boynton towards the end.
Spike Lee won his first competitive Oscar tonight and made the most of it, even dropping in a quick MF-bomb before it could get beeped! I also loved Richard E. Grant's wonderful reaction to seeing Barbra Streisand. I'm also chuffed that Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse picked by Best Animated Feature and I thought Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's storming performance of 'Shallow' from A Star Is Born was superb.
You can chalk this up as another surprise: Bohemian Rhapsody is the biggest winner of the night with four Oscars! Tied for second place is Green Book, Roma, and Black Panther with three Oscars each.
Despite multiple nominations, there was nothing for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Mary Poppins Returns, Isle Of Dogs, Cold War, and The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs.
Below is the full list of winners at the 91st Academy Awards:
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Green Book
Best Actor: Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Best Actress: Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Best Original Screenplay: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, and Peter Farrelly (Green Book)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: Roma
Best Cinematography: Roma
Best Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Production Design: Black Panther
Best Costume Design: Black Panther
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Vice
Best Original Score: Black Panther
Best Original Song: 'Shallow' (A Star Is Born)
Best Sound Mixing: Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Sound Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Visual Effects: First Man
Best Documentary (Feature): Free Solo
Best Documentary (Short Subject): Period. End Of Sentence.
Best Animated Short Film: Bao
Best Live Action Short Film: Skin
Congratulations to all winners!
So that brings awards season 2019 to a close. Thank you all for your patience and indulgence and I hope you've enjoyed our coverage. And now it's time for bed, as it's nearly 5:30am!
Tez
Tonight (Sunday 10th February), at the Royal Albert Hall, the 72nd British Academy Film Awards were given out in a star-studded ceremony, hosted by the luminously sublime Joanna Lumley for the second time.
Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Amy Adams, Olivia Colman, Bradley Cooper, Octavia Spencer, Rami Malek, Rachel Weisz, Mahershala Ali, Alfonso Cuarón, Timothée Chalamet, Viola Davis, Barry Jenkins, Claire Foy, Melissa McCarthy, Michelle Yeoh, Spike Lee, Richard E. Grant, and Steve Coogan were among some of the stars in attendance to celebrate the best in film.
Here's a full list of BAFTA winners:
Best Film: Roma
Outstanding British Film: The Favourite
Leading Actor: Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Leading Actress: Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Original Screenplay: The Favourite
Adapted Screenplay: BlacKkKlansman
Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer: Michael Pearce (writer/director), Lauren Dark (producer) (Beast)
Animated Film: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Documentary: Free Solo
Film Not In The English Language: Roma
Cinematography: Roma
Costume Design: The Favourite
Editing: Vice
Make Up And Hair: The Favourite
Original Music: A Star Is Born
Production Design: The Favourite
Sound: Bohemian Rhapsody
Special Visual Effects: Black Panther
Short Animation: Roughhouse
Short Film: 73 Cows
Rising Star: Letitia Wright
Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema: Number 9 Films (Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen)
BAFTA Fellowship: Thelma Schoonmaker
And if you're wondering how the results are out here so soon when the TV broadcast is still going on... well, the ceremony actually starts around 6:00pm and the BBC broadcast is a truncated 2 hours, so by the time the broadcast starts to air, the show is almost finished. I was following a live-blog from one of the newspaper sites. Unfortunately I'm not writing this from the Royal Albert Hall. One year...
On a personal level, I'm massively chuffed for both Letitia Wright and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse for winning their respective awards (I voted for Wright to win the Rising Star Award).
The Favourite was by and far the runaway winner of the night, with seven awards. Roma walked away with four, whilst Bohemian Rhapsody had two.
Congratulations to all winners!
The next Awards season post will be next weekend, to quickly update you on the winners of this year's Writers' Guild (WGA) Awards which are handed out next weekend (17th February)
One of Agatha Christie's best known and best-loved novels, Murder On The Orient Express was first published in 1934. Forty years later, an all-star cast brought the story to life. Now, 43 years later, another all-star cast assemble to tell a new version of the story, with Kenneth Branagh pulling double-duty as director and as the famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.
After solving a case in Jerusalem, Poirot is asked to return to London and asks his friend, Monsieur Bouc, to find him a berth on the Orient Express. There's one place available which Poirot takes. Whilst on the journey, he is approached by Samuel Ratchett, an American businessman, who asks Poirot for protection as he has been receiving death threats. Poirot turns the offer down. That night, the train gets stuck during an avalanche whilst travelling through Yugoslavia. The following morning, Ratchett is found dead. Stabbed to death multiple times. With many suspects and only a short amount of time before the avalanche is cleared and the Yugoslav authorities get involved, Poirot must follow the clues and find out who wanted Ratchett dead- and who struck the fatal blows.
This is going to sound like a very backhanded compliment but I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable I found this new version of Murder On The Orient Express. I had my doubts that this would be just a pale imitation of Lumet's star-studded 1974 film (and comparisons are inevitable). This film beats its own path- sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
Branagh's Poirot is a very different one than any seen before; he doesn't try and ape Ustinov or Finney or Suchet. Poirot's famed fastidiousness is played up here (expecting exactly the same sized eggs at breakfast or asking people to straighten their ties) but he provides a thoughtful and occasionally funny performance. Sadly though, the massive walrus moustache is a misstep. It's a little distracting.
The rest of the cast are also very strong. Michelle Pfeiffer is excellent as the flighty and flirty Mrs Hubbard, whilst Derek Jacobi provides a strong supporting turn as Ratchett's butler Mr Masterman. Daisy Ridley is great as former governess Mary Debenham and there's an interesting casting choice with Leslie Odom Jr. as Dr (not Colonel) Arbuthnot. Despite a slightly strange English accent, he's pretty good- and it also shows some of the period's attitude to race (which adds an extra dimension). Penelope Cruz is good as missionary Pilar Estravados (changed from Greta Ohlsson), whilst Josh Gad adds a fine turn as Ratchett's secretary McQueen. Johnny Depp is oleaginous and unpleasant as Ratchett- so does his job well of getting the audience to hate him before he's offed. Willem Dafoe is also good as Gerhard Hardman, a stuffy Austrian professor.
Several of the characters are not sketched out as well, which is a shame- Judi Dench hasn't got much to do as the aged Princess Dragomiroff (but what she does, she does well; hell, she's Judi Dench- she could make a takeaway menu sound like Keats). Similarly, the brilliant Olivia Colman doesn't get a lot as the Princess' dour ladies-maid. The Count and Countess Andrenyi (played by ballet dancer Sergei Polunin and Lucy Boynton respectively) barely feature, although both are strong when they do appear. There's also been some jiggery-pokery with some other minor characters, like the car salesman (who now goes by the name of Marquez).
This is a handsome-looking film. The production design, the costumes, and the cinematography are all to be commended. There are some lovely long sweeping takes of the train as it travels through the countryside and there's some interesting shots which follow characters walking through the coach. There's an over-reliance on a few types of shot (they seem keen on showing people reflected through glass) and some intriguing decisions made on some shots (for instance, you don't immediately see Ratchett's body when it's discovered).
There's quite a few bits that have been added which don't really serve much of a purpose except to break up what must have been considered the monotony of people talking in a room. So there's a section where one suspect flees the train to burn some incriminating evidence, another confronts Poirot with a gun; none of it needed and- if anything- for me, it detracted from the film. You've got scintillating actors, a strong story, a pretty good script- you don't need to add these bits in! Not everyone who goes to the cinema has the attention span of a fruit-fly.
The solution to Murder On The Orient Express is one of the best-known in all of crime fiction (pretty much second to 'the butler did it') which can rob the denouement of some of its power. That said, even if you know the solution going in, the performances as Poirot lays out the facts are very strong even though (another baffling decision) it takes place in a railway tunnel.
There was a lot I liked about the film, and a few things I didn't. There was a lot of unnecessary tinkering which was a bit irksome, but the opulent design of the film and several of the performances win over. All said though, it's a pretty decent stab at a thrilling story.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Tez
To be honest, this is going to be quite a short review. I think Locke is a film best seen with as little prior knowledge as possible. So, all you need to know going into the film is this: late one evening, construction foreman Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) leaves a building site in Birmingham and starts to drive. Over the course of his journey- and several phone calls- Ivan's life starts to spiral out of control.
Hardy, despite a slightly comedic Welsh accent, gives a decent performance as a fundamentally decent man in a tough situation. He's the only actor on-screen throughout- the film is virtually all set in Ivan's car, making for a claustrophobic setting- and the anguish and frustration is writ large across his face. The camera is never far from his face, threatening to erupt as the emotions come to the surface.
Other decent performances in the film are Andrew Scott as Ivan's flustered colleague Donal (now given the responsibility for the concrete pour as Ivan has taken off) and Ruth Wilson as Ivan's wife Katrina. There's also a lovely and emotional turn by Olivia Colman and these performances are made all the more remarkable for being voice only.
The film clips along at a decent pace (it's almost real-time, covering the drive from Birmingham to London) and there's an almost Pinteresque quality to the writing, the seemingly banal conversations about football and concrete revealing hidden depths and hidden menace. The reduction of setting to the car and having all other performances as phonecalls could have come off as a gimmick but it works. Writer-director Steven Knight has created a gripping and absorbing drama which is well worth a watch.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Tez
Earlier this year, whilst the epic Lincoln was still in the cinemas, another biopic of an important American President came and went with very little fanfare.
Hyde Park On Hudson tells the story of the important meeting of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and King George VI (Samuel West) at Roosevelt's country retreat in New York during June 1939, which led to America's involvement in the Second World War. However, it's not just about that pivotal weekend- it also delves into Roosevelt's private life, insinuating an affair with his distant cousin Daisy (Laura Linney). I really wanted to like this film but walked away from it feeling distinctly underwhelmed.
The main problem I had with Hyde Park On Hudson was that it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. Was it a straight biopic of FDR? A period piece about the meeting between the King of Great Britain and the President of the United States? A foreigners-abroad comedy? A country-house comedy of manners? A personal relationship drama? It tries to be all of these things (and succeeds at some whilst failing at others) but there's a jarring shift in tonality when the separate strands cross over.
The film is narrated by Daisy. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with films that use omniscient narrators. The first rule of successful creative writing is show, don't tell. An omniscient narrator can sometimes be a shorthand way of telling the story which works in some films and doesn't in others. This falls into the latter category. The main problem is that Daisy narrates events that she wasn't present at. Linney does her best with the material she's given but Daisy is written as a bit of a wet lettuce, simply mooning after FDR and (rather hypocritically) playing the injured party when it's revealed there is another 'other woman' in his life.
Performances are generally strong across the board. Murray leads from the front, playing FDR as an avuncular rogue with a twinkle in his eye. He's charismatic without necessarily always being likeable and there's an after-dinner scene between him and Samuel West which is just superb. As George VI, West avoids coming off as a Colin Firth imitation (which is great) but is still initially lumbered with a stiff-upper-lip caricature. Luckily, that wears off during the course of the film. The relationship between George and Queen Elizabeth is strained by the trip, with Elizabeth worrying about the Americans making fun of them but also undermining George by comparing him to his brother. Luckily, Olivia Colman is playing Elizabeth and she is an actress who can elevate whatever she's given to make it something better than it is. There's also a nice (if underwritten) role for Olivia Williams, playing the formidable First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
It's a relatively short film (94 minutes) so doesn't outstay its welcome. The most successful parts of the film for me where the parts regarding the royal visit. More focus on that and less on the frankly tedious relationship side would have made it stronger. It's not a complete washout but certainly isn't greater than the sum of its parts.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Tez
