BAFTA Winners & Red Carpet

The British Academy have long since finished handing out their prizes and we're still waiting for BBC America to begin the Broadcast. It's so delayed we may just wait till tomorrow morning to watch it and check out the Grammys instead tonight. Who knows? It's so strange to be denied *live* events on the telly.  If you don't want to know the winners before you see the taped broadcast, skip this post.
The Harry Potter Gang

You already knew that it would be a big night for the Harry Potter crowd, since they were getting a special tribute but it was an even bigger night for Bellatrix LeStrange, our Lady Helena, as she took home Best Supporting Actress for her very popular film The King's Speech. It occurred to me today that HBC, for all the ups and downs of her career, noone but her husband has really been casting her for some time, she's really  sealed her place in history, not once, not twice, but three times over. Other actresses should be so lucky. She's an irreplaceable part of 80s era cinema as a major Merchant/Ivory rep player. She's an irreplaceable part of Tim Burton's filmography (and despite his rocky past decade in terms of quality, that means something). AND she's an irreplaceable part of the Harry Potter franchise which dominated the past decade of film. So, well done HBC.

It was sort of a stealth approach to screen immortality but however you get there...

BAFTA WINNERS
Academy Fellowship: Christopher Lee
Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema: the Harry Potter films
Film: The King's Speech
British Film: The King's Speech
Outstanding Debut: Four Lions, Chris Morris
Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Screenplay: The King's Speech
Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
Foreign Film: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Animated Film: Toy Story 3
Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech
Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech

a major night for the Royal family with both Best Film awards

Music: Alexandre Desplat, The King's Speech
Cinematography: Roger Deakins, True Grit (read the Film Experience interview)
Editing: Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter, The Social Network (read the Film Experience interview)
Production Design Guy Dyas, Inception
Costume Design: Colleen Atwood, Alice in Wonderland
Sound: Inception
Visual Effects: Inception
Makeup and Hair: Alice in Wonderland
Short Animation: The Eagleman Stag
Short Film: Until the River Runs Red
Rising Star Award: Tom Hardy

More dresses? Who do you think is best dressed? (UPDATE: More pictures are coming in so this is just a teensy peak of the fashion)

poll by twiigs.com

I'm glad that Julianne Moore got one more big event this year as a nominee. She looks great. She didn't get to cheer on Annette Bening, though. Aside from the supporting categories -- which were part of the very dominant King's Speech (though strangely technicals like production design & costumes were not) -- the BAFTAs gave us the same crop of winners as virtually everywhere else in one of the most samey-samey years in awards history. It's unlikely that Oscar night will hold any surprises. Hopefully there will be major fashion risks to give us plenty to talk about other than "Which of Colin Firth's major speeches did you like best?" 

How are you feeling about the BAFTA choices? Disappointed? Happy? Empty Inside?

BAFTA Prep, Open Thread

Have you seen these downloadable e-mags from the British Academy? They have beautiful illustrated covers by Adam Simpson, one for each of the Best Picture nominees. I've included three of them here representing... well you can tell, can't you?

Black Swan continues to inspire graphic artists. I think The King's Speech design might be the best of the five designs. It has great composition, cleverly utilizes the memorable Eve Stewart production design, and that blimp heading towards / pointing at the King tells you the thrust of the story. The True Grit illustration is my least favorite of the five but I include it because it made me chuckle trying to reimagine the Coen Bros western as a Disney musical. You know how they do; the heroes/heroines are always standing on those jutting triangular pointed cliffs, singing their hearts out.

Hailee arrives at a pre BAFTA eventWhat would Mattie Ross's "I Want" Song be like anyway?

♪ ♫ Just You Wait, Tom Chaney, Just You Wait
You'll be sorry but your pleas will be too late.
You killed my father, fled the city.
I will avenge him, I'll be gritty.
Just you wait, Tom Chaney, just you wait.

Is that a movie you'd like to see?

Meanwhile, since BAFTA is on tape delay tonight we'll know the winners before we get a chance to see it. (Unless we turn off our computers, which is not something we often do, damnit). And the Grammys are also on tonight. Big awards night.  I'll probably write about the BAFTAs late tonight or tomorrow morning but if you feel like spoiling the winners in this thread, feel free.

P.S. BAFTA promises various footages today, such as red carpet and the like at their official site.

BAFTA Nominations

The BAFTA nods have arrived offering us a few mild surprises. Or rather, let's be fair, enough mild surprises that their lineups may well end the season feeling slightly unique to them this year which is its own reward in a way given how predictable the winners are this year. Plus, it's nice when a film has been honored everywhere to see the continually snubbed finally get an opportunity to walk the red carpet as a nominee; Congratulations Julianne Moore and Barbara Hershey!

They've also gotten solidly behind 127 Hours which has been struggling buzz-wise and with the American guilds.

BEST FILM
BLACK SWAN - Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin
INCEPTION - Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
THE KING’S SPEECH - Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
THE SOCIAL NETWORK - Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Céan Chaffin
TRUE GRIT - Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
127 HOURS - Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, Christian Colson, John Smithson
ANOTHER YEAR - Mike Leigh, Georgina Lowe
FOUR LIONS - Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Mark Herbert, Derrin Schlesinger
THE KING’S SPEECH - Tom Hooper, David Seidler, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
MADE IN DAGENHAM - Nigel Cole, William Ivory, Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley

It'll win something. Since The King's Speech is in both categories, you can assume it's going to win British Film, freeing them up to be Oscar predictive in the other. Has a film ever won both prizes from BAFTA? I'm too busy to check.
Surprise? Maybe you don't think True Grit is a surprise as one of only 5 nominated "best films" but I do. The Western is such an American genre

FULL LIST OF NOMINEES with commentary after the jump

Click to read more ...

My Amazing 100% Accurate BAFTA Predictions

I predict that the British Academy of Motion Picture Arts an--- Oops, The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (how did i ever confused their title with Oscar's title?) -- will choose...

[drumroll]

...whatever they think will be Oscar nominated*! This will be my first ever 100% accurate across the board predictive score. Marvel at my genius in the comments. Their nominations will be announced tomorrow (if you need a reminder here's the "long lists") and a fuller report will follow. But today stay tuned for Globes after-glow and some requisite catching up on movie news and the like.

If you're just popping in to see what we've been up to... where have you been? But you can scroll down for  Globe Live Blogging, and don't miss the Black Swan conversation (heh) or the Film Experience's Top 10 of 2010. More of this site's own awards coming later today.

*i.e. an amalgam of the BFCA, Globe & SAG nominations with the rare totally volatile 5th spots going to homegrown fare so that the "British" in their title retains some meaning.

I Link You Phillip Morris

Link Almighty?
How the Link Stole Christmas?
Ace Ventura: Link Detective?

• Towleroad Jim Carrey Black Swans himself for Saturday Night Live
• In Contention is Jim Carrey on the rise again? It's a good question.
• My Life as a Blog interesting piece on great acting and how we (generally) define it. Plus more praise for Jeon Do-yeon in Secret Sunshine (2007) and that's always worth rubber-stamping.
• Cinema Blend Trent Reznor to score The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The Fincher collaboration continues.
• EW the Coen Bros pick their favorite westerns on such criteria as "good hat brims"
• Scanners best shots, opening and ending of the year
• /Film Wicked film in the works. But not the one we were waiting for, damnit.
• Brown Okinawa Assault Incident has a list of indelible fashion moments in 2010 films from The Runaways to I Am Love to Never Let Me Go. Fun/interesting.
• Roger Ebert a little more detail on the NSFC awards as well as an official statement about the MPAA and the Blue Valentine controversy and such.
• In Contention BAFTA's rising star list. Go Tom Hardy (though I wonder why he wasn't nominated last year? That's when we honored him.

Finally, you should check out StinkyLulu's 5th annual Supporting Actress Blog-a-thon if you haven't yet. Each year, Stinky's enthusiams for "actressing at the edges" provides an interesting eclectic look at a broad swath of performances from their passionate fans. The blog-a-thon often feels quite personal so I respond to it that way in turn. Thus, it was most interesting to read about roles and performances that I... 

a) didn't personally care for (Patricia Clarkson in Shutter Island) 
b) didn't see but am now curious about (Anne Hathaway in Valentine's Day)
c) hadn't thought twice about until the interesting write-up (Tammy Blanchard in Rabbit Hole) or
d) obsess over on account of the film.

Regarding the latter, you know I'm talking about Black Swan which as you can imagine hogs quite a bit of the blog-a-thon being an actressy effort. Mila Kunis gets more writeups than I've ever seen anyone get in these parties and Julian at Movies and Other Things made me giggle with this bit on Barbara Hershey.

She refrains from extremes, ...never dipping into Mommie Dearest-like histrionics. I don’t think she cares if Nina uses wire hangers for her clothes...

Hee. True enough, Julian. But she sure does care if Nina eats cake. "WELL, IT'S GARBAGE NOW!"