The King's Speech swept the BAFTAs last night, in a largely predictable run of results that saw Tom Hooper's drama take home seven awards - surprise, surprise.
The British movie's haul began as Alexandre Desplat bumped Hans Zimmer off the favourite spot to nab Best Original Music. The deluge continued from there, with Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush all picking up gongs, the latter upsetting predicted contender Christian Bale - proof once and for all that Bow Ties are better than Crack Addicts.
Other pleasant surprises saw David Fincher claim Best Director for The Social Network (an award that I saw heading Tom Hooper's way), while Fincher's Facebook movie continued to pick up another two awards: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing. And yes, Aaron Sorkin's speech was typically brilliant.
Inception also took home three golden masks, each for technical categories, while Natalie Portman nailed Black Swan's only gong and Roger Deakins deservedly won Best Cinematography for True Grit - a film which will fare far stronger on its home turf at the Oscars. Sadly, The Deaks wasn't there to collect, but that just gave Hailee Steinfeld a chance to pick up a trophy on his behalf. Aww, bless her little gun-toting cotton socks.
Meanwhile, Alice in Wonderland cemented its awards status in Make-Up and Costume departments (that's the BAFTA Award-winning Alice in Wonderland to you), Toy Story 3 inevitably dominated Best Animated Film. The remaining prizes went to Four Lions - Best Debut Director for the absent Chris Morris - and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which deservedly walked home with Best Foreign Film.
And then, just to top things off, The King's Speech grabbed Outstanding British Film to boot. In case we hadn't got the hint already. And yet, for all the complaints of the BAFTAs being too obvious this year, it was hard to whine when Colin Firth took to the stage to and outdid last year's infamous Fridge Man Speech (when he won for A Single Man).
The only highlight that rivalled that was Rosamund Pike failing to read an autocue and opening her awards envelope before she'd even announced the nominees. If she doesn't host the BAFTAs next year, I'll be very disappointed.
Read on for the full list of winners - including Christopher Lee and Harry Potter.
With the BAFTAs on tonight, it's the perfect time for a round-up of the key awards contenders.
But I'm a lazy person and couldn't be bothered after waffling on about them for 41 minutes last weekend, so I got my mum to give me her opinions on all the major nominees. She even scored them out of 5 using Werther's Originals. Suck on that, dad. (Disgusting mental image alert.)
What we said
"We've seen this all before, but never so articulate. Magnificent."
What my mum said
"I loved the hats and the bow ties and the pretty buildings. It was almost as good as Lark Rise to Candleford! Colin Firth's my favourite. He can suck my Werther's Originals any time. Along with Hugh Grant and Dustin Hoffman."
What we said
"All the depth and scope of Solaris, slotted neatly into some of the best action sequences since the original Matrix."
What my mum said
"If it was all a dream, then all that running around for two hours was completely pointless! And that bit where he tied them up in the lift? Why couldn't he just leave them in the hotel bedroom?"
(He needed gravity, mum.)
"I don't know what that is."
What we said
"A mad, brilliant melodrama. The film that Shutter Island wanted to be."
What my mum said
"Lesbian sex shouldn't go on for that long - speaking as a mother."
What we said
"Young people screwing each other over to achieve their dreams? Hell yes."
What my mum said
"I saw someone use Facebook once... I don't who this Mark Zuckerbird guy is, but he's not as good as Colin Firth. And he doesn't iron his clothes. No Werther's Originals for him."
What we said
"You've not seen hats until you've seen Hailee Steinfeld wear a hat. Amazing. Wonderful. Masterpiece. Hats."
What my mum said
"I didn't know they made Westerns any more. Still, that bloke from K-Pax looks nice in an eye patch. He should probably shave, though. Beards make things scratchy."
What we said
"Better than Buried? As a tense location, coffin beats rock, but as an actor, James Franco beats Ryan Reynolds every time."
What my mum said
"Another one that was probably all imagined in someone's head. Aron Ralston? That name's almost as made-up as Mark Tuckernerd!"
So there you have it folks. The King's Speech will win everything at the BAFTAs thanks to its incredible haul of 5 Werther's Originals from my mum. Case closed.
The King's Speech has got itself 12 nominations in this year's Oscars, including Best Director, Best Actor and, inevitably, Best Film. It leads the pack in a predictable list of contenders that range from The Fighter (hello Christian Bale) and 127 Hours - both on 6 nods each - to Inception and The Social Network - 8 nods apiece. True Grit is in second place with 10 nominations.
The most pleasant surprises are from the indie side of things: Mark Ruffalo has got himself a nod for The Kids Are All Right (the film's up for four awards in total), Hailee Steinfeld is up for Best Supporting Actress (not Best Actress for some reason), Another Year's up for Original Screenplay and best of all? Winter's Bone is in the running for four different Oscars. FOUR. That includes Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (an unexpected but very deserving John Hawkes) and Best Film.
Of course, everything's nominated for Best Film this year, what with the list being 10 million titles long. 127 Hours and Inception are both in there, of course, making up for the lack of Boyle and Nolan in the Best Director race. It's the opposite way round for Black Swan, with Darren Aronofsky up for Best Director but not earning a Best Film nom. Shame.
It's also sad that Andrew Garfield is nowhere to be seen, but The Social Network is still, in theory, the one to beat for Best Picture - even if The King's Speech has the momentum now with the most nominations. But even with Nolan's lack of Director credit and Blue Valentine's Ryan Gosling overlooked for Best Actor, we can all take comfort from the fact that we'll be hearing a nice fat clip from The Social Network score at some point during the awards ceremony.
And if that isn't cheering enough for you, cling to this: The Illusionist got its foot in the Best Animated Film door. Yay! Now we can watch Lee Unkrich trample all over Sylvain Chomet live on Sky TV!
The Oscars will happen in the horribly early hours of the morning on Sunday 27th February. James Franco and Anne Hathaway will be there. I will be too. Mainly because I want to win cupcakes.
For a full list of nominations, read on. For more on winning cupcakes, check out THE OSCAR NOMNOMNOM CHALLENGE.
Well, it's pretty much what everyone expected. 14 nominations for The King's Speech - including Best Actor and Best Film - but Black Swan is next with a total of 12 nominations, which is fantastic to see. Inception is up for 9 overall, including Best Director (but not Best Film), so it's largely panned out as predicted.
The few surprises are dotted all over the categories: no Best Score nod for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with The Social Network and no Melissa Leo in the Supporting Actress race (she's replaced by the more British choice of Lesley Manville). It's sad that Inception isn't up for Best Film, but True Grit is a deserving candidate - the big awards are all correctly chosen.
The weirdest omission? The complete lack of Never Let Me Go in any single category. I thought Carey Mulligan and the screenplay would at least get a mention. I've no idea what happened there - unless someone insulted Colin Firth's mum. There's a similar absence of Blue Valentine and Winter's Bone, which is sad because you'd perhaps expect the BAFTAs to include some quieter indie releases.
There are two very happy surprises, though, both in the acting categories. Firstly, Best Actress includes the usuals (Bening, Moore, Portman) but features not just Hailee Steinfeld but Noomi Rapace. Yes, Lisbeth Salander has graduated from potential Rising Star to full-on Swedish-bum-rape contender for a big one. On the other side of the draw, Pete Postlethwaite has got a posthumous nod for his role in The Town - a touching tribute to the late actor, who passed away during the week of nominations.
Otherwise, it's all about The King's Speech. It's up for Best Film, Best Director, Best British Film (it better not beat Four Lions there), Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Score... It's a wonder it isn't competing with Toy Story 3 for Best Animated Film as well. Taking up almost every single category, Tom Hooper's period drama is the film to beat. A real shocker, that.
Perhaps, for once, the interesting battle will be in the costume and make-up category, where Colin Firth's royal outfits are up against Made in Dagenham and Black Swan.
The BAFTAs are awarded on Sunday 13th February and will be presented by Jonathan Ross. Read on for the full list of nominees.
MY MIND IS BLOWN. It's some kind of... velocirapture?
After all that will-they-won't-they/are-they-aren't-they kerfuffle last week about Jurassic Park 4, this is just beautiful to listen to. Presuming you have 54 minutes to spare to hear John Williams' classic score played REALLY REALLY SLOWLY. It's even worth playing a little bit just to hear the climax around the 10 minute mark - it's like something out of Twin Peaks or Inception.
Now all we need is a Jurassic Park sequel from the perspective of the dinosaurs to go with it.
Gemma Arterton. Andrew Garfield. Tom Hardy. Aaron Johnson. Emma Stone. Yes, this year's BAFTA Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award candidates are all rising and/or mostly risen.
Pete Postlethwaite has passed away at the age of 64. The veteran British actor, who played Kobayashi in The Usual Suspects and starred in Brassed Off and In the Name of the Father, died in Shropshire yesterday.
Oscar-nominated for his role in the 1993 movie alongside Daniel Day-Lewis, Postlethwaite recently returned to the theatre as King Lear in Liverpool to great acclaim. But as well as his bearded stage performance and his turn in 1996's Romeo + Juliet, Postlethwaite brought out the best in films such as Jurassic Park 2 (The Lost World) and Clash of the Titans.
An actor capable of appearing in both Aeon Flux and Solomon Kane, his versatility was only matched by his burning presence, uniquely-shaped face and wonderful surname - which Pete was reportedly asked to changed at one point in his career. Did he do it? Did he heck.
His career culminated in two of 2010's top films, Inception and The Town. In 2004, Postlethwaite was made an OBE, and was once described by Steven Spielberg (who directed him in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad) as "the best actor in the world".
Although I will always think of him as Keyser Soze's enigmatic lawyer, Kobayashi, I first remember seeing Pete Postlethwaite in Brassed Off. It would be a shame not to include the speech he makes at the end:
There have been some awesome movie trailers this year, plus the usual load of trash. But the teasers that tipped over the edge into classy territory? Well, only a few managed to be a cut above the rest. And while they were all well and great, only one of those really deserves the honour of Best Trailer of 2010.
That film is Rubber.
A film about a tyre that rolls around killing things with its telephatic powers.
Ya, rly.
There are other video efforts worth saluting. But none of them even come close to Quentin Dupieux's inflatable psychic killing machine (thanks to Twitchfilm for the rubber-tastic image). Still, if you like your movies non-road safe and free of exploding birds, Read on for the other top trailers of 2010.
Thursday, 30 December 2010 Written by Ivan Radford
What's that? You want another list of the Top Films of 2010? Well, I'm too indecisive to only pick 10, so I've widened my selection to include the best 15 films of the year (with five honourable mentions at the bottom).
If you missed any of these, then well done - you have a life. You also successfully disqualified yourself from disagreeing with me. Ha. So if you want to complain about what I put top of the pile, go get Greenberg on DVD. Or at least watch Kick-Ass a minumum of three times. Then we'll talk. Although by then it'll probably be 2011, and all of these films will be long forgotten...
Speaking of wrong, let's talk about the Golden Globe nominations. The nominations which not only suggested that The Tourist was one of the Best Films of the year (Comedy or Musical), but also that Johnny Depp's performance in it was only rivalled by his other performance in Alice in flipping Wonderland.
There's not been a more wrong set of votes since Nick Clegg won Most Honest Pupil at his primary school in 1977.
In the Drama categories, everything stayed on course. Most of the time. Black Swan, The Social Network and The King's Speech are all fighting it out with The Fighter as expected. Even Inception has got a look in, which is a reassuring sign that Nolan won't get snubbed again at the Oscars after The Dark Knight's lack of screenplay/director nominations.
But then weird things happened. Like David O'Russell and Tom Hooper getting the nod ahead of Danny Boyle. Wrong. Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole getting a nomination instead of Sally Hawkins in Made in Dagenham. Wrong. Scott Pilgrim not getting mentioned anywhere, never mind The Ghost (Writer). WRONG.
The only thing the HFPA got right (other than Christopher Nolan's Best Director nom) was Emma Stone's mention for Easy A. That and giving both Julianne Moore and Annette Bening a place in the line-up for The Kids Are All Right, which is also holding its own in the screenplay category.
Still, at least How to Train Your Dragon is getting some recognition in the Best Animated Feature race. Toy Story 3 will beat everything to it, but if you don't smile like a baby when you see The Illusionist's nomination, you're as thick as Angelina Jolie's lips.
Read on for the full list of film nominees. Then count how long until you start shouting "STOP GETTING GLOBES WRONG!"
Well, it's pretty much what everyone expected. 14 nominations for The King's Speech - including Best Actor and Best Film - but Black Swan is next with a total of 12 nominations, which is fantastic to see. Inception is up for 9 overall, including Best Director (but not Best Film), so it's largely panned out as predicted. 
Pete Postlethwaite has passed away at the age of 64. The veteran British actor, who played Kobayashi in The Usual Suspects and starred in Brassed Off and In the Name of the Father, died in Shropshire yesterday.
There have been some awesome movie trailers this year, plus the usual load of trash. But the teasers that tipped over the edge into classy territory? Well, only a few managed to be a cut above the rest. And while they were all well and great, only one of those really deserves the honour of Best Trailer of 2010.
What's that? You want another list of the Top Films of 2010? Well, I'm too indecisive to only pick 10, so I've widened my selection to include the best 15 films of the year (with five honourable mentions at the bottom). 
