After It Happens

Human Nature - GOOD or BAD

2013-03-23T12:13:00.000+00:00

This is a question that has been debated and ruminated over for centuries but its OK philosophers and thinkers of the world I've made a breakthrough and come to a conclusion.

Things aren't great right now for many people. The financial crisis continues to put a squeeze on individuals, companies and countries as a whole. My current work and living situation are far from ideal (though I do have work and am living so who's to complain at that?)

This week however I had an epiphany on the nature of us humans perhaps the sort of thought that can only come to you at a time of the relatively mild inconvenience that passes for a crisis in a 21st century developed county. In many of my Politics and International Relations lectures back at University we were often bombarded with differing opinons on whether human nature was inherently good with only ignorance and circumstance causing the bad things that happen or inherently bad as Thomas Hobbes would have it. According to Hobbes, without the state we would all be tearing each other apart due to our inability to live in unison without coercion from a higher power.

Hobbes' problem was that in his day there were no Ambulances or cars.

While walking home in the dark and cold one day this week I heard the not uncommon sound of a siren before spotting an Ambulance heading down a busy road. I then saw the equally uncommon sight of every single car in the Ambulance's way pulling over to let it through. As far as I am aware there is no law stating you must let an Ambulance pass and as far as I can figure there would be no consequence of not getting out of its way. If anything having an alarm-balring Ambulance behind you would only enhance your ability to get from A to B if that is all other cars are still getting out of the way. Despite this it is an abnormal occurrence to see a car refuse to make way for an Ambulance.

You could argue that the drivers are thinking "If I or someone I knew was in that Ambulance, I'd want people to get out of the way for me". This is the exact thinking that proves human nature must be good as they will have empathised with the situation and applied the behaviour to which they would want to be given themselves to someone who they do not know. This is not however the same as doing something for personal gain as failing to get out of the way of an Ambulance would not then mean an Ambulance you were being carried in would be blocked in by begrudging commuters due to your lack of courtesy. Who would know that you once failed to make way? No one but we carry on doing it none the less.

All we need to do now is to get people to act in every situation as they do in the Ambulance scenario and we'd be all set. I must also add that now I've pointed out the potential benefit and lack of consequence of not making way for an Ambulance please don't do that, I'm not taking the blame for it.

The Charge of the Lycra Brigade

2012-01-26T22:01:00.000+00:00

I've been cycling to and from my university (about 8 miles each way) since September. Riding rather than taking the train and tube has managed to eliminate almost all the things I didn't like about living in London, not to mention all the money it has saved me.

I had a false start in moving from train to bike last year after my previous bike was stolen after just three days. Fortunately my University built an underground secure bike shed with lockers and showers where I now store my bike. Leaving my bike there allows me to know that it will be safe, get changed and have a wash before walking down to my classes. This combined with the refreshing start to the day provided by riding 8 miles in the winter leaves me more awake and ready for the day than I have ever been in 18 years of education and a couple of years of working. Not everyone however shares my love of cycling and many of the reasons are pretty clear even to me.

There are those cyclists who take it way too seriously. The guys in the lycra, riding a bike that weighs less than my breakfast. They tend to ride in a way that expects everyone else to get out of their way and have a hard time tolerating those who can't ride at an average speed of 20mph. They also say things like this…

Of course its not just the lycra lads and ladies that cause problems for everyone else. The biggest sin for cyclist, particularly in the city, is not stopping at traffic signals. I always make an effort to do this. PArtly because its the law, partly because I'm never in that much of a rush but mostly because I don't want to die by getting smashed by a car that has the right of way. Don't get me wrong, if I can be certain that I will be safe I often bend the rules by going onto the pavement and then straight off it again when turning left instead of waiting at the light (this may not be a very good description but trust me its rock solid safe and going onto the pavement is really no more than an unnecessary gesture). Even when the serious cyclists are careful and have nothing that could be even vaguely described as an 'attitude' they can still annoy people. I feel some of this is down to the fact that cycling is seen as a the most 'worthy' way of traveling and those who can't be bothered to make the effort resent those who can. By worthy I mean that it is cheap (you don't have to ride a replica Tour de France bike to get to work on time), its healthy, creates no toxic emissions, reduces congestion on the roads and is a more practical solution than walking everywhere. This sense of envy is probably demonstrated pretty well by this video…

4ème Manche de CDM cyclo-cross from Petitesreines on Vimeo.

While I'm sat here typing at a commuter and you're sat their reading from one, these women are probably cycling a road bike around a steep and muddy off-road course. It'll either inspire you to get on your own bike more or it'll make you honk your horn and waive your fist at the next cyclist that dares make your car journey 20 seconds longer by riding slowly in front of you. Make them feel like they are in the wrong even though you are the one sat down polluting the world and costing yourself a fortune at the same time. I'd recommend the first option (especially as that cyclist you honk at might be me!).

With Britain suddenly having become a nation of cycling champions over the last five years or so there is never a shortage of bike based initiative in the news. In this article the Guardian report plans to hold a cycling festival when the Olympic Park is opened to the public in 2013.

Plans mooted for 2013 cycling festival centred on Olympic Park

There is also the 'Boris Bikes' and the annual London 'Sky Ride' to keep the two wheelers turning in the capital. I however think we need to be thinking bigger…or longer as the case may be. I grew up in and near Bristol. Cyclists in this area have the luxury of being able to ride to Bath along a specially built pathway without cars or traffic lights or any of the other things that make cycling dangerous or frustrating. The cycle path is 13 miles end to end which means that going on a day trip by bike from one end to the other is a 26 mile round trip plus the distance you have to ride in order to reach the path. For almost all people 26 miles is a very daunting task on a bicycle but having ridden this path end to end several times (mostly as a child) I found the task almost effortless. Sure I was a particularly energetic child but the reason I feel riding this path is such a pleasure is the combination of being surrounded by nothing but bicycles and nice views either side of the path (even if that view is just a bush or an old railway platform it makes a nice change from the city) and the lack of threats that riding on the roads hold. While riding on the road there are threats all around and of many varieties. There are cars, pedestrians, other cyclists, traffic signals and many others all coming from every possible direction. All the time. On the cycle path you have cyclist and pedestrians either going one way, or the other. For the most part people are sensible enough to ride/walk on the left meaning that people travelling the opposite way can pass without problems (the path from Bristol to Bath is three meters wide) and because the majority of the path is straight you can generally see other people long before you need to take action to avoid or be avoided by them.

The Bristol-Bath cycle path is built on an old railway line, In London there is a who mess of railway lines. The slight problem being that they are still in use. Trains in London are used in a day to day way that other parts of the country just don't have in their consciousness. Everywhere else a train is to get from your town to a different one not to go from your house to the pub or the shopping centre. Having watched the Panorama special on Britain's railways this week I feel the best way to improve transport in London would be to shut a lot of the rail lines and turn them into cycle paths. Of course there would still need to be railway lines to go to other parts of the country and the larger stations would still be connected within London. The rest would become cycle hubs. Stations could be fitted out with secure cycle parking, lockers and changing facilities. Lighting, security cameras and good drainage would make them safe to use 24/7. I would also fit a swipe card system for entering the paths. These would not charge the cyclist but would keep track of who was getting in so that gangs couldn't lie in wait for cyclists in order to steal from them. To take the train from my house to Victoria takes (at the very least) 22 minutes. Riding to or from Victoria on the roads takes no more than half an hour. If the line from my house was turned into a cycle path I have little doubt the distance could be covered far quicker than by train. Not to mention the freedom riding a bike gives over being crammed into a packed train. Selling off the metal tracks and trains would raise a fair amount of cash and car drivers would appreciate the lack of cyclists on the road just as much as the cyclists would appreciate the convenience of a cycle path.

Obviously it would take some catastrophic collapse of London's train companies before this ever became an option and the majority of people would complain no end about having to use energy in order to get from A to B but then those people have obviously never felt the rush of bombing down a hill on two thin rubber wheels at (what feels like) 50mph. Its a brilliant feeling and I look forward to feeling it when I get on my bike tomorrow.

Le Tour De France - The Greatest Stage

2011-07-21T23:10:00.016+01:00

The title I've given this post has two meanings. The first refers to howthe Tour De France has acted as a stage for some of the most incredible sporting drama and achievements for more than a hundred years and the other refers to yesterdays stage 18 of the 2011 Tour De France in which not one, not two but three (at least) things happen that no one would ever have predicted before the start of the tour or even the start of the day.The Tour de France has been one of my favorite sporting events since I first sat down to watch it, aged 10, in 1997. Early on into my first year at secondary school (basically High School) a few years later, everyone in my class had to give a talk on something that they loved/though was 'wicked'. The talk was meant to last 2 minutes but as most of my classmates had picked their catof Manchester United most only lasted about 30 seconds. My talk was on the Tour de France and after I had talked for well over ten minutes I was stopped while in full flow by the teacher. I was not usually one for talking back to teachers but at this I snapped "But I haven't even finished explaining how the Green Jersey competition works yet!". She told me it was a very nice presentation and I sat back down

in a huff.

A decade later and my love of the event grows year on year. I was visiting family in Switzerland when the race wound its way up to the ski town of Verbier in 2009. I planned to watch for the side of the final climb but there had been an outbreak of swine flu and my cousin wisely decided that wouldn't be the best place to take his six month old daughter. We settled instead for a place by the side of a swine-fluless road early on in the stage before racing back to watch the final climb on TV. Seeing the riders wizz past was great but where my real memories of the race come from are from the sensational coverage provided by ITV4. Their coverage of the tour is by an absolute landslide the best thing that ITV does all year and has been for as long as they've been broadcasting the event.This years tour promised a lot with so many big names having built their entire season around this one race in the way Lance Armstorg used to do. The exception to this was defending champion Alberto Contador who had already riden the Giro d'Italia earlier in the season.

The past two years had seen a pretty much straight out one on one duel between Contador and Luxembourg's Andy Schleck. This year they had company. The tours route had been brilliantly designed to be challenging on every single day of the race. Starting with supposedly 'flat' stages finishing with uphill sections making it hard for the sprinters to dominate the opening week. Britain's Mark Cavendish didn't let that deter him for too long though and with the help of his team racked up four more stage wins, taking his total to 19 overall, with the Champs-Elysees still to come. There were also long sections of tight narrow roads that led in some extent to a brutal first week in which favorites such asBritain's Bradley Wiggins, Belgium's Jurgen Van Den Broeck and several members of Team Radioshack were forced out of the race and Alekander Vinokourov being forced out of the race and in

to retirement after a horrific crash. The early Alpine stages also saw controversy over the difficulty of the decents. Both of the Schleck brothers were unhappy about the safety of two stages, one of which they ended up losing time on. By the time the race reached the biggest stage of the race, 200km from Pinerolo to Galibier Serre-Chevalier, the race was still wide open with Frenchman Thomas Voeckler attempting to repeat his ride of 2004 where he beat the odds to retain the Yellow Jersey of the race leader for ten days before Lance Armstrong event

ually wrested it from him.

The move of the day came as the main group were riding up the second of three enormous mountains of the day, with 60km to go Andy Schleck lept of the front and didn't stop. He had two team mates strategically placed ahead in the breakaway to help him when he caught up. The first of these could barely stay with him for more than a few meters before Schleck charged on alone once more. There had at this point been no reaction from the main field, no one seemed to think it was possibly for Andy to stay out ahead of them all the way to the finish. By the time Schleck's second team mate had escorted him to the slopes of the Galibier it was clear that he would do exactly that. By now he was alone at the front of the race and had enough time in hand to take the overall lead at the end of the day but then came the charge from Cadel Evans (the Steve Pemberton of the peloton, see picture below). The powerful Aussie gritted his teeth, and I mean that literally, and dragged himself and a select group of top riders up towards the top and to Andy Schleck.

From the car of the race referee possibly the greatest cyclist of all, Eddy Merckx, stood out of the sunroof and yelled Schleck onwards to a solo victory Merckx would have been proud of. As they reached the top it was clear that Cadel had more power in his legs than Andy and the gap continued to drop slowly but surely. One man who didn't have power in his legs was Alberto Contador who for the first time in his carrer was dropped by the leaders on the slopes of the Alpes. Two men who benefited greatly from the courageous efforts of Evans were that man Voeckler and Andy's brother Frank. While the former was very much on the ragged edge he managed to drag himself to the line and save the race lead by 15 seconds. Franck Schleck who had been sitting and waiting all day burst from this elite group in the last hundred meters to nab just enough time to put himself ahead of

Cadel Evans in the overall standings while also achieving a

remarkable Schleck 1-2 on the day of the highest ever finish in 100 years of the Tour visiting the Alps. So after Andy's heroics, Evans' engine and Voeckler's courage, what next?

Another massive stage today finishing on Alp D'huez possibly the most iconic mountain location of the tour where Armstrong, Pantani and Sastre all dominated the opposition in the past. Of those still in the running this year Frank Schleck is my 'One To Watch' for this

stage. Not only did he get the easiest ride on stage 18 but he has won on that mountain in 2006 and was wearing the yellow jersey when his teammate Carlos Sastre made his successful breakaway to overall victory on Alp 'dHuez in 2008. Having to give up the race lead to a teammate with only a few stages to go must have been hard to take for him and I would expect him to try to stamp his mark on the stage this time round. In his post race interview Frank revealed that Andy had thought his long breakaway would not be successful but that the chase to bring him back would hurt the other leaders so much that Franck would be able to get the win and time on them. This could well be what happens today but with the brothers roles reversed. I expect Frank to go for the win at the base of Alp D'huez, Evans will be forced to chase him, Voeckler and Andy will follow and wither Frank gets away or they catch him but then don't have the strength to go after the inevitable attack from Andy.

Contador may wish to have a say in the outcome of the stage but the leaders will not mark any attack he makes as carefully as they would have done had he not lost almost five minutes on the overall lead. On the other hand he may not have the strength or will to challenge the men ahead of him who all look very strong. I for one (and I may be on my own here) believe that Andy Schleck is a decent enough time trialist to hold off Evans with a 50 second buffer on his side though no one will want to give Voeckler an inch knowing the power of the yellow jersey. In 2008 no one gave Sastre a prayer of holding off Evan's in the final time trial but he made it stick by riding the time trial of his life. If Voeckler, a Frenchman in the biggest event in the French sporting calendar, rolls down the ramp at the start of the time trial with the yellow jersey on his back who knows what sort of performance he might be capable of. So even after all the heroics of yesterday it is still a four man race with Andy Schleck, Evans and Veockler all fighting for top spot and Franck Schleck still to close for comfort, though with his timetrialing abilities it may take a miracle for him to claim overall victory, when it comes to the Tour de France though you're never too far away from the next miracle. Whoever wins, it will look like it was fated to be, the names of Schleck and Evans have long been missing from the list of champions and France being without a champion since 1985.

God I love the Tour de France!

Cultural Stereotyping - An Ambiguous Figure

2011-06-08T19:51:00.001+01:00

Edward Said has written at length on the concept on Orientalism, when I first came across this I was expecting it to be based on 'the orient' an area dominated by China to my mind. These works however are on the Arab and Muslim worlds and the extent to which the western world has stereotyped all arabs into two categories; the first is the romantic magical type of images such as magic carpets and exotic belly dancers and the second is the modern image of the 'angry terrorist who wants to destroy all that we stand for'. As can be seen from the video below Hollywood has riffed on these two stereotypes for a long time

It is unlikely that the producers of these films set out with the intent to enforce damaging stereotypes on these cultures especially the films in the romanticised category (Aladdin etc) but if you can think of a Hollywood or British film in which Arab or Muslim people are portrayed in a non-stereotypical way (be it positive or negative) I would be interested to here them. This form of stereotyping has long been used as a way of advertising, especially in the field of tourism. A quick look at the Tourism India website and there is plenty of phrases like 'the dream land of the east' and talk of temples dedicated to Hindu Goddesses. This conjures up exotic images and ideas, places like India are also often sold to tourists as a place to 'find yourself' or to 'explore spirituality'. This sort of advertising is not exclusive to Orientalism however take a look at this piece from Visit California

We're being told not to believe the stereotypical images of California by people who very much conform to the stereotypes they claim to be denouncing. This leaves room for a "Come and see for yourself" angle in which we are left thinking that maybe it is like we always thought; bikini's, surfing, Cadillacs and the like, but we have to go there to find out (BRING MONEY!!!!).

What I really want to look at is how these two totally different images of Orientalism can exist at the same time but not in the same place. You can't see the 'terrorist' and 'magically exotic' simultaneously, each interpretation can be entertained by the brain but not at the same time.

This is a reversible figure used in Cognitive Psychology to explain perception and how how the brain has to choose what to believe based on the information it is given. There are two images in there, one is of a young glamourous woman and the other is of a much older woman. Look at it long enough and you should see both of them but not at the same time. Part of the reason you are unable to see both is because elements of one face make up a different element of the other face. Which one you see may change very quickly but it is always one or the other.

When I apply this to the idea of the two Orientalisms or even any stereotype of something we don't understand fully I see that while an average American for example is able to entertain the idea of there being more to the Oriental world than the blanket image of terrorism their brains are unable to see this while films and TV are holding a picture of an Islamic Terrorist in front of their eyes. Another example of these reversible images is Rubins Goblet

In this one we have a background in black, which appears as two faces looking at each other and a white foreground that appears as a goblet. Again we can switch between the two but are unable to make sense of the two of them at the same time. One of the Psychological principals that relates to this is Top Down Processing. This basically says that we are interpreting the world based on knowledge that we already have. The opposite of this is Bottom Up Processing where we interpret our surroundings based on new information which we are absorbing from without. If we look at stereotyping in terms of a Top Down Process we can say that when a western teenager sees a picture of someone from Said's Orientalism they will use the information they already have to decide how they will react. And what is that information? Its what they have seen in films and on TV, especially the news over the last decade or so.

This would indicate that getting rid of these stereotypes will not be an easy job. Trying to change peoples perception of other cultures when their perception is essentially based on previous knowledge. It sure is a toughie and what Said also points out in the series of videos (there are 4 of them I recommend checking them all out) is how Orientals could be accused of contributing to these stereotypes due to their reliance on American aid, trade and influence making them unwilling to rock the boat.

First, the bottom up input needs to be more accurate and less stereotypical before opinions can start becoming more rounded and accurate. This I believe would reduce the ignorance induced fear people have of things and people they don't understand.

Should Ryan Giggs Get A Knighthood?

2011-04-13T21:33:00.004+01:00

No.

Giggs has been one of the best players in the Premier League ever since I and everyone else of my age started to play the game. He is very good at football, seems to be a decent chap (leaving marital issues aside) and probably does a bit for charity too. What part of that entitles him to a Knighthood though? As far as his football is concerned he has been more than amply rewarded in the form of heaps of cash, trophies, medals, free stuff and favourable treatment (probably) and as for any charity work he may have done, it is remarkably easy to do charity work or even to set up your own foundation when you have millions of pounds, a public profile and loads of time on your hands due to being employed to do your hobby.

Footballers in general get far too much in the way of rewards and adulation. I have no problem with exceptionally talented people being paid a lot of money but when a teenage substitue at a League 2 (fourth rate) team is being paid more than a nurse to sit on his arse all the time then something is just a bit shit about that. Ideally these highly talented people would have a talent that was useful in some way such as saving lives. Also, if that teenager does get to play and makes a howler he gets punished by being given the week (and possibly longer) off, on full pay! If a nurse or doctor makes a mistake they are likely to be sacked and or sued for money they don't have. This comparison between footballers and health care professionals may seem unfair but thats because what doctors and nurses do is important and what footballers do is not.

My two strategies for dealing with this situation start with giving Knighthoods/Dame...hoods etc. to people who haven't been otherwise grandly rewarded for their achievements and work. Footballers and Olympians will never lack for exposure and they will always be looked up to and admired by young people in particular. Why not use the honours system to make new role models out of people who actually act like one (Unlike 'Wayne Rooney swearing down a camera = bad boy. Oh look he done a goalz, he's my hero again'). This would also have the knock on effect of encouraging children to consider more productive careers. Footballers can do some good beyond giving men a reason not to talk to their wives on Saturdays by getting involved in their communities. I don't mean turning up at a school for a 20 minute kick about/photo opportunity after a drink driving charge. I'd like to see every player at every club (including Rugby, Cricket etc.) being sent out to coach school teams.

This would take the pressure off the P.E. staff who in my experience tend to struggle to coach five teams at a time unless it is their specialist sport (in which case all other sports take a hit). My system would have a professional player, with the help of Sixth Form students, coaching one year group each so that a normal secondary school in a big city could have five football, rugby and cricket players coaching there. Thats 15 heroes for the kids to look up to! *Insert bit about girls sports too for balance blah blah blah*. I know footballers need a lot of time at the salon, rugby players need to be in the gym and cricketers…are probably busy too, but they would only really need to give one or two hours a week and most schools only play each sport for one term per year so it would only be a short commitment each year and wouldn't interfere with their loooong off season holidays, The benefit to the clubs would be giving the players something productive to do in their spare time, increasing their tactical understanding of the game through coaching and teaching and reducing the chance of players wanting out of the club with another reason to stay. Some schools might also be lucky enough to get athletes in to show them some of the lesser participated in Olympic sports such as Shot Put and Pole Vault and getting participation up thus increasing future Olympic success or at the very least guaranteeing more plucky losers to get behind.

This is not the first time pleas to honor sportsmen have annoyed me. A year or so ago Rebecca Addlington won what I think was a World Championship Swimming Gold, after she got out of the pool two of her team mates sprawled all over her and yelled into the camera "Make her a Dame!". This was not the first or last time this call was made for the same person (not that I'm suggesting Addlington demanded a Dame...age herself at any point). Maybe the other swimmers were just trying to ignore the fact that they had lost or were trying to put a brave face on it but in case they didn't realise it; HER REWARD FOR WINNING WAS A GOLD MEDAL! That should be enough!

Other than the 'Give honors to people who actually deserve to be horord for doing valuable work for which they have not been given other public recognition for' (need to work on that title) plan my other idea is to give Knighthoods to people who by no means deserve them in the hope that it will embarras them into being better, like giving Obama that Nobel Peace prize…oh yeah that didn't work, at all. Best stick to the first plan then.

Submarine

2011-03-12T14:21:00.003+00:00

Here's another Prezi presentation to to get this thing warmed up...

Click on the little arrow in the middle of the bar above. Once it has loaded you can go into full screen mode by going to the MORE button that appears on the right. Then keep clicking!

Submarine is the first feature film from Richard Ayoade, his previous behind the camera work includes music video's for the Arctic Monkey's. The film is being spoken of as a 'great British film' but it is surely also the best Welsh film ever. Asking around more knowledgeable people than me there were very few suggestions of other Welsh films let alone better ones. The only other Welsh film I can remember is 'Very Annie Mary' featuring a young Joanna Page off of 'Gavin and Stacey'. Page's characters name 'Bethan Bevan' was the only highlight of that film based purely on how much fun it is to say. Other than that it was not a good film. Submarine is the exact opposite in that everything is good about it but no one has a name that is especially amusing to say which is a more than fair trade off in my book.

The film revolves around Oliver played by Craig Roberts and Jordana played by Yasmin Paige, neither of these two will be well known to many but unlike Harry Potter where the dreadful performances of the young leads are distracted from by slightly better performances from well known British actors, here the brilliant performances from well known British actors form a lovely warm blanket for Craig and Yasmin to relax and excel in. Roberts, Noah Taylor and Sally Hawkins form one of the most endearing and typically British dysfunctional families I've ever watched on a big screen type thing but it is the snake in the grass and conflict catalyst Paddy Considine who comes as close as anyone to stealing the show. The screen presence induced by the sheer smug confidence of the character is fantastic his ability to transmit creepy charisma before even speaking a word is highly commendable.

After seeing this I would imagine Richard Ayoade has watched and admired the work of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach as these are the two "filmmakers" were the two that sprung to my mind at several points. There are also elements of Garth Marenghi's Dark Place in here but in a very understated way. If they made a Submarine 2 in 20 years time then I would expect Oliver to have become a Marenghi style Sci-Fi dreamweaver, visionary plus actor.

I won't go into the plot or risk spoilers cos we all hate it when people do that right? But I'll finish of by saying; go and see this film. I hope that was clear enough.

Drive Angry 3D

2011-03-02T21:12:00.005+00:00

To get you up to speed with the film here's my shiny and colourful rough guide...

Click on the little arrow in the middle of the bar above. Once it has loaded you can go into full screen mode by going to the MORE button that appears on the right. Then keep clicking!

It was the 1st of March and spring was by no means in the air. It was freezing and I was off to watch Drive Angry 3D at the Peckham Plex; London's worst cinema (if you have been to a worse one let me know and I'll be sure to avoid it). The journey there included one bus ride with a short sighted bus driver who seemed to be reading the speed-o-meterat 30mph when in fact it was at 3mph. He was also stopping 50 yards or so short of the bus stops but somehow managed not to crash into anything. The second bus went on a diversion which meant that it didn't actually go past any of the stops it was meant to.

Some time later I arrive at Peckham high street which appears as deserted as a sleepy village at 3am on Christmas night despite it being 9pm on a weekday evening in a busy part of London. The tickets were cheap but we had to pay an extra £3 for the 3D glasses which bumped the price back up to that of a regular one. They also informed me that student discount wasn't available today (I didn't check which days it is available but if I had to guess I'd say Thursday and Sunday). The staff instructed us the film was in screen 10 but I decided to go to screen 2 as that's what it said on the ticket and there weren't 10 screens there.

Along with the two friends I had gone with there were a whole two other people waiting for some multidimensional Cage action.The last 3D film I saw was the now multi-Oscar-winning Alice In Wonderland, which other than the falling down the rabbit hole scene didn't really make the most out of the medium and was also a bad film. The 3D version of the Lions Gate logo was in fact more impressive than the entirety of Tim Burton's kooky adventure. It has to be said that the 3D is very very noticeable in Drive Angry. The opening scene looks like a pop-up book and not in a good way but after that it becomes more settled. By far the best piece of 3D in the film is a very understated moment when smoke from the cars engine wafts towards and through the screen, subtlety is not otherwise plentiful. I'm expecting that the DVD will have a feature that points at the 3D bits in each scene just incase you hadn't noticed them or were about to avert your attention to something like the story or characters maybe. Doing this would indeed be a mistake so watching the falshy gubbins may well be a good move.

Amber Heard looks great and can both give and take a punch with the best of them, Billy Burke is an adequately unhinged and threatening baddie and Cage is a sturdy if not exceptional screen presence on this occasion. The essence of his role (which I won't spoil for you) prevents him from the variety of performance he is able to give in his better works such as Raising Arizona and Bad Lieutenant. The leading light here is William Fichtner; on the hunt for Cage and with an aura of calm fear he is the only one who looks comfortable in his characters shoes and his lines role of the tongue as if they were his own while everyone else seem to be channelling some sort of parody of themselves but in a completely serious way.

After the film ended one of our fellow viewers (that's exactly half of them remember) seemed to feel that we had connected through our shared experience and began to discuss it with us. This conversation which included theories of "Americans trying to sell us their cars then showing us lots of ways to destroy them" from him and plenty of forced smiles and nodding from us lasted unlit our path were fortunately parted at the high street.

Being somewhat of a 3D skeptic I would have to say that this is the best use of 3D I have so far seen in a film (out of this, Alice In Wonderland and Coraline on Blu-Ray in which the glassess didn't really work). It is however not a good film. Cage fans would be better off grabbing a copy of one of his better or crazier numbers on DVD. If however you are set on seeing a newish release this week this is probably the best of the "blockbusters". If you want to keep your brain in gear while watching then Animal Kingdom may be a better bet for you.

Blogalongabond - From Russia With Love

2011-02-27T23:12:00.003+00:00

It may be late in the month and I'm sure you think you've taken as may From Russia With Love reviews as you think you ever would be able to but hold your horses because I've got something a little different for you.

Click on the little arrow in the middle of the bar above. Once it has loaded you can go into full screen mode by going to the MORE button that appears on the right. Then keep clicking and ENJOY!

Oscar Prediction List

2011-02-25T17:02:00.005+00:00

Here is a list of my Oscar predictions plus me explaining the reasonings behind them a bit...

Listen!

* = Film I would LIKE to win but don't THINK will win

Writing - Original Screenplay > The Kings Speech *Another Year

Writing - Adapted Screenplay > The Social Network

Visual Effects > Inception

Sound Mixing > Inception

Sound Editing > Inception *Unstoppable

Short Film - Live Action > God of Love

Short Film - Animation > Day & Night *The Gruffalo

Music - Original Song > "If I Rise" 127 Hours *None of them

Music - Original Score > The Social Network

Foreign Language Feature Film > Biutiful *Dogtooth

Film Editing > The Social Network

Documentary Short Film > Killing In The Name

Documentary Feature Film > Exit Through The Gift Shop

Directing > David Fincher *Christopher Nolan (not even nominated)

Costume Design > Alice In Wonderland

Cinematography > Inception

Art Direction > Inception

Animated Feature > The Illusionist (Yes I know Toy Story 3 will actually win)

Supporting Actress > Helena Bonham-Carter *Amy Adams

Supporting Actor > Christian Bale *John Hawkes

Best Actress > Natalie Portman

Best Actor > Colin Firth

Best Film > The Social Network

Best Film - Oscars Predicted From Trailers

2011-02-25T00:00:00.010+00:00

I don't have all that much more to say about the nominees for Best Film that I haven't already said in this series already. Instead I've resorted to a flashy presentation method to stand in for it...

Just click to move on to each next stage of the presentation. You can enter full screen mode through the MORE menu on the bottom right which will appear once you press the little arrow and it loads up.

Enjoy!

Did you enjoy?

(Thank you to the nice people at Prezi for their brilliant presentation software and for confirming permission to publish it in this way.)

Director - Oscars Predicted From Trailers

2011-02-24T10:14:00.005+00:00

Its almost Oscars o'clock and I still have a couple of categories to get through. Before I get to best film there is the small matter of best director to predict. Personally, from watching the film, trailer and having a jolly good look at the poster, I would have given this to Christopher who seems to get overlooked in the directing category because he writes and produces as well. Awards people might also like to note that he has made some of the most interesting films of the last decade and never disappoints which is probably because he's a really good writer and producer but just OK at directing right? Wrong! Despite this some people have been nominated and one of them will win. FACT!

And the nominees are: Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David O. Russell (The Fighter), Tom Hooper (The Kings Speech), David Fincher (The Social Network) and Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit)

Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)

Verdict: I've reviewed this trailer more times than I can be bothered to count (and also the actual film once too, imagine that?). Theres not a massive amount left to say. It is still a great film and trailer for it, I understand in a way when people look down on films like 'PAUL' (even though its brilliant) for being broad humoured and too reliant on Sci-Fi references but why have beef with Black Swan? Its the only film I can remember that has caused me to feel an involuntary physical reaction (other than laughing or crying that is), some of the shivers that were sent down my spine while watching Black Swan were so strong I felt like I was dancing, not as well as Natalie Portman mind. The combination of the brilliant acting, sound and camera work make this an immersive experience and I have to give Aronofsky a high five for this and pop his name down as the early front runner in this category.

David O. Russell (The Fighter)

Verdict: Again many reviews of this trailer except I haven't seen the actual film so have even less left to say. The fact that there seems to be an ambiguity over who the actual leading character is seems a little directorially lazy. Whalburg is clearly the main character, he is the Fighter, but Christian Bale seems to be the focus and pivot of what is going on. In some ways I welcome this as it is the only thing that gives the trailer originality. Rocky was about Rocky and his girlfriend, The Wrestler was about a wrestler his girlfriend and daughter and The Fighter adds in the crazy brother element. A bit like adding another spirit to an already well known and liked cocktail recipe. Aronofsky still leads the way.

Tom Hooper (The Kings Speech)

Verdict: Its got Bafta's coming out of its well tailored 1930's pockets, but not for best director. Its clearly a very well made film and nothing appears out of place or beyond itself but what I'm reminded of here is a diver who has gone for a low difficulty dive and got it spot on. They get good marks for what they did but the fact that other competitors have done much more complicated dives and also pulled them off equally well leaves them out of the medals. From what I've seen Aronofsy (and Nolan) have pulled off a couple of extra twists with just as little splash on entry.

David Fincher (The Social Network)

Verdict: Here we do have the Bafta winner in this category. At the time that award was announced I was pleased for him and the film in general as it had massively been over shadowed by The Kings Speech as far as the big awards that night. The fact that it got Best Director but not Best Film felt a bit like it was in fact being give the silver medal in the Best Film category by the English judges. When the judges are American in a few days time things may get reversed. Not that I necessarily think they will give Best Director to Hooper instead for the Social Network trailer is to my mind probably the best trailer I can remember seeing. With drama and great performances juggled on top of the weight of oh so very recent history. This film has basically made a man, who will probably become one of the most influential people in the world, look like a monster. For me though the fact that Zuckerburg is portrayed as being totally disinterested in money almost trumps all of the bad things he does and leaves him looking not so bad after all (a fact backed up by the real Zuckerburg's charitable donations). Stand aside Aronofsky and make way for Fincher.

True Grit

Verdict: What more is there to say about this one too? After watching the origional screen version of True Grit recently I have to say that the trailer to this one is better than the film of that one. The young girl playing the Hailee Steinfield role is irritating beyond belief and the fact that Hailee has been nominated for best supporting actress kind of suggests that she isn't as bad as all that. I've heard a lot of good things about True Girt but purely based on the trailer its a solid "Meh" on all fronts, directing included.

Deliberations: For me its a three way battle (of which only two of them should win). Hooper stands a chance if The Kings Speech looses out badly in the other categories but the best directed films in this category are The Social Network and Black Swan. Having seen both films I'd say its a very close call but based just on the trailers its a pretty easy decision...

Prediction: David Fincher (The Social Network)

Foreign Film - Oscars Predicted From Trailers

2011-02-21T18:38:00.004+00:00

Now I've got through the majority of the Oscar categories and there are only three left to pass judgement on. The first of these is the best foreign film. I've not seen any of the nominees which is a good thing as it means my judgements are undistracted by the unnecessary bits of the full film that are taken out fot the trailer...probably.

And The Nominees Are: Biutiful, Dogtooth, In A Better World, Incendies and Outside The Law (Hors-la-loi).

Biutiful

Verdict: Its pretty hard to look past Biutiful in this category. It is the only one that has a nomination in one of the major categories (Bardem for Best Actor) and the only one I would described as a "main strem film". Not that its a dumbed down money guzzling blockbuster or anything but that it was widely advertised and screened here in the UK. The trailer is well suited for an English speaking audience too, it has a small amount of Spanish with subtitles to let you know thats how things are gonna be but the vast majority of the trailer focuses on the visual aspects and on praiseful quotes. Quotes are a great way of making your film look good as when you see the words like "A near perfect movie" you are well within your rights to assume the movie is near perfect thus making you flock to your nearest screening. The first half of the trailer leads you to believe it to be a very fast paced and action packed piece whereas the second half is a much more sedate and considered affair. This could either mean the film is both intense and personal but also action packed ooooor it has just been edited to look more action packed than it is to appeal to a wider audience.

Dogtooth

Verdict: So it seems to be about a man who is trying to protect his family against the terrible world by telling them the cat in the garden has killed their brother. This is the kind of lie that you'd imagine would be pretty convincing on small kids but these lot are in their late teens by the looks of it. Needless to say this kind of environment leads them to go pretty mental, one of the daughters spends the whole of the trailer in her underwear which is either part of the 'going a bit mental' or its to get the lads into the cinema (and buy the DVD where they can pause and such). The quote from The Times says "One of the darkest most unsettling, weirdest films of the year" but why did they miss out funny? I laughed at the trailer, not traditional comedy by any means but scenes like the guy creeping up on the tiny cat with a pair of shears believing it to be a terrifying beast is pretty funny. I'm not sure it will win but I would like to see the film more so that Biutiful which I feel has a better shot at the Oscar.

In A Better World

Verdict: In A Better World which is also called Civilisation for some reason is the entry from Denmark. The trailer has some familiar elements to it; parents having marriage trouble (husband not aware of troubles until they are pointed out), husband works away from home a lot, their little boy is having a tough time at school. So basically your not so unusual family then. The only things that make it stand out from being a very mundane story is the frantic editing, grandiosely dramatic score and an exploding Previa. There isn't really anything here that gives me cause to think it'll win the Oscar or incline me to see the film.

Incendies

Verdict: Near the start of the trailer is was a bit worried it was going to be an M. Knight Shyamalan like film which he would have titled "When Mums Stop". Fortunately it turns into a far more dramatic and intriguing story arc about a brother and sister trying to find their father and brother and also about their mothers past which is not quite what they had been led to believe to say the least. It looks good and the emotional storyline is sure to make this a enticing watch. Story lines such as this do rely heavily on to what extent the audience is kept guessing and whether this film achieves that is obviously impossible to judge from the trailer alone.

Outside The Law (Hors-la-loi)

Verdict: Revolution in North Africa you say? Couldn't get any more current than that. Added to that the fact that it looks fantastic but wait a minute, the voice over is in English, I'm not having any of that. This is meant to be the Foreign Fim category, I'll have no dumbing down here.

Deliberations: The only one I knew much about before starting this post was Biutiful and despite what I've seen from the other nominees I find it hard to see how any of them can get past Bardem and co. Biutiful probably would't have been out of place in the Best Film not so short list.

My Prediction: Biutiful

Film Editing and Cinematography - Oscars Predicted From Trailers

2011-02-20T19:38:00.006+00:00

We're (by which I mean I'm) getting close to the end of the Oscar categories now and its time to head back to basing my predictions on the information packed not at all limited world of the trailer!

Film Editing

And The Nominees Are: Black Swan, The Fighter, The Kings Speech, 127 Hours and The Social Network

Verdict: These are probably the five biggest hitters of all the films nominated this year and here they are all in the same category which tells us that behind every great film is a great editor, probably. Of the five there are two that stand out; Black Swan and The Social Network. These are also the only two films in the category that I have seen, I guess the trailers did their job. While The Fighter and The Kings Speech are well made and everything they are fairly straightforwards and The Fighter in particular seems to give away too much information leading to me feeling there is little need for me to watch the full thing. The 127 Hours trailer makes it look like a very dull picture indeed so if thats what they've chosen to promote the film then it can't be good. The Black Swan trailer mimics the film in that it makes certain things appear to be what they are not. The trailer begins with Portman describing her dream to her mother and then crosses over into the explanation of Swan Lake she gives to a guy in a bar much later in the film. It does however do a good job at creating a sense of tension and drama which draws you into wanting to know more. I have only seen The Social Network recently, more recently in fact than the last blog post I did in which it was nominated. My thoughts on that occasion based purely on the trailer gave it multiple thumbs up. Having seen the ful film my opinion has been confirmed. The trailer builds an equivalent amount of drama within its two and a half minutes that the film does in its lots of minutes. This is due partly to the incredibly dense amount of brilliant scenes and dialoge to choose from as well as the way in which it is edited together. Not a wasted second and the film is the same. As far as trailers go, this is the daddy. Like.

My Prediction: The Social Network

Cinematography

And The Nominees Are: Black Swan, Inception, The Kings Speech, The Social Network and True Grit

Verdict: And here we have the other two major awards botherers Inception and Trie Grit joining the other big boys and girls for the right to be called the best cinematographist in films this year! Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema (thanks Wikipedia), as far as my untrained eyes and mind are concerned its "the one what looks the best or whatever". Surely they will have put their best looking bits in the trailers so I'm bound to get this one right. Here again there are two stand out trailers for me; Inception and True Grit. The reason for this would be the number of scenes filmed outdoors. Filming on a set cuts down on all kinds of problems that can be caused with lighting and other aspects of filming. True Grit appears to be shot almost entirely outdoors which means it would have come across the most problems of this kind. Inception is split between in and outdoor scenes many of both are very dramatic and adventurous shots including under water and zero gravity. The Kings Speech has been lit and shot in a way that leads you to believe it could have been shot 70 years ago while still being as sharp as any of the others. Its a pretty tough choice as they all look fantastic but mostly because I have no idea what I'm talking about. The Bafta's went for True Grit in this category but I feel that grander more adventurous scope of Inception makes it my favourite for the Oscars.

My Prediction: Inception

Documentary Short Feature & Documentary Feature - Oscars Predicted From Posters

2011-02-11T22:40:00.018+00:00

Here are two categories that would seem to go hand in hand; Documentary Feature & Documentary Short Feature. I say that but for all I know there may be a fierce rivalry between short and feature documentarian factions. They could well be the Crips and Bloods of the film making world but without more research I'll go on acting on the belief they are all one big happy family. That is until two of them get an Oscar and the others just get sore hands from clapping all night.

Documentary Feature

And The Nominees Are: Exit Through The Gift Shop, Gasland, Inside Job, Restrepo & Waste Land

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Verdict: That one guy Banksy has gone and done a film for himself. Except most of the film is actually about the guy who was meant to be the cameraman but ended up becoming a street artist in his own right thanks to the inspiration of Bansky. But thats irrelevant, all we need to know about it is in the poster obviously. I don't actually remember laughing during it but one of the quotes on the poster is "Funny as hell" which I think means its really funny despite hell not having the best reputation for reverie. As we know disliking street art is painfully establishment and 'square' so not giving banksy the Oscar would be pretty uncool. I would love it to win just for the acceptance, my guess is that the lights will go off and when they come back on Franco and Hathaway are covered in paint with the award now gone or broken or something.

Gasland

Verdict: Its got a massive tap stuck into the world with a drop of 'gas', by which I guess they mean 'petrol', dripping out of it. This may well be how BP are planning to extract oil in the future after their previous methods proved to be so messy in the Gulf of Mexico. It also has the tagline "Can you light your tap water on fire?" to which the answer is no (I ruined a perfectly good lighter attempting it too). I'm assuming a big 'petrol baaad' angles from this one which will go down well with the Prius-brigade in the audience but maybe not with the companies paying for it all. Can you light an Oscar on fire? Not if you don't win one you can't.

Inside Job

Verdict: Its a good thing this isn't 'Oscars Predicted From Titles' as I would have to assume the title of this one had a rather 'blue' meaning along the same lies as; hand, blow and/or rim. But luckily for me I have the information packed poster to go on, yaaaayy. And what a poster it is; a massive pile of cash, a man with his fingers crossed (maybe he's doing the lottery or something), impressive quotes, a tag line that boasts of the ridiculous costs ($20 batrillion) and narrated by Matt Damon. These are all good things. Its clearly about the credit crunch and those pesky bankers which we all hate. As we all hate them I wouldn't be surprised if the Academy went out of their way to prove "We hate them the most!" by giving Inside Job this award.

Restrepo

Verdict: A documentary all about Army eh? And as we see from the poster its 'from' an award winning photographer so it should look pretty swell. The tag line "One platoon, one valley, one year" doesn't give too much away other than it concentrates on one military unit in one place over quite a long time. Is anyone else excited? Nope me neither. I miss looking at the big tap and the pile of cash, think I might scroll up and have a look at them again...

Wasteland

Verdict: This is a pretty fantastic looking poster. There's probably an artist involved in this in some way. According to one of the quotes its "The Slumdog Millionaire of documentaries". Does that mean its a making of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Cos I'm totally not getting that from the rest of the poster. I think its of a man in a bath which is in a rubbish tip (I guess that explains why he needs the bath at least). It also says it was Executively Produced by him off of City Of God, that film was great and Brazilian and all that which gives this documentary a pretty good rep. The poster could definitely work as a stand alone piece of art although this has me confused as to whether there is a movie at all although there must be, they wouldn't nominate a film that wasn't actually a film would they? Either way its still been out arted by Banksy, his posters got the Mona Lisa in it for flip sake!

Prediction: Exit Through The Gift Shop

Documentary Short Feature

And The Nominees Are: The Warriors of Qiugang, Sun Come Up, Strangers No More, Poster Girl & Killing in the Name

The Warriors of Qiugang

Verdict: Its a pretty impressive poster. If they've put so much time into providing a high quality poster like this I'd imagine they applied the same kind of standards to the film. The combination of the red printed scroll and the industrial factories lead to an expectation of a conflicting image of....whatever country or culture this film is about (I could Google it I know but then that would effect my jugmentalising of the poster).

Sun Come Up

Verdict: While this isn't technically a poster it is the only picture I could find of it so it'll have to do. "It'll have to do" is probably what the camera man said after taking the picture too as it appears to be a picture of some water that a boat is about to move into but the guy pressed the button too quickly. I'm not convinced about the title of the film either 'Sun Come Up', it just sounds odd. The sun comes up yes but does 'sun come up'? I'm not so sure and for these reasons its not going on my list.

Strangers No More

Verdict: Now here's a poster I can get on board with. Its got some pictures of kids enjoying a hard earnt education and its got some words what explain what the films all about. Its as if they knew someone would judge them on the poster alone and that person is me. As far as the little explanation of the film goes it looks like its on the same page as the Greg Mortenson books "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools" these books are brilliant but this thing is a film which we all know is better right? I have a good feeling about this un'.

Poster Girl

Verdict: Hmmm, would seem that Poster Girl is about female soliders in an ARMY. Since when has there ever been a good film about the army or girls? Never probably but it does have the word poster in the title and that just feels like a sign that I should pick it. It is Oscars Predicted From Posters after all.

Killing in the Name

Verdict: No its not a film about Rage Against The Machine (probably) it appears to be about Arabic and killing and graveyards and such. These are all things people are talking about right? Issues of the now. Documentaries are meant for this sort of thing and for that reason it might win. Plus its a pretty good poster which is what counts in the end.

Prediction: Killing In The Name

Music - Original Score & Original Song - Oscars Predicted From Spotify

2011-02-11T19:41:00.009+00:00

Heres a couple of categories that I can have a decent crack at predicting despite not having seen any of the nominated films. Thanks to modern technology I am able to check out the songs and scores from them on Spotify from which I can make some sort of judgement upon them. It may be somewhat more time consuming than posters or trailers though.

Original Score

And The Nominees Are: 127 Hours, How To Train Your Dragon, Inception, The King's Speech & The Social Network

127 Hours - A.R. Rahman

Verdict: You know A.R. Rahman, the guy off of Slumdog Millionaire and that. He's teamed up with Danny Boyle again but this time the films not set in India so the score has a different feel. A feel that represents the setting of this film, the feel of Africa...actually that not quite right because the film is set and shot in America. It does definitely give off an African vibe to me though. The combination of the drums and a blowing wind effect seem a lot more suited to an African adventure than one in Utah. Is it true that they don't allow music in Utah or was that just Baseketball making that up? If its true then there was probably a lack of local material to go on thus inspiring this atmospheric but somewhat generic soundtrack (by which I mean it doesn't 'sound like' its from this movie, it could be from anything). There is also a bit of Chopin in there too, presumably this is from when he's chopin' his arm off.

How To Train Your Dragon - John Powell

Verdict: A film about dragons and the score has all the soaring and sweeping one would expect. If listened to enough it probably wouldn't be too hard to map out the structure of the film without having seen it. The score gives you all the clues you need. There are the exciting sweepy flying bits, dramatic conflict sections, tense build up and sorrowful moments of doubt before a triumphant finale (thats not a spoiler as I have no proof whether it actually happens like that). There isn't anything here which is massively innovative or stand out so I wouldn't put my neck on the line for this one.

Inception - Hans Zimmer

Verdict: OK so I may have seen one of the nominees...and its this one. HAving said that I can't say I remember much of the score other than the'dutdutdutdutduuhduh' strings and the massive 'BOOOUUUUMMMMMM' sounds presumably made by a ferry or freight train horn. I guess my attention must have been taken up too much by all the explaining that goes on in the film. Some of the tracks on the Soundtrack album sound as if the conductor has gone out of his way to do really big followed by really tiny sounds which I imagine he achieved by squeezing up into a tiny ball as he conducted thus conveying the level he was looking for. Its a pretty good score but if I didn't really notice it during the film can it really be the best of the year?

The Kings Speech - Alexandre Desplat

Verdict: Its not on Spotify which means either its not out yet or its rubbish. Either way its not getting my vote even if the name Desplat is enjoyably onomatopoeic.

The Social Network - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Verdict: If you've not heard of Trent Reznor then you obviously haven't read anything about The Social Network as I've not read a thing that hasn't had the words 'Nine Inch Nails' in it. That be'eth the name of Mr Reznor's band which he is most well known for (you can check them out on Spotify too although if you like you're music soft and melodic you might want to give it a miss). Even if you do like soft and melodic music theres enough in The Social Network score for you to be going along with. One of the main things I like about this one is the fact that it sounds as if it could have been made by the guy in the next dorm room to Zuckerburg. There is a very computerised vibe to many of the tracks that epitamise the music that would be made after the many lonely hours infront of a computer spent by a socially inept student (not that I'd know anything about that *ahem*). The score as a whole teems with angst and conflict as well as being tinged with menace. Its certainly not you're conventional film score but reflects the complexity of Zuckerburg 'the character' and if it is at times hard to fully enjoy what you're listening too I feel that too reflects the conflict in our feelings for him; "I guess I should like him cos he's the main character but he's such a dick". Also, Atticus Ross sounds like a character from a Wes Anderson film and his scores are always....well you can always tell who's film you're watching thats for sure.

Prediction: The Social Network

Original Song

And The Nominees Are: Country Strong "Coming Home", Tangled "I see the light", 127 Hours "If I rise" & Toy Story 3 "We Belong Together"

Country Strong "Coming Home"
Verdict: The songs nominated in this category have more in common than just being nominated in the same category; they also all have titles that sound like uplifting Hymns. You know the kind sung by joyful gospel choirs not the dowdy English rural church ones. Whether this song actually sonds like that or not I don't know as this one isn't on Spotify either although the song 'Country Strong' sung by Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie is on there and that one is awful, just awful. So the chances of 'Coming Home' being exponentially better, and good enough to win the Oscar, seem slim.

Tangled "I See The Light"
Verdict: You know what a Disney song sounds like? Yeah well it pretty much sounds like that. Lots of lines like " Now I'm here, Blinking, in the *starlight*". Its no 'A Whole New World' thats for sure. It ticks all the boxes without ever smashing it, to steal a phrase from Richard Keys. If the far superior songs of Enchanted could have three of the four nominations and still not win I can't see this doing any better.

127 Hours "If I Rise"
Verdict: This ones brought to us by the long awaited combination of A.R. Rahmen and Dido! A dream team I'm sure you'll agree. While the song does seem very out of place for a film about a trapped rock climber and I couldn't see it having much of a life in the pop charts, it is however a really nice track. Rahman and Dido's voices actually suit each others pretty well and they are joined by a choir of children intermittently too. From a purely sit and listen point of view this is a league above 'I See The Light' now to see (or hear) if its better than 'We Belong Together'.

Toy Story 3 "We Belong Together"
Verdict: Well isn't this a jolly number for itself. I could totally see this fitting into a montage or credit scene in which people or toys get on all chummy and that. While it is an entertaining listen it is far behind 'If I Rise' on a technical level. If the judges are so inspired by this that they get up and dance around the room arm in arm, one of them playing the air Sax at the end, then I think its got a chance. If however they are influenced my the musical complexity and heavily respected reputation of Rahman (plus the fact that his song is just better) then there is only one winner.

Prediction: 127 Hours 'We Belong Together'

Art Direction & Costume Design - Oscars Predicted From...Posters

2011-02-08T20:34:00.011+00:00

Today I'll mostly be predicting the winner in the categories of Art Direction and Costume Design. I haven't got time to watch all the films though so I'm just gonna have a quick look at the posters. That's the same right?

As three of the films are nominated in both categories I'll do a two for one deal and do both categories together (yes that's right I'm shamelessly cutting yet more corners). Lets get cracking on this bad boy!

And The Nominees Are: Inception (ART DIRECTION), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One (ART DIRECTION), True Grit (BOTH), The Kings Speech (BOTH), Alice In Wonderland (BOTH), I Am Love (COSTUME DESIGN) and The Tempest (COSTUME DESIGN).

Inception

Verdict: The job of the art director is to be in charge of the way the film looks and how it visually communicates with your face when you watch it! As far as this is concerned what could be more visually engaging than Inception? Its hard to know where you draw the line between art direction and visual effects so I'll just assume everything good is down to the art director on this occasion. It looks great and its got to have an eye on the prize.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One

Verdict: I'm not a fan of Harry Potter by any means. Not of the story, characters, acting...the list goes on but this is about how good the poster looks and by gosh its pretty stonking. The forrest in the background, the peoples in the foreground and the little red dots that are possibly meaningful in someway. The tagline 'The End Begins' is possibly the worst of all time although I look forward to 'The End Ends' when part two comes out later this year. I haven't seen the film so even though my predisposition is to expect it to be rubbish the poster looks great and that's what counts here.

Alice In Wonderland

Verdict: This is the first of our twofers', up for both Art Direction and Costume Design. In a slight change to Potter, I have seen this and thus know that the film isn't very good. After seeing it at the cinema I had assumed I'd fallen asleep and missed the bit when it started to make sense or we found out why we were menat to give a toss but after watching it again on Blu-Ray I was equally unimpressed. The poster however does look great and to be fair to the film it is obvious that the art and costumes have worked very hard indeed. Whether what they've done in the end is any good may be a different matter. I found the overall style of the film to be visually irritating but the costumes are eye catching and memorable which may help nudge it towards a win in that category.

True Grit

Verdict: The second of our double category films now and True Grit. Have a look at the poster there, go on have a look. The clothes look like the clothes people wore in the time when the film is set. How did they do that? Magic? Surely they deserve an award for that right? No. The costumes look authentic but surely that is the minimum that would be expected of costumes that get the OK to appear in a period film so giving this the best costume award would seem a bit of a waste when Alice In Wonderland has clearly put more stock into their costumes (possibly to the determent of everything else). Art Direction is unclear from the poster as its not got a lot more to it than the main characters, some intense use of 'that font' and a stupid blood oozing bullet hole. How is the poster bleeding? Was it being held up by someone who got shot while doing so? Poor show poster person!

The Kings Speech

Verdict: Ok, so we do have a bit of a problem here. I'm trying to guess whether this film will win best Art Direction and Costume Design based on how good the poster look. This poster however, while looking good, doesn't have any costumes in it and the art directional input is somewhat limited. If it turns out that the pores on Colins Firth chin and nose have actually been specifically designed and placed by the art director then bravo and heap the awards doen upon them. As I have to assume that this is just his face I'll have to put The Kings Speech down as a no for these two categories.

The Tempest

Verdict: Now we're on to the first of the Costume Design only candidates and my first question is; has this film actually been released? I assume the answer is yes as its been nominated but; has it really? Again the costume aspect of the poster is somewhat limited but from what I can see from the three characters shoulders, I'm pretty impressed. These are some of the best dressed shoulders in Hollywood (even if one of them does appear to be dressed in something that isn't clothes). However as most of the other films have gone to the trouble of including an entire dressed person or multiple persons, I' m gonna cross this one off my list.

I Am Love

Verdict: Last of the nominees and costume design is what this uns' going for. This is more what I'm talking about a whole four people all of whom are wearing costumes...well clothes anyway. Is this the best of clothes this year? I imagine the costume designer must have worked really hard on this; finding the casts measurements and then ordering some smart clothes to fit. Were there really no proper period drama's out this year? Where are the frocks and the bonnets? This is the frocks and bonnets award after all. This is what happens when Keira Knightly takes off her corset and puts on something regular. I am not love the the 'costumes' in this film...by which I mean poster, naturally.

Predictions: Art Direction - Inception & Costume Design - Alice In Wonderland

Short Films and Animation - Oscars Predicted From...Posters

2011-02-06T15:59:00.009+00:00

Its a three for the price (free) of one this time around. On the menu today is picking a potential winner for the Best Short Film (Animation), Best Short Film (Live Action) and Best Animated Feature Film categories. Obviously I won't be doing this based on actually having seen the films, in the short film categories I must surely be in the majority here, but on how good the poster look and what I can assume about the films content and award winning potential from that. I won't be posting a picture and verdict on all 13 of the nominees as this would kill us all from boredom. So lets get cracking on the important ones, the ones that are going to win that is....

Short Film (Live Action)

And The Nominees Are: The Confession, The Crush, God of Love, Na Wewe and Wish 143

Verdict: There are two in this category that caught my eye; God of Love and Wish 143. This was partly because they are the only two that I could find something that could genuinely be considered as a poster for but also down to the content. The Wish 143 poster has an image of a pale bald young man with his back to the camera but turning toward it slightly. Below the title is the tagline; a boy, a wish, a piece of fruit. At first I found this mildly intriguing in a Matrix "there is no spoon" kind of way, maybe the film has some existential beliefs about fruit that will make it worthy of an Oscar. After thinking about it for a bit longer though it just looked more and more like a quirky ending to a generic tag line. God of Love has a very profesional poster consisting of several black and white images. We can see from these that music is a key factor here and due to the sight of the statue of Liberty that it must be set in New York. Black and white, music, New York, short film, these are the most arty words in the world of film (probably) and they all apply to this poster. How could it not win?

Prediction: God of Love

Short Film (Animated)

And The Nominees Are: Day & Night, The Gruffalo, Let's Pollute, The Lost Thing and Madagascar, a Journey Diary.

Verdict: Again we have a few; films not seeming to have a poster issues, but given the amount of effort the bigger films go to in purchasing expensive 'For Your Consideration' advertisements maybe the lack of a good poster could prove all the difference here. The one that catches my eye the most is The Gruffalo, one of the reasons for this is that I have watched this film on TV on last last two Christmases. How this film qualifies for this years Oscars is beyond my knowledge/Googling skills of the rules. It is however a good poster and a good film too. Based on a classic children's book (its even been referenced in a Psychology lecture I attended) and made by the BBC it has all the ingredients to make it the obvious pick in the field. As I haven't seen the other films I see no reason to ignore 'obvious ingredients'. Having said that Day & Night is pixar sooooo....

Prediction: Day & Night

Animated Feature Film

And The Nominees Are: How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist and Toy Story 3.

Verdict: On the back of the 'obvious ingredients' of the previous category here I am spoilt for choice in that regard. First there is the smash hit blockbuster of Toy Story 3. Who doesn't love a bit of Pixar eh? Woody and the gang, oh the memories....of watching it on the telly and not being all that impressed. There is nothing wrong with the poster but for me it promises 'more of the same' which doesn't exactly imbue me with excitement. Next there is How To Train Your Dragon which I also haven't seen but have heard lots of 'much better than expected' and 'surprisingly good' comments from people who have. In terms of the poster it has a much more interesting look to it than the Toy Story one with an image of the boy reaching out to stoke the dragon lit by a full moon in the background. The animation looks good and different to Pixar or the classic Disney look that we've seen so much of and therefore for me is a positive. The last contendor is The Illusionist, when I first heard this was up for this particular category I had assumed that the Edward Norton film from a few years ago of the same name had been allowed back in after it had emerged that Norton's beard had been animated throughout. It is in fact a new animated feature from French director Sylvain Chomet best known for Bellville Rendez-Vous. I had not heard of this film prior to its nomination but dispute this and the big boy competition it has for the award, I wouldn't write it off. The poster reminds me of the credits on 'Presto' the Pixar short that preceded Wall E and of course Bellville too. It draws me in to see the film more than the other two do and given that I feel bad for abandoning the poster rule by picking Day & Night based purely on its Pixar origins, I'm going to route for the underdog this time around.

Prediction: The Illusionist

Makeup - Oscars Predicted From...Posters

2011-02-05T19:58:00.006+00:00

Here's the smallest category of the lot, just three nominees for best makeup. Not sure if this is for any particular reason or if the makeup in these three films were so exceptional that it would have been embarrassing for any other film to have been nominated along side these greats! Lets have a little look at the postes and see what they got...

And the nominees are: Barney's Version, The Way Back and The Wolfman.

Barney's Version

As far as makeup effects all I can say is that there is no shine coming off Giamati's forehead so thats a pretty good start. Wouldn't appear to be much in the way of prosthetics etc. This must be the minimalist candidate.

The Way Back

It appears that the makeup artist on this one has concentrated on making Colin Farrell appear to have a more furrowed brow than Ed Harris and my have they succeeded. Its hardly award winning stuff though.

The Wolfman

Look at that! Its a massive Wolfman. Now thats what I call make up (unless thats a CGI Wolfman but for lack of any other insight this will have to do). Amazing stuff.

Prediction: The Wolfman

Oscars Predicted From Trailers - Sound Mixing & Sound Editing

2011-02-05T11:16:00.007+00:00

I don't know a lot about sound mixing or editing which means my method of prediction doesn't really make much difference. Looking at the trailers gives me no clue whatsoever as to which film is best in terms of these disciplines other than which sounds best to me, I don't think I've ever watched a film and said "My my, haven't they done a splendid job of mixing the sound on this one". The technical awards are voted for by fellow professionals in each field which as well as making them better gauges of which one is in fact the best it also makes the opinion of the lay man a poor indicator to who will win.

As well as this it feels a little unfair for us to judge these categories based on what we see and here in the film with no knowledge of how it was achieved. We can see an actor acting, we have a pretty good idea of how a script is written (with a pen or with a computer basically) but how is sound mixed? I have no idea and therefore have no problem with predicting the awards based on pretty much no information whatsoever.

And the nominees are: Inception, The Kings Speech, Salt, The Social Network and True Grit

Sound Mixing

Deliberations: Now according to the Wikipedia definition of sound editing a major aspect of the work is to bring many different sound inputs and combine them together into the final audio track that goes along with the movie. From this I shall assume that being the most adventurous in size and scale Inception will have more sounds that have been combined into the final product and more sound equals more work and therefore better right? Salt also has quite a bit of crashy gunny noises but these could easily have been tape recorded off of any other action film whereas something like the creaking and groaning the city makes as Ellen Page folds it up on itself in Inception is a noise new to my ears and that is more deserving of an award in my book.

Prediction: Inception

Sound Editing

And The Nominees Are: Inception, Toy Story 3, Tron: Legacy, True Grit and Unstoppable

Deliberations: No this one is even harder, Wikipedia tells us that sound editing is about selecting the sound recordings that will be chosen to be put into the final mix. Surely to decide who did this best we need to listen to the rubbish recordings that the editor got rid of. "That bit of dialogue sounded awful, he dod well to get rid of that". The only assumption I can make is that the one with the least sound must have had the most brutal editing process meaning that the editor has done more work. Or the exact oposite right? Who knows. I'll just go with the one I like the sound of the most.
Verdict: Inception

You've already seen that trailer though so here's the Kings Speech trailer

Trailer of the Week - Bridesmaids

2011-02-03T23:29:00.005+00:00

You know that one guy Judd Apatow off of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up? Yeah those funny films mostly about men. Now he's gone and produced a tasty little number about women too. Not just any women either, our leading lady is Kristen Wigg and Maya Rudolph is in it too can you believe? Don't worry though there is a does or two of man too. The trailer gives us a glimpse of Chris O'Dowd (off of The IT Crowd) and John Hamm (off of Mad Men) plus others who are definitely men with possibly laugh inducing performances to boot.

The 'eternal bridesmaid' type movie seems to have been done to death (once was enough for some) but this looks like it could be a goody.

Oscars Predicted From....Posters - Visual Effects

2011-02-03T20:27:00.015+00:00

No I haven't spelt 'trailers' incredibly badly, I actually am going to pick my prediction for the best visual effects Oscar based purely (mostly) on the films poster! I'm taking it to the next level, not that there was really any need to have taken it to the previous level or do any of this in the first place. But any way I like a challenge and I was beginning to feel like the trailers were giving me way too much information, an on going problem which has caused going to the cinema to become less magical than it used too. I'm currently making a deliberate point to find out as little as possible about Submarine before seeing it at Ultraculture Cinema in the hope that it will make it a more enjoyable experience while still pretty much guaranteeing I will enjoy it as it has been given the converted Ultraculture seal of approval. I've allowed myself to get sidetracked which definitely has nothing to do with the fact that I probably won't have all that much to say about the posters. We shall see....

And the nominees are: Iron Man 2, Inception, Hereafter, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Alice In Wonderland.

Iron Man 2

Verdict: There are several different posters for this one, one for most of the main characters (I assume). The poster for the first film was one of those Star Wars a like ones with all of the main characters on the same thing but photoshoped together from individual pictures of all of them, there is usually some sort of shinny light involved too. I chose the poster with actual Iron Man on it as I would guess a lot of the visual effects are based around his wizzy flighting. And looky here we have another irony man too, he seems to have neglected the flashy paintwork though. Possibly thats a negative in terms of visual effects too. It could cost them dear. Mostly though this is an impressive poster, it says "Remember Iron Man? Well this is Iron Man again and he's got a new mate with a gun for a shoulder. Whats not to like eh?"

Inception

Verdict: Phew, I've actually seen this 'un which means that I can cheat and use info from the film to make my decision too. In some ways thats unnecessary as the poster gives a good clue to one of the most impressive visual effects in the film; the city wrapping around on top of itself. I've never seen this happen in a city in real life or even in a dream more to the point. This says to me A) I should eat stronger cheese before bed to induce more creative dreams and B) This is a great visual effect to attempt and when pulled off as well as this, looks stunning. As well as 'explaining plot' visually impressive set pieces are a cornerstone of the film with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's zero gravity fisty-cuffs slightly reminiscent of the corridor scene in High School Musical 3 only less angsty and more punchy. It has to be a strong contendor as not only are the effects well done but many of them are also very original and challenging pieces.

Hereafter

Verdict: So this ones not giving a lot of clues away. We've got Matt Damon with a woman growing out of his ear (thats quite impressive no?). We also have some clouds and a ghostly figure in the background that I thought was actually the Statue of Liberty from looking just at the thumbnail, maybe this is meaningful. Probably not. These are good signs for sure you can't ask much more from a poster except maybe a second or third colour maybe. Not only have I not seen this but I got so bored during the trailer when I watched it when the film was first being promoted that I had to skip a minute or so to avoid falling asleep. But then maybe thats just me.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1

Verdict: Although this is a bit of an odd poster and not one I saw about while the film was in the cinemas I have chosen it for two reasons. The first is the glowing figure which is mush more visually impressive that Daniel Radcliffe's face ever will be and the second reason is the tag line at the top 'One way, one fate, one hero' but somehow two films. Also when did this become all about Harry? Sure he's the main character and has more magics than anyone else and the books and films have his name in the title and all but I'm pretty sure he's gonna be getting an inordinately large amount of help from his friends too. There is a chance I'm wrong about this and he in fact defeats Voldermort single handedly after a lengthy 'manning up montage.

Alice In Wonderland

Verdict: Its a pretty impressive poster. It looks all lovely and rich in whimsy. On the other hand I've seen the film in both 3D at the cinema and in 2D on DVD and I have to say that looking at the poster is more entertaining than both of those experiences put together. Staying with this particular colour palette, which looks a bit like when you choose a new theme on PowerPoint and it looks great initially but by the end of the presentation you wish you'd kept it simple, for the duration of the film is pretty hard on the eyes.

Deliberations: After this first attempt at predicting the Oscars from Posters theres a chance that it may have been a better use of my time to do...well anything else and that pure guess work may have done the job just as well. However I feel the adventurous scale and imagination of the effects in Inception plus the fact that it looks pretty damn good an all could give it the edge over effects by numbers films like Iron Man and Potter and the CGI (Crayon Generated Images) of Alice In Wonderland.

Prediction: Inception

Actor In A Leading Role - Oscars Predicted From Trailers

2011-02-02T18:38:00.005+00:00

After the nonsense that was having actually seen most of the performances nominated for best actress we have another category in which I haven't seen any of them. Although this is a bad thing in some ways it does serve the purposes of this sort of experiment very well. Lets get watching some trailers, but first...

And the nominees are: Javier Bardem for Biutiful, Jeff Bridges for True Grit, Jesse Eisenburg for The Social Network, Colin Firth for The Kings Speech and James Franco for 127 Hours.

Javier Bardem

Verdict: So this is one of those "powerful, intense" performances that people go all mad for it would seem. From this trailer I find it hard to believe that if this role had been played equally well by an unknown actor that they would have got nominated. The fact that Bardem is a Hollywood star as well and an Academy Award winner already must hold a lot of sway with some. I see nothing here to get me excited although he did win the best actor award at Cannes this year (I got this information from the trailer so it counts) so this horse got form at least.

Jeff Bridges

Verdict: Oh so its one of those gnarled old timer who's still got what it takes performances. I don't think I've seen loads of those before. But enough with the sarcasm, Bridges seems on top form here and could well be in with a good shout what with all the "The Dude Was Robbed" still towering above him but I'm certainly not holding my breath or keeping my fingers crossed for the guy. Sorry Jeff, love the beard though.

Jesse Eisenburg

Verdict: Whoa there Nelly. Now here's a performance. Not only does he kick ass...well as much as a nerd with no social skills can do be he portrays both a semi-fictional and a real person all at the same time. Before this we had no idea what the man who made looking at pictures of people you've never liked or commenting on an update such as 'I think men dicks' possible, but now we do and we think he's awful. Not that we think Jesse Eisenburg is awful, we think he's brilliant just like he was in Adventureland and The Squid And The Whale. There's still a couple of nominees to go but if I were Jesse I'd certainly be preparing the wording for an "I won an Oscar" Facebook update just in case.

Colin Firth

Verdict: But don't get too cocky Jesse. You may have presented Saturday Night Live and everything but have you ever made every woman in Britain simultaneously ovulate by standing around in a damp shirt? No you haven't, but Colin has! He's also pretty good in this film (by which I mean trailer for the film) and with an Golden Globe in his pocket and a Bafta surly set to join it I probably will have my breath held and fingers crossed for Mr Firth.

James Franco

Verdict: Oh dear, I seem to have prematurely shot my wad and ended up with somewhat of a mess on my hands if you will (Funke, 2005) by spluging all over Firth and Eisenburg while Franco was still waiting for a go. The trailer shows him riding a bike, falling off a bike, climbing rocks, falling from rocks and getting stuck under a rock and you can't really say he does any of that badly. However the competition he has to compete with plus the fact that he's hosting the thing (surely even this most self gratulatory of events isn't going to go as far as to give one of the biggest awards to the host...is it?). Well he'll get his fair share of moments in the spot light at the very least.

Deliberations: I think its a two horse race probably, Firth or Eisenburg. Firth or Frano would sound better but thats not the world we live in. As an Englishman it is my duty to be as much like Colin Firth as I possibly can be and as such I must insist that he wins this award.

Prediction: Colin Firth

Actress In A Leading Role - Oscars Predicted From Trailers

2011-02-02T17:53:00.006+00:00

This is the first of the big hitters and the one that leads to the most tears and therefore newspaper headlines the morning after the awards. In a strange turn of events I have in fact seen a whole three of the five films represented in this category which should make my prediction much more rational. While this makes the exercise less fun it does increase my chances of getting at least one of these things right.

And the nominees are: Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right, Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole, Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone, Natalie Portman for Black Swan and Michelle Williams.

Annette Bening

Verdict: To be nominated in this catagory it must be the case that she has a major role in the film, from the trailer however I only get the perception of Bening playing second fiddle to Julianne Moore (if you'll pardon the pun) and to some extent Mark Ruffalo as well. Possibly Bening and Helena Bonham Carter should have had them nominations swapped. As a result of all this I find it unlikely that she's gonna win this one.

Nicole Kidman

Verdict: Based on having seen the film this time I'm gonna say that A) I don't think she'll win and B) I don't think she should win. Other than the "God needed another angel" part from the start of the trailer, the comic that Jason draws and the "brick in your" pocket description given to explain the process of dealing with a loss, there isn't much else going on. I know others who seem to absolutely love it but for me no one has done anything well enough to be given an award over others this year.

Jennifer Lawrence

Verdict: She is very good, very good indeed, both in the trailer and in the film. The one problem she does have is that what she does in the trailer is pretty much the same as what she does all through the film just more of it. Its a great performance but if there is (you can't rule it out) a list of different skills displayed that the judges tick off as they watch then Jennifer Lawrence doesn't really get the chance to show off a 'range' in this. At some point this award will belong to her if she keeps this standard up but probably not this time.

Natalie Portman

Verdict: In a reverse of Jennifer Lawrence above, Portman (I hope she takes her fiances name when they marry as Portman sounds way too much like a rough dock worker) has every chance to show her range and variety of being brilliant. In fact that's kind of the thread of the film; can she embody both swan characters that are polar opposites of each other? On top of this she has a pretty epic mental breakdown brought on either by pressure or through never eating anything, that can't be helping.

Michelle Williams

Verdict: Now my charmed run of having actually seen the films is over its back to the good old trailer approach, yaaaaaaayy and that. After acting the pants off of everyone in Dawson's Creek Michelle Williams has continued in that vein ever since although to be fair in Wendy and Lucy her main acting competition was a dog. But anyway in this trailer it looks like she's pretty much ticked off kooky, complex, quite a bit of crying and even a bit of fun loving spontaneity too. Basically she's my dream girl (except for the crying, fuck that shit) but I see litte that convinces me that this performance is in the same league as Portman.

Deliberations: Not the toughest decision. I think most people would be shocked if Natalie Portman didn't win this one. She ticks every box within a category where the others only tick a few however strong their performances are.

Prediction: Natalie Portman

Actor In A Supporting Role - Oscars Predicted From Trailers

2011-02-01T18:08:00.008+00:00

I've passed judgement on the supporting actresseseses now its the blokes turn. This time we have four nominees who I will be judging purely on the trailer and one on having seen the whole ruddy film.

And the nominees are: Geoffrey Rush for The Kings Speech, Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right, Jeremy Renner for The Town, John Hawkes for Winter's Bone and Christian Bale for The Fighter. Let's get going...

Geoffrey Rush

Verdict: He sure does some fine acting in a supporting role in this one. Playing an assured an in control character allows him to look impressive and if the King manages to get that speech out then he deserves some kind of award for his good therapy type work. He's got a good shot at this!

Mark Ruffalo

Verdict: His role seems to be of a man coming in to a family at the wish of some but not of others and in some ways stealing the kids affections away from the parents who have raised them. This seems to me like it could co-inside with a supporting actor stealing the show with an assured but understated performance. Understated often goes unnoticed and maybe this will count against him on the night. Plus his roguish good looks are sure to make the wizened old academy members too jealous to give him one of those lovely statuettes.

Jeremy Renner

Verdict: The trailer is so loud and shouty. Renner seems pretty pissed off and an Oscar may well calm him down a bit. He missed out on Best Actor last time around so will have good practice for his disappointment face when he doesn't win this either. His performance in The Hurt Locker was pretty brilliant but I don't get those vides from this one.

John Hawkes

Verdict: Having seen this one at the cinema I can say more accurately that this was a really good performance from Hawkes. A problem he may have however is that all of the really good performances by the supporting cast are still overshadowed by Jennifer Lawrence who is the real heart of the story and almost all talk on the film has focused around her and not the likes of Hawkes. The fact that he has been nominated shows that someone has taken notice but I doubt you me and everyone we know (hee he hee, I done got the title of one of his other films in there) would expect him to win it.

Christian Bale

Verdict: He is in the picture representing the film on the video above, something you can't say about any of the others. His character seems pretty integral to the journey of the film and given that three supporting cast members have been nominated for the fighter as well as getting a Best Film nod without any recognition for Whalburg i.e. the actual fighter shows that they must be doing a pretty good job at supporting the big guy. I wouldn't want to meet Bale in a dark alley (I could have done a Dark Knight pun there but I restrained myself) and I wouldn't want to bump into him after not awarding him an Oscar.

Deliberations: I would like to see John Hawkes get this one mainly because I'd like to see him get bigger roles in more films but in reality it will either go to Bale or Rush depending on how scared the academy are of the former.

Prediction: Christian Bale

Actress In A Supporting Role - Oscars Predicted From Trailers

2011-02-01T15:20:00.008+00:00

On now to the first of the acting awards and a category which I can judge entirely on the trailers and none of that 'watching the whole film' nonsense. All five nominees (although only four separate films) have evaded me so far but none the less I shall get cracking with guessing who will win an Oscar based on the limited information at hand (the less is more school of prediction).

And the nominees are: Amy Adams and Melissa Leo, both for The Fighter, Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech, Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit and Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom.

Amy Adams

Verdict: If the award was for best supportive character then I'd imagine she'd be a shoe in for this. The trailer shows her doing a bit of an accent which is always a plus and she is well and truly a member of the 'they deserve an Oscar for what they've done in the past club' but that doesn't help her hear whether it does on the night or not is a different matter

Melissa Leo

Verdict: She isn't really in the trailer which means I have to say she isn't going to win. This is a shame as she won the Golden Globe in this category making her probably the favorite to pick up the Oscar too. The nature of this odd beast though means I have to go against common sense and rule her out of the running I'm afraid.

Helena Bonham Carter

Verdict: Here we have someone who comes out of the trailer really well. While most actresses do something risky when they play a grotesque role or even just looking their age, Helena has done the opposite. She normally plays the grotesque, flamboyantly morbid characters but here is playing a Queen. Posh and dignified and all that. The trailer also gives her the position of being the one who sets up the central story in being the one who acquires the services of the speech coach for her husband. There is also a lack of a more dominant or leading female performance which draws more attention to her.

Hailee Steinfeld

Verdict: Precocious teenager who just wants the man who killed her father. I'm not sure I like that. Is this good acting? I suppose so but I still find her a bit annoying. Would the Academy give the Oscar to someone so young? I'm not optimistic that can be done but maybe Hailee will upset the rule book and not take "not optimistic it can be done" for an answer.

Jacki Weaver

Verdict: Most of this trailer had the worrying ambience of Chopper about it (I din't like Chopper by the way) but the addition of 'All Out Of Love' playing over the last part was a nice change of pace. Don't really get a sense of any particularly brilliant acting by Jacki Weaver here so doesn't look like she'll be making my list.

Deliberations: Trailers are definitely not a good way of picking out award worthy supporting roles as a two minute advertising tool is bound to focus on the protagonists and the story or baring that lots of explosions. From the King's Speech trailer you could make an argument for suggesting Helena Bonham Carter is playing more than just a supporting role and in this situation that gives her a massive advantage over the others. My heart would go for Amy Adams but thats not what Oscars Predicted From Trailers is all about.

Prediction: Helena Bonham Carter