My BAFTA predictions

So tonight is the 2012 BAFTAs to be hosted by Stephen Fry and because I love to be proved wrong I have decided to offer up my predictions for who I think will win at what is often a ceremony full of surprises as the winners tend to substantially differ from the American awards.

Martin Scorsese has been selected to receive the BAFTA Fellowship while John Hurt will receive the Outstanding British Contribution to cinema award. But here are my predictions for the main categories.

BEST FILM

The Artist

Outstanding British Film

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Outstanding Debut

Tyrannosaur - Paddy Considine.

Best Director 


Michel Hazanavicius  - The Artist

Best Original Screenplay

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Help

Best film not in the English Language

A Separation

Best Leading Actor


My heart says Gary Oldman, but my head says Jean DuJardin. We shall see.

Best Leading Actress


I'm going to play it risky and say that Berenice Bejo may just snatch this one for The Artist.

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Best Supporting Actress


Jessica Chastian - The Help

Orange Rising Star Award


Eddie Redmayne

Now I could be completely wrong but I am interested to know what you think. Let me know your predictions and who you hope to see presenting those awards!! My only wish is for Tom Hardy!! :)

Your feedback

Happy New Year everyone! I just wanted to take this chance to say thanks to all of you who have read, viewed and supported by blog over the past few months since I made it public. I especially want to say thanks to Daisy at http://www.prettygreentea.com/ , Ms Macaroni at http://macaroni-intransit.blogspot.com/ and Penny at http://iblameoprah.blogspot.com/. They have all promoted my blog and gave me the confidence to give it a go in the first place.

I plan to post a lot more in 2012 and have lots of great new ideas for posts. But I would also like to hear from you on what you have enjoyed about the blog and what you would like to see more of. Also if there is something I haven't posted about yet that you would like to see let me know.

I wish you all the best for 2012 and look forward to hearing from you. Please post me a comment below.

My Actor Obsessions : Joaquin Phoenix

As promised at the beginning of November (I get easily distracted, can't you tell?), here is the first post in my 'Actor Obsessions' series.

Joaquin Phoenix first came to my attention back in 2000 when I saw him playing the emperor Commodus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator. I was completely captivated by his brooding, handsome, good looks and his ability to portray such a dark and at times grotesque character with such empathy. As usual I become obsessed and began to work my way through his back catalogue of films.



Joaquin Phoenix is the younger brother of the late River Phoenix and the middle child of 5, all of who have gone into the entertainment industry at one time or another. Joaquin Phoenix was actually born Joaquin Rafael Bottom and had an unconventional upbringing as his parents were members of the religious cult Children of God (founded in California in 1968). The children spent most of their formative years travelling around South America until their parents became disenchanted with the cult in 1978 and left, moving back to US. They changed their surname to Phoenix to symbolise new beginnings. The children performed on the streets and entered talent competitions in order to provide money for the family and were eventually discovered by a talent agent. Joaquin changed his name to Leaf to fit in with his other siblings River, Summer, Rain and Liberty and began acting in movies. His early films included Spacecamp in 1986 and Russkies in 1987.

When his brother River Phoenix died of a drug overdose in 1993 outside Johnny Depp's then club, The Viper Room, Joaquin withdrew from acting and went travelling. He eventually made his comeback in 1995 in Gus Van Sant's To Die For, starring opposite Nicole Kidman and Matt Dillon.

Stand out performance.

It was a toss up between his two Oscar nominated performances in Gladiator and Walk the Line, but in the end I had to plump for Gladiator.

In a movie full of stand out performances, Joaquin Phoenix manages to steal every scene he is in and the movie right out from underneath Russell Crowe's nose. Commodus could so easily have been portrayed as your stereotypical camp villain with his incestuous nature and frequent temper tantrums. However, Joaquin Phoenix achieves the impossible by making us feel sympathy and pity for this man who has not only committed patricide but also has incestuous feelings towards his sister. His performance portrays Commodus as being a vulnerable and emotionally unstable man who has been rejected by his father and is being betrayed by his sister, the one person he thinks he can still trust. At the same time, his character is so unpredictable that during the latter scenes of the movie he becomes quite frightening. Stand out scenes for me are the murder of his father and the latter scenes with Connie Neilson (his sister Lucilla) which are incredibly creepy and tense!

Hidden Treasures


Clay Pigeons (1998)


Clay Pigeons is a black comedy thriller starring Vince Vaughn, Janeane Garofolo and Joaquin Phoenix. In the UK the film went straight to video which is a shame as it is a really entertaining movie which manages to combine humour with very strong violence without ever feeling off balance. The performances from all the main actors are great and while Vince Vaughn has the showier role, Joaquin Phoenix puts in a strong solid performance and shows he can master a comic role. The film centres around Clay played by Joaquin Phoenix whose best friend kills himself when he finds out Clay was having an affair with his wife. Clay then befriends Lester Long (played by Vince Vaughn) who just happens to be a serial killer and who plans to use Clay as his fall guy. This is a great movie which is definitely worth seeking out on DVD.

The Yards (1999)

The Yards is another little known film that deserves for more people to see it. The movie was the second offering from director James Gray who specialises in crime dramas set in New York and whose first film Little Odessa is also worth seeking out. The Yards plays out like a good old fashioned film noir and it's subject matter, cinematography and casting of James Caan bring to mind the Godfather movies. Despite the director being relatively unknown at the time, he has managed to assemble a fantastically talented cast including Ellen Burstyn, James Caan, Faye Dunaway, Charlize Theron, Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix. The story revolves around Leo Handler (played by Mark Wahlberg) who comes out of prison to find that his mother has married the big boss (James Caan) in a subway subcontractor firm who also happens to be heavily involved in the corrupt business of sabotaging their rivals subway work. Joaquin Phoenix plays Leo's best friend (Willie Guttieriez) who is the big boss' right hand man. One night a job goes wrong and Leo gets sucked back into the crime world. This movie is a slow burner and has a very sombre tone, but it is definitely worth sticking with and Joaquin Phoenix puts in another faultless performance and his final scenes in the movie are explosive. Check out the trailer on the link below.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3671105049/

Have you seen any of these films? What did you think? Do you have any favourite Joaquin Phoenix movies?