BAFTA

Thoughts on BAFTA 2016 Winners

Bafta TrophyThe BAFTAs were last night and I have some thoughts on the winners. I didn’t watch the BAFTAs on BBC One as I was engrossed in my book (A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab if you’re interested) but I followed along on Twitter so I knew pretty much who all the winners were before the show even started on the TV.

I don’t know how much the BAFTAs will be a guess as to what the Oscars winners will be, history dictates that there’s usually some crossover but who knows. But I was pretty OK with most of last night’s winners. The two big nominees that I have yet to see are Brooklyn and Steve Jobs so I can’t really comment on those that much.

Now onto the stuff I can and want to talk about. First up Best Film, I can understand why The Revenant won, it’s got all the things voters love – it was tough to make, cast and crew could’ve died etc etc but I really would’ve liked any of the other nominees to win, especially Spotlight. That film really touched a chord with me so I kind of want it to win everything it’s been nominated for so I was really pleased when it won Best Original Screenplay. The same point can be made with Alejandro G Inarritu’s Best Director win for The Revenant, I get why he won but really I wanted any of the other nominees to win more.

The acting categories are always interesting. Leonardo DiCaprio was pretty much a shoe-in to win Best Actor, I don’t think The Revenant was his best work and if he goes on to win the Oscar, a part of me thinks it will be a bit like a “we’re finally giving you the Oscar and we don’t really care what film it’s for” Oscar. I’m so happy Brie Larson won Best Actress for Room, gosh she was amazing in that film and she was my favourite out of the nominees. Mark Rylance won Best Supporting Actor for Bridge of Spies which I was happy about, would’ve liked Mark Ruffalo to win for Spotlight because I love Ruffalo but I’m happy about Rylance’s win. Like I said, I haven’t seen Steve Jobs so I can’t comment on Kate Winslet’s performance but I really hoped Alicia Vikander would’ve won for ExMachina.

I was surprised (but pleased) by how many awards Mad Max: Fury Road won. I loved that film a ridiculous amount so it see Margaret Sixel win Best Editing for it was amazing. One of the reasons I liked Mad Max: Fury Road so much was because it didn’t look like your usual quickly-edited-so-you-can’t-really-see-what’s-happening action films and that was down to Margaret Sixel. Mad Max: Fury Road also one Best Costume Design, Best Production Design and Best Make Up and Hair and were all worthy of the prize.

I also want to talk about the EE Rising Star Award. This Award is the one BAFTA that is voted for by the public it’s always an interesting one. I’m so happy John Boyega won! To be honest I’d have kind of been OK if any of the other four nominees won but Boyega has a special place in my heart. He gave a great speech and I’m still so happy for him.

Did you watch the BAFTAs last night? Do you get caught up in awards buzz or don’t you care that much? Let me know if there was anyone you’d wished have won below

The full list of winners: (more…)

The 2014 BAFTA Shorts

On Tuesday I took a day off from University life and went into London to have a bit of a tourist day and to see the BAFTA Shorts at the ICA.

I’ve not really watched a lot of short films before, so seeing eight very different films back to back was a new and interesting experience.

A lot of them made me laugh, and to get someone to laugh (perhaps more than once) in 30 minutes or less is an achievement since actual full length comedy films struggle to do that sometimes.

My favourites were Island Queen and Keeping Up with the Joneses. Island Queen is about Miriam, a woman who has never left the island that is her home and never really grew up. So to remedy this she decides to have a baby, but it doesn’t quite go to plan. I found Island Queen hilarious; it is full of dry wit and black comedy that I love. I loved Miriam and her best friend Danny, I would quite happily watch a full-length film of them bickering and hugging and travelling the world together.

Keeping Up with the Joneses is about Celia, the wife of an MP, who is has to confront the imprisoned reality of her life after being taken hostage by two of her husband’s business associates aka gangsters. This one also made me laugh, mostly because of the actors deadpan delivery, but it also managed to make me really feel for Celia as she realises that her life is a gilded cage, and perhaps meeting these “business associates” of her husband was the best thing that could have happened to her.

I think it’s no surprise that my two favourites had wonderful, flawed yet amazing women as leads.

Sleeping with the Fishes won Best British Short Animation at the BAFTAS in February and I’m not that surprised after seeing it. It was my favourite animation out of the three, funny but rather weird.

Room 8 won Best British Short Film and it was a very deserving winner. It was the shortest live action short at only 7 minutes but still made a very clever and unique story. The visuals were great for such a short piece that is contained to just one prison cell. Still, it would’ve been nice if Island Queen or Keeping Up with the Joneses had won.

I really enjoyed watching all the shorts and definitely will go see them again next year if BAFTA decides to screen them.

The BAFTA Shorts are currently touring around the UK, being shown as a feature length package in cinemas across the country. To find out where you can see the shorts go to the BAFTA website. They are also going to be shown internationally as well.

My BAFTA Thoughts

Bafta TrophyThe BAFTA nominations have been announced and everything seems to be going according to plan – except the fact that Inside Llewyn Davies only got three nominations and none were for acting or directing. The top films are Gravity with 11 nominations, followed by 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle with 10 each, and Captain Phillips with nine.

I’ll readily admit that I haven’t seen all the films or performances nominated – mostly because some of the big hitters have yet to be released here in the UK. That being said I’m going to see both American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave in the next week, and The Wolf of Wall Street the week after so I’ll be able to have my personal opinion for them soon. (more…)