Addicts 2007: The Stats

And the Addicts are over!

Here are the stats...

6 Nominations

Atonement
2 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Film, Director, Ensemble, *Cinematography, *Costume Design, Art Direction)

A Mighty Heart
0 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Film, Director, Ensemble, Actress in a Leading Role, Adapted Screenplay, Editing)

5 Nominations

I’m Not There
0 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Film, Director, Actress in a Supporting Role, Original Screenplay, Editing)

4 Nominations

Juno
2 Wins/1 Runner Up
(*Ensemble, Actress in a Supporting Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, *Original Screenplay)

No Country for Old Men
0 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Cinematography, Sound, Adapted Screenplay, Actor in a Supporting Role)

3 Nominations

I Don’t Want To Sleep Alone
1 Win
(Film, *Director, Cinematography)

Into the Wild
1 Win
(Actor in a Leading Role, *Adapted Screenplay, Editing)

Knocked Up
0 Wins
(Ensemble, Original Screenplay, Actor in a Supporting Role)

La Vie En Rose
0 Wins
(Actress in a Leading Role, Costume Design, Make Up)

Lust, Caution
1 Win
(Cinematography, *Actress in a Leading Role, Costume Design)

Once
1 Win/1 Runner Up
(*Film, Director, Original Screenplay)

There Will Be Blood
0 Wins
(Cinematography, Actor in a Leading Role, Art Direction)

2 Nominations

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
0 Wins
(Actor in a Supporting Role, Original Screenplay)

Hairspray
0 Wins
(Ensemble, Sound, Editing)

Sleuth
0 Wins/1 Runner Up
(Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction)

Sunshine
1 Win
(Visual Effects, *Art Direction)

Sweeney Todd
0 Wins
(Costume Design, Art Direction)

Transformers
1 Win
(*Sound, Visual Effects)

We Own the Night
0 Wins
(Actress in a Supporting Role, Editing)

1 Nomination

300
1 Win
(Visual Effects)

Away From Her
1 Runner Up
(Actress in a Leading Role)

Bug

(Make Up)

Disturbia
1 Win
(Actor in a Leading Role)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
1 Runner Up
(Costume Design)

Hallam Foe

(Adapted Screenplay)

In the Valley of Elah
(Actor in a Leading Role)

Interview
(Actress in a Leading Role)

It’s a Free World…
(Actress in a Supporting Role)

Michael Clayton
1 Win
(Actress in a Supporting Role)

Planet Terror

1 Win

(Make Up)

Rescue Dawn

1 Win

(Actor in a Supporting Role)

Things We Lost in the Fire
1 Runner Up
(Actor in a Leading Role)

Addicts 2007: Best Film and Director

I have to say that I hardly ever match my favourite five pictures and directors in a given year. But this time, it's happened. I simply could not see past the achievements of these five films, despite how much I loved Juno, Black Snake Moan, Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, Lust Caution and the rest...

Best Film & Best Director

Atonement
& Joe Wright

If films were purely judged on their visuality Atonement would be leaps and bounds above the rest, but as it stands it takes a healthy position in my top ten. Cecilia and Robbie's romance crucially works because it feels so complete, despite their periods of separation and the tragic events that end their relationship. I once saw an act in which two dancers stood on either side of a glass partition, each mirroring the actions of the other. I like to think of Cecilia and Robbie in this way: physically isolated but emotionally united. The way in which their romance is handled in Atonement - tentatively, lusciously, and at times consigned to the back burner for Briony's intense character study, is a brave move, and makes the story feel all a more subtle and poignant one.

I Don't Want To Sleep Alone
& Ming-liang Tsai

I find it incredible that there is such a miniscule amount of dialogue in Tsai's stunning film. He uses so much of the filmmaking pallette (through colour, light, composition) to create a calm and reflective mood, and a portrait that holds your gaze with its simple beauty. I Dont Want To Sleep Alone is a film about interaction, and it details (without drawing attention to itself) the ways in which it's possible to access the thoughts and feelings of another without probing inquisition. In this way its technique, and interaction with the audience, is indicative of the films inhabitants: quiet, patient, knowing, natural. Actions speak louder than words.

I'm Not There
& Todd Haynes

I've said so much about it already, so I'll keep this fairly brief. Haynes' film is one of the best biopics I've ever seen because it bucks the 'biopic' trend so radically. It doesn't pretend to know everything about its subject, juggling ideas of Dylan as a badboy, a recluse, an activist, with tremendous energy and dynamism. A triumph.

A Mighty Heart
& Michael Winterbottom

Lingering flashbacks of Daniel Pearl can perhaps be compared to the sentimentality with which Rachel Weisz's murdered political dynamo is captured in 2005's problematic The Constant Gardener. Usually, I don't like a film to constantly remind me how important its subject is, but with A Mighty Heart, there was a point where I abandoned the idea of it as a reconstruction of anything. It's amazing that the intensity and immersion that the film provides remains firmly on the right side of the overkill barrier, and that you can't begrudge the filmmakers for whisking us into a situation that only dark minds could tolerate or desire to be in the first place, because it's so god damn interesting.

Once
& John Carney

I cried at the end of Once.

I cried at the end of The Bucket List too, so that's hardly an indication of how good a film is, but I'd like to think that there's an obvious difference as to why I cried at the end of each film. While sucre was ever-present in the latter, Once never cheapens itself, or even purports that its characters are dissatisfied at what happens in the film. Hell, it's a HAPPY film. But I felt like I knew the characters so well through their behaviour, and significantly the music that they create, that I just didn't want to leave them. For the principle characters to lay so much of their souls down on the table for eighty minutes and then turn around and filter into the distance ambiguous unknowns isn't something we expect from a film. Harsh, but undoubtedly realistic, their existence can be likened to music itself: ephemeral and precious.

Winner: Once (1)
Runner Up: I'm Not There (2)
A Mighty Heart (3)
I Don't Want To Sleep Alone (4)
Atonement (5)

Rest of Top Ten...

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (6)

Lust, Caution (7)

Sunshine (8)

Black Snake Moan (9)

Into the Wild (10)

Winner: Ming-liang Tsai

Runner Up: Michael Winterbottom

Hottest Track: Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone

Yes, I'm back. Unbelievable. Buy this girl's album. It's top.

2008 FAQ

It may appear as if I've been in a bit of a timewarp on the filmic front; reminiscing about actresses long dead and proclaiming awards for 2007's cinematic gems. But sadly, until distributors figure a system whereby films get a worldwide synchronised release (I live in the hope of a six year-old praying that Santa is real), things aren't gonna look clean. Still, I've nearly put this to bed. Just two more categories in the Addicts to go.

As for 2008, here are some FAQ's for ya, until I can manage to muster up a couple of reviews of the 11 releases I've seen so far:-

Q: What's the year's best film so far?

A: Neil Marshall's Doomsday. A political action thriller packed with substance, lucid in tone, and confident in execution.

Q: What's the year's worst film so far?

A: The horrendous Other Boleyn Girl. Tacky, trashy and repellent.

Q: Will Sally Hawkins be nominated for an Oscar, and if so, is she worthy?

A: It's a signature Mike Leigh Actress performance. Like Blethyn, some are likely to find her annoying, but there's undeniable depth there. At the moment, I'd say yes. And it's Oscar worthy stuff in my eyes. Loved her.

Q: Are you going to see Indiana Jones 4?

A: Haha. Not even for Shia.

Q: Which film are you most looking forward to this year?

A: Synecdoche, New York!

And a few words about the extraordinary impact that the year of 2008 has had upon me thus far...
I'm actually looking forward to seeing the work of Clint Eastwood and Sean Penn ;-)

Eurovision Semi-Final Qualifiers

3 Days To Go Until Eurovision!

The following qualifiers from the first Eurovision Semi-Final (it's a gruelling process) are:-

• Greece
• Romania
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Finland
• Russia
• Israel
• Azerbaijan
• Armenia
• Poland
• Norway

I didn't see the semi-final (I'm trying to avoid the songs, remember) but my fellow Eurovision-obsessee says that Dima Bilan's performance for Russia was diabolical. He still got in, so go figure why he's the frontrunner. Oh, and you're right in thinking Dustin the Turkey will not be mixing the decks for Ireland on Saturday. Try not to cry into your pillows tonight.

Hottest Track: Ashlee Simpson - Outta My Head

Ferropolis, My Metropolis: Or How I Learned To Stop Fucking Around And See Björk

I have a confession: I have never been to a concert. Maybe it was ticket prices that put me off. Or perhaps that I seem to have such a different taste in music than most of my friends/family. Nevertheless, it's a pretty sad situation.

When tickets for Madonna's new tour came out on Monday I got thinking about things and decided I wanted to go, but when I posed this theory to my friend she clearly wasn't gonna shell out £75 on the woman. Fair enough if you're not that much of a fan. Not all of us think she's legendary. We did however compromise on the idea of going to a festival this Summer.

As well as never having been to a concert, I've never been camping before, so the theory in itself throws up images of a headfirst dive into a shallow pool, but if I'm bound for a rude awakening then so be it, because on the weekend of July 18th I shall be heading to none other than Germany for the Melt! festival. The good news? A return flight costs £30! The better news? Björk will headline it, closing the marathon 72-hour event on Sunday evening.

I've already exercised my adoration for the Icelandic Goddess on more than one occasion, and I am so deliriously excited at the prospect of seeing this woman perform probably around ten songs live on stage in the surroundings of Ferropolis (which translates curiously as 'City of Steel'). Other performers also include Robyn (!), and Roisin Murphy (!!), whose 2007 album, 'Overpowered', is nothing short of incredible. Also: Kate Nash, Hot Chip, and Operator Please.

I need reining in ;-)

Addicts 2007: Rounding Up The Minors

These are the categories I haven't managed to get through, so I'm gonna rattle them off now pretty quickly, before I proceed to name my director and picture picks:-

Ensemble

Atonement

*Juno

A Mighty Heart

Hairspray

Knocked Up

Cinematography

*Atonement

I Don't Want To Sleep Alone

Lust, Caution

No Country For Old Men

There Will Be Blood

Sound

Hairspray

No Country For Old Men

*Transformers

Visual Effects

*300

Sunshine

Transformers

Hola. Eurovision is exactly 10 days, 1 hour and 50 minutes away, so it's time to look ahead to the first semi-final, which takes place next Tuesday. Unlike other award shows (as if any others count), I don't like to see all of the competitors before the big night. With Eurovision, it's fun kind of experiencing these interesting, and in some cases fucking CRAZY tunes, for the first time. Nevertheless I've decided to bring your attention to a couple of countries hoping to make it through that first semi-final.

Ireland
Dustin the Turkey - "Irelande Douze Pointe"

Yes that is a puppet turkey. What more do you expect from a contest like this? On a more serious note: I find it telling that even Ireland, one of the most culturally-ingrained, historically musical (and successfully so) nations in the World has reverted to such a tacky and obvious gimmick. Let's stick to what we're good at people.

Russia
Dima Bilan - "Believe"

This guy famously danced around in a vest in 2006 to the tune of "Never Let You Go", while papier-mached figures emerged from a piano. The set was interesting. The song was good. This one seems a little more routine (although nobody can predict the presentation of any song in this contest), and it kinda starts like "Umbrella", which is... strange.


Greece
Kalomira - "Secret Combination"

My Greek friend linked me to the three songs Greece would have to choose from to represent them at Eurovision this year. This was the one I disliked and the only one of the three she liked. We'll see if the rest of Europe agree with me or her, but in my view, its chorus is dull and repetitive, which makes it a lame pop song.

Addicts 2007: Actress in a Leading Role

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Julie Christie
Away From Her

Alzheimers is a terribly sad fate for a person, and watching the breakdown of Grant and Fiona's relationship in the touching but undeniably troubled Away From Her, is itself fairly devastating. It's interesting though that, for me, the entirety of the film's engulfing sense of loss is instigated (without ever appearing so) from the incredible Julie Christie. We are often encouraged to walk in the shoes of the weary, and annoyingly overwrought Gordon Pinsent. A man who has lost something. But Christie makes Fiona much more accessible as a victim, her mental deterioration mirroring Pinsent's physical longing, and thus her punishment seems much more ingrained and natural. She doesn't seem affected, losing none of the grace, humour, charm; yet appears so irredeemably distant. Without context. Without recognition. A rich and painful portrayal.

Marion Cotillard
La Vie En Rose

In more than one way Cotillard's performance is not of the ilk that I tend to admire. Incredibly theatrical (especially in terms of her gestures and mannerisms) one can be tempted to believe that she lacks depth, restraint, understanding of what is needed to make Piaf a genuine character. But for what Olivier Dahan's La Vie En Rose so baldly displays as a fast-paced sporadic tribute to the legendary powerhouse (not dissimilar to the pace and style of All That Jazz by the way), Marion Cotillard can read everything the film wants to achieve and more. I had difficulty separating whether it's more her triumph than Dahan's that together, her performance and the film seem so synchronised. It's a success for both, but the editing -- a major feature of the film -- has to have festered gladly on Cotillard's showy snippets of Piaf. Almost Minelli-like, she wades in and out of every scene just as La Vie En Rose meanders so adventurously and recklessly in and out of Piaf's life. Amazing.

Angelina Jolie
A Mighty Heart

As a woman chasing any trace of her kidnapped husband it isn't a feat that Jolie has us on Marianne's side. When we think of grieving widows, or housewives waiting, hoping, for their husbands to come home from war, it's easy to expect and see the desperate wreck. But we don't often see them as an active force in proceedings, and that might be why Jolie is so surprisingly effective as the core of A Mighty Heart. She is by no means better than the film, but without a shadow of a doubt understands every bit of the episode, carrying off her role with the passion of a heroine. And when I say 'heroine', I don't mean someone who's content to put a brave face on things, but someone keen to understand as much of the political situation as she can in order to bring her fella home. She wants it more than we do, and it shows. Jolie has so much impact as a personality than she ever has as a figure of pity; despite pregnancy, false hope, loss, the raw power she evokes is that of our superwoman beaten. Beaten admirably, but heartbreakingly beaten nonetheless.



Sienna Miller
Interview

I actually have trouble acknowledging that I value Sienna Miller's dogged, neurotic performance in Interview, a film I didn't care for, above Laura Linney, Anamaria Marinca, and the tireless Ellen Page. But this is the girl I wanted here most, and in all honesty, it's because I saw more of myself in her than I did the others. Judging and interpreting films is ultimately an altogether personal experience, and consequently Miller, whose Katya is restricted despite her power and independence; naive, shallow, but capable of duping even the most psychologically-apt of counterparts, feels more close-to-home and complex than the others. Outwardly confident and superior, inwardly self-conscious and needy, she teases, provokes, and ends up feeling like the real throwaway victim of a piece that doesn't know enough about what it wants to say, but crafts two characters that has enough to keep you entertained for the vast majority of its modest running time. Sienna can hack it with the best of them.

Tang Wei
Lust, Caution

Like Lust, Caution itself Tang Wei's role is a concealing contradiction. Complete with all the makings of the schoolgirl who has an affair with a high-school professor, she is a foxy female that veers far from the standard path through adolescence, and her double-role in this luscious sex-fest skates the boundary between girl and woman extremely finely. A wannabe-rebel and seductive spy she undergoes a transformation but retains that naive, ingestant childishness that feeds her need to mean something to someone. To matter. And when imposed upon by everybody Wei is able to let the resillience and individuality of Mai Tai Tai shine through. Her performance is assured, magnetic, mature, and often reminded me of Greer Garson, whose modesty was surely unrivalled, but given a run for its money by Wei, who like Garson, never really gives any indication that she knows how beautiful, clever, and charismatic she is, although there's an inkling that amidst it all the girl probably does.

Winner: Tang Wei, Lust Caution
Runner Up: Julie Christie, Away From Her

Sad To Exclude: The aforementioned ladies: Anamaria Marinca, Ellen Page, and the excellent Laura Linney, who I'd say is probably 6th, as she has a much weaker written character than the others.

Hottest Track: Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma

Addicts 2007: Actress in a Supporting Role

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Cate Blanchett
I'm Not There

Blanchett's gender-swapping role is indeed heavily gimmicky in nature, but I found her performance much more ingrained and valuable than a theatrical delve into masculinity. Dylan’s showy physical shtick (his ticks and false bravado) are part of his iconography, and it’s Blanchett’s job to be this impenetrable figure. Of the entire ensemble she is the name BOB DYLAN; the media play-thing, the token rebel, the asshole, and so her role can’t really be pigeon-holed as anything, and neither can she. The success of I’m Not There, and Blanchett herself, is solidified in that her creation doesn't come across as gender-specific, and I’m sure that the Bob Dylan of old wouldn’t acknowledge Blanchett’s version as either male or female (if indeed acknowledge it at all). That’s entirely the point of her performance, and she hammers it home admirably.

Juliet Ellis
It's A Free World...

The reluctant sidekick to Wareing's opportunisitic businesswoman, Rose acts as Angie's moral conscience. Although the two women are essentially a team Ellis knows when to allow Wareing the floor and how much of it to allow. Conservative by nature but a politically passive exponent of Loach's liberal politics, she tackles the flames of Wareing's fiery leading woman, yet shies away from being the superior disapproving friend too often. Ellis gives Rose the self-assurance and social awareness that marks her as a less volatile and desperate creature to her friend, and as a contrast, it helps to make It's a Free World... seem a more careful and ruminative piece than it otherwise might have become.

Jennifer Garner
Juno

We've already judged Garner two minutes into her performance. A suburban housewife who sees a baby as the must-have accessory for any bourgeois middle-class couple. But that's because it's what we want to see, and on a repeat viewing it's clear that she doesn't see the role of Vanessa in this way at all, really understanding her purpose in Juno's life. Perhaps guilty of being an obsessive, cautious pessimist Garner's Vanessa is uptight and nowhere close to being likeable. She has all of the environmental factors of a materialist but little of the character, and none of the nature. Backward in coming forward she quickly becomes one of the few non-judgemental characters in the film, and grows into someone worth your sympathy and attention. A performance that stays with you when all is said and done.

Eva Mendes
We Own The Night

Most films are keen to integrate their 'wronged woman' in a way of getting at their precious leading man, and his moral arc. Mendes has more than one opportunity to play her character this way, and, though she can vent her wrath with the best of them, never shies away from her own fragmented mess. In some ways she is blessed, because the film seems keen to give her some individuality, but amidst an airstrike of family politics and exhilarating detective chase she still embeds herself in your mind as the true dilemna of the film. The outsider looking into a world she knows little about.

Taken from my Supporting Actress Blogathon post

Tilda Swinton
Michael Clayton

It's to her incredible credit that Tilda Swinton's Karen Crowther veers so far from villainry 101, even in Michael Clayton's more routine moments. Villains are scarcely afforded a breakdown scene in a bathroom. After all, moments of inhibited weakness and vulnerability (excluding hangups about physical appearance) do not fit the 'cold bitch' stereotype. But Swinton re-fashions a hard-faced, ruthless businesswoman into someone bound by a system, acting on their capable but decidedly worn and unsteady feet. It's fascinating character work, and a rich injection into Michael Clayton's smart, slick, but cruisingly familiar setup. If only because she isn't the false, catty corporate representative that one has come to expect. It's a wonder then that her performance won her an Oscar -- the best performance in at least a decade to do so.

Winner: Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Runner Up: Jennifer Garner - Juno

Sad to Exclude: Natalie Portman, who shines as a gambling addict in Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights. Saoirse Ronan's oscar-nominated turn in Atonement is mature, measured and hella effective. Vanessa Ferlito is the best of the Death Proof girls, and well worth the price of admission alone.

Hottest Track: The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name

Butterfly On A Wheel (2007)

Directed by Mike Barker

Starring: Gerard Butler, Maria Bello, Pierce Brosnan

Grade: C -

Instead of the usual review I've chosen to show you an e-mail I sent to my friend about it. It's probably not gonna make any sense unless you've actually seen it though.

**Contains Spoilers**

Well...

After much wrestling with my BT hub (not physically - at least not yet!) I've managed to get online and write you this e-mail about 'Butterfly on a Wheel', a film that I didn't really care for - just thought I'd let you know that before I say what I didn't like about it. I'm totally in film review mode. Sorry! Lol.

Firstly, it surprised me how quickly the tone of the film changed. They hardly waited ten minutes to get the kidnap thing underway. I've been deliberating whether I liked this, but I think more intelligent films might have to tried to hint at the affair a bit more before it introduced that element. And if it did I didn't really notice. I'm not sure it's a good idea to make such a compact, energetic thriller that has a finale so dependent on the nature of the characters, and I don't like films that can't be bothered to develop its characters and then expect us to be shocked at their actions at the end.

I actually saw the whole thing coming, which is disappointing. When it became personal and not about the money there weren't really many ways the plot could have gone. It's much more engaging than I think it ever has a rite to be really, because a lot of it feels very tailored, which makes it uneven, and I've seen this kind of film done much, much better. Phone--> Empty box --> envelope --> red dress (and on that point, I'm sick of middle-class men in thrillers constantly being threatened with the murder and rape of their wife and daughter? It's so old.). And the worst of all. When he goes to the police and she's already been there. I mean, please! It seems to cover all of the "bases" but if we're going to make baseball analogies it's more a game of rounders in the park than a World Series Final. Old news.

Maria Bello, who by the way is lovely, was kinda meh. I think she just wasn't all that bothered about the film. It needed a performance like Jamie Lee Curtis' in True Lies to make it feel more raw and powerful. It felt too tame for me. Gerard Butler was slightly better... boy would I like to run into him in a dark alley! Actually, it'd be more fun if he ran into me ;-) Pierce is routine and boring - a perfect representative of the film actually (ooh, I'm catty!).

I've gotta say something about the end...

I really was SHOUTING at the screen "Don't kill that woman!". She was so much prettier than Maria Bello and surely better in bed. It would have been a shame. But yeah, when they got home I wanted to turn it off cause I knew they were gonna do that whole twist thing.

It's not a terrible film. I just think it's a bad attempt at a familiar picture, with very little incisiveness or appeal.

An Apology

Just a quick note to say that university and men are consuming most of my time at the moment, which is why I've kind of been neglecting the blog lately. I'm hoping to finish my Addict awards off shortly and get on with 2008's year in film...

Addicts 2007: Best Actor in a Leading Role

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Daniel Day-Lewis
There Will Be Blood

Enough has been said about Day-Lewis as the dark, ruthless Plainview. He is indeed the frightening, towering everything that people say. When I watched There Will Be Blood it shook me because you just don't see films as volatile, uneven and downright gutsy, and I can't imagine what a strange situation it must have been to be involved in the making of it. Most of the film flows through DDL's character but for me this film does not belong to him, and neither does it belong to director Paul Thomas Anderson, or original novelist Upton Sinclair. The entire film feels untamed and so, really, Day-Lewis' job stretches far beyond that of portraying a literary figure. His Jekyll and Hyde job (the self-evaluative nature if not the compassion of Jekyll) ensures that the random shifts between scheming, meditative oil-man and uncontrollable eccentric monster feel as terrifyingly huge as an 80's power ballad, and a loose and organic allusion to human nature.



Benicio Del Toro
Things We Lost In The Fire

I started to write a review for Things We Lost In The Fire the day after I saw it, but later realised I was only really writing about Benicio Del Toro. The refreshing thing about his performance as a struggling heroin addict is that he doesn't seem to want or need your sympathy. He's visibly troubled but in a way that serves as an acknowledgement of addiction and its power over him. Del Toro gets the balance perfect, sustaining Jerry's potential as a productive long-term presence in the Burke family, juggling the sadness of his best friend's death and the guilt and depression of his recovering drug habit in a way that escapes false theatricality. He's the perfect choice for a character that's perhaps painted a little too cleanly by the film at times -- ironic, I know -- it's that modest effortless charm that makes him 'special' in a way you know he'd never want to be. The biggest weapon in his armery those come-to-bed eyes, which can make me a lovesick teenager and a ponderous wannabe-reformist all at once.

Emile Hirsch
Into The Wild

In many ways Hirsch reminds me of Leonardo Di Caprio's Jack in Titanic; young, fresh-faced, plucky, bold, content to be lost in a world so much bigger than his adventurous aspirations. Perhaps this is why it's easier to accept both their mortal punishments, but Hirsch doesn't have the luxury of a romance (at least an overt one) or a sinking ship to chronicle his development as a character. He is able to imbue so much thought about identity and purpose with his comfortable, reflective temperament, his placid tone a reminder that McCandless was someone eager to shrug off judgement and labels, and even ideology itself. On the face of it it may seem as if this boy was crazy, but things are only 'crazy' if you don't understand them. Hirsch may not have to run the gamut of emotions in every scene, but at the end of it all I felt like I understood him, and for a guy that was roaming the desolate West alone for almost all of his adult life -- that's an achievement.



Shia LaBoeuf
Disturbia

His troubled, misunderstood badboy demeanor forming the basis for Disturbia's continual sense of injustice, Shia's Kale is a 'have-a-go' hero of the most convincing stature, driving our interest through his.

Taken from review

LaBoeuf is undoubtedly the babyface badboy of a commercially-driven, and fascinatingly self-aware project, but while the film takes a lot from Rear Window, it puts a lot more pressure on its star. He has to inhabit the film's ideas about a rebellious, misunderstood generation, while exercising his dynamic hero status to the max. While Stewart's interfering neighbourhood watch was much tamer, LaBoeuf's Kale pushes things too far on more than one occasion and yet Shia emerges as a rash victim more than an unruly teenager. The true 'performer' in this excellent bunch of men, his character, a teenage hero in an action thriller, calls for more flair than Deerfield, Sunborne, Plainview or McCandless, and his boundless energy sells every bit of Disturbia, and makes for a manic and entertaining time. Slick, smart and sexy.

Tommy Lee Jones
In The Valley Of Elah

Paul Haggis' film is one that requires Tommy Lee Jones' Hank Deerfield to become an amateur sleuth in the quest to find the murderer of his son. Elah doesn't achieve any of what it wants to say (which is itself frustratingly vague) through overt, crass symbolism, and so its up to Tommy to hammer some of it home through the grief-stricken ex-Colonel. Jones' work, which somehow manages to come across as poignant, is laden with layers, and transforms a predictable character into someone worth studying. It's all in what he doesn't say; the methodical nature of the military man at the forefront of his character Deerfield is an intent and driven animal for most of Elah, but only to mask his engulfing grief. Jones can express his loss without having to be emotionally open, exposed without knowing it, or wanting to know it. And when called upon to deliver the cracks in Hank's emotional blockade (the main purpose of which is often to further the investigative elements of the story anyway) he does so with such guilt and self-loathing that you feel as if you've done well to obtain anything from this man. A man that gives so little away.

Winner: Shia LaBoeuf - Disturbia

Runner Up: Benicio Del Toro - Things We Lost In The Fire

Sad To Exclude: James McAvoy in Atonement, who has several heartbreaking moments but overall perhaps has less to do than the five men here. Chris Cooper, for a strange but nevertheless enthralling turn in Breach. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, whose performance in The Game Plan is flat-out hilarious. Josh Brolin, Johnny Depp, Glen Hansard, I salute you.

Hottest Track: Soulja Boy - Ya

Yah, I'm serious. I laugh every time.

Remembrance Sunday Remembers...

The 1973 F.A. Cup Winning Squad Of Sunderland A.F.C

Or more specifically Jimmy Montgomery, for this wonder save, which in my heavily biased view I regard as the greatest ever.

Addicts 2007: Costume Design & Make Up

Costume Design

Atonement

Jacqueline Durran

From aristocratic Summer splendor to rigid, grim wartime attire, there is such tailored goodness to be had here. None more so than that green dress, which will surely go down in cinematic history as possibly the most gorgeous part of a very gorgeous film.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Alexandra Byrne

This will be The Golden Age's only positive nomination from me, which kind of sums up how the elements of the film seem to work so independently from each other. It is indeed a mess but the costumes -- bold, wacky, intricate, fun --help to pass the laborious running time.



La Vie En Rose

Marit Allen

Considering the presence and power of Cotillard's Piaf Allen crafts some curiously striking designs. Their ironic touch is that they often appear to be derived from uniform, and yet are used to showcase a figure that was anything but.

Lust, Caution
Lai Pan

Even the drabness in Lee's film is flaunted before us as an unattainable casual beauty, the fun art-deco creations that mark the showier moments lushly romanticised but schematic in their exposure, much like the host of deceptive characters that strut the Shanghai street.

Sweeney Todd
Colleen Atwood

Like Byrne, Atwood's creations have that off-the-wall element of fun behind them, the beach outfits Sweeney and Lovett wear an inspired re-work of old British seaside culture, and, as a fashion parade of identity crises so-to-speak, tremendously funny to behold.

Winner: Atonement

Runner Up: Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Sad To Exclude: The Assassination of Jesse James has such well-crafted costumes. The Golden Compass is one of those other fun picks. Kidman gets to wear some great (though I suspect uncomfortable) creations. And Juno gets it completely right, with quirky designs that don't draw too much attention to themselves.

Make Up

Bug

It's fair to say that things in Bug descend at least a tad too quickly but the descent itself is outlined heavily, and successfully, by the make up. The film is brave for leaving itself and its characters open to such intense close-up scrutiny, and so it's important to note that neither the gaunt declination of the characters, or the gore that comes with it, come across as risible distractions.




La Vie En Rose

It's very gimmicky, and I don't consider it a better make up job than other transformations such as Theron's in Monster (mainly because I value Cotillard's performance much more), but it is staggering at times how this girl is so authentic as a woman up to forty years her senior.

Planet Terror

This isn't just for the on-going bloodfest, or even an ode to Rose MacGowan's fantastic machine-gun leg. In fact, it's more for the general design of Planet Terror, and Cherry's meticulous facial cosmetics, which see her objectified like a model in a motorcycle magazine, and typify the movie as an oozing pocket of sex and danger.

Winner: Planet Terror

Sad To Exclude: Black Snake Moan is kind of like Bug, but more subtle and without the gore. Sweeney Todd's pale face and deep, mean, sleep-deprived eyes are more than effective. The ageless beauty of Michelle Pfeiffer is countered wickedly well in Stardust.

Hottest Track: Yelle - A cause des garçons (Remix)