Jada Pinkett Smith & Spike Lee Boycott Oscars
Jada Pinkett Smith and Director Spike Lee have both publicly declared their intention to boycott this year’s Academy Awards ceremony over the much discussed lack of diversity in the acting nomination categories. For the second year in a row all 20 of the nominees in the best acting categories are white.
Critics have particular pointed to a failure to more widely acknowledge films like Straight Outta Compton and Creed or actors like Will Smith and Idris Elba.
In a video published on Facebook Gotham star Jade Pinkett Smith claimed that she was personally staying away because ”begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power.”
It’s likely that this will only continue to fuel the heated public debate about the perceived inequities of the awards season and the wider entertainment industry it represents.
London Critics’ Circle Film Awards Winners 2016
Large-scale spectacle and fine-tuned intimacy shared the spoils as the UK’s leading film critics unveiled the winners of their annual awards at London’s May Fair Hotel tonight. Toward the end of the star-studded black-tie ceremony, hosted by comedian Robin Ince, it was George Miller’s high-octane action extravaganza Mad Max: Fury Road that raced ahead of the competition, taking the awards for Film of the Year and Director of the Year.
Miller’s film also shared in a third trophy, as leading man Tom Hardy was named British/Irish Actor of the Year for his body of work in 2015, also including his performances in Legend, The Revenant and London Road.
Equalling Mad Max’s tally of three wins was Andrew Haigh’s tender marital drama 45 Years, which the critics named British/Irish Film of the Year. It also won the night’s top acting prizes, as veteran stars Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay were named Actress and Actor of the Year.
It was a strong night for British talent, as Kate Winslet was named Supporting Actress of the Year for her work in Steve Jobs, while Mark Rylance took the Supporting Actor honour for Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies.
Adding to its growing list of honours in the US, Asif Kapadia’s homegrown Amy Winehouse portrait Amy took the award for Documentary of the Year. Among the films it beat was The Look of Silence: Joshua Oppenheimer’s follow-up to The Act of Killing was instead named Foreign Language Film of the Year.
Other winners included Brooklyn star Saoirse Ronan, who was named British/Irish Actress of the Year, while 18-year-old Maisie Williams accepted the Young British/Irish Performer award for her challenging lead role in Carol Morley’s adolescent study The Falling. Scottish musician-turned-filmmaker John Maclean won the Philip French Award for Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker for his striking revisionist western Slow West. The critics rounded out their British-specific awards with a new category: Oscar nominee Benjamin Cleary claimed the inaugural British/Irish Short Film of the Year award for his unconventional love story Stutterer.
American filmmaker Tom McCarthy and his co-writer Josh Singer were named Screenwriters of the Year for their fact-based script for journalistic drama Spotlight; Todd Haynes’s period romance Carol took the multi-disciplinary Technical Achievement Award for Ed Lachman’s lush 16mm cinematography.
Bringing the ceremony to a rousing close, finally, was a confluence of British acting royalty, as Judi Dench took the stage to present Kenneth Branagh with the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film. Branagh accepted the award from his recent stage partner in A Winter’s Tale, after verbal and visual tributes to his storied career as an actor and filmmaker.
For the fourth year running, the May Fair Hotel hosted the proceedings, with Winslet, Hardy, Courtenay and Williams among the talent in attendance at the red-carpet event. Other key sponsors for the evening included Audi, Cameo Productions, Innerplace, Remy Martin, Sacred, Suqqu, Synchronicity, Voss and Viru.
The full list of winners for the 36th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards:
FILM OF THE YEAR: Mad Max: Fury Road
BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR: 45 Years
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR: The Look of Silence
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR: Amy
ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Tom Courtenay — 45 Years
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Charlotte Rampling — 45 Years
SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Mark Rylance — Bridge of Spies
SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Kate Winslet — Steve Jobs
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR: George Miller — Mad Max: Fury Road
SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR: Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy — Spotlight
BRITISH/IRISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Tom Hardy — Legend, London Road, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant
BRITISH/IRISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Saoirse Ronan — Brooklyn, Lost River
YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR: Maisie Williams — The Falling
PHILIP FRENCH AWARD FOR BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER: John Maclean — Slow West
BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR: Stutterer — Benjamin Cleary
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Ed Lachman, cinematography — Carol
DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM: Kenneth Branagh
The Revenant Review
The Plot:
After a brutal bear attack a severely wounded 19th Century frontiersman Hugh Glass is betrayed by his own hunting party and left for dead in the inhospitable wilderness. He battles against seemingly impossible odds to survive and relentlessly track down those responsible across the deadly wilds of North America.
The Good:
Directed with mesmerizing technical and artistic skill by Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant is utterly deserving of it’s critical praise and awards season hype. Inspired by actual events the film tells a uniquely realized tale of determined vengeance in a landscape that is equally beautiful and terrifying. Leonardo Di Caprio impressively leads a magnificent ensemble cast featuring the considerable combined talents of Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter and Tom Hardy. Together they breath visceral life into a brutal world of the endless struggle between man and nature, life and death.
Di Caprio in particular looks virtually assured to achieve his long sought Oscar win for a performance of considerable physical sacrifice and actual suffering. The actor bravely endures deadly cold, disgusting raw foods, physical pain and unrelenting torments for his portrayal of Hugh Glass. Among all of his celebrated work The Revenant marks Di Caprio’s most strikingly obvious attempt to cement his place in Academy history, with a deserving performance that showcases considerable human spirit triumphing over excruciating adversities.
Aside from its accomplished production values and gritty performances the film also deserves credit for its handling of the historical backdrop of violent tension between Native American tribes and ever expanding ‘white’ settlements. Avoiding clumsy stereotypes and oversimplifications the film does an excellent job of ensuring both sides of the conflict are depicted as equally capable of vengeful atrocities fueled by surprisingly similar justifications.
The Bad:
Squeamish audiences may find the brutal violence of this era of human history particularly hard to stomach at times. The film’s notoriously excruciating bear attack is just one memorable moment of bloody mayhem among so very many. From the film’s opening scenes the threat of truly grisly violence is never far away. No doubt uncomfortable viewing for many, the film takes dramatic credibility but little pleasure from its painfully realistic depiction of human suffering.
Though the film’s astonishing landscape of desolate snow drenched wilderness is beautifully captured on camera, the dialogue free isolation makes the film’s already lengthy running time feel somewhat more demanding. There is an undeniable bleakness to every aspect of the story which may leave audiences feeling more drained and emotionally exhausted than satisfied or in any way comforted.
The Ugly Truth:
The Revenant is a visually breathtaking tale of survival set against a savage backdrop of the violence of man and the daunting challenges of untamed nature. Leonardo Di Caprio is on astonishing Oscar worthy form yet again in a film deservedly praised for its undeniably determined vision. Equally beautiful and horrific the film grips audiences attention despite a lengthy run time and the long absence of dialogue.
Review by Russell Nelson
Cloverfield Surprise Sequel Trailer
Developed and shot in secret here is the first official trailer for Cloverfield sequel 10 Cloverfield Lane. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg and produced by J.J. Abrams the film finds Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher and John Goodman playing three inhabitants of an increasingly claustrophobic underground bunker.
From the trailer it seems clear that their seemingly comfortable subterranean existence rapidly becomes just as nightmarish as what may or may not be waiting for them on the surface. AS chronic boardgame play and jigsaw puzzles gives way to inevitable violent madness.
The film interestingly doesn’t seem to make any use of the infamous shaky handheld camcorder style of the original film. Looking more like a loosely connected spin off rater than a direct sequel of the original giant monster blockbuster.
Dragon Blade Review
The Plot:
A band of warriors charged with keeping order amongst warring nations on the volatile silk road trading route form an unlikely historic alliance with a legion of Roman soldiers to protect ancient China from a power hungry and ruthless Roman general.
The Good
Jackie Chan is the most iconic and internationally charismatic martial arts star on earth. His presence alone ensures that Dragon Blade at least boasts some credible martial arts sequences. Likewise the presence of Adrien Brody and John Cusack give the film an instant global appeal far beyond the usual reach of typical Chinese financed productions. The novelty of watching genuinely a-list Hollywood stars line up for an unlikely culture-clash gives and extra dimension to a fairly straightforward story of historical power struggles.
As an action film Dragon Blade also offers plenty of clearly expensive sequences, with large armies rushing to battle against a backdrop of vast deserts and a towering fortress. Mixing fast paced martial arts trickery with Roman epic swordplay keeps the film energetically watchable.
The Bad
Ironically for a film which is about the unlikely and successful fusion of different cultures, at times the film struggles to reconcile its Asian setting and martial arts action with also being a Gladiator style sword and sandals epic. As an example the roman soldiers sing in Latin but speak with a muddled collection of Anglo-American accents.
Likewise, though Adrien Brody and John Cusack are both fine actors who do their very best to inject some believable passion into credible dramatic performances, it’s simply difficult to ignore their unlikely casting as fierce roman warriors. Seeing Cusack so dramatically transformed from mild-mannered comedy-drama star to a sword twirling action god capable of matching the legendary martial arts might of Jackie Chan strains credibility. It’s not that Cusack is actually bad, it’s just hard to avoid the suspicion that the film’s Chinese casting agents misunderstood exactly who the 49 year old actor was. Intending to hire Jason Statham but somehow accidentally recruiting the Must Love Dogs star instead.
The film was made with a relatively vast budget of over $65 million, making it the most expensive Chinese financed production ever made. Unfortunately while at times vast sets and literal armies of extras show evidence of that lavish production value, there are also moments when the films unconvincing CGI and production design make it look like a poor imitation to Hollywood’s flawless movie magic. For example, Jackie Chan’s distractingly obvious wig and overly heavy make-up constantly detracts from otherwise impressive scenes.
Chinese audiences that already readily consumed the film at the Box Office were obviously less distracted by the miscasting or familiar western stars and occasionally sub-standard production values. Unfortunately it means for an international audience the film will likely fail to amaze and be at best vaguely satisfying rather than memorably spectacular.
The Ugly Truth
For fans of Jackie Chan and martial arts epics, Dragon Blade will be a pleasing addition to his vast catalogue, made more interesting by the addition of recognisable Hollywood stars. Overall the film remains a mostly underwhelming anomaly for other less enthusiastic audiences. Fusing the unique elements of Asian cinema with a generic Hollywood blockbuster feels more like cheap imitation than genuine innovation.
Review by Russell Nelson