Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards Winners 2018

The Critics’s Circle Theatre Awards 2018 announced winners in London yesterday with stars including Bryan Cranston, Andrew Scott and Victoria Hamilton among those collection top honours. The full list of winners in included below along with winners interview and photocall videos.

Most promising newcomer

Sheila Atim for Girl from the North Country
Old Vic and Noel Coward Theatre, London

John McCrea for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Sheffield Crucible and Apollo Theatre, London

Best Shakespearean performance

Andrew Scott for Hamlet
Almeida and Harold Pinter Theatre, London

Most promising playwright

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for An Octoroon at Orange Tree Theatre 
and Gloria at Hampstead Theatre, London

Best musical

Hamilton
Victoria Palace Theatre, London

Best designer

Vicki Mortimer for Follies
National Theatre, London

Best director

Dominic Cooke for Follies
National Theatre, London

Best actress

Victoria Hamilton for Albion
Almeida Theatre, London

Best actor

Bryan Cranston for Network
National Theatre, London

Best new play

The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth
Royal Court and Gielgud Theatre, London

Special award

David Lan for services to theatre

Downsizing Review

The Plot

An amazing new technology allows people to shrink themselves to just 5 inches tall, diminishing their environmental impact while allowing them to live lives of extravagant luxury in miniature cities. A couple concerned by their own bleak economic outlook considers making the big move and Downsizing…

The Good

Downsizing is a film which combines thought provoking and intelligent themes with well executed special effects and an entirely convincing cast. The result is an entertaining and entirely original experience for audiences.

The central questions that Downsizing explores are truly universal concerns about the environment, global economy and the ultimate future of humanity. These daunting and potentially depressing themes are however thankfully wrapped up within a series of uplifting personal journeys and the entertaining concept of miniaturization.

Matt Damon is a much adored leading man and continues to transition skilfully from his former boyish charms and action heroics into more mature roles. His character in this film acts as a wonderful vehicle for audiences to discover the world of Downsizing. In particular, his kind hearted good nature and relentless optimism are a welcome contrast to the more cynical portrait of mankind which the film often presents.

Alongside Matt Damon a host of familiar faces like Christoph Waltz, Udo Kier, Jason Sudeikis  and Kristen Wiig help populate the newly tiny world. However the film’s secret weapon is a star making turn from actress Hong Chau.

Playing an outspoken political refuge Chau is a consistent scene stealing revelation. Her performance is absolutely the heart of the movie, providing the film’s biggest laughs and most sincerely poignant moments. Pairing Chau’s joyously blunt Vietnamese prison survivor with Damon’s brow beaten and increasingly bemused American suburbanite, frequently yields excellent odd couple chemistry.  This unlikely coupling helps carry the film in many unlikely but rewarding directions.

One of the things that also enables Downsizing to tell a sincerely emotional and thoughtful story is the convincing special effects on show. Fine acting performances would not be capable of carrying audiences into the world of Downsizing if it didn’t look and feel so tangibly real. The film strikes a clever balance of making the reality of Downsizing equally wondrous and mundane.

The Bad

Director Alexander Payne has a specific style of melancholy storytelling. While some give him considerable credit for striking a consistently wistful balance between tragedy and bittersweet joy, others no doubt find the emotional tone of his films a little less readily satisfying. Downsizing takes a number of unexpected twists and those emotional and intellectual tangents force audiences to confront real life problems in a way they might not necessarily always welcome.

Likewise audiences lured into the film by the promise of dazzling special effects will be less happy about the fact that though the film showcases well executed and clearly expensive visual effect work, the film isn’t ever trying to be just ‘an effects’ film.  The goal of the film is always to make the effects less noticeable, not merely to showcase them in the most crowd-pleasing ways possible. People might go to Jurassic Park films just to see CGI dinosaurs, but you probably shouldn’t go to see Downsizing just to see tiny people.

The Ugly Truth  

Downsizing is an intelligent and well-made piece of cinema that holds audience’s attention thanks to brilliant work from a well-chosen cast, polished special effects and thought provoking subject matter.

Review by Russell Nelson

 

National Television Awards 2018 Winners

The National Television Awards 2018 took place at the O2 arena in London last night and saw most of the familiar faces on UK TV gather to celebrate and collect awards. Broadchurch, Doctor Foster and presenting duo Ant & Dec were among the night’s big winners. Full list of winners for all categories below

Challenge Show

Love Island

MasterChef

The Great British Bake Off

WINNER: I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

 

Crime Drama

Line Of Duty

Little Boy Blue

Sherlock

WINNER: Broadchurch

 

Talent Show

Britain’s Got Talent

The Voice UK

The X Factor

WINNER: Strictly Come Dancing 

 

Drama

Call The Midwife

Casualty

Game Of Thrones

Liar

WINNER: Doctor Foster

 

TV Presenter

Bradley Walsh

Holly Willoughby

Phillip Schofield

WINNER: Ant & Dec 

 

Factual Entertainment

Ambulance

Diana, Our Mother: Her Life And Legacy

Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs

WINNER: Gogglebox

 

Drama Performance

David Tennant, Broadchurch

Jenna Coleman, Victoria

Sheridan Smith, The Moorside

Tom Hardy, Taboo

WINNER: Suranne Jones, Doctor Foster

 

The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award

All Round To Mrs Brown’s

Celebrity Juice

The Graham Norton Show

WINNER: Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway

 

Serial Drama

Coronation Street

EastEnders

Hollyoaks

WINNER: Emmerdale

 

Serial Drama Performance

Barbara Knox, Coronation Street

Danny Miller, Emmerdale

Lacey Turner, EastEnders

WINNER: Lucy Fallon, Coronation Street

 

Comedy

Benidorm

Still Open All Hours

The Big Bang Theory

WINNER: Peter Kay’s Car Share

 

Newcomer

Nathan Morris, Hollyoaks

Ned Porteous, Emmerdale

Rob Mallard, Coronation Street

WINNER: Danny Walters, EastEnders

 

Daytime

Loose Women

The Chase

The Jeremy Kyle Show

WINNER: This Morning

 

TV Judge

Paul Hollywood, The Great British Bake Off

Simon Cowell, Britain’s Got Talent / The X Factor

will.i.am, The Voice UK / The Voice Kids

WINNER: David Walliams, Britain’s Got Talent

Oscar Nominations 2018

The nominations for the 90th Academy Awards have been announced in Los Angeles with The Shape Of Water leading the way with 13 nominations. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, I, Tonya, Phantom Thread, Dunkirk, Lady Bird and Get Out also all featured prominently across all categories.

Milestones this year also included Greta Gerwig becoming just the 5th female nominee for best director and Mudbound cinematographer Rachel Morrison making history as the first ever female nominees in the best cinematography category.

Though some categories have clear front runners based on the pattern of other recent awards, many including best picture remain open races in a highly competitive year. many are predicting honours could be well spread across the night rather than seeing a typical sweep for a single film.

For now the nominees list in full below:

Best picture

• Call Me By Your Name
• Darkest Hour
• Dunkirk
• Get Out
• Lady Bird
• Phantom Thread
• The Post
• The Shape of Water
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

 

Best actress

• Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water
• Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Margot Robbie – I, Tonya
• Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird
• Meryl Streep – The Post

 

Best actor

• Timothee Chalamet – Call Me By Your Name
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
• Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out
• Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour
• Denzel Washington – Roman J Israel, Esq

 

Best supporting actress

• Mary J Blige – Mudbound
• Allison Janney – I, Tonya
• Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread
• Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird
• Octavia Spencer – The Shape of Water

Best supporting actor

• Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project
• Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Richard Jenkins – The Shape of Water
• Christopher Plummer – All the Money in the World
• Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best director

• Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan
• Get Out – Jordan Peele
• Lady Bird – Greta Gerwig
• Phantom Thread – Paul Thomas Anderson
• The Shape of Water – Guillermo Del Toro

Best adapted screenplay

• Call Me By Your Name – screenplay by James Ivory
• The Disaster Artist – screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H Weber
• Logan – screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; story by James Mangold
• Molly’s Game – written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin
• Mudbound – screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

Best original screenplay

• The Big Sick – written by Emily V Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
• Get Out – written by Jordan Peele
• Lady Bird – written by Greta Gerwig
• The Shape of Water – screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; story by Guillermo del Toro
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – written by Martin McDonagh

Best foreign language film

• A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
• The Insult (Lebanon)
• Loveless (Russia)
• On Body and Soul (Hungary)
• The Square (Sweden)

Best original song

• Mighty River – Mudbound (Mary J Blige, Raphael Saadiq & Taura Stinson)
• The Mystery of Love – Call Me By Your Name (Sufjan Stevens)
• Remember Me – Coco (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)
• Stand Up for Something – Marshall (Common & Diane Warren)
• This Is Me – The Greatest Showman (Benji Pasek & Justin Paul)

Best original score

• Dunkirk – Hans Zimmer
• Phantom Thread – Jonny Greenwood
• The Shape of Water – Alexandre Desplat
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi – John Williams
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Carter Burwell

Best animated feature

• The Boss Baby
• The Breadwinner
• Coco
• Ferdinand
• Loving Vincent

Best documentary feature

• Abacus
• Faces Places
• Icarus
• Last Men in Aleppo
• Strong Island

Best cinematography

• Blade Runner 2049 – Roger Deakins
• Darkest Hour – Bruno Delbonnel
• Dunkirk – Hoyte van Hoytema
• Mudbound – Rachel Morrison
• The Shape of Water – Dan Laustsen

Best costume design

• Beauty and the Beast – Jacqueline Durran
• Darkest Hour – Jacqueline Durran
• Phantom Thread – Mark Bridges
• The Shape of Water – Luis Sequeira
• Victoria and Abdul – Consolata Boyle

Best make-up and hairstyling

• Darkest Hour – Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski & Lucy Sibbick
• Victoria and Abdul – Daniel Phillips & Lou Sheppard
• Wonder – Arjen Tuiten

Best production design

• Beauty and the Beast – production design by Sarah Greenwood; set decoration by Katie Spencer
• Blade Runner 2049 – production design by Dennis Gassner; set decoration by Alessandra Querzola
• Darkest Hour – production design by Sarah Greenwood; set decoration by Katie Spencer
• Dunkirk – production design by Nathan Crowley; set decoration by Gary Fettis
• The Shape of Water – production design by Paul Denham Austerberry; set decoration by Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin

Best visual effects

• Blade Runner 2049 – John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert & Richard R Hoover
• Guardian of the Galaxy Vol 2 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner & Dan Sudick
• Kong: Skull Island – Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza & Mike Meinardus
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan & Chris Corbould
• War for the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon & Joel Whist

Best film editing

• Baby Driver – Paul Machliss & Jonathan Amos
• Dunkirk – Lee Smith
• I, Tonya – Tatiana S Riegel
• The Shape of Water – Sidney Wolinsky
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Jon Gregory

Best sound editing

• Baby Driver – Julian Slater
• Blade Runner 2049 – Mark Mangini and Theo Green
• Dunkirk – Richard King and Alex Gibson
• The Shape of Water – Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce

Best sound mixing

• Baby Driver – Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H Ellis
• Blade Runner 2049 – Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth
• Dunkirk – Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A Rizzo
• The Shape of Water – Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart Wilson

Best animated short

• Dear Basketball
• Garden Party
• Lou
• Negative Space
• Revolting Rhymes

Best live action short

• DeKalb Elementary
• The Eleven O’Clock
• My Nephew Emmet
• The Silent Child
• Watu Wote/All of Us

Best documentary short

• Edith + Eddie
• Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405
• Heroin(e)
• Knife Skills
• Traffic Stop

The Commuter Review

The Plot

A businessman is caught up in a criminal conspiracy during his daily commute home.

The Good

Liam Neeson adds to his ever growing catalogue of action films that have clogged his career since the surprise hit of 2008’s Taken withThe Commuter. This time however it’s his wife and son as opposed to his wife and daughter who are in danger as they’re taken hostage offscreen in an attempt to force Neeson’s aged ex-cop Michael MacCauley to do ‘one little thing’ for the mysterious Joanna (Vera Farmiga) which will result in the death of a passenger.

With a supporting cast which includes Patrick Wilson, Andy Nyman and the underused performances from Sam Neill and Jonathan Banks, The Commuter certainly has enough star power to reel you in. Most surprising of all is Florence Pugh who is completely unrecognisable from her previous role in Lady MacBeth, so much so that this writer didin’t even notice her, which is the highest of compliments.

The story is easy enough to follow and plays out at times like a backwards modernised Murder On the Orient Express (though without any gorgeous moustaches) and no matter how ludicrous it gets the entertainment value is just the same as director Jaume Collet-Serra’s previous work (The Shallows) and works as a worthy addition to the now trilogy of collaborations with Neeson after 2011’s Unknown and 2014’s Non-Stop.

The Bad

Having already taken on the Harrison Ford trope of ‘where’s my wife and son!’ it’s a shame to see that Neeson doesn’t utter the phrase ‘get off my train’ at any point. Furthermore it’s a shame he doesn’t kick a train in the face which is what this writer was looking forward to. Suffice to say if you go into this looking for anything serious you’ll be deeply disappointed and may miss the action packed fun that The Commuter provides. If the homage to Spartacus doesn’t have you giggling away then you clearly aren’t the audience that the producers are trying to hook in.

The Ugly Truth

At its very essence, The Commuter is perfect Saturday night multiplex fodder that, if you’re close your logic can very easily become a highlight of the years cinema trips. It’s not necessarily Schindler’s List nor is it at the very top of Neeson’s recent action collection. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be a damn good 105 minutes to spend.