Ayesha Dharker on Queen Jamillia.

TV The Guardian has an interview with Ayesha Dharker, who was Solana Mercurio, the morally ambiguous PA in Planet of the Ood and one of the few actors who has appeared in both Doctor Who and Star Wars:

"Dharker was visually memorable as Queen Jamillia despite having only five lines. But she has said that the costume – layered black-and-gold capes topped off with a fan of gold blades like petals on a flower – did most of the acting. Could she call it a performance? “I didn’t have enough to do to answer that question.” Still, she got to meet George Lucas, even if she never saw the proposed doll of her character. “I don’t think they made one. I know the girl characters don’t sell as well as the boy ones. I feel sorry for any child who got given one of me – this small, Indian penguin.”"

No they did not. But there was this gaming card.

Bank Computer.

Film Having begun to watch my way through the Harry Potter films (I'm only halfway through Chamber for various reasons), I just had to watch the above Buzzfeed video which I won't spoil but is endlessly amusing not least because Hermione is clearly the most powerful wizard yet Potter's the most famous. I spent the entire duration trying to work out where I'd heard the voice over before. Sounds a bit like Roger Allam, but a glance towards the credits underneath indicates it's Kevan Brighting. Kevan Brighting the IMDb informs us played the Bank Computer in Doctor Who's Time Heist. Uncredited. You can't turn it off.

Actually Love This Honest Trailer.

Film Yes indeed. Covers most of the main issues I have with the film without the film studies jargon, the Hunest Traylor of Love Actually is near perfect and educational. See if you can spot the moment when I screamed, "Oh my God! Is that her? Oh my God" whilst quietly seething because having had to watch the thing so many times when writing my dissertation, I didn't notice. Not as many times as the makers of this Honest Trailer presumably, poor humans. Spoiler in this post's labels.

Catherine Tate on Surgical Spirit.

TV Catherine Tate gave a webchat to The Guardian today and was nice enough to answer my question:



And here she is!



Utterly superb.

Dillon Casey on Torchwood's Miracle Day.

TV Dillon Casey played Brad, Captain Jack's one night stand, in Dead of Night, episode three of Miracle Day:

"When Dillon Casey landed his first role in the BBC science fiction series Torchwood, he had no idea what he was getting into. Mostly because he hadn’t read the script.

“They kept asking me if I would be OK being intimate with another guy,” said Casey.

That other guy turned out to be star John Barrowman.

But Casey knew what he had to do.

“I had to out-gay John Barrowman,” Casey said of his gay co-star, whose Torchwood character is bisexual. “I was biting his earlobes. . . . I went for it.”

The rest of the interview is here.

The Liverpool Shakespeare Festival 2012 begins soon

Plug!  The Liverpool Shakespeare Festival 2012 begins soon with productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream ...

"Hermia loves Lysander loves Helena loves Demetrius loves Hermia.

A night of magic and music in Liverpool clubland as four friends try to escape the wedding plans that their parents have put in place. Fairies and dreams light up the night as love tries to find its way. But the course of true love never does run smooth and there is mischief to be had."

And the Scottish Play:

"Gang warfare rages on the streets of Liverpool. General Macbeth is elevated to Thane of Cawdor, the right hand man of Duncan, the gang’s undisputed Kingpin. A loyal soldier, Macbeth is set to be leader one day if he bides his time. He can be Kingpin sooner if he listens to his Lady, screws his courage to the sticking place and takes matters into his own hands."

Both featuring the same cast with includes Michael Ryan (Across the Universe / Hollyoaks) and Zoe Lister (Hollyoaks / Doctor Who) and both at the Royal Court Theatre between 21st September and 13th October.  Full details available here.

Shakespeare’s Globe’s touring production of Henry V as it appeared at the Liverpool Playhouse last night

Theatre Since I don’t want to spoil the experience through the kind of over-analysis that usually smears itself across this 480 pixel width column (or whatever it will be when I redesign the template in the future) here are just five things about the Shakespeare’s Globe’s touring production of Henry V as it appeared at the Liverpool Playhouse last night.

(1)  Globe Theatre on Tour

Liverpool’s privileged to be given the opportunity to see this production before its summer season in the Globe, especially since this is the first of these touring exhibitions to pitch up here. Rather than offer a more conventional staging, designer Jonathan Fensum and the Globe’s artistic director Dominic Dromgoole have attempted as best they can to recreate the unique open air experience of seeing a Globe production within a proscenium arch theatre. They’ve achieved this by recreating, simplified, a section of the Globe’s stage as the set and keeping the house lights up in auditorium for the duration  so that the production becomes more of a communal experience rather than something which is simply being presented to us.

(2)  The Audience

But for much of the show, normal rules applied. At the real Globe the actors often have to fight against the mass of people and the usual environmental noises of the Southbank, interacting with them to keep the interest up just as would have happened in Shakespeare’s day. As in London, part of the action happens within the stalls, the characters running in an out of the audience, playing music. Yet for much of the show unless they were reacting to story or performances, the audience was so quiet and attentive I could actually hear the man sitting next to me breathing. Believe me, this isn’t a complaint. After my rubbish audience experiences (which to some extent included the Globe itself) being able to concentrate on the actors without a couple of rudesters having a chat nearby was an utter pleasure.

(3)  The Prices

The other way the conventional theatre won out is in the ticket prices. The Globe replicates the economies of scale of the 1600s, the Groundlings in the yard, closest to the action paying a fiver, the prices increasing with the comfort of the seating. At the Playhouse, the best seats in the stalls were £17 on a weekday. I paid £15. The cheap seats in the gods were a tenner. Again, this isn’t a complaint. I got my money’s worth.  Sitting in a relatively comfy seats is certainly preferable to standing on concrete for three hours. But I wonder if the company had considered playing a concert venue like the old Royal Court in Liverpool, without seating in the stalls, so that more people could stand at the edge of the stage, justifying a more Jacobean pricing structure.

(4)  The Jig

The audience didn’t seem to know what to do with the jig at the end. At the actual Globe, it’s a moment of gleeful release in which the audience claps in time to this sudden burst of action from the cast, in which the temporary (if artificial) community we’ve developed across the three hours passage of the production offers a final farewell. At the Playhouse, as the jig began the audience just viewed it as part of the production, an esoteric addition. I was desperate to clap along as I even do when watching past productions on blu-ray (yes, indeed), but the group mentality got to me, so I simply tapped along with my foot. But there were smiles, we all seemed to enjoy it as did the actors, so perhaps that’s enough.

(5)  Who’s in it from Doctor Who?

You'll no doubt be as pleased as I am to discover that my unbroken run of seeing plays at the theatre with actors who’ve been in Doctor Who is still unbroken. To the Tardis Index File, go:

Brid Brennan (Chorus / Queen Isabel)



Was the Visionary in DW: The End of Time.


Sam Cox (Pistol)



Was Detective Inspector Bishop in DW: The Idiot's Lantern.

At Big Finish:

James Lailey (Earl of Westmoreland / Captain Macmorris) was Minister Pryce in Excelis Rising and The Stone's Lament.

 Jamie Parker (King Henry V) was Wulfric in Big Finish's Leviathan and Major Richter in BFA: The Architects of History.

 Roger Watkins (Constable of France / Governor of Harfleur) was Garstang in the Gracless spin-off series.

Competition: Demons Never Die on dvd: The Answers

Competition The Demons Never Die competition's over and the winners have been notified.

The question was:

Who's in it from Doctor Who?

The possible answers:

Reggie Yates

... was Martha Jones's brother Leo.

Sheila Reid

... was Etta in Vengeance on Varos.

Watching all of Woody Allen's films in order: You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (2010)

Then You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger was released in UK cinemas eventually, but left them fast enough that I didn’t have a chance to go. Inevitably, Warner Bros decided to release it just to dvd, but after the Vicky Cristina Barcelona debarkle when I rushed to buy it in the lesser format before a cheaper BD came out six months later and the Whatever Works mess I decided to wait. And wait. And wait. But with Midnight In Paris garlanding a few nominations and awards here and there and for the purposes of this project having to watch Stranger first, I buckled and bought the dvd from ebay last week. I watched it late last night after spending the evening waiting for The 10 O’clock Show only to realise it was the wrong night.  As ever the following is more of a spoilery analysis than a review.

Now The film opens paraphrasing Shakespeare. Badly. The narrator (Zak Orth who was Adam in Vicky Cristina Barcelona says: "Shakespeare said life was full of sound and fury and in the end signified nothing." It’s an odd way to begin, especially since if it was Woody’s thematic mission statement, it’s one of the few things he succeeded in. For all the good performances and excellent photography (by Vilmos Zsigmond returning from Cassandra’s Dream and Melinda and Melinda), the only time I laughed was after spotting one of the numerous odd cameos and although it’s not by any measure his worst film, it’s disappointing that my low expectations were so conclusively met.

Marinating overnight on why that is, the only conclusion I can draw is that it’s a drama script that’s generally been shot and performed like a comedy. While there’s a Chaucerian tone to Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) swapping his long standing wife for a prostitute, that ultimately spins out into darker territory. The bitter dissolution of Sally (Naomi Watts) and Roy's (Josh Brolin) marriage isn’t leavened by the former’s indecision over a suitor or the latter’s existential angst and taking advantage of his friend’s misfortune. Helena's (Gemma Jones) search for love and being taking advantage of by a clairvoyant who everyone knows is a fraud is simply upsetting.  Until it become irritatingly repetitive.

But as I’m writing this, I'm considering if my initial reaction to the film has been skewed by the marketing and publicity. Certainly the trailer suggests this is one of his light comedies, replete as it is with jokoids and the design of the uk poster and quote on the dvd box “… very funny, my favourite Woody Allen in years” (albeit from that august organ the Sunday Express). Yet, the more I turn these ninety minutes over in my memory, the more I realise that the most effective scenes are of straight out drama and I conjecture if I’d watched the film with that attitude, the one which takes a deep breath before revisiting Interiors, my reaction might have been different.

There’s some great dramatic weight to Sally’s story, helped by Watt's fearless performance, with its subtext of fading beauty. The scene in the car after Sally’s date with Greg, her boss  (Antonio Banderas) in which he drunkenly complements her before a romantic moment agonisingly recedes. Her sullen reaction on hearing that artist Iris (Anna Friel with a bizarre "oirish" accent) is enjoying an affair with the same man. When her mother convinces her to try to rekindle those feelings with Greg as she leaves her job as his assistant to set up her own gallery, only to discover that she’s making a fool of herself in the face of his lack of interest. Finally, her painful, pleading desperation when the loan her mother promised won’t be forthcoming.

Perhaps if, like Another Woman, Woody had made this the definitive dramatic nucleus of the film, it might not have become quite as directionless as it is otherwise. That could also be said of author Roy’s decision to steal his friend’s manuscript, a big enough idea for a whole hour and a half but barely given enough room to develop amid his romancing of musician Dia (Frida Pinto) in which he generally comes across as sadly rather creepy in what’s presumably meant to be Allen’s avatar. Similarly, it’s impossible to watch Roy’s stupid old man routine without wondering what that business might have been like stretched to film length – then remembering we’ve already somewhat seen that in Mighty Aphrodite.

Both of these stories are an iteration of a familiar theme – the older man and the beautiful younger woman and though Woody grants Dia some intelligence in an attempt to make that coupling more equal, Lucy Punch’s Charmaine is a cartoon character and unlike Mira Sorvino’s Linda Ash not granted much shade or back story to underpin her utter dislocation from the reality of this film's world. Like Tim Roth in Everyone Says I Love You, or all of the characters in Small Time Crooks, it’s Woody once again trying to spin comedy from the working classes with none of the affection or sympathy of his Take The Money and Run days. The moment when we’re supposed to laugh at Sally and Roy’s reaction to Punch at the concert is deeply problematic for that reason.

Just an aside, it's almost impossible to imagine what Nicole Kidman would have done with the role, assuming it was as is before she walked to make Rabbit Hole.  You could infer she decided to look elsewhere because Woody went in a direction she wasn't expecting, but given some of the comedies she has fulfilled her contractual obligation to like The Stepford Wives, The Invasion and Just Go With It (for goodness sake) that's not entirely certain.  It has been rumoured (not that I can find a citation) that the film was actually substantially rewritten after Kidman left, which would explain a lot.  We can only wonder what the character was like before.

The conclusion of that story is awful. Alfie’s discovery of his wife In flagrante delicto is haphazardly shot, his roughing up horrible rather than funny. The following scene in which Charmaine reveals her pregnancy even dips over into light misogyny when the script has her suggest rape as the reason for her behaviour and Alfie won’t take her word for it that he’s the father, throwing phrases like DNA test around like a researcher on The Jeremy Kyle Show and after all but threatening her, regarding her with the expression Hopkins used to employ when his Lector was sizing up a good meal. Then the storyline is parked, along with Sally and Roy individual stories left totally unresolved (another of the film’s failures).

Helena's story too is a wild contrast to Woody's previous utilisations of the occult.  Pauline Collins's clairvoyant reminds us of Julie Kavner's similar role in Oedipus Wrecks, but this is very much a secular approach in which the strongly held beliefs which Sally has essentially helped to foster in her mother as a coping mechanism after her divorce from Roy are treated as bunk and more than that are the cause of the daughter ultimate financial downfall.  They do bring Helena happiness, but at the expense of her daughters, unlike in a piece like Alice in which mysticism eventually lead the titular character to some kind of peaceful ending.

With all of that said, let’s do some project related housekeeping. This is Woody’s first multi-protagonist mass ensemble film since Everyone Says I Love You. After his sojourns to Spain and New York, he’s back to the fantasy London of Cassandra’s Dream, Match Point and especially Scoop with which it shares an interest in the lesser known parts of the city. Like those previous films, none of the speech patterns are quite right, an outsider’s idea of how British people might speak in this case interpreted by amongst others Watts doing a pretty good cut glass English accent, now and then with an Australian lilt. Only Brolin ever sounds comfortable, just as he should having been allowed to play Roy with his own voice.

The big casting twist is Antonio Banderas who last glanced at this fiolmic universe when he appeared in the Allenesque Miami Rhapsody. As well as Collins, there also the usual collection of local talent. Beyond the aforementioned leads, Meera Syal as Dia’s mother, Philip “Hunt” Glennister and Christian “Welles” McKay and (a returning from Match Point) Ewan “Spud” Bremnar as Roy’s poker buddies, Alex MacQueen as his publisher, Fenella Woolgar as Sally’s new business partner and Lynda Baron as a prospective date for Alfie. Also in it from Doctor Who are Natalie Walter who was Alice in Turn Left and The Shakespeare Code’s Doomfinger, Amanda Lawrence.

Having spent the best part of three hours writing these thousand words and thinking about the film again, I am tempted to give it another look and see if with fresh eyes I might agree with the other box quote, from Woman’s Own, that it’s “Woody’s best film in years”.  As with the other films in this series, revisiting them after a period often illuminates elements like how Woody employs his music.  Perhaps I'll update this entry when I have.   But not yet, not until I’ve seen Midnight In Paris with its biggest box office ever and Best Picture nominations and marketing campaign which from I hear captures the mood of the film perfectly.

He looks familiar.

TV Friday night's episode of The Culture Show featured an interview with Zach Braff on the occasion of his new play All New People, half the cast of which have been in Doctor Who. Susannah Fielding was Lilian in Victory of the Daleks and of course Eve Myles plays Gwen Cooper. In this she's sporting some excellent hipster Ariel glasses.

Later in the programme there was a piece about the free art movement with various artists placing their work on trees and railings on a chilly Southbank in London and then timing how long it takes for people to help themselves.  Cue many shots of people stopping to have a glance but ultimately walking on for an infinite number of reasons.

But wait, who's this gentleman in a warm looking overcoat.  He looks familiar.  No it can't be.

After the candid camera like fun's over, some of the non-participants are pulled aside and asked why they didn't walk off with a masterpiece.  It's that man again.

Yes, it is.  It's Rob Shearman, writer of the nuWho Dalek episode, Dalek and a myriad audio dramas including seminal classic The Chimes at Midnight.  Amazing.  In old currency, this would be like Robert Holmes turning up on Nationwide in a piece about the rise of the supermarkets on the high street.

Some of Rob's best contributions to added value sections of Who dvds have been in explaining story connections with real world events, and so typically here he is noting how coincidentally the paintings have "Take me I'm yours" pinned to them and he happened to be listening to the Squeeze track with the same name on his iPod as he was passing by.

Just to confirm it wasn't a doppleganger ...

@lolmidge Yes, that was me, randomly picked on by the film crew of The Culture Show to discuss free art! I wasn't very erudite, mind!
— Robert Shearman (@ShearmanRobert) February 12, 2012

For background, here's me reviewing his Scherzo about ten years ago.

Competition: Demons Never Die on dvd

Competition A public relations person for the film Demons Never Die has been in touch and agreed to offer some dvd copies as competition prizes.  Firstly, here's the synopsis ...

When London detectives Bates and Mason (TopBoy's Ashley Walters and Reggie Yates) are sent to investigate a series of deaths at a local high school, they soon focus on a teenage gang with a dark secret.

Led by misfit Archie (Robert Sheehan, Killing Bono, Misfits) and school psycho Kenny (Jason Maza, Rise of the Footsoldier) each member is battling their own inner demons - victims of violence, bullying, disorders and prejudice. These motives give each a reason to kill and a reason to die.

Written and directed by Arjun Rose and executively produced by Golden Globe winner Idris Elba (Luther, The Wire), Demons Never Die follows the lives of eight very different individuals, who come together to form an unlikely friendship.

Here's a picture of the dvd box ...



... and here's the question which could win you a copy ...

Who's in it from Doctor Who?

[Hint: I'll take either answer.]

... entries in an email to feelinglistless@btopenworld.com with "Demons Never Die" in the subject bar please.

Closing date Wednesday 15th February 2012.

Thanks.

the play's fundamental themes of life and death and revenge

TV Off By Heart Shakespeare is a joint operation between the RSC and the BBC attempting to inspire secondary school students with Shakespeare's language through a recital contest. "At regional heats in autumn 2011 students will take part in actor-led workshops to get an exciting experience of performing Shakespeare." The accompanying website is rich in useful content, with RSC produced guides to reading and memorising the language and interviews with actors offering hints and tips.

There is a very focused set list of speeches which in the case of Hamlet are "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt", "Now might I do it pat, now he is praying" and of course "To be, or not to be" which seem to carefully selected to reflect the play's fundamental themes of life and death and revenge and also provide the opportunity for the participating child to reflect a range of emotion.  When I took part in a similar competition at school, we were given "Once more unto the breach..." from Henry V and this sixteen year old simply didn't have the skill set.

All of the speeches are accompanied by examples and this is where things get more exciting for those of us too old to participate.  The primary source for the Hamlet clips is understandably the RSC with Tennant but perhaps since his isn't the most trad of interpretations, the producers have cleverly included some alternatives.  So we have Christopher Plummer from Hamlet at Elsinore in 1964, Lawrence Olivier from his film, Derek Jacobi from the BBC's 1980 and Alex Jennings in a really intriguing Open University production.

Arguably, however, it's outside of Hamlet that the project is at its most interesting since with the exception of Julius Caesar instead of falling back on archive material, new films have been commissioned with contemporary television actors offering their interpretations of the speeches.  Amongst others, there's Katy Brand as Titania, James Sutton (Emmerdale) playing Orsino, Lauren Socha from Misfits playing Juliet, Lenora Crichlow (Being Human) makes for rather a good Portia and Michelle Ryan offers a bit of her Helena.

They're produced with something of the spirit of complete BBC Shakespeare from the 70s and 80s, the spirit which led to John Cleese playing Mercutio; familiar casting attracting audiences that wouldn't otherwise necessarily consider Shakespeare and as in that case it is a mixed bag but always entertaining.  It's also pretty frustrating because some of them are so well realised you could almost imagine that they're clips from full productions employing the contemporary urban landscape as a backdrop [via].

[As you can probably guess this was cross posted from the Hamlet thing, but I thought it was of interest for the "Who's in it from Doctor Who" element (was Cheen in Gridlock, was Lady Christina de Souza in Planet of the Dead). But seriously BBC, what you have here is a blue print for some guerilla Shakespeare, ReTold essentially but with the original language and a feel for contemporary society, more akin to a prime time crime drama like Luthor or Michael Winterbotton's film Wonderland.]

"Praetor Shinzon, rising star?"

Film Slightly later than planned, it's that time of year again when I look at a list of films I haven't seen and guess which will win a palm-sized golden face.

Best film
Black Swan
True Grit
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

Though from critical analysis alone, that it a very strong list, no Little Miss Sunshine or whatever making up the numbers this year. I'm choosing Inception not just because I've seen it, but because like There Will Be Blood, it left me breathless and I think its influence will be long term.

Best director
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
David Fincher – The Social Network
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan – Inception
Danny Boyle – 127 Hours

See above. The achievement of Inception was to create an entertainment that appealed to the general audience and cineastes with the latter not feeling as though they were slumming it in the same way they might have done with The Matrix.

Best actor
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit

About time isn't it?

Best actress
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right
Noomi Rapace – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit

Because she's amazing and Natalie's already going to win more awards that can fit on the shelf in her toilet.  I also have a feeling she's disqualified from being nominated at the Oscars because the films originally existed as a tv series / were broadcast on tv first (cf, The Last Seduction and Linda Fiorentino)

Best supporting actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
Pete Postlethwaite – The Town
Andrew Garfield – The Social Network
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech

Posthumous Postlethwaite.

Best supporting actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Barbara Hershey – Black Swan
Lesley Manville – Another Year
Miranda Richardson – Made in Dagenham

For Enchanted.  Is that allowed?

Outstanding British film
127 Hours
Another Year
Four Lions
The King’s Speech
Made in Dagenham

Even though I've seen Four Lions. Any film which is packing cinemas and selling out after two weeks in afternoon performances to a wide audience deserves an award.

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
The Arbor – Clio Bernard (director), Tracy O’Riordan (producer)
Exit Through The Gift Shop – Banksy (director), Jaimie D’Cruz (producer)
Four Lions – Chris Morris (director/writer)
Monster – Gareth Edwards (director/writer)

Just because it's so bloody entertaining and a guilty pleasure.

Best foreign language film
Biutiful – Mexico/Spain
The Secret in Their Eyes – Argentina
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Sweden
I Am Love – Italy
Of Gods and Men – France

The one catagory in which I've seen most of the films and can make an informed choice.  Bugger.  The Secret In Their Eyes is a rather touching love story masquerading as a cop drama which I'm disqualifying because it won the Oscar last year.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo goes too for all of its structural problems due to it trying not to be a tv show.  My initial instinct was to say I Am Love, but I have an odd feeling that the film wouldn't be as compelling as it is without Tilda Swinton so as you can see I've gone with Of Gods and Men, even if for just the Tchaikovsky scene which is impossible to forget.

Best animated feature film
Toy Story 3
How To Train Your Dragon
Despicable Me

Apparently.

Best original screenplay
Black Swan – Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin
The Fighter – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson
Inception – Christopher Nolan
The Kids are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech – David Seidler

See above, again.


Best adapted screenplay
127 Hours – Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel
The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt
True Grit – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

"She's a fine lookin' woman." "When the president enters the room, nobody sits." "Its big blocka cheese day." "Toby, come quick. Sam's getting his ass kicked by a girl." "I have no idea what the hell is happening right now."   Good times.

Best original score
127 Hours – AR Rahman
Alice in Wonderland – Danny Elfman
How To Train Your Dragon – John Powell
Inception – Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat

But is it original?

Cinematography
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Some of the shots from the trailer are extraordinary.  Plus I'm not sure how much of Inception contains conventional photography.

Editing
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

Layers on layers on layers.  The editing kept things lucid.

Production design
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Maintaining a specific period is extremely difficult and a work of excellent research as well as manufacture.  Or something.

Costume design
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
The King’s Speech
Made in Dagenham
True Grit

Clearly.  It's one of those occasions when costumes are a direct part of the storytelling process and not subliminal exposition.

Sound
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Clearly.  It's one of those occasions when sound is direct part of the storytelling process and not subliminal exposition.

Special Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part I
Inception
Toy Story 3

Though it's interesting that Toy Story 3 is nominated.  Isn't that just one long special effect in this instance?  

Make-up and hair
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part I
The King’s Speech
Made in Dagenham

 Clearly.  It's one of those occasions when make-up is direct part of the storytelling process and not subliminal exposition.

Short animation
The Eagleman Stag
Matter Fisher
Thursday

I never could get the hang of them.

Short film
Connect
Lin
Rite
Turning
Until The River Runs Red

Ocean Colour Scene?


Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)
Gemma Arterton
Andrew Garfield
Tom Hardy
Aaron Johnson
Emma Stone

Praetor Shinzon, rising star? Unlike previous years there doesn't seem to be a clear winner hear, no LeBuff or Twilight block vote potentiality unless I'm missing out on some massive Kick Ass cult.  I'm choosing Andrew Garfield for no other reason other than ...

Who's In It From Doctor Who?

Andrew Garfield



Was Frank in Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks

Somehow I'd forgotten that ...

58. Royston Farrell

TV Someone extracts the michael out of British names for a change in the form of BBC crew members. Inevitably, some Doctor Who writers/producers make the list:

" 59. Nicholas Hawtrey

58. Royston Farrell

57. Prentis Hancock

56. Terrance Dicks

55. Nigel Humphreys

54. Mervyn Pinfield"

The criteria isn't entirely clear -- Jemima Rooper and Celestia Fox are included but not Fenella Woolgar (or Benedict Cumberbatch for that matter), but I think we can quite happily add this to the list of things which are #worththelicensefee.

Meanwhile, the Executive Vice President and Chairman, EMEA, APAC and the Americas of Sun Microsystems is Crawford Beveridge. And he's Scottish, so it counts.

Look at the jacket.

Film The international trailer for Woody's You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is out ...



Looks like a return to the large cast multiple storyline format we haven't seen since Melinda and Melinda, though arguably it more resembles Everyone Says I Love You in its focus on families. Entertainment Weekly said:

"The film is notable, if that’s the word, for being the first movie Allen has made in London that is every bit as bad as his most awful New York comedies, like Anything Else and Melinda and Melinda."

Considering they were two of my favourite films of noughties, if that's the standard, I'm very excited and look forward to the UK release in 2014 (presumably).

Some casting notes:

Josh Brolin is playing the Woody Allen figure. Look at the jacket. The gesticulations.

Antonio Banderas previously appeared in faux-Woody classic Miami Rhapsody.

Lucy Punch is playing a character called Charmaine. Remind me to tell you about what that name means to me some time. Her role was originally filled by Nicole Kidman. Judging by the trailer the whole thing has been re-conceived.

Anthony Hopkins's dialogue has an Interiors flavour, as does that subplot. Though obviously in a comic style.

Gemma Jones is finally able to knock "Woody Allen" film off her long list of career achievements.

This was Freida Pinto's first project after Slumdog Millionare. She seems to be filling roughly the same exotica role as Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Julia Roberts in Everyone Says I Love You.

Naomi Watts is using her Eastern Promises English accent.

Ewen Bremner returns from Match Point where he played Inspector Dowd.

Rupert Frazer returns from Scoop where he played an Antique Shop Man

Anna Friel is in the "rest of cast listed alphabetically" section. But at least she too now has a Woody Allen story.

Neil Jackson played Lucas in Flashforward.

Christian McKay gave that fantastic performance as in the title role Me & Orson Welles. So in my head Welles has finally worked with Woody. Ish.

Also ...

Who's in it from Doctor Who?

Pauline Collins as Cristal Delgiorno



Played Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones and Queen Victoria in Tooth and Claw.

Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Jonathan



Was Mr.Garrett in Torchwood's Random Shoes

Meanwhile, 'Sleeper' House From 1973 Woody Allen Movie May Face Foreclosure.

Elsewhere I've reviewed a production of The School for Scandal on The Hamlet Weblog (the church is getting broader).

Just for the record ... 

Who's in it from Doctor Who?

Conrad Westmaas as Rowley

Was C'rizz in the Eighth Doctor Big Finish audios.

Watching all of Woody Allen's films in order: Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

Then Another Friday evening Leeds Metropolitan University viewing. In 1993, I think. Even then I could see that in producing a film every year Woody had developed a system of larger budget pieces with large casts and smaller chamber works, somehow managing to deal with huge themes on different scales. Spoilers ahead. Spoilers!

Now In Crimes and Misdemeanors, rather like the old sitcom Dream On, Woody employs old film clips to comment directly on the action, to show the differences and similarities between “fiction” and “reality”. His first and most interesting choice is Hitchcock’s Mr & Mrs Smith, which as we saw last year was that director’s only, not particularly successful, attempt at straight romantic comedy. Crimes is about similar genre games, devoting near equal screen time to a late Hitchcockian thriller and a romantic comedy and seeing if they can exist within the same universe.

In the Bjorkman interview Woody says that like Hannah and Her Sisters, he was being influenced by novels and mentions Tolstoy as a standard. But his experimentation goes deeper than that because he looks to see if it’s possible for the thriller to have a happy if morally ambiguous ending and the rom com to end in tragedy. Martin Landau’s happily married ophthalmologist Judah is adulterous and gets away with murder; Woody Allen’s unhappily married documentary maker Cliff thinks about adultery (a lot) and is rewarded with divorce, the suicide of his subject and a broken heart. The audience is left intellectually stimulated but not emotionally satisfied.

Something I did notice watching the film in sequence is how the relationship between Landau and Anjelica Houston’s air hostess patterns as the playing out of the Frederick/Lee coupling from Hannah, if she’d been less emotionally stable and he was more arrogant about his position in society. I don’t think Caine’s character was so ethically black that he would have even considered Judah’s “solution” but both films share the existential discussion of what a man is capable of, even if here, the internal discussion reserved for voiceover is played out against a backdrop of dream sequences and the return of the spectres of Another Woman.

Incidentally, this is the last of these three films photographed by Sven Nykvist in sequence. A few days ago, I made the rash statement that all of the cinematographers that followed Gordon Willis were to some extent following his lead. I still stand by that. Nykvist is more free with his camera work and longer scenes do take place in front of a camera which is moving about an environment more than Willis who tended to hold a shot for a period taking in a full space. More close-ups perhaps. But just as when he worked with Bergman the director’s vision had primacy, so the pallet and shapes in these three films aren’t that different. The colour pallet hasn’t shifted outrageously.

Cliff’s resulting hatchet job reminds me of the Yesterday’s Men, the satirical documentary about former PM Harold Wilson which was suppressed, though subsequently clips have been used elsewhere, one of which shows Wilson at a clifftop with a specially commissioned song by the scaffold "Yesterday's Men" playing over the top. Here's the key audio clip. People really don't like to be made fun of in what they think is going to be a serious portrayal, especially if they have no sense of humour about themselves.

Daryl Hannah plays an uncredited role as one of Alda’s conquests. Nora Ephron features in a speaking role and the film ends on voiceover with a series of clips from earlier on – was Woody homaging When Harry Met Sally back again? Crimes also has one of Woody’s best one-liners and certainly the most on the nose since Annie Hall. When his sister suggests that in marriage, “Once the sex goes, it all goes,” Cliff replies, “It’s true. The last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty.” If ever one of his jokes developed a life of its own! Often imitated, seldom bettered.

Now, and I’ve been waiting to do this, finally I can ask:

Who’s In It From Doctor Who?

Claire Bloom as Miriam Rosenthal:



Was The Woman/The Doctor's Mother/The Doctor's Daughter/Susan/The Rani/Flavia/Iris Wyldethyme/Jenny/Romana/whoever the hell she was in The End of Time

Bafta 2010 nominations.

Film The Bafta Nominations were announced a couple of days ago and as ever I've seen about two of the films on offer; as ever I offer no excuse for this other than the usual about how going t'cinema isn't what it used to be; and as ever I'm going to try and predict the winners sight unseen.

Best Film
Avatar
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Up in the Air

Avatar is receiving this year's innovation nomination and will probably win, but I think An Education may be a stalking horse -- only British film on the list and lots of good will.

Outstanding British Film
An Education
Fish Tank
In the Loop
Moon
Nowhere Boy

While Nowhere Boy had its moments, not least the near perfect rendition of the first handshake between John and Paul, as poisonous and cynical as it should have been, it didn't quite hold together for, though that could have been because it was depicting the places where I was born and brought up. In The Loop on the other hand didn't have that problem and was just about perfect. Perhaps I'll change my mind when Amazon send the copy of Moon I've just ordered.

Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Neill Blomkamp, District 9
James Cameron, Avatar
Lone Scherfig, An Education
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Probably James Cameron because in the back of the heads of the voters will be the fear that he's the new David Lean.

Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Andy Serkis, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

It'd be nice for Serkis to win an award for acting, even though his best work will never receive recognition because it's obscured by animation.

Actress
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Audrey Tautou, Coco Before Chanel

Carey Mulligan because I'm biased. This is the "Who's in it from Doctor Who?" category.

Supporting Actor
Alec Baldwin, It's Complicated
Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
Alfred Molina, An Education
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Christian McKay. His Welles is eerie.

Supporting Actress
Anne-Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious
Kristin Scott Thomas, Nowhere Boy

Presumably Mo'Nique will win this due to split voting. But my votes with Scott Thomas. Duff was spectacular as John's mother, but Kristen had to simultaneously be a dragon and also show that it's because she believes she's doing the best for her nephew. That's not easy but she carries it off with ease.

Original Screenplay
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up

It would be nice to see PiXAR win something for writing, confirming that the scripts above all others elements are what set their films apart from some other digimations (Monsters Vs Aliens).

Adapted Screenplay
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Well that's interesting. Presumably In The Loop is in there because it's the film version of The Thick Of It, which isn't the same as turning out a version of a novel, it's still an all new narrative and it was mostly new characters.

Film not in the English Language
Broken Embraces
Coco Before Chanel
Let the Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

"Clearly Let the Right One In" as Mark Kermode might say.

Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
Up

Up will win this presumably.

Cinematography
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Road

As you know I recently finished reading a book on film style in which David Bordwell spends pages describing the meticulous processes of directors and cinematographers in creating shots which combine storytelling and giving the actor room to work. I do wonder about the validity of this category when its nominating films were the shot length is less than a nanosecond. The Road on the basis that its bound to have lots of long shots.

Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
A Single Man
The Young Victoria

I've always thought that like screenplays, the costume design category should be split into two, encompassing work that is truly new designs -- fantasy and sci-fi -- and adapted fashions of the kind we see here.

Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up in the Air

Why does Up in the Air merit an editing nomination and not The Road. I'm intrigued.

Make-Up & Hair
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

I refer you to my comments on costume, although I suppose in both cases the award is also being given for the accuracy of the recreations.

Music
Avatar
Crazy Heart
Fantastic Mr Fox
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Up

Is this original music?

Production Design
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Inglourious Basterds

Avatar's going to romp through the technical categories; The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus doesn't really compare -- budget cuts led to the effects looking charmingly unfinished.

Sound
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

Just for recreating then developing the soundscape of my youth.

Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek

Obviously.

Short Animation
The Gruffalo
The Happy Duckling
Mother of Many

... because of the infectious excitement from Polly Hill, the Head of Independent Drama for BBC England, at the panel yesterday. This was her commission and she was very proud of it.

Short Film
14
I Do Air
Jade
Mixtape
Off Season

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock, David Pearson (directors/producers, Mugabe and the White African)
Eran Creevy (writer-director, Shifty)
Stuart Hazeldine (writer-director, Exam)
Duncan Jones (director, Moon)
Sam Taylor-Wood (director, Nowhere Boy)

Duncan Jones and Sam Taylor-Wood are already known for other things and that might count against them.

Orange Rising Star Award
Jesse Eisenberg
Nicholas Hoult
Carey Mulligan
Tahar Rahim
Kristen Stewart

Remember the collective audible sigh in the auditorium when Shia LaBeouf won this in 2008? Since this is a public vote and Twiglet is still huge, Kristen Stewart would seem like the equivalent this year. But it should be Carey Mulligan. Vote here, vote now.

whatever Ruth Wilson's been in

Radio Fans of Doctor Who and whatever Ruth Wilson's been in might like to know that Wilson, Russell Tovey and Harry Lloyd offered a three hander in tonight's Drama on BBC Radio 3 which was The Promise by Aleksei Arbuzov. A synopsis:

"As Russians fight off the Nazis in the savage 1942 siege of Leningrad, three teenagers are thrown together in a war-torn apartment block. Having lost everything, they forge relationships that bind them together and a new hope that keeps them alive - the promise of a better future."

Which sounds uncannily like Being Human if you age the characters slightly, put them in a house instead of a flat and replace the siege of Leningrad with vampires wanting to take over the world. So probably not at all, in fact. I've not had a chance to listen to all of the broadcast yet, but so far the performances are first rate. Should be available for a week at the iplayer. And in case you were wondering ...

Who's In It From Doctor Who?



Russell Tovey portrayed Titanic Midshipman, Alonzo Frame in Voyage of the Damned.



Harry Lloyd played Jeremy Baines in Human Nature and The Family of Blood.

Who's In It But Hasn't Been In Doctor Who (yet)?



Ruth Wilson played Young Mary in Capturing Mary and will soon be seen as 313 in The Prisoner remake.

Bye Stephen

Music I very was sorry to hear about the death of Stephen Gately. Boyzone where never on my music radar, or at least I thought they weren't until the inevitable clips appeared in news reports and I knew every word of the songs emanating from their stools. Talia offers some commentary here. Like Take That and The Spice Girls, they always seem/seemed like tremendous sports. Their first television appearance was in front of a bemused audience and Gay Burn on Ireland's The Late Late Show. Earlier this year, as part of their reunion efforts, they reappeared on the show and gamely attempted to recreate their dance routine, fifteen years on:



Rather brilliant, I'm sure you'll agree. Bye Stephen.

[Updated: I've been reminded that this is a Doctor Who related loss as well. Gately was in the Doctor Who audio The Horror of Glam Rock and sang the title song, 'Children of Tomorrow'.]