The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 7 - Most Heroic Hero

And here we have the second award of the night, for the Best Hero, or as I've labelled it, Most Heroic Hero. I couldn't very well give you a villain and then no-one to fight for truth, justice and the American way. No, no, the winner isn't Superman. *slaps forehead and shakes head*

The award for Most Heroic Hero goes to Chris Evans for his portrayal of 

Steve Rogers, aka Captain America: The First Avenger

It was only when I was writing about why I picked the end scene of Captain America: The First Avenger to win my award for 'Most Heartbreaking End To A Film EVER' that I realised Steve Rogers would also win the award for Most Heroic Hero. He's just so infinitely good. Through and through. All he wants out of life is to fight for his country and get the girl. He's smart, sensible, romantic, brave, and if that wasn't enough he's got more courage in his little finger than most guys have in their whole bodies. All that and no actual superpowers. He's just been beefed up by Dr Erskine's super duper serum. Which only builds on what's already within someone, in his words "bad becomes worse and good becomes great." Which means good old Steve was already good and now he's a super fit great man. There are plenty of super hero characters who sure have been heroic this year but I don't think any of them stand up to Steve.

In honour of Steve's win I have included a short video which shows clips from the film to the backing of the Star Spangled Man - which in my opinion should have won (or at least been nominated) for an Oscar for Best Original Song. If ever you want to listen to something uplifting and inspiring just put that on your ipod. I guarantee it will make you smile if nothing else.

Special Thanks to MindFreak76 for making such a good video!

Runners Up:

Thor - Thor: Buff and funny but also a bit too spoiled to be winner of this award

Charlie Brewster - Fright Night: Similar kind of 'average Joe' hero but not good to the core like Steve

Who would you like to have defending your corner again the evil villainy of the world?

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 7 - Most Villainous Villain

Tonight's double bill of awards sort of go hand in hand. You can't really have one without the other. Like two sides to the same coin. Kinda like members of the same family, who are very different. With that expert link out of the way I would like to wish my sister Tracey a very happy 39th Birthday. And reveal the first of tonight's two awards, Best Villain or Most Villainous Villain as I have named this one...

The award goes to Bryce Dallas Howard for her portrayal of 

Hilly Holbrook in The Help.

When I saw The Help last year it instantly became one of my favourite films of the year. I'm pretty sure I told everyone I know to see it and to this day it makes me well up to think of how emotional it made me. In my review I described it as 'a film which ultimately proves that humanity can be gracious and kind. But without the schmaltz.' But there is one thing about The Help that was neither gracious or kind. And that was the character of Hilly Holbrook. Played to perfection by Bryce Dallas Howard. Never before has a character so nasty, so vindictive, so purely evil deserved such a delicious comeuppance as Hilly Holbrook did. I challenge anyone not to cheer when she finally gets what's coming to her. As I couldn't really find any clips that show just how twisted and condescending and back-stabbing Hilly is, I have instead included a brief profile of her character. And again implore anyone who hasn't seen The Help to get it on DVD when it's released on 12th March 2012. 

Runners Up:

Christoph Waltz ~ August in Water For Elephants

Sentinel Prime in Transformers Dark Of The Moon

Which character gets your vote for Most Villainous Villain?

The Descendants

*OSCAR SPECIAL*

NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE 

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thedescendants/

I wasn't overly bowled over by the trailer for The Descendants, and as I'm not a huge George Clooney fan I wasn't 100% sure if I'd see it. It was only when one of my friends suggested a movie one cold Sunday afternoon, and when we discovered The Descendants was one of the only films we hadn't already seen, that we decided to give it a go.

The Descendants is about the King family, and how the head of the family, Matt (Clooney), copes when his wife Elizabeth falls into a coma following a boating accident. Matt has to find out how to be a father to his two daughters having never really actively parented them before. He also discovers that his wife was unfaithful to him and so must also cope with this shock without being able to discuss this with his wife. In the midst of all this he has to consider a lucrative offer to sell his ancestors land, an offer his extended family would like him to accept but which Matt would rather not consider.

I can't help but think that The Descendants is an odd film to be in the Best Film category at this years Oscars. Elizabeth's accident in the film is never shown, only the after effects of her lying comatose in the hospital. And even then you don't really feel too sorry for her because she was cheating on her husband. So it's not overly sentimental or a sob story like say, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It's not groundbreaking like Hugo or eye-opening like The Help. It's not gimmicky like The Artist and doesn't have a talented animal star like War Horse and is not directed by Woody Allen. So it's hard to see what it was about this rather ordinary (and a little depressing) film that stood out to the members of the academy?

One thing I will say is that the acting, especially from Shailene Woodley as the older daughter is top notch. But that's really the only thing that stood out for me about The Descendants. I doubt I'd want to watch it again, I wouldn't particularly feel the need to recommend it to my friends and I definitely wouldn't buy it. I just didn't especially connect with the story emotionally to care about any of the characters.

A good acting showcase, especially for the younger cast, but that's about it. 6 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 5th February 2012

UK Release Date - 27th January 2012

Cast Overview:

George Clooney ~ Matt King

Shailene Woodley ~ Alexandra King

Amara Miller ~ Scottie King

Nick Krause ~ Sid

Patricia Hastie ~ Elizabeth King

Beau Bridges ~ Cousin Hugh

Robert Forster ~ Scott Thorson

Matthew Lillard ~ Brian Speer

Judy Greer ~ Julie Speer

Director ~ Alexander Payne

Writer(s) ~ Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash - Screenplay 

and Kaui Hart Hemmings - Novel

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 6 - Most Heartbreaking End To A Film EVER

And now to our final award of the night, this is a Lady K Academy exclusive. I guarantee you won't find this award at any other red carpet event (that I know of).

I have no doubt that the uniqueness of this award is being met with intense excitement across the globe, so to put you all out of your anguish I shall announce the winner of this prestigious award is...

Captain America: The First Avenger

Those who haven't seen the comic book story of scrawny Steve Rogers and how he becomes Captain America might think this an odd film to give this kind of seriously heartbreaking award to, so allow me to elaborate. Note spoilers are abound!

All scrawny Steve wants out of life is to join the army and be a hero. But his size, stature and various health problems mean he is turned down at every enlistment he goes to. Eventually Dr Erskine takes pity on Steve and allows him to take part in an experiment he is conducting with a serum he has created. The serum will make Steve taller, stronger, faster, fitter and in almost every way a better human being. The one thing he can't improve on though is just how good Steve is, right to his core. This is one of my favourite lines in the movie when Erskine tells Steve why the serum didn't work on the Nazi's when they took it to improve themselves - "The serum amplifies everything that is inside. So, good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man, who has known power all his life, will lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength. And knows compassion."

Eventually the new and physically improved Steve gets to kiss the girl and even plans a date with her before the ship he's piloting crash lands on the ice and he is frozen for 70 years. He wakes up in the present day and the first thing on his mind is that he's missed his date. Saddest. Moment. EVER.

I couldn't find the clip in question without the end credits attached because it's literally the last line in the film, but here it is for you to see, with the fan adjusted credits and all:

Runners Up: *contains spoilers*

Thor - similarly sad, can't ever get back to the girl type ending but with a glimmer of hope

Drive - girl is gone, money is left behind (WTF?) and he's probably going to bleed out and crash his car into a ditch, it's not exactly happy!

Was there a sadder end to a film last year? I don't think so but feel free to leave your thoughts below as ever...

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 6 - Best Kiss

So tonight is a three headed beast of an award night. And this is the second award of the night. Best Kiss.

Up until tonight I had a clear winner in my head for this award, but as I was typing it up I had a sudden feeling that there was a better kiss out there and then I realised what film that best kiss was in.

The award for Best Kiss goes to Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan for the elevator kiss in Drive.

Now unlike the award for Best Fight, Best Kiss had a LOT of contenders. As I mentioned above, until I was actually typing this one up, I already had a very different winner in mind. I was going to go with the kiss in Thor. It was full of passion and semi tragic as he was leaving, intending to return but of course neither of them knew at the time that this wouldn't be possible. And it was a great kiss.

But then lots of films had great kisses this year, Thor aside, fellow Avenger Captain America also had a great, semi tragic kiss. In both of those films the kiss was eagerly anticipated and in my opinion lived up to expectation. Source Code had that wonderful frozen in time kiss, Breaking Dawn had the wedding kiss, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 had one of the most long awaited kisses, and in truth would have won this award (even over Thor) if it hadn't been for the awful direction in that scene that meant you didn't really see the kiss. Drive however, well Drive had a scene which kind of encompassed all of the elements that made the above kisses so great. It was anticipated, seemed to slow time down until all there was in the elevator was the two of them, it was romantic as he was protecting her from a very bad man, it had great music and was just one of those kisses that you wish would happen to you some time. But maybe without the horrendous murder that follows?

Here for those who haven't seen it, is just the kiss (I made sure it cut before the murder - this isn't that kind of blog! ;0). Enjoy.

Runners Up:

See above.

What screen kiss made you weak at the knees this year? The box below is where you get your say...

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 6 - Best Fight

You might have thought that award season was over but as the recent Grammy's and Brit awards have proved, we're still very much in the midst of all the crying and speeches!

Tonight's triple bill of awards was supposed to be posted on Valentines Day as they are themed to coincide with that day, Best Fight, Best Kiss and Most Heartbreaking End To A Film EVER. But with one thing and another I didn't get around to posting them so I'm posting them tonight instead, in honor of my friend Jen's birthday today. Birthdays are often emotional occasions and can be the cause of fights and heartbreak but mostly kisses. I hope Jen will have more of the latter. Happy Birthday!

Without further delay I present the Best Fight award to... Fright Night

I have struggled to decide winners of quite a few of my award categories owing to the great examples available in those categories. Best Fight however really wasn't one of them. While the big blockbusters of summer all had impressive fights in them, Thor, Captain America, X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, Transformers etc etc I didn't really feel that any of those films were worthy of the award for Best Fight. In some the fight scenes were too short (Transformers), in others there were too many to narrow it down (Thor) and others just seemed pointless (X-Men/Green Lantern). But Fright Night just nailed it for me. 

Take one friendly neighbourhood vampire, Jerry: 

Add in a splash of terrorising the neighbours:

Mix the wimpy neighbour with the cool vampire hunter played by none other than David 'Dr Who' Tennant:

Throw in a cross bow, stakes, stake shooting guns and some fire and et voila, you have the ingredients for a well planned out horror movie ending.

The scene in question is not available (to my knowledge - I did spend hours scouring You Tube) so you have to make do with the trailer but believe me when I say that it's a worthy winner.

Runners Up:

See above.

What would you have classed as last years best fight scene? Answers on a postcard please. Or you could just put it in the box below...

J. Edgar

Mini Review

http://jedgarmovie.warnerbros.com

J. Edgar is the story of the life of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The film is set at the start of his career with the FBI and focuses largely on his triumphs in the US justice system. The film also shines the spotlight on his personal life which until now has been overshadowed by the well known story of his success as one of America's most famous law enforcers. 

Let me start by saying that J. Edgar is not in any way the film I thought it was going to be. For your reference I have included the trailer to the film below. Watch it, then tell me if you get any inkling from this that the film is going to be a Brokeback Mountain for the US justice system. No? Me neither! Now don't get me wrong as I love Brokeback as much as the next person, actually I probably love it more due to my love of Jakey, but the trailer does not imply that this is the type of film you are going to see. So a bit of a hint might have been nice.

Having said all that I actually found that this was my favourite thing about the film. The more political and overly judicious elements were a tad boring so being able to see this other side to Hoover was nice. And it definitely made him seem more human. But all of the scenes depicting Hoover's relationship with Clyde Tolson, his protege and the man he makes assistant director of the FBI, are, as Wikipedia puts it "an examination of his private life as an alleged closeted (and chaste) homosexual." So in other words, they're a part of this 'true' story that might not be true. But the filmmakers have included them anyway just to spice things up.

In some ways it's worked as the story would be dull as dishwater without these scenes, but in other ways I do feel a bit deceived. Partly by the trailer and partly by the declaration that this is 'based on a true story'. That gripe aside I did think that it was a good showcase of the talent involved and was a surprising film for someone like Clint Eastwood to make. The only real let down was the awful prosthetic make up which literally made the actors look like they were wearing fat suits and dodgy rubber masks. Make up can be better than this people, see the below award if you don't believe me.

A definite must see for those with an interest in recent American history (although it might not be all that historically accurate), gay love stories or fans of the people involved. 7 out of 10.

NB - for fans of Gossip Girl you might be interested to see Chuck Bass himself - Ed Westwick - as Hoover's first biographer.

Viewing Date - 25th January 2012

UK Release Date - 20th January 2012

Cast Overview: 

Leonardo DiCaprio ~ J. Edgar Hoover

Armie Hammer ~ Clyde Tolson

Naomi Watts ~ Helen Gandy

Josh Lucas ~ Charles Lindbergh

Judi Dench ~ Anna Marie Hoover (Hoover's mother)

Jeffrey Donovan ~ Robert F Kennedy

Ed Westwick ~ Agent Smith - Hoover's biographer

Lea Thompson ~ Lela Rogers

Dermot Mulroney ~ Colonel Schwarzkopf

Director ~ Clint Eastwood

Writer ~ Dustin Lance Black

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 5 - Best Costume

As promised tonight is a double award-er. And the second award of the night is for Best Costume. I thought about this long and hard as I did see quite a lot of films with traditional costume last year, The King's Speech, The Eagle, Your Highness, Red Riding Hood, Pirates of the Caribbean, Water For Elephants, Cowboys and Aliens, Captain America, Super 8, Jane Eyre, The Three Musketeers, The Help, The Awakening, Hugo, Sherlock Holmes... and I did see a few films with quite futuristic costume, In Time, Real Steel and Green Lantern.


However, being a film fan I can completely grasp how important everyday clothes are in the more regular, present day set films too. I understand that they often help the actor to 'find' the character. But even taking all that into consideration, I couldn't think of a more worthy winner of this award.


Without further adieu I present the award for Best Costume to... Thor.

A film which had to combine several of the above elements in one film, it had the semi futuristic/semi traditional costumes of the Asgaardians as well as the everyday costumes of the human inhabitants.

Below are some examples of the great work accomplished by the wardrobe department on Thor...

And finally for the ladies, a shot of Thor in a scene where he seems to have forgotten his costume...

That was gratuitous. I apologise. But lots of fun. :0)

Runners Up:

Water For Elephants

Captain America

I hope you've enjoyed the special BAFTA edition of my awards. Now I hand over to you and ask what your choices would have been for Best Make Up and Best Costume?

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 5 - Best Make Up

In honor of the fact that I am half writing my blog and half watching the BAFTA's right now I am going to present two awards tonight. Pow Pow.


The first award is for Best Make Up and goes to... Black Swan.

The only thing I truly believe Black Swan did very well was the make up effects. The on-stage make up started out subtle and then turned quite terrifying, the scenes with the skin peeling and cracked toenail are disturbing in their believability and effective in freaking out the audience. 

Below are some shots from the movie to prove my point. If you're at all squeamish don't scroll down...

                          

Runners Up:

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

X-Men: First Class

The Artist

*OSCAR SPECIAL*

NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE 

http://weinsteinco.com/sites/the-artist/

My loyal readers will know that I recently wrote a blog about the Oscar nominations and that I have been giving out some of my own awards over the last few weeks. The mention of the Oscar nominations on my facebook page, and one comment in particular that followed, asking if I had seen The Artist yet, caused a frenzy amongst my friends and the post gained 29 comments.

At the time I didn't want to venture into a great debate about the film as I intended to write a review for it. However, with friends almost coming to blows, some in defense of the film, some quite against it, it was hard for me to stand aside and watch all of this unfold on my wall.

But as promised, finally, here is the review...

From the word 'go', The Artist was not a film I was particularly interested in seeing. I am not a fan of Black and White film, not because I think old films are less interesting or entertaining or have any less to say than modern film. I just find them quite boring. I find they don't hold my attention as well as films now-a-days. Whether it's because audiences now have a shorter attention span and editors are wise to that and mix things up faster, I don't know? I'm just telling it the way I see it. But like a lot of people I was intrigued by the notion of this novel idea, a silent film for modern cinema-goers, and knew I would have to see it for myself.

The Artist tells the story of successful silent film actor George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) and rising star Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo). The former finds his career starts to fade with the introduction of 'talkies' - motion pictures with sound and dialogue - while the latter sees her roles getting bigger and bigger. As George finds himself unable to adapt to this new genre of film he clings desperately to the silent film industry he knows and loves, as it loses audiences and money. As a last ditch attempt to save his career, and his pride, George bankrolls his own film which has to stand up against stiff competition from Peppy's latest blockbuster at the box office.

Those who saw or were involved in the facebook comments will already know what I thought of The Artist, as I pretty much said everything I was going to save for the review. But for those who didn't see the comments I will sum up.

Overall I did enjoy The Artist. Yes I did feel that it was a little on the long side and I did get bored a couple of times but I did like it for what it was. A novelty. I wouldn't want to see every film made in this way but of course that was not the point. For re-introducing silent film to mainstream cinema would not have gained The Artist all of the press and awards it has received. What has done that is the novelty factor.

But the novelty was not my biggest problem with the film. My problem with it came down to the fact that the producers didn't exactly choose the most fascinating or uplifting story in which to showcase this gimmick. Ultimately I felt like the story was quite weak and more importantly could have been set at any point in the past, present or future. 


Not just in the way of this being an average love story. If anything I felt the connection between George and Peppy was the only thing that kept me interested. What I'm talking about is the general story itself being very average and ultimately meaning that it could have been set at any time and place. Sure this was a film about actors and the folding of the silent film industry. But if this hadn't specifically been a story about actors it would not have needed to be a silent film. On my facebook wall I used the recent decline of Kodak as my point of reference. They were once the pioneers of photography but they couldn't keep up with technology and now they're folding. It happens all the time across all industries. So if this wasn't a film about actors it wouldn't have had to centralise on the decline of silent films and therefore wouldn't have felt the need to use that genre as a gimmick. But then it wouldn't have all the buzz surrounding it either.

So while I admit that I did enjoy the film, it didn't leave a lasting impression of the enjoyment, instead the enjoyment I got from the novelty soon wore off and left a sour taste. The effects of which you can see for yourself above. Needless to say I won't be buying it on DVD and I would not go out of my way to see it again as it's a film of little value once you've seen the gimmick in all it's black and white glory. 

It will probably win a shed load of awards but really only deserves a handful of them. 5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 22nd January 2012

UK Release Date - 30th December 2011

Cast Overview:

Jean Dujardin ~ George Valentin

Berenice Bejo ~ Peppy Miller

John Goodman ~ Al Zimmer

James Cromwell ~ Clifton

Penelope Ann Miller ~ Doris

Missi Pyle ~ Constance

Beth Grant ~ Peppy's Maid

Director/Writer (scenario and dialogue) ~ Michel Hazanavicius

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 4 - Best Classic Film Experience

Tonight we have the forth award of the Lady K Academy. As it is my cinema buddy's birthday today I have allowed him the honor of choosing the prestigious award that is to be given out on this date.


So tonight's award is for Best Classic Film Experience. Allow me to explain; Last year I saw seven classic 80s films at the cinema. Not re-releases like The Lion King 3D but one-off screenings of movies that I'd never before seen on a big screen. So I decided to create a special award for the best experience I had watching these 80s classics. Not just for the film but for the whole cinematic experience.

The winner of Best Classic Film Experience is...

Aliens

A rare experience indeed as I saw this in my local independent cinema, which on previous visits had failed to impress me. But it was an amazing film with a fantastic audience and despite equally wonderful experiences at my favourite independent cinema in London, this experience just topped the others. And as I saw this with my cinema buddy it makes it all the more appropriate that this should be the award given out on his birthday. 

My review at the time also picked up on the overall experience of the screening: "The showing of Aliens was sold out and the atmosphere was electric. Fans cheered at the start of the grainy original reel of the film. Favourite lines (mostly by Hudson "No way man!") were met with an auditorium of laughter and those less familiar with the film jumped at all the scary moments. I could not have asked for a better way to experience one of my all time favourite horrors."

Runners Up:
The Princess Bride
Labyrinth

Did you manage to see a classic film at the cinema last year? Or is there one you'd have liked to have seen? Tell me about it below...

Haywire

Mini Review

http://haywiremovie.com/

An ex-marine turned freelance agent, Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is sent to rescue a hostage in Barcelona. On her next mission, without warning, she is double crossed and has to put her training to good use. She soon finds herself having to fight for her life, and the truth, against the very people she thought she could trust.

Does that sound like a vague storyline? That's probably because it is. In a film this jam packed with stars you would expect aspects of the film to be understandable, like having an idea of the agency that Mallory works for, or at the very least for there to be a big reveal at the end as to why what happens to Mallory happens. But no. Instead we have a lot of famous faces, a lot of quite cool fight scenes and some intriguing espionage that is never fully explained.

As with The Darkest Hour, I had already had my expectations for Haywire suitably dashed and as such I was expecting it to be quite dire. So naturally I didn't find it that bad. Just annoyingly ill explained and average in every other way. In my opinion, the lead should have been a known name, that way you might have been able to root for her a little more, and the rest of the cast (with the odd exception) could have been unknowns. The other way around just felt a bit pointless.

Wait for the DVD but even then you won't be THAT impressed. 6 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 21st January 2012

UK Release Date - 18th January 2012

Cast Overview:

Gina Carano ~ Mallory Kane

Michael Angarano ~ Scott

Channing Tatum ~ Aaron

Michael Douglas ~ Coblenz

Antonio Banderas ~ Rodrigo

Ewan McGregor ~ Kenneth

Michael Fassbender ~ Paul

Bill Paxton ~ Mr Kane

Director ~ Steven Soderbergh

Writer ~ Lem Dobbs

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 3 - Effectual Effects

The third award of the Lady K Academy is for Effectual Effects. Which is effectively (haha see what I did there?) a 'best special effects' award.

An award that recognises when a film has used the spectrum of special effects for optimum impact. The best effect has to be when you don't really realise that you're looking at something computer generated. And I think the winner of this award achieved that brilliantly.

So without further ado, the award for Effectual Effects goes to the team who did magnificent work on 'Thor'.

I almost didn't create an award for effects but then I thought about how impressed I had been with the planets created in Thor, the castle, the Bifröst bridge, the Destroyer, Chris Hemsworth's chest and arms and abs... oh no wait, they were real! ;0P

But seriously, I thought all of the effects in Thor were stunning in their own way. Check out some of the below images if you don't believe me.

My review of 'Thor' had this to say:

"The other thing that really impressed me were the sets and effects used to create the worlds of Asgard and Jotunheim. Both planets looked so real and so different from each other (and different from the New Mexico setting on Earth) that you forgot you were watching a set or a green screen. I particularly loved the Bifröst bridge and the way it was lit. Really stunning."

Runners Up:

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
X-Men: First Class

Do you agree? Who do you think achieved the most in this field in 2011...?