Paradise?

The Descendants, starring George Clooney, had many plaudits and was generally well received by everyone who saw it. Personally I thought it was good, but not ground-breaking.

The story is about a man living in Hawaii who has to build upon his relationship with his kids after his wife is left in a coma after a speedboat accident. Sounds cheery doesn’t it? Well it’s not as grim as it sounds; in fact it’s pretty uplifting and heart-warming in parts.

Matt (Clooney) starts off the movie barely knowing his own daughters, 10-year old Scotty and upper-teenage tearaway Alex; I don’t know why they have unisex names, they just do. As the movie goes on the trio end up bonding in strange ways from taking revenge on an estate agent who’s slept with Matt’s wife to long car journeys with Alex’s friend Sid – who is a complete idiot.

L'Artiste, Oscar champion.

It seems the biggest movie of the year is The Artist. Overall it won five Oscars which is no small feat for a foreign film. I didn’t think it would win Best Picture if I’m honest as the Americans very rarely give Academy Awards to movies that are remotely foreign. 

The Artist is foreign in two ways, first it is from France with many French cast and crew, secondly it’s completely against what’s normal in modern cinema. For a start it’s a silent movie which is pretty irregular in the age of soddingly loud THX promos.

The Truly Gritty Performances of Hailee Steinfeld and co.

True Grit had a disappointing evening at the Academy Awards the other night. Though it was nominated in ten categories it failed to win in any of them. It didn’t fair too well at the BAFTAs either, receiving plenty of nominations but only winning one, for cinematography. I suppose that shows the standard of films nominated this year, when such a great film like True Grit was disregarded so coldly.

I saw True Grit not too long ago and I feel that it’s another great film by the Coen brothers. Set at the end of the 19th century and with all the prejudices that go along with that era, the movie is about a young girl called Mattie whose father is killed by the criminal Tom Chaney. Chaney escapes the law’s grasp and heads into the wilderness as a fugitive, and the law isn’t too enthusiastic about going after him.

More speeches from The King's Speech.

Well the Oscars are done, dusted and polished for another year and it was certainly one to remember for the British contingent. Unfortunately for us Brits though, many couldn’t watch it as it happened because it was on Sky Movies. So we had to make do with the highlights a day later on the newly named Sky Living. Not sure what this channel is about yet; it’s replaced Living, or Dead as I call it, after Sky purchased the group sometime last year.

When the BAFTAs were shown on the BBC, there was an hour delay for some unknown reason, which was problematic as it could be ruined somehow by winners getting revealed to you before Auntie Beeb showed you. This problem was solved simply by a mobile phone, Facebook and Twitter blackout. The Oscars wouldn’t be as simple.

The King's Speech's many speeches.

I enjoyed watching the BAFTAs on Sunday night, I’m a sucker for these movie awards. Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Oscars, I just love watching them. Usually just to see who wins, but they are strangely entertaining. Movies are pretty much the only genre of awards ceremonies that are good to watch though. I mean, the BRITS were on last night apparently, anybody give a Lego brick about it?

Speechless.

I finally got around to seeing The King’s Speech, you know that apparently brilliant piece of cinema everyone’s talking about? Well I can confidently report back to you that it is indeed brilliant! I was quite happy about that, as after all the hype that surrounds movies these days, I usually expect to be disappointed somewhat by them.

But that’s certainly not the case with this one. This historical drama really is as enjoyable a watch as it is an interesting one. I really like these kind of movies; true stories that are linked in with history, and I enjoyed this one a lot.

The not so Ugly Duckling.

Now, I went to see Black Swan the other day and I’m finding it harder than usual to give this one a score. It’s one of the better tough decisions to have to make however. It’s not like I’m trying to decide to give it one star or two!

Black Swan is what you’d probably call a dramatic thriller. It’s creepy, intoxicating, sexy, powerful and at times breathtaking. It has its jumpy moments, its touching moments and its just plain creepy moments.