Trailer Watch: The Island President

The Oscar Nominations

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse


Best Actor
Demián Bichir — A Better Life
George Clooney — The Descendants
Jean Dujardin — The Artist
Gary Oldman — Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt — Moneyball


Best Actress
Glenn Close — Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis — The Help
Rooney Mara — The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep — The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams — My Week With Marilyn


Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh — My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill — Moneyball
Nick Nolte — Warrior
Christopher Plummer — Beginners
Max von Sydow — Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close


Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo — The Artist
Jessica Chastain — The Help
Melissa McCarthy — Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer — Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer — The Help


Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius — The Artist
Alexander Payne — The Descendants
Martin Scorsese — Hugo
Woody Allen — Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick — The Tree of Life


Best Foreign Language Film
Bullhead — Belgium
Footnote — Israel
In Darkness — Poland
Monsieur Lazhar — Canada
A Separation — Iran


Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash — The Descendants
John Logan — Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon — The Ides of March
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin —Moneyball
Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan — Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy


Best Original Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius — The Artist
Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig — Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor — Margin Call
Woody Allen — Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi — A Separation


Best Animated Feature Film
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango


Best Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse


Best Cinematography
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse


Best Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse


Best Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse


Best Original Score
The Adventures of Tintin — John Williams
The Artist — Ludovic Bource
Hugo — Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy — Alberto Iglesias 
War Horse — John Williams


Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets — Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from Rio — Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett


Best Costume
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.


Best Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again
If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated


Best Documentary (short subject)
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom


Best Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball


Best Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady


Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life


Best Live Action Short Film
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic


Best Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

10 Christmas Movies

So it's that time of year again, when if you're a movie fan of a certain age you have fond memories of planning your Christmas viewing with the bumper double issue of The Radio Times. In that festive spirit, here are ten Christmas movies — not a top ten by any means (I have to save some for next year...)

Elf
It's become a Christmas tradition at our house now: we put up the tree, turn on the lights, and then we settle down to watch Elf. It's just about the best recent Christmas movie, beautifully judged and perfectly cast. I don't think it could possibly work without James Caan, and Will Ferrell hits the role of guileless innocent dead-on.



Die Hard
Another Christmas tradition, this time belonging to my friend Jennifer Stetson, who organises an annual Christmas screening of the ultimate Christmas actioner. Nothing says Christmas quite like: "Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho!"

Gremlins
Gleeful monster fun, especially with this:



A Midnight Clear
A curious little Christmas war film in which an American intelligence platoon comes across a German unit that wants to surrender. First rate performances and achingly beautiful snow-bound cinematography (all that virgin whiteness must have caused havoc on the retakes). And the whole thing's on YouTube. Go figure.




It's A Wonderful Life
Dropping out of copyright was the best thing that happened to this. A commercial flop on release in 1947, it bankrupted Frank Capra's fledgling production company, but become a Christmas favourite on TV. Somehow, it isn't quite Christmas without it.

From Russia With Love
Growing up in the UK, it isn't Christmas without a Bond film either. And, as a kid of the Roger Moore era, it was only through the Christmas Bond that I could watch the real Bond, Sean Connery, strutting his secret agent stuff. This one's my favourite.



The Sound Of Music / The Great Escape / The Wizard Of Oz
And, while we're talking Christmas staples, we can't avoid The Sound Of The Escape From The Wizard Of Oz. These three seemed to be on for so many Christmas's, they almost merged into one. (That said, it wasn't until I'd moved out of my parents' that I finally got to see The Sound Of Music all the way through. But even so, Viennese, Nazis, singing nuns: a Christmas cracker if ever there was one!)

Trading Places
"I have legs! I can walk!" Christmas-set comedy from back when Eddie Murphy was funny.



That, and an amorous gorilla too.


Brazil
I'd forgotten the Christmas setting of Brazil until I saw it last. But if you want chills, you cannot get much more chilling than Michael Palin bouncing his daughter on his knee, surrounded by presents, talking not-so-veilledly about torture. This is dreaming of a dark Christmas—the perfect antidote to all the sweeties.

Holiday Inn
Unfortunately the embed's disabled, but how's this for a Happy New Year: Fred Astaire's famous New Year's Eve drunk dance. Astonishing.

Happy Holidays!

What Kind Of Year Has This Been 2011

So here it is: 2011 in under 6 minutes.

You can always rely on the internet to come up with a good cut down. This one's a little English-language heavy but, as a summary of the year, and to paraphrase Jerome in Attack The Block: this is just too much madness to explain in one mash-up.

Enjoy.

The Black List

The 2011 Black List's out. Here it is in full.

Restoration

Here's a terrific lecture given by Kevin Brownlow at the Cinematheque Francaise on the trials and tribulations of film restoration, "What Does It Mean To Restore A Film".

There's some lovely stuff here, some thoughts on the relationship between a silent era DP and his lab technicians, on how they'd plot together the stock a print should be exposed upon, and how long it should be in the developing bath, all to achieve a subtlety of image, the right texture to the light. And there's a story of Brownlow's first viewing of Abel Gance's Napoleon, one of the first films he attempted to restore. "I was stunned," he says. "It wasn't the cinema I was used to, but the cinema as I'd always hoped it might be."

Wonderful.

Brownlow's new book on Napoleon and its restoration is due to be published in French next year. And the current version of the restoration will screen at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in March.

Goldman and Hill: Making Butch and Sundance

Here's an unusual making-of, made up of interviews and back-stage footage from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Worth its 40 minutes or so for George Roy Hill alone. And, as ever, William Goldman's good value too.



Hat tip: Raindance Film Festival