The Best of 2015 – Half way review

In the first sixth months of 2015, we haven’t quite yet found a release worthy of the prestigious 10/10 score but there’s been no shortage of box-office goods with three films already breaching the $1 billion mark with more to come.

Worldwide:

1. Furious 7 – Director: James Wan – Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker – $1,511,636,779
2. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Joss Whedon – Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson – $1,372,063,254
3. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard – $1,259,873,609
4. Fifty Shades of Grey – Sam Taylor Johnson – Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan – $569,651,467
5. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – Lily James, Cate Blanchett – $538,986,777
6. San Andreas – Peyton Reed – Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario – $441,858,144
7. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – Colin Firth, Taron Egerton – $403,788,617
8. Home – Tim Johnson – Jim Parsons, Rihanna – $367,811,449
9. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller – Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron – $356,649,491
10. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton – Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker – $325,771,424

US:

1. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard – $514,374,155
2. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Joss Whedon – Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson – $452,963,254
3. Furious 7 – James Wan – Vin Diesel, Paul Walker – $351,032,910
4. Inside Out – Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen – $200,844,477
5. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – Lily James, Cate Blanchett – $200,286,777
6. Pitch Perfect 2 – Elizabeth Banks – Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson – $181,513,690
7. Home – Tim Johnson – Jim Parsons, Rihanna – $174,901,605
8. Fifty Shades of Grey – Sam Taylor Johnson – Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan – $166,167,230
9. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Paul Tibbitt – $162,994,032
10. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller – Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron – $147,594,972

UK:

1. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Joss Whedon – Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson – £49,096,981
2. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard – £39,216,914
3. Furious 7 – James Wan – Vin Diesel, Paul Walker – £38,399,325
4. Fifty Shades of Grey – Sam Taylor Johnson – Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan – £33,065,566
5. Home – Tim Johnson – Jim Parsons, Rihanna – £24,908,077
6. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – Lily James, Cate Blanchett – £20,886,693
7. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh – Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones – £20,446,079
8. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams – TJ Miller, Maya Rudolph – £19.527,404
9. Pitch Perfect 2 – Elizabeth Banks – Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson – £17,466,588
10. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller – Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron – £17,260,896

Here’s our personal top 7 for January to June. To give you a taste of our opinions, 2014’s top picks were Interstellar, Nightcrawler, Boyhood, Guardians of the Galaxy and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

8) Into the Woods

Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine
Budget: $50 million
Box-office: $212.9 million

7) Tomorrowland

Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Raffey Cassidy, Pierce Gagnon, Hugh Laurie
Budget: $190 million
Box-office: $202 million

6) Minions

Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Geoffrey Rush
Budget: $74 million
Box-office: $141 million

5) The Theory of Everything

Director: James Marsh
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis
Budget: $15 million
Box-office: $121.2 million

4) Still Alice

Directors: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Alec Baldwin, Hunter Parrish, Kate Bosworth
Budget: $5 million
Box-office: $41.8 million

3) Selma

Director: Ava DuVernay
Starring: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Roth
Budget: $20 million
Box-office: $66.8 million

2) The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner
Budget: $280 million
Box-office: $1.3 billion

1) Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevorrow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson, Vincent D’Onofrio
Budget: $150 million
Box-office: $1,2 billion

Still Alice review

Directors: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

Starring: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish, Shane McRae, Stephen Kunken

Picking up awards at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Screen Actor’s Guild and Oscars but they were all for the performance of leading actress Julianne Moore alone. We’ll be reviewing if the role lives up to its hype as well as if the film itself can thrive on its own merits.

Fifty year old Alice Howland (Moore) is a respected and renowned linguistics professor who gradually begins to loose grasp of her words and surroundings. She discovers she has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Her abilities quickly descend putting a strain on her prestigious job and her relationships with her husband (Baldwin) and children – mother-to-be Anna (Bosworth), loose-cannon Tom (Parrish) and aspiring actress Lydia (Stewart).

Julianne Moore’s multi-award winning turn as the titular Alice is the subduing knockout performance that’ll be the talking point of the film. She perfectly conveys Alice’s rapid descent as well as the chilling sense of the disease hollowing out her mind from the inside. The Big Lebowski/Kids Are All Right star puts in a career best in a role that boils down to ingenious subtlety and vulnerability.

It’d be greatly unfair to complement the film on Moore alone however. 30 Rock, The Hunt For Red October and The Departed actor Alec Baldwin gives a mightily impressive performance as put upon but ambitious businessman John Howland whose hopes to relocate to Minnesota are sabotaged by Alice’s illness. Their children meanwhile have a varying level of actual development:

Similarly to last year’s Interstellar, the relationship between a parent and a certain sibling is lingered on while others are left at the side. In this case, Kristen Stewart’s Lydia is brought to the centre of attention as an aspiring actress living far away in California whose career choice is met with great disapproval from her parents. It’s undoubtedly the Twilight stars best work since her child-star breakthrough in David Fincher’s Panic Room

Disappointingly, Kate Bosworth’s role as expectant mother Anna is unfairly diminished despite the surprise of her connection to familial Alzheimer’s. Hunter Parrish’s Tom is sidelined with only a few scenes and the bland defining feature of a string of girlfriends.

The duo of Wash Westmoreland and the late Richard Glatzer (who sadly passed away from ALS this year) have achieved an accomplished, numbing and artistically stunning depiction of a modern societal stigma but, like most films that seek to convey an affliction as oppose to a narrative, it tends to meander into a series of heartbreaking episodes. Still, first class Oscar worthy performances and horrifically tense set pieces hold together a brilliant awards contender.

8/10

“I used to be someone who knew a lot. No one asks for my opinion or advice anymore. I miss that. I used to be curious and independent and confident. I miss being sure of things. There’s no peace in being unsure of everything all the time. I miss doing everything easily. I miss being a part of what’s happening. I miss feeling wanted. I miss my life and my family.”

Channing Tatum planning new GhostBusters plus Bruce Willis and Jesse Eisenberg joins Allen’s latest

The Sautrday Night Live alumni of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Lesley Jones and Kate McKinnon, under Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, are all set as the lead stars of the female-lead reboot of the classic fantasy comedy Ghostbusters. Despite this, in a strange announcement, Sony has been revealed to be developing their own male-lead remake. With an impressive team at the helm, it appears to be shaping up as a potential prequel, creating a shared universe for the franchise. The aforementioned team are Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce, Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo and Foxcatcher/21 Jump Street star Channing Tatum. Meanwhile, Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) is also rumoured for a role.

While Magic in the Moonlight was a let down for many, legendary Oscar winning writer/director Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine). His next film, a college romance entitled Irrational Man, has added its cast list. Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Zombieland), Kristen Stewart (Twilight, Still Alice) and Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense, Die Hard, The Fifth Element, Twelve Monkeys, Moonrise Kingdom, Looper) are all set to join the cast already including Emma Stone (Birdman, The Amazing Spider-Man) and Joaquin Phoenix (Her, Gladiator).

Irrational Man – July 24th in US, later in the year in UK

Untitled Ghostbusters Project – 2018?

68th British Academy Film Awards Live

Welcome to our BAFTA hub for 2015. Tonight is the biggest night of the British film calender as the esteemed academy elects its triumphant films, directors and stars. Keep on refreshing the page for the latest updates.

If you’re not preoccupied before the ceremony, try out our prediction game. Rank the nominees for Best Film, Director, Actor/Actress, Supporting Actor/Actress, Cinematography, British Film and Rising Star from 1-5. If your number one pick is correct you receive five points, number two gets four, number three gets three and so on. Comment your score from a maximum of 59. Unsure where to start? Try our own predictions as a primer. Get the full nominations list here.

The red carpet lineup is amassing: Benedict Cumberbatch! Eddie Redmayne! Keira Knightley! Steve Carell! Ralph Fiennes! Ethan Hawke! Mike Leigh! Jack O’Connell! Michael Keaton! Mark Strong!

Here we go!

Stephen Fry begins his annual interrogation of the esteemed audience members. Rosamund Pike! Julie Walters! Edward Norton!

Outstanding British Film:

The Theory of Everything
Pride
Under the Skin
The Imitation Game
’71
Paddington

Beckham awards the first win of the night. Does that put Theory in the front seat for Best Film?

Special Visual Effects:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Guardians of the Galaxy

It missed out on the main categories but it made up here. Jones and Hawking’s humour shining through again.

Supporting Actor:

Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Edward Norton – Birdman
Ethawn Hawke – Boyhood
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Witherspoon on her way to Leading Actress as she awards J Jonah Jameson a BAFTA.

Next two British greats award a third.

Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema:

BBC Films (Revolutionary Road, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Jane Eyre, Made in Deganham, Notes on a Scandal, Billy Elliott, Coriolanus, Pride, An Education, Quartet, In the Loop, Philomena, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa)

The Butler’s Cuba Gooding Jr dishes out the second acting category.

Supporting Actress:

Rene Russo – Nightcrawler
Emma Stone – Birdman
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Imelda Staunton – Pride

A rising star and Bilbo himself award Birdman’s first win.

Cinematography:

Mr Turner (Dick Pope)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert Yeoman)
Interstellar (Hoyte Van Hoytema)
Ida (Lukasz Zal)
Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki)

The ever sharply suited Loki and MI6 Head celebrate a great career beginning.

British Debut:

’71
Northern Soul
Lilting
Kajaki
Pride

A fitting tribute to a true great, Lord Richard Attenborough, from Prince William and Robert Downey Jr.

Best Actress favourite Julianne Moore arrives.

Best Original Screenplay:

Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro Gonalez Inarritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone, Armando Bo -Birdman
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler

Two JJ Abrams collaborators on stage. Shared universe? It’s all a conspiracy!

Foreign Language:

Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Two Days, One Night
Ida
Trash

He’s semi-bald! Future Lex Luthor Jesse Eisenberg and Noomi Rapace turn up.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Jason Dean Hall – American Sniper
Paul King – Paddington

We taking a minute off to honour the In Memoriam section.

X-Men’s James McAvoy arrives – we forgot he was Scottish again.

EE Rising Star:

Gugu Mbatha Raw
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley
Jack O’Connell
Margot Robbie

Your new one to watch is Jack O’Connell, one of the many protogee’s of E4’s Skins who’s starred in the acclaimed likes of Starred Up, Unbroken and ’71.

Brick is back.

Director:

Alejandro Gonzale Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
James Marsh – The Theory of Everything
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Only God Forgive’s Kristen Scott Thomas compliments her opposite number.

Leading Actor:

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Another crossover in the work: Superman V Captain America!

Leading Actress:

Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Amy Adams – Big Eyes
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

That was a surprise: Tom Cruise!

Film:

The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Boyhood
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Fellowship:

Mike Leigh (Mr Turner, Life is Sweet, High Hopes, Career Girls, Abigail’s Party, All or Nothing, Topsy Turvy, Secrets and Lies, Naked, Vera Drake, Happy Go Lucky, Another Year)

Here comes the quickfire awards.

Original Music:

Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Documentary:

Citizenfour

Makeup and Hair:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Production Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

British Short Film:

Boogaloo and Graham

British Short Animation:

The Bigger Picture

Editing:

Whiplash

Sound:

Whiplash

Animated Film:

The Lego Movie

Costume Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

We managed 53/59 so comment how you did. Here’s the winners leaderboard.

The Grand Budapest Hotel – 5
Boyhood, The Theory of Everything, Whiplash – 3
Ida, Interstellar, The Lego Movie, Pride, Citizenfour, Still Alice, Birdman – 1

Star Wars 7 for Britain open auditions, Gemma Arteton part of search for 2014 BAFTA Rising Star and Favreau for Jungle Book

I remember names like Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Kermode being part of the judging panel for the BAFTA Rising Star Award over the years. Now Gemma Arteton, who’s impressed in supporting roles in Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia and Clash of the Titans and recently starred with Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck in thriller Runner Runner, has been recruited by the British Academy of Film and Television to help select next year’s nominees and winner alongside Empire Magazine’s Chris Hewitt, Harry Potter’s casting director Karen Lindsay-Stewart, In Bruges producer Peter Czernin and Nanny McPhee director Kirk Smith. If you think it’s a random pick at today’s talented youth then think again. Previous winners of the award include James McAvoy (2005), Eva Green (2006), Shia LaBeouf (2007), Noel Clarke (2008), Kristen Stewart (2009), Tom Hardy (2010), Adam Deacon (2011) and most recently Juno Temple.

Jon Favreau started his directing career with family fantasies like Elf and Zathura. After that, he took to the more adult superhero franchise starters Iron Man and Iron Man 2. He took a quick break to TV, directing episodes of The Office, Revolution and About A Boy, but he’s back to cinema next year with Robert Downey Jr comedy Chef (May 9th 2014). He’s now in talks for a new remake of the classic Disney animation The Jungle Book, itself based upon the Rudyard Kipling novel.

Deadline interviewed the man on his new project. “I can’t say that much, but there is an interesting take that could be very cool and the hope is to relaunch a family brand with certain mythic elements. It is my first real family film since Elf, and there are action elements and visual effects that I feel like my experience on the Iron Man films are going to be useful.”

The aforementioned Benedict Cumberbatch, Saorise Ronan, Sullivan Stapleton, Daniel Day Lewis and more recently Chiwetel Ejiofor are just some of the names rumoured to be in JJ Abrams sci-fi epic reboot Star Wars: Episode VII. It’s now revealed that Disney will be recruiting for roles with open auditions throughout the UK. Here’s the casting call.

Seeking young woman to play 17-18 year old. Must be beautiful, smart and athletic. Open to all ethnicities (including bi and multi-racial) Must be over 16.  

Rachel – Was quite young when she lost her parents. With no other family, she was forced to make her way in a tough, dangerous town. Now 17, she has become street smart and strong. She is able to take care of herself using humor and guts to get by.  Always a survivor, never a victim, she remains hopeful that she can move away from this harsh existence to a better life. She is always thinking of what she can do to move ahead.

Seeking young man to play 19-23 years old. Must be handsome, smart and athletic. Must be over 18.  

Thomas – Has grown up without a father’s influence. Without the model of being a man, he doesn’t have the strongest sense of himself. Despite this he is smart, capable and shows courage when it is needed. He can appreciate the absurdities in life and understands you can’t take life too seriously.

I first thought that Thomas and Rachel don’t sound like the kind of names that you’d find in the Star Wars universe but they could be the working names of Han and Leia’s children to throw the public of the scent. The names I mentioned above were all of well established stars so they’ve got to try and mix up the cast with some unfamiliar, but, talented, faces. After all, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher had seen very little screen time before landing the roles of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia while Alec Guinness was already a screen legend at the time of A New Hope’s release. We’re likely to do a special on what the future Star Wars titles could be in the future.

A meet and greet with casting directors will be coming to:

Amolfini Art Centre, Bristol – November 9th and 10th, 11 am to 3 pm

Progress Centre, Manchester – November 16th and 17th, 10 am to 2 pm

South Block Wasp Studios, Glasgow – November 16th and 17th, 10 am to 2 pm

Filmbase, Dublin – November 23rd and 24th, 10.30 am to 2.30 pm

Apiary, London – November 23rd and 24th, 10 am to 2 pm

You will also need warm clothing as some venues may not be heated and bring a headshot of yourself for the casting directors to keep. You could be landing a four year long role on the world’s biggest franchise so good luck!

Star Wars: Episode VII – Christmas 2015

The Jungle Book – 2016?