Interstellar and Kingsman win big at the Empire Awards

BAFTA chose Boyhood, Golden Globes elected the latter and The Grand Budapest Hotel, Oscars voted for Birdman while our own pick was Guardians of the Galaxy. Empire, a ceremony that brilliantly mashes together the arthouse and the mainstream, has just revealed its recipients. Previous winners of Best Film have included Seven, The Matrix, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Dark Knight, Avatar, Inception, Skyfall and Gravity. For a bit of background on the honorary awards, Hero marks a current contribution to cinema (Simon Pegg, Daniel Radcliffe, Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Jude Law), the Icon/Legend celebrates a lifespan of great work (Brian Cox, Ewan MacGregor, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Gary Oldman, Hugh Jackman) and Inspiration is for a modern master filmmaker (Monty Python, Aardman, Pixar, Michael Mann, Ray Harreyhausen, Guillermo Del Toro, Sam Mendes, Ron Howard, Kenneth Branagh, Edgar Wright, Stephen Frears, Spike Lee, Paul Greengrass).

Best Film:

Interstellar
Boyhood
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The Imitation Game

Best British Film:

Kingsman: The Secret Service
Paddington
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Under the Skin

Best Director:

Christopher Nolan – Interstellar
Matt Reeves – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game
Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Best Actor:

Andy Serkis – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Eddie Redmanye – The Theory of Everything
Richard Armitage – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Best Actress:

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina
Emily Blunt – Edge of Tomorrow
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game

Best Male Newcomer:

Taron Egerton – Kingsman: The Secret Service
Dan Stevens – The Guest
Daniel Huttlestone – Into the Woods
Ellar Coltrane – Boyhood
Jack O’Connell – Unbroken

Best Female Newcomer:

Karen Gillan – Oculus and Guardians of the Galaxy
Carrie Coon – Gone Girl
Essie Davis – The Babadook
Gugu Mbatha Raw – Belle
Sophie Cookson – Kingsman: The Secret Service

Best Comedy:

Paddington
22 Jump Street
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Inbetweeners 2
The Lego Movie

Best Horror:

The Babadook
Annabelle
Oculus
The Guest
Under the Skin

Best Sci-fi/Fantasy:

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

Best Thriller:

The Imitation Game
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Gone Girl
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Locke

Empire Legend:

Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Schindler’s List, Skyfall)

Empire Hero:

Game of Thrones (Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Lena Headey, Charles Dance, Natalie Dormer, Sean Bean)

Empire Inspiration:

Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, The Following, Inception, Insomnia, Interstellar, Memento, The Prestige)

Here’s a few images from the night itself, hosted by James Nesbitt. Guests include: Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace), Jessica Chastain (The Help), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), James McAvoy (Atonement), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Reece Shearsmith (A Field in England) and Matt Berry (The IT Crowd).

Avengers 2 poster, Blomkamp directing new Alien and Boyhood, Kingsman, Interstellar and Imitation Game rule Empire Awards

Neill Blomkamp has been busy giving sci-fi and the South African film industry a good name with the Best Picture nominated District 9, the Matt Damon-starring Elysium and his new thriller Chappie but he was secretly developing ideas for a new Alien film. When the bold concept art was released it showcased a brilliant insight of the project he’d envisioned and the acclaim it received has sparked some level of interest. The Johannesburg-born filmmaker’s Alien instalment has been officially commissioned in addition to Ridley Scott’s Prometheus sequel. Details such as a release date or cast are yet to be confirmed but we might see appearance from Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley (Maleficent, Powers) or a return for Sigourney Weaver (Avatar, The Cabin in the Woods) AKA Ripley.

Birdman, Boyhood, Still Alice and Whiplash took centre stage at the Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes in the past few months but the Empire Awards are set to amalgamate the mainstream and the arthouse in their public-voted awards. Previous winners include The Bourne Ultimatum, Men in Black Seven, Skyfall, Inception and Gravity. Click here for the voting while you can admire all of the nominees below.

Best Film:

The Imitation Game
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Boyhood

Best Director:

Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Matt Reeves – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Christopher Nolan – Interstellar
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Actress:

Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Emily Blunt – Edge of Tomorrow
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina

Jameson Best Actor:

Andy Serkis – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Richard Armitage – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Best British Film:

The Imitation Game
Paddington
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Under the Skin
The Theory of Everything

Best Thriller:

The Imitation Game
Gone Girl
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Locke

Best Comedy:

The Inbetweeners 2
Paddington
The Lego Movie
22 Jump Street
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Horror:

The Guest
Oculus
The Babadook
Annabelle
Under the Skin

Best Sci-fi/Fantasy:

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

Best Female Newcomer:

Carrie Coon (Gone Girl)
Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy)
Essie Davis (The Babadook)
Sophie Cookson (Kingsman: The Secret Service)
Gugu Mbatha Raw (Belle, Beyond the Lights, Jupiter Ascending)

Best Male Newcomer:

Jack O’Connell (Unbroken, ’71, Starred Up)
Dan Stevens (The Guest, A Walk Among the Tombstones)
Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Testament of Youth)
Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood)
Daniel Huttlestone (Into the Woods)

Here’s the leaderboard:

The Imitation Game – 6
Dawn of the Planet if the Apes, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Kingsman: The Secret Service – 4
Boyhood, Gone Girl, Interstellar, The Theory of Everything – 3
The Babadook, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Guest, Oculus, Paddington, Under the Skin, X-Men: Days of Future Past – 2

Finally today, we have the first major poster of The Avengers: Age of Ultron, tipped to be the biggest blockbuster of 2015. Joss Whedon (Serenity, Toy Story, The Cabin in the Woods) directs the cast of Robert Downey Jr (The Judge), Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher), Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation), Chris Hemsworth (Rush), Chris Evans (Snowpiercer), Jeremy Renner (American Hustle), Samuel L Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Don Cheadle (Crash), James Spader (The Blacklist), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Aaron Taylor Johnson (Kick-Ass), Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist), Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting), Andy Serkis (The Hobbit) and Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind).

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – April 23rd

Alien 5 – 2017?

87th Academy Awards results – Birdman soars! Also wins for Whiplash, Boyhood, Interstellar and Grand Budapest

We, like so many, predicted that Richard Linklater’s loving endeavour of a film would snatch top prize last night but the Broadway-set black comedy depicting a disgraced actors attempted resurgence has caused an unexpected upset. Birdman is this year’s victor, succeeding the recent likes of 12 Years a Slave, Argo, The Artist and The King’s Speech. It received four awards, including Best Picture, Director and Cinematography. Here’s the full winners list.

Best Picture:

Birdman
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Best Director:

Alejandro Gonazlez Inarritu – Birdman
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Actor:

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman

Best Actress:

Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Best Supporting Actor:

JK Simmons – Whiplash
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher

Best Supporting Actress:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Best Original Screenplay:

Birdman – Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo
Boyhood – Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher – E Max Frye, Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Imitation Game – Graham Moore
American Sniper – Jason Dean Hall
Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten
Whiplash – Damien Chazelle

Best Animated Feature Film:

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Best Foreign Language Film:

Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales

Best Documentary – Feature:

Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

Best Documentary – Short:

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Cruise
The Reaper
White Earth

Best Live Action Short Film:

The Phone Call
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh

Best Animated Short Film:

Feast
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

Best Original Score:

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game – Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
Mr Turner – Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything – Johann Johannsson

Best Original Song:

“Glory” – John Legend, Common – Selma
“Everything is Awesome” – The Lonely Island, Tegan and Sara – The Lego Movie
“Grateful” – Dianne Warren – Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell, Julian Raymond – Glen Campbell: I’ll be Me
“Lost Stars” – Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois – Begin Again

Best Sound Editing:

American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Best Sound Mixing:

Whiplash
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken

Best Production Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr Turner

Best Cinematography:

Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert Yeoman)
Ida (Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski)
Mr Turner (Dick Pope)
Unbroken (Roger Deakins)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Foxcatcher
Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Costume Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr Turner

Best Film Editing:

Whiplash
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game

Best Visual Effects:

Interstellar
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Tonight will be considered a triumph for Birdman, Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel. The team of Boyhood, besides the winning Arquette, may be disappointed with the lack of payoff for their monumental effort. Considering their high amount of nominations, The Imitation Game, Mr Turner, Unbroken and Foxcatcher have suffered a let down. Here’s the winner’s leaderboard:

Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel – 4
Whiplash – 3
American Sniper, Big Hero 6, Boyhood, Citizenfour, Ida, The Imitation Game, Interstellar, Selma, Still Alice, The Theory of Everything – 1

Making predictions for next year, perhaps Spielberg’s thriller St James Place or the Coen Brothers’ Hail Caesar could feature. Inarritu may be at it again with his release The Revenant or Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight may emerge. Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs? David O Russell’s Joy? Bryan Cranston’s Trumbo? Del Toro’s Crimson Peak. We may even give Star Wars: The Force Awakens a shot. We’ll see you next year.

2015 Academy Awards preview

Tonight, questions will be answered. Will American Sniper gun down competition? Will Birdman take flight? Is Boyhood coming of age? Will The Grand Budapest Hotel cater to its awards dreams? Will Imitation Game crack Hollywood? Is Selma marching for the Academy’s vote? Is a breakthrough in store for The Theory of Everything? Is tonight a diagnosis of Whiplash? Besides all male protagonists, what connects these fine films is their involvement in this year’s Academy Awards.

How I Met Your Mother and Gone Girl star Neil Patrick Harris has the answers and will be revealing them soon but for now we’ll be recapping on the most important awards race of the year as the Oscars kick off.

In Best Picture, eight nominees are challenging and we can divide them into two categories. Firstly, the safer bets: Boyhood, a coming of age tale filmed across twelve years, is our shoe in for victory, having been raved since its summer release and picking up top prize at the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything are both emotional and excellent but may struggle due to their lack of distinguishing from eachother, both depicting Oxbridge-type geniuses and the difficulties of their personal life. Fellow biopic Selma is missed out on all other major categories so we’d doubt its chances here.

Leading the way in the edgier options is Birdman, a tale centred on an egotistical, washed up actor escaping the demons of the Hollywood superhero he once played. It is still trailing Boyhood despite cleaning up at the Indie Spirit and a Globe Comedy/Musical win. Fact based army thriller American Sniper, is the highest grossing of the eight so it may follow the steps of Gravity by retreating to the technical categories. Whimsical comedy caper The Grand Budapest Hotel is greatly popular but has struggled to pose a serious threat while drumming drama Whiplash actually leads on IMDb rankings and is one of the few prolific entries that wasn’t part of some grand Oscar campaign from is inception.

Best Director is a category overshadowed by the controversial snubbing of Selma’s Ava DuVernay, a major oversight for the Academy. From the five white male contenders, the Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman) and Richard Linklater (Boyhood) are going head to head; the latter is tipped to win but Inarritu has the backing of the Director’s Guild. Wes Anderson (Grand Budapest) is still set to miss out on winning his first Oscar and it might be a rough evening for Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher) and thirty year old newcomer Damien Chazelle (Whiplash).

Best Actor has four first time candidates. Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) is on his third consecutive nomination after Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle but there’s an alarming lack of hype surrounding his chances. Despicable Me/Anchorman star Steve Carell‘s transformation in Foxcatcher and Sherlock/Benedict Cumberbatch‘s turn in The Imitation Game have so far found the acceptance podium illusive. It’s between Birdman’s comeback king Michael Keaton and Theory of Everything’s mastermind Eddie Redmayne.

In Actress, former winners Marion Cotillard (Two Days One Night) and Reese Witherspoon (Wild) are proving popular but it’ll be fifth time lucky for Still Alice star Julianne Moore. Brits Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) and Felicity Jones (Theory of Everything) might prove to be dark horses however.

Elsewhere, JK Simmons (Whiplash) and Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) are set to surmount competition from veterans Robert Duvall (The Judge) and Meryl Streep (Into the Woods), Hulk actors Edward Norton (Birdman) and Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher) as well as the likes of Ethan Hawke (Boyhood), Laura Dern (Wild), Emma Stone (Birdman) and Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game).

Here’s a few more faces to look out for tonight:

Interstellar – Original Score, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Production Design, Visual Effects

Foxcatcher – Actor in a Leading Role (Steve Carell), Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Ruffalo), Directing, Original Screenplay, Makeup and Hairstyling

Nightcrawler – Original Screenplay

Into the Woods – Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep), Costume Design, Production Design

Mr Turner – Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Score, Production Design

Unbroken – Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing

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

Weekend box-office – 17th to 23rd of January 2014 – will Selma get Taken into the Woods?

The reinvention of Liam Neeson as an all out action star began with Luc Besson’s Taken, a greatly overrated kidnapping thriller. Since then he’s impressed with The Grey but let down with Unknown, A Walk Among the Tombstones and Non-Stop. Still, the most financially successful of this period was the sequel Taken 2 which is explains why Neeson is now returning to that franchise, albeit for the final time. The third Taken is rivalling musical Into the Woods and Oscar favourite Selma and the latter’s takings have grown enormously since its limited release. Last week we’d predicted that Neeson would take the number one spot but let’s find out what happened.

US:

1. Taken 3 – Director: Oliver Megaton – $39.2 million
2. Selma – Ava DuVernay – $11.3 million
3. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall – $9.6 million
4. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – $9.4 million
5. Unbroken – Angelina Jolie – $8.2 million

UK:

1. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton – £6.7 million
2. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall – £2.5 million
3. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh – £2.5 million
4. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – £1.3 million
5. Paddington – Paul King – £1.3 million

In a week where we’ve scored 4/10, Neeson’s thriller has triumphed with an impressive UK opening but a fairly muted response in the US. Next week’s tie of comedy Kevin Hart comedy The Wedding Ringer, adventure Paddington, Bradley Cooper drama American Sniper and Chris Hemsworth thriller Blackhat will be hard to predict.

US:

1. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood
2. The Wedding Ringer – Jeremy Garelick
3. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton
4. Paddington – Paul King
5. Blackhat – Michael Mann

UK:

1. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton
2. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood
3. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall
4. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh
5. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson

Liam Neeson in Taken 3, this week’s US and UK number one.

2015 Academy Awards Nominations! – Birdman leads

We favoured Interstellar, Godzilla, The Lego Movie, The Imitation Game and Guardians of the Galaxy as our best picks of 2014 (Birdman, Selma, American Sniper and The Theory of Everything counting as 2015) but the Oscars are assumed as the definitive representation of the finest films. The esteemed guests of actor Chris Pine (Star Trek Into Darkness), director/writer JJ Abrams (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) and last year’s Best Director winner Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Children of Men) were the ones to reveal the following announcements.

Best Picture:

American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Best Director:

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Actor:

Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Best Actress:

Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Best Supporting Actress:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Best Supporting Actor:

Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Jason Hall – American Sniper
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash

Best Original Screenplay:

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
E Max Frye, Dan Futterman – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler

Best Animated Feature Film:

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Best Cinematography:

Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Robert Yeoman – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski – Ida
Dick Pope – Mr Turner
Roger Deakins – Unbroken

Best Editing:

American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

Best Costume Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr Turner

Best Foreign Language Film:

Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales

Best Makeup and Hair:

Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Production Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr Turner

Best Sound Editing:

American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Best Sound Mixing:

American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

Best Visual Effects:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Music – Original Score:

Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar
Gary Yershon – Mr Turner
Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything

Best Music – Original Song:

Everything is Awesome – Shawn Patterson – The Lego Movie
Glory – John Stephens, Lonnie Lynn – Selma
Grateful – Diane Warren – Beyond the Lights
I’m Not Going to Miss You – Glen Campbell, Julian Raymond – Glen Campbell…I’ll be Me
Lost Stars – Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois – Begin Again

Best Documentary Feature:

CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

Best Documentary Short:

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth

Best Short – Live Action:

Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call

Best Short – Animation:

The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

Overall, this wasn’t entirely different to any of the major awards dispensers to go before but there’s still the odd surprise in store. Bradley Cooper, Laura Dern, Marion Cotillard and Robert Duvall’s acting nods weren’t expected. The strange number of eight Best PIcture nominees left out other favourites such as Foxcatcher, Unbroken, Interstellar, Into the Woods and Nightcrawler. Big Eyes, Cake and A Most Violent Year are mentionless.

The Lego Movie got a disappointing turnout but Selma, while it picked up a Best Picture nomination, got snubbed in Best Director (Ava DuVernay) and Best Actor (David Oyelowo). David Fincher/Ben Affleck’s Gone Girl too will be sourly disappointed, only receiving Leading Actress  Shamefully, every acting competitor is white and there are no female entries in Directing or Writing, proving the bias of the predominantly white male academy.

The award of Best Editing tends to be a powerful prompter for the Best Picture frontrunners so I’d say American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Whiplash and Birdman will be the closest contenders to the main winner Boyhood. The Grand Budapest Hotel may suffer the American Hustle problem of a great amount of nominations but none to few wins. Here’s the current leaderboard.

Birdman – 9
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 9
The Imitation Game – 8
Boyhood – 6
American Sniper – 6
Interstellar – 5
Foxcatcher – 5
Whiplash – 5
The Theory of Everything – 4
Mr Turner – 4
Into the Woods – 3
Unbroken – 3
Ida – 2
Wild – 2
Selma – 2
Guardians of the Galaxy – 2
Inherent Vice – 2

Richard Linklater, Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, JK Simmons and Patricia Arquette seem set to win and here’s my own top ten most likely predictions for Best Picture.

1. Boyhood
2. Birdman
3. American Sniper
4. Whiplash
5. The Theory of Everything
6. The Imitation Game
7. Selma
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Gone Girl and How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris will host the Academy Awards on February 22nd.

Weekend box-office – 10th to 16th of January 2015 – will Woman in Black spook in New Year?

The Christmas holiday’s clear leader was the fantasy adventure sequel The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. In the first week of 2015, it saw off competition from musical Into the Woods and POW thriller Unbroken. Horror sequel The Woman in Black: Angel of Death’s arrival is hoping to cause an upset in The Hobbit’s fourth week in the US.. Meanwhile in the UK, Oscar fever grips as The Theory of Everything debuts. Last week, we predicted that the Five Armies would see off competition (and we were right) but the Radcliffe-less follow up may still make a decent entry.

US:

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Director: Peter Jackson – $21.7 million
2. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall – $18.7 million
3. Unbroken – Angelina Jolie – $18.2 million
4. The Woman in Black: Angel of Death – Tom Harper – $15 million
5. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – Shawn Levy – $14.5 million

UK:

1. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh – £3.7 million
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – £3.2 million
3. Paddington – Paul King – £2.8 million
4. The Woman in Black: Angel of Death – Tom Harper – £2.4 million
5. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – Shawn Levy – £1.7 million

The Hobbit’s reign continues while The Woman in Black underwhelms both sides of the Atlantic. The Theory of Everything, a biopic of famed scientist Stephen Hawking, has surprisingly topped the UK box-office, while fellow awards botherer Birdman falls behind in seventh. This week I’ve scored 2/10

US:

1. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson
3. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall
4. Unbroken – Angelina Jolie
5. Selma – Ava DuVernay

UK:

1. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh
2. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall
3. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson
4. Foxcatcher – Bennett Miller
5. Paddington – Paul King

Lee Pace in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, this week’s US number one.

Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything, this week’s UK number one.

Theory of Everything and Grand Budapest Hotel lead in 2015 BAFTA nominations

Last year, out of conning flick American Hustle, action thriller Captain Phillips, space-set disaster Gravity, biopic 12 Years a Slave and bittersweet comedy Philomena, Gravity took the most awards with six (including Best Director and Best British Film) but 12 Years a Slave’s victory on Best Film and Best Leading Actor was a more prestigious win.

We’re now prepped to meet the contenders of the 68th British Academy Awards. The Hobbit star Stephen Fry will host the ceremony on the 8th of February.

Best Film:

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

Outstanding British Film:

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

Best Film Not in the English Language:

Ida
Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Trash
Two Days, One Night

Best Animated Film:

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie

Best Director:

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

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer:

Stephen Beresford, David Livingstone – Pride
Gregory Burke, Yann Demange – ’71
Elaine Constantine – Northern Soul
Paul Katis, Andrew de Lotbiniere – Kajaki
Hong Khaou – Lilting

Best Actor:

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

Best Actress:

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

Best Supporting Actor:

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

Best Supporting Actress:

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

Best Original Screenplay:

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

Best Adapted Screenplay:

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

Best Cinematography:

Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Dick Pope – Mr Turner
Hoyte Van Hoytema – Interstellar
Robert Yeoman – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski – Ida

Best Original Music:

Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything
Mica Levi – Under the Skin
Antonio Sanchez – Birdman
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar

Best Sound:

American Sniper
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

Best Production Design:

Big Eyes
Interstellar
Mr Turner
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game

Best Special Visual Effects:

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

Best Costume Design:

Into the Woods
Mr Turner
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything

Best Makeup and Hair:

Guardians of the Galaxy
Into the Woods
Mr Turner
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Theory of Everything

Best Editing:

Birdman
Nightcrawler
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Best Short Film:

Boogaloo and Graham
Emotional Fusebox
Slap
The Karman Line
Three Brothers

Best Short Animation:

Monkey Love Experiments
My Dad
The Bigger Picture

EE Rising Star Award:

Gugu Mbatha Raw – Belle, Beyond the Lights
Jack O’Connell – Starred Up, Unbroken, 300: Rise of an Empire, ’71
Margot Robbie – Suite Francaise, The Wolf of Wall Street
Miles Teller – Divergent, That Awkward Moment, Whiplash
Shailene Woodley – Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars

Perhaps there is a leaning towards the obvious candidates but there are a few shocks about. While Birdman, Boyhood and Whiplash lead the way, Oscar favourites such as Gone Girl, Foxcatcher, American Sniper, Big Eyes and Into the Woods may have slipped behind but Selma, Unbroken and A Most Violent Year are completely exempt of a mention. Mr Turner is the other major snub, losing out the expected nods Best Actor (Timothy Spall), Director (Mike Leigh) and British Film. The surprisingly prolific appearances of Nightcrawler, Interstellar, Under the Skin and Paddington shake things up.

Here’s the current leaders:

The Grand Budapest Hotel – 11 nominations
Birdman, The Theory of Everything – 10 nominations
The Imitation Game – 9 nominations
Boyhood, Whiplash – 5 nominations
Interstellar, Mr Turner, Nightcrawler – 4 nominations
Pride – 3 nominations
’71, American Sniper, Big Eyes, Foxcatcher, Gone Girl, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ida, Into the Woods, Paddington, Under the Skin – 2 nominations

Weekend box-office – 27th of December 2014 to 9th of January 2015 – will the Five Armies battle off competition?

We weren’t here last week so we’ll be covering the past two weeks of box-office results. So far, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings/Hobbit films have been a financial phenomena, reaching the combined takings of nearly $5 billion but there’s was an evident slip up between An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug. The Battle of the Five Armies is billed as the defining chapter of the series but it might not be destined for the same commercial glory as it’s heading up the competition of musical remake Annie and fantasy sequel Night at the Museum 3. Last week, we predicted it’d top the chart but let’s see what went down in the past two weeks.

US:

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Director: Peter Jackson – $54.7 million
2. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – Shawn Levy – $17.1 million
3. Annie – Will Gluck – $15.9 million
4. Exodus: Gods and Kings – Ridley Scott – $8.1 million
5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – $7.9 million

UK:

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – £5.4 million
2. Paddington – Paul King – £2.5 million
3. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – Shawn Levy – £1.9 million
4. Dumb and Dumber To – Bob and Peter Farrelly – £1.8 million
5. Penguins of Madagascar – Eric Darnell, Simon J Smith – £0.7 million

And here’s the results for the second week.

US:

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – $40.9 million
2. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall – $31.1 million
3. Unbroken – Angelina Jolie – $30.6 million
4. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – Shawn Levy – $20.2 million
5. Annie – Will Gluck – $16.5 million

UK:

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – £4.2 million
2. Exodus: Gods and Kings – Ridley Scott – £2.6 million
3. Paddington – Paul King – £2.6 million
4. Annie – Will Gluck – £2.3 million
5. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – Shawn Levy – £1.6 million

While these figures do appear disappointing (and they are a major step down from previous instalments), the Hobbit films this succeeds both had pre-Christmas releases. During the holidays, there’s no rush to see new releases at the weekend so this conclusion to the series will still be raking in cash mid-week. Unbroken and Into the Woods’ $30 million+ entries are promising. Night at the Museum and Annie had seemingly crushing openings but they’ve somehow increased takings in Week Two. Biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings too had similar concerns but it has stills reached global grossings of $150 million and out to regain double its budget, eventually.

Here are our predictions for next week.

US:

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson
2. The Woman in Black: Angel of Death – Tom Harper
3. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall
4. Unbroken – Angelina Jolie
5. The Gambler – Rupert Wyatt

UK:

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson
2. The Woman In Black: Angel of Death – Tom Harper
3. Birdman – Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
4. Exodus: Gods and Kings – Ridley Scott
5. Paddington – Paul King

Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, this week’s US and UK number one.