Piledriver!

The largest night in the British cinema calendar kicked off yesterday and it was one that Brits can be proud of. Yes there was a lack of British films nominated this year but those that where shone.

It looked to be a night of Avatar versus The Hurt Locker and (I am happy to say) The Hurt Locker trounced Avatar. Avatar did however gain the awards it deserved, such as Production Design and Special Effects but was held with only those.

Kirstern Stewart winning the ‘Orange Rising Star Award’ and Christoph Waltz winning Best Supporting Actor where dead sets. It would have been nice to see ‘In The Loop’ win Best Adapted but Up In The Air won out. whilst The Hurt Locker beat The Hangover, District 9, Inglorious Basterds and Up to win ‘Original Screenplay’.

The big shocks of the night where Colin Firth winning Best Actor but deservedly so so ‘A Single Man’ and James Cameron not winning Best Director.

It was nice to see BAFTA not giving Avatar the recognition that it felt it deserved but didn’t. Usually awards nights such as these can have the potential to award to the wrong people (ie Shakespeare in Love) or get taken up with the hype. The BAFTA’s have signalled that now the dust has settled Avatar is perhaps not as worthy as people thought and perhaps Up should be taken out of the insulting catergory of ‘Animated Film’ and nominated instead of it. Give me talking dogs, old men, boy scouts and huge blue birds over the Na’vi anyday!

Here is a list of the main winners-

BEST FILM
The Hurt Locker

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Fish Tank

LEADING ACTOR
Colin Firth, A Single Man

LEADING ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan, An Education

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Baster

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mo’nique, Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire

DIRECTOR
The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Duncan Jones, Moon (Director)

‘Piledriver’ is an impressive and darkly humourous short film (at 13 minutes) that I have found on the web. Created by Calvin Reader it follows the coming together of a woman and a man who love each other, but it all ends badly….. very badly.

Give it a look at -
http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/piledriver/

*Viewer discretion is advised*

Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill. Rated 15. Runtime 98 minutes

The world is under the grip of a virus that has turned all humans into bloodsuckers, immortal and allergic to sunlight. Resulting in a world where people only go out at dark, have anti-sunlight homes and the remaining humans are farmed for their blood. In the midst of all this is Ethan Hawke’s compassionate vampire who is researching for a blood substitute which would replace the need to farm humans. The plot can be mistaken as odd but is brilliantly strung together with the mutant vampires called ’subsiders’ adding the scariest monster and moment in the film. However, this is not strictly a vampire film. It kicks Twilight: New Moon’s twinkling butt but can’t be judged as a vampire film but rather more of a human film for in Daybreakers humans are the minoritory. This puts forward new ideas, in most vampire films people fear vampires as the small amount of them that can be anywhere, whereas in Daybreakers they are everywhere creating a fascinating new parallel in the vampire genre that is so popular now.

The film’s ending is splattered with gore, at one point a chunk of human can be seen flying across in the corner of the screen and that can somewhat spoil the feature, as it leaves you thinking that in no way was the film was a 15. It isn’t for the squiemish as there is a constant use of needles and blood even for a film with vampires in it. The constant jumps and shocks Daybreakers gives out result in the film being almost perversely humourous. It could have done without a lot of the gore and the ending could be compared to a hardworking school boy rushing the conclusion to his exam essay in order to finish but it is a highly enjoyable film.

7 out of 10 – If I was in HMV and I saw it just out, I’d wait until it was at least £8

The return of Disney Pixar’s TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 to the big screen kicks off a Disney Digital 3D Toy Story celebration, which culminates in a brand new adventure starring Buzz and Woody: “Toy Story 3”— in cinemas July 23, 2010

Release date: 2nd October 2009
Certificate: tbc
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger,
Annie Potts, John Morris, Erik von Detten, Laurie Metcalf, R. Lee Ermey
Director: John Lasseter
Music by: Randy Newman
Synopsis: They’re toys, they talk—at least when people aren’t around—and they’re back… celebrating the return of the “Toy Story” franchise—this time in Disney Digital 3D?! TOY STORY, the film that started it all, takes moviegoers back to that fantastic fun-filled journey, viewed mostly through the eyes of two rival toys— Woody (voice of TOM HANKS), the lanky, likable cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear (voice of TIM ALLEN), the fearless space ranger. The comically-mismatched duo eventually learn to put aside their differences when circumstances separate them from their owner Andy and they find themselves on a hilarious adventure-filled mission where the only way they can survive is to form an uneasy alliance.

Notes:
• TOY STORY, originally released on November 22, 1995, was the first fully computer animated feature film and the highest grossing movie of the year with nearly $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide.
• The four people behind the original story of TOY STORY—John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and the late Joe Ranft—are the key creatives (writers and/or directors) responsible for most of Disney?Pixar’s subsequent releases: “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.” “Finding Nemo,” “Cars,” “WALL•E” and the 2009 release “Up.”
• TOY STORY was nominated for three Academy Awards® and two Golden Globes.® TOY STORY 2 was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture/Comedy Musical. TOY STORY 2 also won a Grammy® for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or other Visual Media (Randy Newman, “When She Loved Me”).
• Director John Lasseter was awarded a Special Achievement Award (Oscar®) by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his “inspired leadership of the Pixar TOY STORY team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film.”
• John Lasseter made his feature film directing debut with TOY STORY in 1995. He has since directed such Pixar classics as “A Bug’s Life,” TOY STORY 2 and “Cars” and served as executive producer of all other Pixar films to date. He is currently the chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor of Walt Disney Imagineering.
• TOY STORY 2 is the first animated sequel to gross more than its original.
• TOY STORY 2 broke opening weekend box office records in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan, and became the highest grossing animated release of 1999 with more than $245 million in domestic box office receipts and $485 million worldwide.
• TOY STORY 2 is the first film ever to be entirely created, mastered and exhibited digitally.

“Funny People” hits UK Cinemas Friday 28th August.

Check out the trailer:

Out in cinemas soon…

We attended the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen press conference back in June of this year and had the opportunity of briefly speaking to the stars of the film. Check it out in all 4 parts below:

Our personal favourite piece of footage from our old stuff is a chat with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on the red carpet of his latest movie Race to Witch Mountain. We ask him about his career and returning to wrestling.

We also got to speak to co-star, Ciaran Hinds.