Review: Silver Linings Playbook

When Crazy Met Crazy...

Quirky indie rom-com Silver Linings Playbook sees Bradley Cooper playing Pat; a man recently freed from a mental hospital after attempting to overcome the undiagnosed bipolar disorder that came to light after catching his wife cheating on him. Living with his parents (played by Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro), Pat tries to get by in life without letting his illness stop him along the way; but when his world collides with Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) - a young woman also suffering from mental illness after the death of her husband - the two kindle a new friendship that allow each other to overcome their disorders and fit back into the world.

Of course he's wearing a bin bag; it's a quirky rom-com, duh...

This latest film from director David O. Russell is about as bipolar from his previous film The Fighter as Cooper's character is within it; and is also just as much unlikely to win the coveted Oscar awards that it is predicted to be nominated for. That is not to say that the film is bad by any means, it just isn't award winning material, and it won't change your life - which is by no means a criticism! Silver Linings Playbook is a perfectly harmless piece of cinematic rom-com material that will suitably fill the appetite of those who are looking for that sort of film. Yet the often prestigious Weinstein production title and the awards season release do little to push the film into the realms of the extraordinary. This is a film that could see nominations coming its way early next year, but ultimately it's highly unlikely that the film will walk away with any awards at all.

But is that really a problem? No, not at all. Whilst the film isn't a game changer, it is certainly a refreshing release within the genre which adds a respectable layer to the film by dealing with the emotional hardships of two good-looking people suffering from mental illness; as opposed to just the emotional hardships of two good-looking people! Although the film doesn't delve quite as far into dealing with and examining the illnesses as much as I'd have liked it to, the film does tastefully approach them as to not offend anyone; and from time to time effective camera movements cleverly create uncomfortable and claustrophobic moments that allow you to momentarily jump inside the minds of these two lost souls as they try to confront the seemingly overwhelming world surrounding them. It's also important to point out that the film is funny too, and does inject a satisfying sense of humour into a tough subject matter in order to make it a satisfying watch.

Lawrence and Cooper rehearsing for the big dance - yes, it has a big dance too!

A solid cast do a sufficient job to bring the story to life, with Lawrence coming fresh out of very successful adaptation of The Hunger Games (of which I was reminded as she makes an intertextual quip about Lord of the Flies) stealing the show. Cooper does a satisfying job with a character who - after pissing around in two Hangover films (the third set for release next summer) - allows him to take on a more challenging role, although as the leading man I'd have liked to have seen him challenge the character even further (a fault, albeit, of the script partially). Robert De Niro provides a pleasant presence in the film, although equally disappointing with the film simultaneously reminding us that his glory days are well behind him now. Chris Tucker - who is supposedly being eyed up for the already rumoured Hollywood remake of this year's remarkable French film Untouchable - gives a glimmer of hope for the film with the actor effortless breathing life into his minor supporting character who also suffers from mental illness.

Despite the push for its awards season release date, Silver Linings Playbook is not a film that will set the world on fire, but one that provides a satisfyingly feel good rom-com experience that does delve into a slightly deeper realm by dealing with the challenging issues of mental illness. Yet whilst the film may leave you with a slight smile on your face and skip in your step, it would have been a far more fulfilling experience if it had been ballsy enough to take a much more challenging look into the life of those suffering from mental illness, which in turn would have made the film's pay off much more rewarding. For the fact that it avoids this, the film that could have been extraordinary falls disappointingly short; but Silver Linings Playbook should satisfy those who do like a good bit of feel good romantic fluff and go in expecting just that.

Verdict: 3/5

Silver Linings Playbook (certificate 15) is now showing in cinemas across the UK.

Have you seen Silver Linings Playbook? Agree or disagree with my review? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below!

...And the Oscar goes to... - Predicting the 2013 Oscar Nominees

So the summer blockbuster season is coming to a close now, and soon we'll be seeing the wave of 'Oscar-bait' films being released as we enter awards season. Now we may be a long way away from the actual Oscars ceremony yet - with nominations due to be announced on January 15th, and the ceremony itself to be held on February 24th - and it may be too soon to accurately predict what will be nominated and what will win; but that doesn't mean I can't give it a try right!? So here's my little experiment; I've drawn up a list of nominees for next year's 85th Academy Awards that I believe are likely to be chosen based on what has been released so far this year and what is due for release in the awards season, as well as looking at the trends and controversies of past Oscar results. Of course this could all be likely to change, as some relatively unknown film could come out of no-where at the last minute and take all the big awards (and if the last two years' big winners The Artist and The King's Speech are anything to go by, this could very well happen); however if I'm even relatively close to getting this right, then that will say a hell of a lot more about the predictability and politics of the Academy and could provide an interesting debate next February...

So who will be 2013's big winner then!? Well if my predictions are accurate next year's awards ceremony will be a two horse race (similar to this year's with Scorsese's Hugo and Hazanavicius' The Artist) between Christopher Nolan's epic BatFinale The Dark Knight Rises and the Wachowski brothers' (The Matrix) upcoming film Cloud Atlas. Now some of you may be thinking "hang on, those are two big budget Hollywood films - doesn't the Academy only like small budget art-house stuff?" Well no actually, the Academy has been known to nominate and praise a lot of big budget Hollywood films (mega-budget Avatar was nominated for best picture in 2010), and in fact a lot of them have actually won the Best Picture award (including Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King). Besides that, what both of these films have in common is that they both to some extent actually bridge this divide by being big budget Hollywood art house films - both sporting an Oscar worthy cast of actors who have won in the past. Just from watching its trailer you can see how that logic applies to Cloud Atlas, which with its large and ambitious scale focuses on a story of humanity and life - and judging by some early reviews that have surfaced this morning after last night's première, it looks like it's got the potential to be a big hit (although one that will potentially divide a lot of audiences), and it certainly will be when the Academy give it their seal of approval.

As for The Dark Knight Rises, not only is this a brilliant piece of filmmaking that well and truly deserves the recognition, I also think that there is more to it than that - enter the Oscar politics! For this case I'm going to bring in two examples; The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and The Departed. Both of these films won the best picture for two very different reasons, and in each case arguably for not being the best film of the year! It is widely believed that Return of the King did so well at the Oscars as recognition for the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy - and I don't think that I need to point out how this is a similar scenario to Christopher Nolan's brilliant Dark Knight Trilogy do I!? As for The Departed, most people will agree that the Oscar was awarded to this as recognition for Martin Scorsese's entire career after not having won any Oscars for any of his previous films - which the majority of people will agree are better and more original than English language re-make The Departed. Now there was a small bit of controversy back in 2011 when Christopher Nolan was not nominated for the Directing category for his brilliant film Inception - and that there is a strong chance that the Academy will see this as 'Nolan's turn'. If you take all of these factors into account, I think that The Dark Knight Rises does stand a pretty good chance of doing very well at the Oscars next February and possibly taking the big prize.

As for the other big contenders, I think the main ones in the running for a lot of categories but mainly Best Picture will be the following: Tarantino's Django Unchained, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (the dark horse that could be this years The King's Speech/The Artist if Harvey Weinstein has his way as he so often does), Tom Hooper's Les Misérables (which almost certainly won't win Best Picture or Direction after Director Tom Hooper won just two years ago for The King's Speech), Spielberg's Lincoln (not to be confused with the one about his fighting vampires...), and possibly Ang Lee's Life of Pi, Ben Affleck's Argo, and the Coen Bros. Gambit - and it is likely that other films will join this list over the next few months. Some of these are very likely to scoop some awards in a couple of categories, and some of them are very likely to win nothing at all - I do still feel that the night will belong to Cloud Atlas or The Dark Knight Rises or both though - of course, only time will tell...

So without further ado - exclusively on Beyond Infinity Film a whole 4 months and 6 days before the academy will announce it themselves - the nominee's for the 85th Academy Awards:

(Nominees in bold represent who I predict will stand a good chance of winning.) 

Best Picture:
The Dark Knight Rises; Cloud Atlas; Django Unchained; The Master; Les Misérables; Lincoln; Life of Pi; Argo, Gambit. (Possibly more...)


Actor In a Leading Role:
Tom Hanks - Cloud Atlas; Joaquin Phoenix - The Master; Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln; Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables; Jamie Foxx - Django Unchained. (Possible nominee: Christian Bale - The Dark Knight Rises).

Actress In a Leading Role:
Halle Berry - Cloud Atlas; Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables; Keira Knightley - Anna Karenina; other two nominees to be confirmed.

Actor In a Supporting Role:
Michael Caine - The Dark Knight Rises (a small role that brought an extraordinary emotional weight to the film); Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master; Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained; either Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman - The Dark Knight Rises or two actors from Cloud Atlas (or one from each). 

Actress In a Supporting Role:
Anne Hathaway - The Dark Knight Rises (if not nominated for Leading Actress - either category the nomination would be for both roles); Amy Adams - The Master; other three nominees to be confirmed.

Animated Feature Film:
Brave; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (titled in America: The Pirates! Band of Misfits); Wreck-It Ralph; Frankenweenie; other nominee to be confirmed.

Cinematography:
Wally Pfister - The Dark Knight Rises; Cloud Atlas; Django Unchained; Les Misérables; Lincoln. 

Art Direction:
The Dark Knight Rises; Cloud Atlas; Django Unchained; Les Misérables; Life of Pi. 

Costume Design:
Cloud Atlas; Lincoln; Les Misérables; Django Unchained; The Dark Knight Rises.

Directing:
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight Rises; Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master; Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski - Cloud Atlas; Tom Hooper - Les Misérables; Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained; Steven Spielberg - Lincoln. Note: only five directors will be nominated in this category - I can't decide which one of these won't though!

Documentary Feature:
Into the Abyss: a Tale of Death, a Tale of Life; The Imposter; other three nominees to be confirmed. 

Documentary Short:
To be confirmed.

Film Editing:
The Dark Knight Rises; Cloud Atlas; Django Unchained; Les Misérables; Lincoln.

Foreign Language Film:
To be confirmed.

Makeup:
Lincoln; Les Misérables; Cloud Atlas. 

Music (Original Score):
The Dark Knight Rises; Les Misérables; Cloud Atlas; Lincoln; Django Unchained. Note: I'm not entirely sure if The Dark Knight Rises or Les Misérables are allowed to be nominated here if their score are not entirely original (based on music from the previous films and the stage show respectively).

Music (Original Song):
Les Misérables (one song has been written for the film); other four nominees to be confirmed (the Academy has announced that this will be the first year that five songs will be nominated for the award, after last year only two being nominated).

Short Film (Animated):
To be confirmed.

Short Film (Live Action):
To be confirmed.

Sound Editing:
The Dark Knight Rises; Cloud Atlas; Les Misérables; Avengers Assemble (titled in America: The Avengers); Berberian Sound Studio.

Sound Mixing:
The Dark Knight Rises; Cloud Atlas; Les Misérables; Avengers Assemble (titled in America: The Avengers); Berberian Sound Studio. 

Visual Effects: 
The Dark Knight Rises; Cloud Atlas; Skyfall; Avengers Assemble (titled in America: The Avengers); Berberian Sound Studio. 

Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
The Dark Knight Rises; Cloud Atlas; Django Unchained; Les Misérables; Life of Pi. 

Writing (Original Screenplay):
Lincoln; The Master; other three nominees to be confirmed. 

So there you have it folks! Of course it's still very early days, and all of this could change completely within the space of a week or so, but let's just wait and see how this little experiment pans out. Of course it says a lot about how predictable the Academy is if these predictions are even remotely accurate, especially considering that most of these films haven't even been released yet! It'll certainly be interesting when the nominees are announced on January 15th - and it'll be even more interesting when the BAFTA nominees are released too as forerunner Cloud Atlas isn't released in the UK until March, making it inapplicable for any nominations...

So what do you think of my prediction? Wrong or Right? Who do you think will win on the night? Have I missed anything off, or is it just too soon to make a prediction like this? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Beyond Infinity Film Celebrates: The Artist!

I may have already reviewed the film back at the start of January (my first ever review no less!), but after its overwhelming and much deserved successes all award ceremonies including the big two; The BAFTAs and The Oscars, I feel it's only right to give some more attention to what is a truly remarkable film - The Artist.

Back at the start of January when I first saw and reviewed The Artist, very few people had heard about the film, and it's staggered release meant that many of those who had couldn't see it anyway. Now however is a very different picture. Riding off the back of its many award successes, The Artist is now playing in many cinemas up and down the country, and last week my local independent cinema (the fantastic Gulbenkian cinema in Canterbury) showed it all week, with sell out showings on a nightly basis! I decided this week to go and see the film again, and it has to be said that for me, this second viewing was a very special moment; in fact I'd probably go as far as to say the best cinema experience that I've ever had! Whilst the first time I saw it, there were only 5 to 7 people in the entire cinema, here the screening was sold-out. The handful of people in the cheap chain multiplex cinema who sat munching loud crisps in my ear throughout the film had been replaced by a large audience of cinema goers who all were enthralled by the magic of the film. And there I was - right in the audience scenes from the film itself! I spoke fondly of these moments in my review saying how I wish that cinema was a special today as it was back then, as seen in a number of the films scenes, and in a rare moment in modern cinema I was there. This for me was a truly amazing moment, with the entire audience laughing along and enjoying the film together; it was a true experience elevating the film up to something special. Back in 2009 with the release of Avatar, millions of people around the world flooded to cinemas to see what was an event film; The Artist is like this too, except the event for this is far superior than Avatar's gimmicky CGI/3D effects - it is the heart and soul of the film that by taking us back to its roots reminds us why we love cinema and why it is so special to us all.

 The cast and crew of The Artist celebrate their triumph at The Oscars

The Artist truly is a cinematic triumph on so many levels, and I am so proud to see it receive all of the attention and awards that it so rightfully deserves. I'd like to personally congratulate every single person involved in creating this film, especially the incredible works of director and screenwriter Michel Hazanavicius, and the wonderful lead performances of Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo who drive forward the story and bring it to life - it's so rare to see a film as special as this, and so exciting to also see what is technically an almost silent French film in the 4:3 format and black and white achieving such success today!

Now let's celebrate The Artist with number of special videos! Firstly in case you missed it, here is the moment that The Artist became the first silent film to win the Oscar for best picture in 83 years!:

 

This next and very insightful video goes behind the scenes of the film and talks to the people behind it:

And now for a bit more fun - a very entertaining blooper reel from the film:

After winning the BAFTA and the Oscar for Best Leading Actor, Funny or Die asks what will Jean Dujardin do next in this hilarious sketch:

And finally, for many people the real star of the show was a very talented little dog named Uggie, and here he is on American chat show Ellen showing off some of his acting talents:

The Artist is still showing in cinemas across the UK - so catch it whilst you still can!

Have you seen The Artist? What did you think? Leave your comments below!

2012 BAFTA Results!

 

 The winners of the 2012 BAFTA Awards

So the BAFTAs were last night, and if you remember back to one of my first blogs back in January, I made a prediction for each category as to who would win. The idea was to then look back on my predictions and see how close I was! So let's have a look at how well I did...

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BEST FILM

• Prediction: THE ARTIST Thomas Langmann
• Winner: THE ARTIST Thomas Langmann

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

• Prediction: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
• Winner: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

• Prediction: TYRANNOSAUR Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)
• Winner: TYRANNOSAUR Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• Prediction: THE SKIN I LIVE IN Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar
• Winner: THE SKIN I LIVE IN Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

DOCUMENTARY

• Prediction: SENNA Asif Kapadia
• Winner: SENNA Asif Kapadia

ANIMATED FILM

• Prediction: THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Steven Spielberg
• Winner: RANGO Gore Verbinski 

DIRECTOR

• Prediction: THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
• Winner: THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Prediction: THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
• Winner: THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Prediction: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
• Winner: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

LEADING ACTOR

• Prediction: JEAN DUJARDIN The Artist
• Winner: JEAN DUJARDIN The Artist 

 
LEADING ACTRESS

• Prediction: MERYL STREEP The Iron Lady
• Winner: MERYL STREEP The Iron Lady

 
SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Prediction: JIM BROADBENT The Iron Lady
• Winner: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER Beginners

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Prediction: CAREY MULLIGAN Drive
• Winner: OCTAVIA SPENCER The Help

ORIGINAL MUSIC

• Prediction: THE ARTIST Ludovic Bource
• Winner: THE ARTIST Ludovic Bource

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Prediction: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Hoyte van Hoytema
• Winner: THE ARTIST Guillaume Schiffman

EDITING

• Prediction: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Dino Jonsater
• Winner: SENNA Gregers Sall, Chris King

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Prediction: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
• Winner: HUGO Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo

COSTUME DESIGN

• Prediction: JANE EYRE Michael O’Connor
• Winner: THE ARTIST Mark Bridges

MAKE UP & HAIR

• Prediction: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
• Winner: THE IRON LADY Marese Langan

SOUND

• Prediction: THE ARTIST Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
• Winner: HUGO Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

• Prediction: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
• Winner: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery 

SHORT ANIMATION

• Prediction: A MORNING STROLL Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe
• Winner: A MORNING STROLL Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM

• Prediction: ONLY SOUND REMAINS Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
• Winner: PITCH BLACK HEIST John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn 

THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)

• Prediction: CHRIS O’DOWD
• Winner: ADAM DEACON

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So there you go, in total I got 13 correct guesses and 11 wrong; not too bad I guess!? Overall I am happy with these results and winners of the night, and glad to see The Artist (Click here for my review) clean up as the big winner of the night - just as it deserved to.

Let's end off with some footage from the night itself, hosted from the Red Carpet by the glamorous Miss Piggy, the star of the fantastic new film The Muppets (Click here for my review) as she flirts and mingles with some of the stars.

  

How well did you do? Did you beat me? Leave your comments below!

2012 BAFTA Film Awards Nominations and Predictions

So it's that time of year again - awards season, and with the party already started with the Golden Globes, it's time to turn our attention towards the two main awards ceremonies that are actually worth paying attention to: The BAFTAs and The Oscars. With the release of the BAFTA nominations earlier this week, I thought it'd be interesting to post the nominees here and to make a prediction as to who will win for each category (my predicted winner will be in red and bold for each category), so we can then look back after the ceremony on the 12th of February and see just how close I was! So without further ado, let's begin...

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BEST FILM

• THE ARTIST Thomas Langmann
• THE DESCENDANTS Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
• DRIVE Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
• THE HELP Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this year the awards belong to The Artist. Having already performed well at the Golden Globes, it is inevitable that this film will go on with the same success at the upcoming BAFTAs and Oscars. I'd confidently put money on The Artist winning the best film award for both of these ceremonies.
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

• MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
• SENNA Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
• SHAME Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
• WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox​, Robert Salerno, Rory Stewart Kinnear

Whilst I'd love to see Lynne Ramsay's incredible film We Need to Talk About Kevin win this award as one of, if not my favourite films of last year, however I'm putting my money on Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy to win this one. Also on of the year's best films, Tinker, Tailor featured an incredible cast, soundtrack and cinematography to create a truly fantastic adaptation of John le Carré's bestselling novel.

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

• ATTACK THE BLOCK Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
• BLACK POND Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
• CORIOLANUS Ralph Fiennes (Director)
• SUBMARINE Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
• TYRANNOSAUR Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

This is a bit of a tough one, and we could see a surprise winner come out of this category. The three that instantly jump out at me are Attack the Block, Submarine and Tyrannosaur to take the award, but to pick one of the three I think it will be Tyrannosaur that will just take the lead, although Attack the Block could give it a run for its money and take an unexpected victory on the evening...

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• INCENDIES Denis Villeneuve, Luc Déry, Kim McGraw
• PINA Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
• POTICHE François Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
• A SEPARATION Asghar Farhadi
• THE SKIN I LIVE IN Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

If there is any justice in the world, then this award will go to Pedro Almodóvar's incredible horror piece The Skin I Live In. Also one of my top films of 2011, Almodóvar's film will genuinely leave you exiting the cinema in a state of psychological trauma - and as my roommate said as we left the cinema: "have you seen the Human Centipede? Yeah, this film was worse than THAT!..."

DOCUMENTARY

• GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD Martin Scorsese
• PROJECT NIM James Marsh, Simon Chinn
• SENNA Asif Kapadia

The clear favourite to win the best documentary award is by far and away Senna. I'd be very surprised if this film doesn't win the award here after the critics and general audiences, and racing fans and people who had never even heard of Senna alike were blown away by such a moving film. It is interesting to note however that the film failed to make onto the Oscar nomination longlist for the best documentary in what was a rather controversial move by the Academy - so the film definitely won't get an Oscar, but it'll be the favourite to win here.

ANIMATED FILM

• THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Steven Spielberg
• ARTHUR CHRISTMAS Sarah Smith
• RANGO Gore Verbinski

Tintin to win-win! The Spielberg directed picture was a return to form for the world's most famous film director, with a fantastic adventure film that harkened back to the days of Spielberg's earlier works, in particular Raiders of the Lost Arc. Having just won at the Golden Globes for the same category this is my favourite to win here too.

DIRECTOR

• THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
• DRIVE Nicolas Winding Refn
• HUGO Martin Scorsese
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson
• WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay

The Artist is in my opinion going to be the inevitable big winner this year, so the odds of the best director award going to French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius look pretty good; and it'd be a justified win too though, after all it's no easy task to make a new film that looks like it was made nearly a decade ago, especially one of this standard.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
• BRIDESMAIDS Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
• THE GUARD John Michael McDonagh
• THE IRON LADY Abi Morgan
• MIDNIGHT IN PARIS: Woody Allen

You may find it a be a bit odd to see what is an almost entirely silent film get my nod for the best original screenplay award (and if you think that's weird, wait 'til you get to the sound nominations...), however a screenplay is just as important here even without the dialogue (although it was obviously written anyway for the actors to say regardless - with the sound removed in post-production), but for a film as good as The Artist, which is up against not a lot of competition for this category (although I thought that The Guard is fantastic, and Midnight in Paris did just win the Golden Globe for its screenplay, so that could provide some small competition for the awards maverick of 2012...)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• THE DESCENDANTS Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
• THE HELP Tate Taylor
• THE IDES OF MARCH George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
• MONEYBALL Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

Another tough category, but I'm going to predict that the highly succesful Tinker, Tailor will fly the lfag for the British film industry here and win this award. Although if anyone of these tough competitors can give it a run for its money, then it'll be Moneyball which was written by one of the best screenwriters in Hollywood today: Aaron Sorkin.

LEADING ACTOR

• BRAD PITT Moneyball
• GARY OLDMAN Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• GEORGE CLOONEY The Descendants
• JEAN DUJARDIN The Artist
• MICHAEL FASSBENDER Shame

Gary Oldman became an early favourite for the best actor award after the release of Tinker, Tailor last September, however with The Artist dominating the awards season and Jean Dujardin having already secured award wins for his role in the film, it's a fair bet to put him as favourite to win. Although I wouldn't be surprised to see Oldman win it on the night though, or even dark horse Michael Fassbender either...

LEADING ACTRESS

• BÉRÉNICE BEJO The Artist
• MERYL STREEP The Iron Lady
• MICHELLE WILLIAMS My Week with Marilyn
• TILDA SWINTON We Need to Talk About Kevin
• VIOLA DAVIS The Help

Critics have appeared to be a bit hit and miss in their reviews of The Iron Lady, but despite whatever they may think about the film as a whole, most seem to be in agreement that Meryl Streep's performance as Maggie Thatcher seems to be a winner. Although I'd love to see Tilda Switon take it for her role in We need to Talk About Kevin which was one of if not my top film of the year.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER Beginners
• JIM BROADBENT The Iron Lady
• JONAH HILL Moneyball
• KENNETH BRANAGH My Week with Marilyn
• PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN The Ides of March

For me there are no real stand out winners here for this category, it really could go to any one of these five nominees. As a complete stab in the dark, I'd instinctively say that it would go to either Jim Broadbent or Kenneth Branagh, possibly Philip Seymour Hoffman as a bit of a dark horse, but I think if I had to make a bet on it, I'd put my money on Broadbent.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• CAREY MULLIGAN Drive
• JESSICA CHASTAIN The Help
• JUDI DENCH My Week with Marilyn
• MELISSA MCCARTHY Bridesmaids
• OCTAVIA SPENCER The Help

Once again, just like the previous category this could go to anyone in this category. Although if I were to make a guess I'd say that the award could possibly go to Carey Mulligan, a young and talented British actress who has quickly risen the ranks to become a very well-known and much sought after actress in the industry.

ORIGINAL MUSIC

• THE ARTIST Ludovic Bource
• THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
• HUGO Howard Shore
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Alberto Iglesias
• WAR HORSE John Williams

Whilst the great John Williams is nominated for War Horse, and Tinker, Tailor featured a fantastic soundtrack from Alberto Iglesias, the award will go to The Artist (as will most) as let's face it, in a silent film the music become even more important, and this film work with that skilfully.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• THE ARTIST Guillaume Schiffman
• THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Jeff Cronenweth
• HUGO Robert Richardson
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Hoyte van Hoytema
• WAR HORSE Janusz Kaminski

You know what, I'm gonna give The Artist a break here (despite also having great cinematography) and say that the award for cinematography will go to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy which in my opinion would well and truly deserve to win this award with its incredible cinematography.

EDITING

• THE ARTIST Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
• DRIVE Mat Newman
• HUGO Thelma Schoonmaker
• SENNA Gregers Sall, Chris King
• TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER SPY Dino Jonsater

Hmm... tough one! If I'm honest I'm really not sure which one to pick here, as all of them use editing very well. I think I'll back the British again and go for Tinker, Tailor again here (let's not let The Artist get too big-headed!)

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• THE ARTIST Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
• HUGO Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
• WAR HORSE Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

Yet again this one's anyone's award to win. Whilst I'd love to see Tinker, Tailor win this award with its fantastic set design and use of mise-en-scene, I'm going to put money on it going to the final film in the Harry Potter franchise which does deserve some sort of nod at these awards for what it's done for the British film industry, and its extravogant fantasy sets do do a very effective job in bringing the world to life.

COSTUME DESIGN

• THE ARTIST Mark Bridges
• HUGO Sandy Powell
• JANE EYRE Michael O’Connor
• MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jill Taylor
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Jacqueline Durran

Once again, all of these nominees are worthy contenders and could easily take home this award. Usually this sort of award can be expected to go to some sort of period drama in which creating such a wardrobe of costumes is no easy feat, which puts Jane Eyre into the spotlight. Although despite this, I find it hard to resist putting forward The Artist again.... actually I've just changed my mind; period drama - the award goes to Jane Eyre.

MAKE UP & HAIR

• THE ARTIST Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
• HUGO Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
• THE IRON LADY Marese Langan
• MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jenny Shircore

Whilst instinctively (as with all of the applicable categories) my gut says The Artist, I can't help but think that Mr Potter could take this one as well along with production design. Hmm... Harry Potter (I don't know why I did that little dramatic pause, you could see who I predicted above anyway!)

SOUND

• THE ARTIST Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
• HUGO Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
• WAR HORSE Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

The Artist - although there is sort of irony about a silent film winning the award for sound!

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

• THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Joe Letteri
• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
• HUGO Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
• RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
• WAR HORSE Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

All of these films feature fantastic special visual effects, but the award will almost definitely go to Harry Potter, just on principle really - with the success that it's brought to the British film industry and as this is the last film of the franchise as well.

SHORT ANIMATION

• ABUELAS Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
• BOBBY YEAH Robert Morgan
• A MORNING STROLL Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

I'll admit here I have no idea! I've not seen any of these films nor have I even heard of any of them! Hang on, brb, Googling.... Ok so I just found trailers for the latter two, and whilst Bobby Yeah featured some pretty cool stop motion animation, A Morning Stroll had a very cool and unique stylistic look to it and most importantly - a catchy little soundtrack!

SHORT FILM

• CHALK Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
• MWANSA THE GREAT Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
• ONLY SOUND REMAINS Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
• PITCH BLACK HEIST John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn
• TWO AND TWO Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

Yet again like with the animated short category - not got a clue here! As I can't be bothered to google these as there are even more here than the previous category, I'm going to just pick one out at random: Only Sound Remains (it'll be hilarious if I get this one right! Just sayin'...)

THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)

• ADAM DEACON
• CHRIS HEMSWORTH
• CHRIS O’DOWD
• EDDIE REDMAYNE
• TOM HIDDLESTON

Finally reached the final category, it's only taken me a week to do so! Ok so this one's voted for by the public, and whilst I think all of these guys are great and upcoming actors and directors, Chris O'Dowd will undoubtedly get the public's love after starring in the incredibly popular and much-loved TV series The IT Crowd.

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So there we are, and if you managed to read through all of that well then kudos to you! Make sure to pop back to the blog after the awards ceremony on the 12th February to find out how many of my predictions were right (wish me luck, my heads on the line here!). I was planning on doing one for the Oscars too when those nominations are released, but this took ages and I have other stuff to do too; but just in case keep your eyes peeled for that too! (maybe...)

Agree or disagree? Leave your comments below on what you think about the BAFTA nominations and who you think will win!