We Don't Need Two Metaphors

Some last minute predictions for tonight's Academy Awards. As per usual, some awards are all but sewn up whilst others are wide open. Picks for Will Win and Could Win choices are based on all nominated films, Should Win choices are only based on the films I have seen. Brief list of some of the films that I haven't seen:  The Big Short ,  Trumbo ,  The Danish Girl ,  Joy ,  Creed ,  Straight Outta Compton ,  Son of Saul. Best Film Will Win:  The Revenant Could Win:  The Big Short Should Win:  Spotlight Best Director Will Win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu ( The Revenant ) Could Win: George Miller ( Mad Max: Fury Road ) Should Win: George Miller ( Mad Max: Fury Road )

Its status as an ever present competitor in this year's awards season has perhaps caused the momentum behind Spotlight  to dwindle as the race reaches its end, which means it will likely lose to the much showier (and gruntier/more grunty/?) The Revenant .  That's a shame, not only because Spotlight  is one of the year's very best, but because it's a magnificent testimonial to the shrinking practice of long term journalism and a fascinating exploration of how the deep rooted influence of an institution such as the Catholic Church can directly and indirectly affect the people of Boston.

Independent or arthouse horror has had a couple of notable hits in the last year or two with The Babadook and It Follows and whilst it deserves to sit alongside the both of them as a terrific film, The Witch is very much it’s own beast and deserves to be approached as such. Aptly described as a New England Folk tale, The Witch transports us to 17 th century New England where an English family set up a new home for themselves on the edge of an imposing forest, after being expelled from the local township. The family unit soon begins to crack when their young baby is snatched from under the nose of eldest child Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy).

Moments of sheer beauty and raw brutality, but they’re simply not enough to make a great movie; let alone a film that’s 8 hours long (it is 8 hours long, right?). Ok so it’s only a little over 2 and a half hours, but boy does it feel like a whole lot more thanks to its minimal story. There’s nothing wrong with making a film that’s lighter on plot than your typical Christopher Nolan thriller, but the film’s running time should reflect that. The opening skirmish is great, as is the final fracas, but everything else is drawn out almost to the point of ridicule. What’s even more frustrating is that what little story there is, isn’t competently told. There’s no driving force to the film that leaves you feeling unsure of where the story is going next, but also arrives at what you instinctively feel is the right. Instead, The Revenant sticks with Hugh Glass (Leonardo di Caprio) as he grunts and slides his way across the wilderness, occasionally looking in on other supporting characte...

A film of two halves, both structurally and in terms of quality. The film is a mostly well-handled exploration of a most horrific situation; Ma (Brie Larson) raises her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), conceived and born in the 10 foot by 10 foot space that they both call Room. Jack knows nothing of the outside world but when their captor, known only as Old Nick, begins to take an interest in Jack, Ma decides that the time has come to get out for good. It’s a near hopeless situation that Jack and Ma find themselves in but Ma’s love for Jack keeps her going, even if his youthful innocence and exuberance sometimes leaves her exhausted. The escape is a brilliantly tense sequence that leads to an overwhelming emotional release when Jack gets his first glimpse of the outside world; director Lenny Abrahamson beautifully captures the look of shock and wonder Jacob Tremblay’s face. It’s a high point that the film never comes close to matching, now matter how desperately it wants to. There’s...

Yes it's good, but only to a point. Asif Kapadia's overlong documentary is ultimately hindered by its challenging structure and the production's relationship with Amy Winehouse's family. The use of interviews heard over home movie and footage and photos from public appearances gives the journey through Amy's early life an impeccable and raw authenticity but there are times, particularly towards the end, when I wanted to see the faces of those talking. We don't just express emotion through the intonations of speech and Kapadia denies us from the facial expression of those involved. A lot of the film is composed of paparazzi photographs and video used in magazines and news programmes that the film partially criticizes for the continued hounding of Amy Winehouse. It just about gets away with this for a while, but the use of footage from Amy's private funeral felt a little hypocritical and frankly uncomfortable. Kapadia and co. initially ha...