Awards!

Yes that's right, I've decided to show up the Oscars with my very own awards ceremony. The only problem being that I haven't yet been able to see The Social Network or others such as Of Gods And Men or The Kids Are Alright... So instead I shall shamelessly rip off the Kermode awards and only have winners that haven't been nominated for an Oscar for that particular film, except with the additional caveat of being lucky enough to have been seen by me. So here goes!

Best Actress
Honourable mentions:
Chloe Moretz, Kick-Ass
Marion Cotillard, Inception

Winner:
Noomi Rapace, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (well, everyone else seems to be pretending it came out last year...)

Best Actor
Honourable mentions:
Tom Hardy, Inception
Tahar Rahim, A Prophet

Winner:
Casey Affleck, The Killer Inside Me

Best Director
Honourable mentions:
Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island
Jacques Audiard, A Prophet

Winner:
Christopher Nolan, Inception

Best Film
Honourable mentions:
Shutter Island
Kick-Ass

Winner:
A Prophet

Biggest Pile Of Dogshit Masquerading As A Film:
Sex And The City 2

Well, there we have it, 2010 in the films I've seen, that haven't been nominated. Perhaps I shall do a proper one of everything if I see the outstanding films soon enough, but I wouldn't get my hopes up...

Inception

Director: Christopher Nolan. Writer: Christopher Nolan Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, and Michael Caine.

Well. I have finally got round to reviewing possibly the biggest, most highly anticipated film of the year. Go me. I'm not going to even bother trying to explain the intricate plot here. You'll either know it already or you can just use wikipedia, like I would have done. And this way I don't have to put it in my own words so everybody wins. Of course, whilst you're there you could look at what real reviewers think, but I'm sure you're all happy with the cheery amateur...

But I digress. Coming from the mind of Christopher Nolan, Inception is a summer film that doesn't look down on its audience, but treats them with respect and assumes that they have a brain. Unlike most blockbusters these days (ahem, Transformers). As you'd expect from a Nolan picture the cinematography (from long-time Nolan collaborator Wally Pfister) is excellent. Some may argue that it is still a little cold and unemotional at times, but I think that it works rather well, warm and muted tones would not have sat well with the rest of the picture. The special effects were outstanding, and the acting from the all-star cast strong all round. However, the plot is where this film really needed to be strong to live up to the pre-release hype. I'm relieved to say that it is more than adequate for the task. Many have reported the need to see the film twice to understand what was going on, but neither my friends nor I had any trouble at all decyphering the complex - but not overly convoluted - plot and ideas.

I cannot recommend this film enough. This is the must-see film of the year so far for me, despite the excellent Toy Story 3 (reviewed here soon - sorry, bit of self-promoting never hurt anyone!). If nothing else see this film to show Hollywood that people will see a film that isn't in 3D and doesn't patronize its audience.

★★★★★