The 2015 BAFTA nominations are in!

The 2015 BAFTA nominations are in. They were announced this morning on Facebook, the ceremony will take place on February 8^th hosted by usual BAFTA distributor Stephen Fry.

So who has done well? The Grand Budapest Hotel (TBBR’s favourite film of 2014) leads the way with an amazing 11 nominations with Birdman and The Theory of Everything (reviews to come) each with 10, respectively. Pride has also picked up 3 nominations which it has a good chance of snatching.

Here is the nominations list in full:

Best Film

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

Outstanding British Film

'71
The Imitation Game
Paddington
Pride
The Theory Of Everything
Under The Skin
 

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer

Elaine Constantine (Writer/Director) Northern Soul
Gregory Burke (Writer), Yann Demange (Director) ’71
Hong Khaou (Writer/Director) Lilting
Paul Katis (Director/Producer), Andrew De Lotbiniere (Producer) Kajaki: The True Story
Stephen Beresford (Writer), David Livingstone (Producer) Pride

Best Film Not In The English Language

Ida
Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Trash
Two Days, One Night

Best Documentary 

20 Feet From Stardom
20,000 Days On Earth
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Virunga

Best Animated Film

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie

Best Director

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman 
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
James Marsh, The Theory Of Everything
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash

Best Original Screenplay

Birdman - Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
Boyhood - Richard Linklater
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy
Whiplash - Damien Chazelle

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper - Jason Hall
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game - Graham Moore
Paddington - Paul King
The Theory Of Everything - Anthony McCarten

Best Leading Actor 

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

Best Leading Actress

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

Best Supporting Actor

Edward Norton - Birdman
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
Steve Carell - Foxcatcher

Best Supporting Actress

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

Best Original Music

Birdman - Antonio Sanchez
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
The Theory Of Everything - Jóhann Jóhannsson
Under The Skin - Mica Levi

Best Cinematography

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

Best Editing

Birdman - Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game - William Goldenberg
Nightcrawler - John Gilroy
The Theory Of Everything - Jinx Godfrey
Whiplash - Tom Cross

Best Production Design

Big Eyes - Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
Interstellar - Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
Mr. Turner - Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

Best Costume Design

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Milena Canonero
The Imitation Game - Sammy Sheldon Differ
Into The Woods - Colleen Atwood
Mr. Turner - Jacqueline Durran
The Theory Of Everything - Steven Noble

Best Make-Up And Hair

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Frances Hannon
Guardians Of The Galaxy - Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
Into The Woods - Peter Swords King, J. Roy Helland
Mr. Turner - Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
The Theory Of Everything -  Jan Sewell

Best Sound

American Sniper - Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
Birdman - Thomas Varga, Martin Hernández, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
The Imitation Game - John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen
Whiplash - Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann

Best Special Visual Effects

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
Guardians Of The Galaxy - Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas Aithadi
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
Interstellar - Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley
X-Men: Days Of Future Past - Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

Best British Short Animation

The Bigger Picture - Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka
Monkey Love Experiments - Ainslie Henderson, Cam Fraser, Will Anderson
My Dad - Marcus Armitage

Best British Short Film

Boogaloo And Graham - Brian J. Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
Emotional Fusebox - Michael Berliner, Rachel Tunnard
The Karman Line - Campbell Beaton, Dawn King, Tiernan Hanby, Oscar Sharp
Slap - Islay Bell-Webb, Michelangelo Fano, Nick Rowland
Three Brothers - Aleem Khan, Matthieu de Braconier, Stephanie Paeplow

The EE Rising Star Award

Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jack O'Connell
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley

Who are your favourites to take home the shiny gold faces?

The BIG 2015 Preview

2015 looks set to be a massive year for film! The Bigger Boat Reviews is giving you the heads up on which films to keep an eye out for this year!

January

Birdman

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts

Release Date: January 1

Keaton plays a faded Hollywood star made famous for portraying a superhero. That rings a bell a bit.

Foxcatcher

Director: Bennett Miller

Starring: Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo.

Release Date: January 9

Based on the true story surrounding John du Pont (Carrell) hires Mark Schultz (Tatum) to lead a team to Olympic triumph leading to life changing events.

The Theory of Everything

Director: James Marsh

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, David Thewlis, Emily Watson

Release Date: January 1

Biographical film focusing on the life of renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and his diagnosis with motor neuron disease.

American Sniper

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller.

Release Date: January 16

Based on the life of Chris Kyle (Cooper), a US sniper and decorated tour of Iraq.

Ex_Machina

Director: Alex Garland

Starring: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac

Release Date: January 23

IT worker Caleb (Gleeson) wins a competition to spend a week working with boss Nathan (Isaac), assessing a controversial artificial intelligent robot he has built.

Whiplash

Director: Damien Chazelle

Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Bennet

Release Date: January 16

Promising drummer, Andrew (Teller) wants to be the best drummer he can whilst attending a prestigious music school aiming to impress conductor Fletcher (Simmons).

Big Hero 6

Director: Don Hall, Chris Williams

Starring: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit , Daniel Henney

Release Date: 30 January

First official collaboration between Disney and Marvel. A young robotics enthusiast Hiro (Potter) forms a team of superheroes to combat a masked villain.

February

The Interview

Director: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco.

Release Date:TBA

Potentially the most controversial film of the year before it even gets released in the UK. Franco and Rogen play journalists who get permission to interview North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. During the interview they are instructed by the US government to assassinate the North Korean leader.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Director: John Madden

Starring: Dev Patel, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Richard Gere

Release Date: 27 February

Follow up to the 2012 Brit-hit, sees the ensemble cast head back out to India along with newcomer Richard Gere.

March

In the Heart of the Sea

Director: Ron Howard

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Benjamin Walker

Release Date: 13 March

Biographical film based on the book by Nathaniel Philbrick about the sinking of the whaleship Essex crewed by Captain George Pollard Jr (Hemsworth).

Chappie

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Hugh Jackman, Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver

Release Date: 6 March

Neill Blomkamp reunites with Sharlto Copley after 2009’s District 9, with this sci-fi about an experimental robot designed to learn and feel.

Cinderella

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgard

Release Date: 27 March

Live action remake of the 1950 Disney classic with Blanchett taking up the role of The Wicked Stepmother

April

Furious 7

Director: James Wan

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriquez.

Release Date: 3 April

Deckard Shaw (Statham) seeks vengeance against Dominic Toretto (Diesel) over the death of his brother. It will be interesting to see how the film copes with the tragic death of one of its leading faces half way through the production of the film.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Josh Wheddon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, James Spader

Release Date: 24 April

Earth’s mightiest heroes return for another barnstorming outing, where the Avengers are faced with a new foe in the form of James Spader’s chilling Ultron. Expect carnage porn.

May

Tomorrowland

Director: Brad Bird

Starring: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie.

Release Date: May 22

Frank (Clooney) and Casey (Robertson) travel to an unknown place simply known as Tomorrowland where actions have adverse effects on the surrounding world and themselves.

Pitch Perfect 2

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Elizabeth Banks, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow.

Release Date:May 15

Follow up to everyone’s favourite guilty pleasure of 2012. The Barden Belles a Capella group return to compete in an international competition in which no American group has ever won. Aca-scuse me?

Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller

Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult.

Release Date: 15 May

Fourth film in Miller’s Mad Max franchise see’s Tom Hardy as the titular Max in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is broken and fighting breaks out over the provisions of life.  

June

Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevrow

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Omar Sy

Release Date: 12 June

Fourth dino-frolic, this time with a fully functioning park opened on Isla Nublar. Needless to say, things don’t go to plan.

Minions

Director: Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda

Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton

Release Date: 26 June

Everyone’s favourite tic-tac shaped creatures get their own spin off in what promises to be one of the funniest films of the year, telling the story of how the Minions came to be under the service of Gru.

July

Terminator Genysis

Director: Alan Taylor

Starring: Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matt Smith, Jason Clarke, J.K. Simmons.

Release Date: 3 July

After finding himself in a completely different timeline, Kyle Reese (Courtney) teams up with Sarah Connor (Clarke) and an ageing Terminator cyborg (Schwarzenegger) and once again attempt to stop Judgement Day.

Ant-man

Director: Peyton Reed

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Hayley Atwell, Michael Douglas

Release Date: 17 July

Originally scheduled to be directed by TBBR favourite Edgar Wright, Marvel’s most unusual film yet sees Paul Rudd as the titular character who has the ability to shrink in scale but maintaining the strength of his normal size.

Pan

Director: Joe Wright

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara, Amanda Seyfried

Release Date:17 July

Live action retelling of the classic Disney tale about the boy from Neverland who will never grow old.

Inside Out

Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen

Starring: Diane Lane, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling.

Release Date: 24 July

Disney-Pixar’s latest outing, focusing on Riley who is controlled by her emotions. Her emotions reside in their headquarters inside Riley’s mind, but are spiralled out of control about her new job in San Francisco.

Ted 2

Director: Seth McFarlane

Starring: Seth McFarlane, Mark Whalberg, Mila Kunis, Amanda Seyfried

Release Date: 10 July

Sequel to the hilarious 2012 sees the foul mouthed teddy bear return. Expect plenty of ‘effin and jeffin’

Grimsby

Director: Louis Leterrier

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Rebel Wilson, Ian Mcshane.

Release Date: 24 July

A black-ops spy (Strong) is ordered to team up with his football hooligan brother (Cohen) as part of his latest assignment.

August

The Fantastic Four

Director: Josh Trank

Starring: Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell

Release Date: 6 August

Reboot of the Marvel Comic superhero team who, after teleporting to another universe, have their physical form altered giving them new abilities.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E

Director: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Henry Cavill, Hugh Grant, Alicia Vikander, Armie Hammer.

Release Date: 14 August

Based on the 1960s TV series set in the height of the Cold War. Following U.N.C.L.E members Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and Kuryakin (Hammer) in their attempts to stop an international criminal organization.

September

Black Mass

Director: Scott Cooper

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Johnny Depp, Sienna Miller, Joel Edgerton.

Cumberbatch and Depp make for some mouth-watering screen time in this true story of Whitey Bulger, a violent criminal who becomes an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family.

October

Crimson Peak

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska.

Release Date: 16 October

After a family tragedy, an author is torn between love for her childhood friend and a, enigmatic outsider.

Everest

Director: Baltasar Kormakur

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke

Release Date: 2 October

Icelandic director Kormakur returns with the story of an expedition to ascend Mt Everest is devastated by a severe storm.

November

Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Daniel Craig, Ben Whishaw, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Dave Bautista, Monica Belluci, Andrew Scott, Naomi Watts.

Release Date: 23 October

Bond 24. Need we say more?

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

Director: Francis Lewis

Starring: Jeniffer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Donald Sutherland.

The concluding chapter of the hugely popular adaptation of Suzanne Collins book series where the revolution continues against the autocratic Capitol.

The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Kristen Wigg, Matt Damon.

Release Date: 27 November

Based on the 2012 novel by Andy Weir, following an astronaut who becomes stranded along on Mars.

December

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Director: JJ Abrams

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domnall Gleeson, Lupoita Nyong’o, Max von Sydow, John Boyega

Release Date: 18 December

Set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. That’s about all we know.

Mission Impossible 5

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris.

Release Date: 26 December

Fifth outing for the Impossible Missions Force with Cruise reprising his role as agent Ethan Hunt.

Which films are you most excited about?

Have we missed any that you think look to set 2015 alight?

Have your say below!

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Review

And so it was, after 6 films, 1032 minutes (excluding extended editions), 36 Academy Award nominations and 17 wins (so far), we’re finally saying our goodbyes to Middle Earth. Naysayers have been (understandably) a bit sniffy about the Hobbit trilogy in comparison to the original three but there is no denying that Jackson has changed the face of fantasy cinema for the good.

If the first two Hobbit films have had their issues, it’s that they weren’t The Lord of the Rings and the same can be said for the conclusion of the trilogy The Battle of the Five Armies.

We pick up almost immediately after we finish in The Desolation of Smaug (arguably the strongest of the trilogy so far), where Smaug the dragon, after breaking free of the Lonely Mountain tears apart Laketown sending it up in flames. This glorious opening scene of absolute carnage is well and truly up there with Helms Deep and The Mines of Moria in terms of jaw dropping action spectacle, making you think if this is the first 15 minutes what is the rest of the film going to be like?

Unfortunately it never really manages to hit these heights in the rest of the film which is a shame as a 45 minute battle scene promised a great deal.

The film’s title was originally intended to be called There and Back Again before switching to The Battle of the Five Armies, making it clear where the films priorities lie. The film suffers as of this with first half seeming a little rushed and Jackson has crammed in as much has he physically can before the battle which forces some scenes to be rushed. In particularly a potentially mouth-watering showdown between the Nazgul and Elrond, Galadriel & Saruman which is almost over in a heartbeat.

There are some spine-tinglingly great individual moments (in particular the Elven army swooping over the Dwarven blockade to engage the army of Orcs) but this is an all too fleeting moment. It’s not that the final battle scene is necessarily bad, or even that disappointing, it’s just not what the fans were hoping for and that when compared with Helms Deep, or Minas Tirith, it just does not stand up. Jackson is arguably a victim of his own success. The bar had been set to heights even flying eagles would struggle to reach.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Martin Freeman once again nailed the role of Bilbo and has truly grown into the part as the three films have gone on. He brings warmth and innocence to what could have easily been an overly dark film. This is clearly Armitage’s film however, as Thorin delves into madness caused by his newly acquired treasure. Armitage brings a maniacally unnerving approach to Oakenshield particularly shown during a masterfully shot exchange with Luke Evans’ Bard the Bowman.

Once all the carnage is over the film also ends on a great note beautifully linking the two trilogies together which will make for one hell of a marathon in a few years’ time.

It’s not quite what the fans were hoping and it fails to live up to the spectacle of Jackson’s original trilogy (some will argue that it needn’t have been a trilogy), but it is certainly a satisfying end to one of the true unforgettably cinematic journeys or recent years. Let’s see Jacskon give the hairy little feet a rest now and move onto new horizons.