Bafta TV Craft Awards 2009

The Bafta TV Craft Awards are the annual celebration of those responsible for the magic behind the scenes of the best British shows on TV. Familiar faces from in front of the camera spend one glamorous night applauding the talented technicians, writers and directors who make their enviable lives possible. This year’s ceremony was held at the luxurious London Hilton. A place so fancy it should probably come with a free top hat and monocle. Crystal chandeliers drip from every ceiling, staircases sweep in all directions and there’s opulence in the air.

The surroundings add a sense of grandeur to what is otherwise a pleasantly low key affair. Unlike the televised spectacle of the acting awards, tonight is more about industry acclaim than public praise. The guests and nominees don’t seem to mind the lack of media glare. They’re mostly just happy for the rare chance to escape their editing suites and sound stages. Wearing big grins and black tie, they pour into the hall, in search of free drinks and a moment of glory.

In the press room, impatient journalists glance at the winners list, spoiling any surprises. It feels like peeking at someone else’s Christmas presents. Eventually back in the hall, the lights dim, the speeches start and the long evening grinds into life.

The rumbling thunder of noisy applause means that we no longer have nervous hopefuls; we’ve now got genuine winners. They arrive backstage dazed, delighted and burdened with heavy gold. Between the photos and interviews, their frantic phone calls spread the good news to absent family and friends. There are a few more proud mothers out there in the real world tonight. Those mums would certainly want me to tell you who won, so here’s the way it went...

Kenneth Branagh’s Scandinavian detective drama Wallander picked up three more awards to add to its recent best drama win. Doctor Who finally picked up a well deserved award for visual effects. Peter Moffat won best writer for his dramatic exploration of the British justice system in ‘Criminal Justice’. Rowan Joffe won best director for fact based drama ‘The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall’. The BBC was also rewarded for their brave but welcome choice to advertise the Olympics with cartoon monkeys.

Aardman Animation studio received this year’s special award, for decades of joyous creations, such as Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts and Chicken Run. The founders of Aardman announce that not only have they got more stop-motion magic on the way, but that they’re also working on a feature length foray into CGI. Pixar, consider yourself warned.

I was lucky enough to chat to Jason Isaacs. He’s Harry Potter villain Lucius Malfoy and the walking epitome of charm. News sure to please Potter fans is that for the first time he’s going to be making an appearance on the red carpet for the forthcoming Half Blood Prince premiere. We can only hope he escapes the clutches of screaming fans in time to finish making the last film. Good luck Jason, I recommend a big stick.

I managed to get my hands on an award before the ceremony started. In accordance with the well known legal principle of ‘finders keepers’, I think that makes it mine. Unfortunately, security was not familiar with the concept. Perhaps one day the Academy will rectify this cruel injustice...

Link below to the chat with Jason Isaacs, prepare to be swept away on a tsunami of charm..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTWLH-rS2rw

Aardman Animation founders chat about the future and job opportunities for budding animators..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlTQEUjI0UE

The Spirit

Frank Miller is a notorious comicbook artist whose work is characterised by stark visuals and a flare for ultra-violence. It was only a matter of time before Hollywood began to plunder his back catalogue of creations. ‘300’, ‘Sin City’ and even the gritty tone of ‘the Dark Knight’ were all ripped from Miller’s pages. They transferred easily to the cinema, with devastating box office success. Confident, Hollywood turned to Miller to adapt Will Eisner’s cult comic ‘the Spirit’ into their next big hit. He failed miserably.

The Spirit is an immortal masked avenger who spends his nights prowling the roofs of his crime ridden city, looking for wrongs to right and dames to rescue. At every turn he faces his nemesis, a diabolical crime-lord known as ‘the Octopus’. So far so good (and so Batman), but unfortunately here’s where the fun stops. The film isn’t just bad, more unforgivable than that, it’s dull.

In two dimensions, the comics at least had a quirky charm, but this is obliterated by the transfer to the big screen. The sight of our stoic hero actually skipping along the tops of buildings is unavoidably ridiculous. The film’s plot is equally absurd and features a worrying mix of pseudo-science and ancient Greek mythology. Is our hero a ghost, a god or just a man? Only one thing is certain, after twenty minutes you’ll have given up even trying to care.

Much of the blame lies with the film’s appallingly mundane leading man Gabriel Macht. His monotone monologues gradually gnaw the fun out of all the films cartoonish visuals. Supposedly smart one-liner s, are left ruined by an agonisingly wooden delivery. Miller’s decades of making comics has clearly left him ill equipped to direct real people. Perhaps he had aspirations of turning bad acting into some form of parody, but the film’s just not clever or subtle enough to be satire.

It’s tragic to see someone as emphatically cool as Samuel L. Jackson trapped in such a monumentally mediocre film. He might be the only man alive who can make Kangol hats and tartan trousers look stylish, but even he can’t save this mess. Though at least for his sake, he looks like he had fun trying. It’s also a pity to see the smouldering efforts of Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes and a whole host of dangerous damsels go to waste. Poor little vixens.

‘The Spirit’ feels like it should have been made 20 years ago, in the dark ages when comicbook movies were just embarrassing and silly. Back then, superhero movies were like pornography; their awful acting and camp innuendo was a guilty pleasure, only to be enjoyed in private. It's sad to see them reduced to this yet again.

‘The Spirit’ is out on DVD and Blu-ray now, but if you buy it then they’ll never learn...

The London Expo

Its 9am on a sunny Saturday morning and a large army has descended on the Excel centre in London. Some of them have guns, others giant swords and quite a few of them appear to be ninjas. But I’m not panicking. Why not?... partly because I’m a hero (and heroes don’t cry), but mostly because it’s just the London Expo.

Expo is heaven (albeit a crowded one) for fans of Movies, TV, Anime and Manga. It features countless stalls selling toys, t-shirts, DVDs and all manner of nerdish delights. There’s also a few famous faces signing autographs and posing for pictures too. This year’s guest stars were a varied bunch; they included John Connor’s gun totting mother form the Terminator movies (Linda Hamilton), that evil looking bunny from Donnie Darko (James Duval) and a Hollywood acting legend who used to date Marilyn Monroe (Tony Curtis).

This eclectic gathering of stars should be the big lure for the crowds, but it’s not. An increasing number of people flock to Expo for one reason, it isn’t celebrities or shopping, it’s Cosplay. The opportunity to gawk at someone in ill advised spandex, wielding a Styrofoam sword while wearing a head made of papier-mâché. Impressive, beautiful, shocking or bizarre... pick an adjective and you’re guaranteed to bump into it walking around the Expo. A bearded man dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl is like a roadcrash, it’s horrifying, yet difficult to avert your eyes. Thankfully, some of the costumes are more alluring and amusing. Each year the costumes get more elaborate and numerous; once a minor oddity, they have become a principle attraction.

The term ‘Cosplay’ was first used by a man called Nov Takahashi to describe behavior he witnessed in L.A. in the 1980’s at the Sci-Fi Worldcon. Japanese language has a penchant for combing separate words to make one really cool one, in this particular case, Costume and Role-play. It’s more than just fancy dress, as ardent fans compete to recreate the look of their favorite characters in intricate detail. Popularized in Japan (the place where crazy trends go to become national pastimes) Cosplay has long been a part of the American convention scene too. Judging from this year’s Expo, we’re catching up in some style....

If you want to see what you missed or just relive the magic/ordeal then check out the gallery of this year’s heroes, villains and weird looking furry things.

UPDATE - Video links now below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmhKizGIOQY&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAbAkbDYOYw&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBInbOo30ic&feature=channel

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

After the X-men trilogy made over a billion dollars it was a commercial inevitability that Wolverine, the series most popular brooding hero, would return. This film is the first of three planned solo outings, plotting the years of Wolverine's life before he joined Professor Xavier's team of X-Men. ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, shows us just how Wolverine got his indestructible adamantium skeleton and those famous claws. It also reveals his bitter rivalry with his ferocious half-brother Victor (aka Sabertooth) and the tragedy of his doomed first love.

In the comics, Wolverine’s exact origins were an elusive secret for a long time. In a way, revealing the character’s back-story in such explicit detail does rob him of much of his aura of mystery. Arguably Wolverine is a more intriguing character as a man haunted by a terrible forgotten past. In particular, the introduction of an obligatory love story, feels more like a plot device rather than a genuine emotional connection between the characters. The film’s attempts complicate Wolverine and his origins don’t match the simple animal rage that epitomised his best comicbook incarnations. The film isn’t convincingly dramatic or mindlessly entertaining; but what else is worth watching?

The innate problem with any prequel is that we already know what’s going to happen. It’s all but impossible to generate suspense when we know with absolute certainty who’s going to live and die. Added to the fact that Wolverine is already almost impervious to physical harm, this leaves all the film’s earnest action deprived of danger. Another major challenge for this film is that it has to maintain continuity with all the existing X-men movies. This severely limits the plot, which at times seems contrived and painfully predictable. It's certainly not helpful that X-Men 2 already dwelt heavily on Wolverine’s murky past. Most of the film's supposed revelations will feel overly familiar to anyone with a basic knowledge of the character.

The film draws heavily on the endlessly vast universe of popular characters from Marvel comics for its supporting cast. However, the rapid parade of fan favourites looks like a cynical ploy to widen the appeal of the film as much as possible. The huge potential of characters like Gambit and Deadpool is wastefully squandered on a handful of scenes and a few glib lines. It’s pretty clear, the only reason they’re really here is to test the waters of audience interest before these characters get their own spin-offs. The fact that the studio announced that Ryan Reynolds's Deadpool was getting his own movie, within weeks of Wolverine's opening, seems to confirm these suspicions.

Although the film’s visual effects are without fault, the high standards set by the previous X-men trilogy leaves little room for it to distinguish itself. The spectacular has become so commonplace that it’s now impossible to overwhelm an audience’s good sense with some CGI and a few explosions. Hugh Jackman convincingly captures Wolverine’s iconic feral look yet again, but his surly charms are nowhere near enough to save an uninspired script. Pruning away the ensemble cast of the X-men trilogy was supposed to be a good thing. However, the weight of credibility which actors like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen lend to a film can’t be underestimated. Liev Schreiber is an effectively menacing presence as Victor, but the film generally lacks performances of substances. Good actors fight a desperate losing battle against shallow writing, armed with only limited screentime. The film’s casting was adept; unfortunately almost every other aspect of the production falls disappointingly flat.

Marvel has already announced production on a further five movies in the X-men franchise. Only time will tell if these efforts will repay the faith of comic fans or further disappoint them. Of course you’ll still watch Wolverine, but you probably won’t like it much. Let’s just hope they find a proper script and some real claws for the sequels, because we both know, you’ll end up watching those too.

Star Trek

When I arrived at the cinema I was sweating. It wasn’t excitement. I’d been running. I wanted to make it to the early showing, because Star Trek draws a big crowd. I had moved with haste, but had modest expectations for the film that awaited me. For all its series and many movies, Star Trek had always disappointed me. Star Trek felt like quite a dull and sterile view of the future. It was a place where phasers were mostly set on stun and everything looked too shiny and brand new; like it had all just come out of the props department. It was also less spiritual than the Star Wars Trilogy; with no force, no dark side, just a lot of talking about particle physics. It’s impressive that with a film so faithful to its original inspiration director J.J. Abrams has still managed to change almost everything about Star Trek.

From the opening moments it’s clear that Abrams has introduced some much needed blood and danger into the supposedly ‘safe’ world of Star Trek. Ships explode, people die and are sucked into the silent crushing void of space. For the first time I truly felt the utter urgency and peril which such adventures should merit. For a while, big screen re-imaginings of old franchises had tended toward camp parody. They sacrificed convincing drama in favour of the lowbrow appeal of kitsch comedy. Now, studios finally seem convinced that there is an even greater box office appetite for dark realism. As a result ‘Star Trek’ is one of the best crafted summer blockbusters in some time.

When an alien race bent on revenge and the destruction of the peacekeeping federation of planets inadvertently travel back in time, it has a profound impact on those destined to crew the U.S.S. Enterprise and threatens the lives of billions. Though concepts of time travel and alternative realities may sound off-putting, this is just a necessary way of ensuring that the re-born franchise can stand alone from all the previous series and movies. It simply means forget what you think you know about Star Trek, because this is something new. The film is essentially an epic origin story, propelled at a blistering pace with relentless action and light flashes of humour.

The difficult challenge of re-casting the familiar crew of the USS Enterprise has been met with more success than fans could have dared hope for. The film’s fresh faced cast treads the fine line between impersonation and re-invention almost perfectly. Instead of A-list stars, the studio has wisely chosen emerging talents who bear a remarkable physical resemblance to the old crew. Their performances re-discover all the drama and humour of these characters, with little amiss to anger old fans.

Leading by example, Chris Pine captures the precise mix of arrogance and boyish charm that epitomises Captain James T. Kirk. Getting this role right was absolutely critical if the film was to succeed and win fan approval. William Shatner is a very tough act to follow, but as with many things, the film gets it absolutely right. Zachary Quinto looks and sounds convincingly like a young Leonard Nimoy, as logical Vulcan Spok, complete with those iconic pointy ears. His bickering tension with the impulsive young Kirk is well played and destined to become a powerful friendship. Karl Urban is also particularly impressive as Dr ‘Bones’ McCoy, the ships likeably cantankerous medic. Simon Pegg pulls off a difficult accent as miracle working engineer Scotty; while navigator Chekov’s lifelong struggles to pronounce the letter ‘v’ continues with amusing effect. Perhaps the only character to get a slight re-vamp is communications officer Uhura, who proves a more alluring love interest than you may remember.

For long time fans there are plenty of in-jokes and nods to the previous films and TV series to enjoy. Some references are more subtle than others, but none of them distract from the stunning success of this movie in its own right. Over the last few years many blockbusters have proved to be overhyped disappointments; devoid of emotion and fatally contaminated with bad CGI. However, ‘Star Trek’ fully delivers on its promise of entertaining adventure. The film’s action has compelling momentum and its characters have credible substance. It’s quite frankly rare to see a major summer release so unblemished by the typical failings of Hollywood.

As I leave the cinema, I see an almost endless line of people impatiently queuing outside. I ask someone what they're waiting for. Star Trek is the obvious reply. To boldly go?...the answer is yes. Warp Speed Mr Sulu!

Monsters vs. Aliens

DreamWorks animation studios can claim credit for Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar and the phenomenally lucrative Shrek franchise. Despite having persistently lagged behind Pixar in animation techniques and Oscar acclaim, DreamWorks’ bright, unashamedly childish efforts have brought them inconceivably vast box office success. Shrek 2 is the 10th highest grossing film of all time and made $919.8 million at the cinema alone. The DVD and Shrek 2 merchandise are estimated to be worth a further $800 million. Just one film about a green ogre with a suspiciously Scottish accent made DreamWorks nearly $2 billion. No wonder they’re starting production on Shrek Goes Forth with greedy haste. But first they aim to take a technical leap past Pixar with Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D.

You have to admire the cheerful simplicity of any title which manages to capture a film's plot and playful spirit in just three words. When aliens attack Earth, a desperate President turns to a crackpot general W.R. Monger and his ragtag team of monsters to save the day. The monsters and their foes of robots and alien clones are all joyously ripped straight from classic sci-fi B movies. The prospect of watching them duke it out for the fate of the planet is appealingly silly and unpretentious.

Like most of DreamWorks’ efforts, the film’s vocal cast sparkles with unquestionable A-List calibre. Reese Witherspoon is typically endearing as Susan, a young woman whose wedding day is ruined by a meteorite which turns her into the towering 60 foot ‘Ginormica’. With much of the film focusing on her struggles to accept her newfound monstrousness, this character could easily have been irritatingly timid and hysterical. Luckily, Witherspoon’s trademark plucky charms translate well to animated form. The rest of the cast also seems equally well chosen.

Taking a rare break from all Jack Bauer’s bad days, Kiefer Sutherland clearly enjoys playing the gruff and battle hungry general W.R. Monger. Likewise, Hugh Laurie revels in the chance to show off his rare comedic gifts as a Mad Scientist turned into a cockroach by an experiment gone deliberately awry. Seth Rogen feels strangely typecast as BOB the likably brainless and indestructible blob. His attempt to romance a bowl of jelly is perhaps also one of the films funniest moments. Meanwhile, skyscraper sized bug ‘Insectosaurus’ just might be the most adorable thing to ever terrify on the big screen. Arrested Development’s Will Arnett plays Neanderthal fish-man ‘the missing link’, while political funny-man Stephen Colbert fulfils the secret wishes of many Americans by playing the President.

Recent 3D Movies have ranged from the sublime Nightmare Before Christmas re-release, to the ridiculous Spy Kids 3-D. The concept had previously found more consistent success in theme park rides than feature films; remaining a novelty rather than establishing itself as a filmaking norm. Perhaps, new technology and the recent wave of successful 3D movies, finally marks the real arrival of a new dimension in cinema. The added depth and sense of motion compliments the playful cartoonish action of films like Monsters vs. Aliens. Of course there’s a couple of scenes where things fly off the screen into the audience, startling kids and parent alike, but such tricks are sparingly used. Overall, 3D is less jarring and distracting for animated films than it often seems to be for live action.

Considerable time and effort has clearly been put into Monsters vs. Aliens with evident visual and casting success. However, my one major reservation would be that the action focused plot is quite insubstantial for more grown-up audiences; the film really has little to offer beyond a traditional "it’s okay to be different" moral. Unfortunately, the sophisticated brilliance of Pixar efforts like Wall-E and Ratatouille has permanently raised expectations for children’s cinema. Compared to the endlessly re-watchable magic of those films, Monsters vs. Aliens seems disappointingly simple and ironically two dimensional. There is just enough silliness and action to cling to an audience’s attention once, but certainly not much to merit a second glance. It's good... it's just not Pixar good.

A link below to the history of 3D for all those who prefer to know how magic tricks are done...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Cinema