This year’s nominees for the Orange British Academy Film Awards have been announced:
- Best Film:
- BABEL – Alejandro González Iñárritu/Jon Kilik/Steve Golin
- THE DEPARTED – Brad Pitt/Brad Grey/Graham King
- THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND – Andrea Calderwood/Lisa Bryer/Charles Steel
- LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE*
- THE QUEEN – Tracey Seaward/Christine Langan/Andy Harries
I haven’t seen two of these, but I know I will go see The Last King of Scotland at some stage, Babel, *shrug* the trailers are putting me off, but I’ll probly go cause of the hype. Of the others, I wasn’t overly impressed with The Queen as a film, although Mirren was fantastic in the role. I think I’d like Little Miss Sunshine to win, even though The Departed was great.
- THE DAVID LEAN AWARD for Achievement in Direction
- BABEL – Alejandro González Iñárritu
- THE DEPARTED – Martin Scorsese
- LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE – Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris
- THE QUEEN – Stephen Frears
- UNITED 93 – Paul Greengrass
Hmmm, I’m going to go with either The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine or United 93; probably United 93.
- ACTOR in a LEADING ROLE
- DANIEL CRAIG – Casino Royale
- LEONARDO DICAPRIO – The Departed
- RICHARD GRIFFITHS – The History Boys
- PETER O’TOOLE – Venus
- FOREST WHITAKER – The Last King of Scotland
Again, some I’ve not see. Can’t see Craig winning it, unless it is cause he is British and these are British awards. He was great in Casino Royale, but it isn’t the sort of role tht deserves the award. Dicaprio would probably be my fav. out of this list, though if I think that Cillian Murphy deserves it for his role in The Wind That Shakes The Barley
- ACTRESS in a LEADING ROLE
- PENELOPE CRUZ – Volver
- JUDI DENCH – Notes on a Scandal
- HELEN MIRREN – The Queen
- MERYL STREEP – The Devil Wears Prada
- KATE WINSLET – Little Children
I really hope Streep doesn’t get it, I don’t know why so many people said that was a good film, it was predictable and clichéd, and while Streep was good, the role so doesn’t deserve a mention here, her character was barely a cartoon badguy, let alone a proper character. I haven’t seen any of the other films apart from The Queen, so I’ll go with Helen Mirren for this award.
I won’t bother listing the other nominations, you can visit their site for a look yourself. Not a single mention of The Wind That Shakes the Barley, anyone know if it was eligible?
That's a good question – was "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" eligible. Looking at the web site, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be. There are only a few awards that are restricted to British films, although I don't see a definition of what constitutes a British film. (Does it have to actually be set in Britain? Does the director have to be British? I've no idea.)
I think they just didn't nominate it on account of it being great but not so complimentary about their history.
Of all those films mentioned, I've only been to see Casino Royale. 2006 wasn't much of a cinema year for me.
Well that just means that you have plenty to look forward to :)