BAFTA Rising Star Nominees 2014

This year’s BAFTA Film Awards will be presented on the 16th of February and there is one award in particular that never fails to catch my attention; the Rising Star Award. The unique nature of the award is that the winner is voted for by the public and this is both intriguing and to the awards detriment. The award will sometimes go to the nominee with the biggest fan base or highest profile rather than an up and coming talent that could really do with the encouragement.

Yesterday BAFTA announced the five nominees as selected by a panel of industry experts and I’m here to pass judgement on them and see who I think should win.

Dane Dehaan

Dehaan first grabbed my attention with his Season 3 role in Gabriel Byrne’s dialogue heavy TV epic In Treatment as the troubled teen Jesse D’Amato. Since then he has perfected the role of troubled genius in films such as Chronicle and Kill Your Darlings. Dehaan managed to ground the supernatural Chronicle and make it all the more real by putting in a truly threatening performance. I may not have enjoyed Kill Your Darlings but it certainly wasn’t Dehaan’s fault. His next major appearance is taking over the role of Harry Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (a casting spookily predicted by Stephen on this blog) and I for one am quietly excited. As someone with some solid but low-key performances under his belt and more mainstream fare up ahead I can easily see what makes Dehaan a candidate for the Rising Star Award.

Will Poulter

Oh Will, where did it all go wrong? Six years ago Poulter debuted in the adorable British film Son of Rambow directed by Garth Jennings in which Will played the role of Lee Carter. Since then he has taken on a few TV roles, appeared as Eustace in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and acted in the critically acclaimed Wild Bill. Most recently he has undone all that good work by helping to make the atrocity that was We’re the Millers. Sorry Will but I really can’t get past that film.

Lupita Nyong’o

Lupita Nyong’o has a 100% flawless record of five-star films by virtue of the fact that her sole cinematic release to date is the, as yet unreleased in the UK, 12 Years a Slave. In this future Oscar winner (trust me) Lupita plays a young slave woman who is separated from her child and suffers the worst brutality seen in the film. As an attractive young woman she suffers from the amorous advances of her “owner” and the jealous rages of his wife all while grieving for her absent child. Nyong’o’s performance is striking and heartbreaking and I’d say she deserved this award if I didn’t already think she was on her way to the Best Actress Oscar instead.

Léa Seydoux

Léa Seydoux has been working solidly in French cinema since 2006 and made a few appearances in high-profile American fare including Midnight in Paris, Inglourious Basterds, and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. What has really brought Seydoux to everyone’s attention is her supporting role in the epic love story (and my favourite film of 2013) that is Blue is the Warmest Colour. Much as I loved her performance in the film I can’t help but think that her co-star Adèle Exarchopoulos is more deserving of a position on this list. Exarchopoulos carried the film on her shoulders and has a much less developed CV than Seydoux. All that said I am very excited to see where Léa’s career goes next particularly with her role in the remake of La belle & la bête coming up later this year.

George Mackay

Sadly, despite his recent role in the Proclaimers musical Sunshine on Leith, I have no idea who George Mackay is. Perhaps this anonymity makes him the perfect nominee for an award aimed at encouraging a burgeoning career or perhaps I just need to widen my cinematic horizons so that an actor’s entire career doesn’t pass me by again. Sorry George!

For me the winner has to be Dane DeHaan. Despite having a good crop of films behind him DeHaan has not yet become a household name and has put in a series of solid performances in smaller films. The others in the list have either risen too much in my opinion or made one bad film with Jennifer Aniston that i can’t get past. Not naming any names obviously. George Mackay prove me wrong, I’ll be sure to watch How I Live Now when it comes out on DVD.

Disagree with me? Of course you do! Have your say by voting over at the Rising Star Award page.

Infrequently Asked Questions 2012

People of the internet find Mild Concern through a wide variety of search terms and one of the more curious ways I spend my time is keeping an eye on what people Google to end up on this humble blog. I do feel sorry for a large number of Googlers when I can see that they aren’t going to find what they searched for here.

By far the most popular unsuccessful search the film fans of the world embarked on was trying to find some images of the nudity in Shame. They wanted to see Michael Fassbender and, to a lesser extent, Carey Mulligan in the all-together and were surely disappointed to find not a single bit of genitalia on display. I apologise to you, the internet, and to make it up to you I will now answer a selection of questions people entered into Google in 2012 which led them erroneously to Mild Concern. Now if they do their search again their questions will be answered.

All of these questions are genuine, and tell you a lot about the world today…

Is The Skin I Live In in English? No, it is in Spanish and is not for the squeamish.

How old is Yoda’s actor now? Frank Oz is 68.

Is that a wig? No, my hair is all natural.

Is there nudity in 388 Arletta Avenue? No. It does contain “one scene of strong gore and horror”.

How many times is “Harry Potter” said in the movies? I counted 107 but then I did fall asleep a lot.

Is Die Hard a survival movie? I guess so… although I’d say a survival movie would be someone battling against nature or the supernatural not Alan Rickman with a dodgy accent.

Is Cool Runnings a Christmas film? It is in my family.

Why is Rupert Giles called Ripper? Giles gained the nickname Ripper in his younger days when dabbling in the dark arts with five friends. Presumably it is an allusion to Jack the Ripper.

When is Fast Girls out on DVD? It’s out! Sorry we didn’t get to this question sooner.

Where was We Built a Zoo filmed? We Bought a Zoo was filmed in California.

Heroes Season 3 what is with Claire’s hair? Hayden Panettiere cut her hair and so had to wear a terrible, terrible wig.

What is the twist in Cabin in the Woods? There isn’t one.

What episodes of Misfits have sex in them? A lot of them so I wouldn’t watch if you’re too prudish nor skip any episode for fear of a sex deficit.

What football team does Nicholas Hoult support? I don’t know. I’m really sorry.

Who is on the front of After Porn Ends? Mary Carey

Why do people like Doctor Who? It is scary, funny, and has a lot of heart. Also, Karen Gillan is hot.

Is the Life of Pi film made not in non 3D? It was made in 3D so… yes? 3D is not in non 3D.

Why don’t people like Dr Who? They find it childish, silly, and irritating? Stephen knows.

Does After Porn Ends have nudity? Yes. Not one for the family.

How big is Kevin Smith’s fan base approximately? He has over 2 million Twitter followers and one fan who thinks I am a parasite.

How violent is Sightseers? Violent in short bursts with plenty of blood and caved-in skulls. All the deaths are swift though, this is no Hostel.

What happened to Cameron Crowe? He returned! With We Bought a Zoo and Pearl Jam Twenty. I saw neither.

How accurate is Lawless movie? It doesn’t matter, the film is boring as hell.

Is Ethan Hunt married in Ghost Protocol? Yes, to Julia Meade played by Michelle Monaghan.

Is Michael Cera mean? He seems lovely.

Is NOW TV worth it? Certainly not. Though they provide lots of lovely cocktails.

What is the guy’s name from Footloose that plays on Third Rock from the Sun? John Lithgow

Where can I see the complete pilot episode of BBC Lizzie and Sarah? Nowhere legal I’m afraid. Ask your most internet savvy friend and see if they can help.

Is there a disorder consisting of rape, dismembering, necrophilia, and cannibalism? I don’t think that is a disorder. That is you doing unthinkable sexual things to someone before and after killing them and then eating the remains. GET HELP!

How violent is the film I, Anna? “In one scene of violence a man and woman fight before a heavy ornament is used to strike a blow to the head. In another scene the victim of a violent death is found lying on a heavily bloodstained carpet with a bloodied face.”

What is pyjamas party? Attractive young women spend the night together gossiping, playing games, and fighting with pillows in slow motion and skimpy pyjamas. That or you stay up all night watching films at the Prince Charles cinema.

What’s the film about couple gets handcuffed together at a music festival? You Instead

I hope that clears things up. (If you want to see Fassbender’s penis Google will show it to you. The thing terrifies me.)

Out Now – 26th December 2011

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Last year David Fincher directed my second favourite film of 2011, and this epic re-adaptation looks every bit as textured and stylish as The Social Network. Anyone unburdened by children this Boxing Day should go and see what promises to be the penultimate great film of 2011. Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara star in this adult thriller as a journalist teams up with a computer hacker to hunt down a woman who has been missing for forty years.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Ethan Hunt tries to act surprised when he is forced to go rogue after IMF is shut down after being implicated in a terrorist attack. The violence here will be much more family friendly, and it’s worth mentioning that Simon Pegg is involved… job done. Stephen saw it and loved it, so it has our seal of approval.

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol – Review

We recently attended the UK premiere of the upcoming spy-fi action extravaganza, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and we’ll be frank: it is awesome. Okay, we tell a lie, the premiere that Tom Cruise et al attended was at another cinema the same evening, but that part about the film being awesome? Deadly accurate.

Ghost Protocol sees Ethan Hunt (Cruise) in a dark place. He is no longer with his beloved wife, he is locked up in a brutal Russian prison and the IMF (Impossible Missions Force – duh) has just been framed for exploding the Moscow Kremlin, driving military tensions higher than those during the Cold War. In order to clear the IMF’s name as a terrorist group and the United States as a reckless child with nuclear warheads, Ethan and his co-disavowees must uncover and foil a globally devastating plot.

The Mission: Impossible series of films are a consistent bunch in that they all (well, maybe not M:I 2) feature relevant, complex plots with a heavy dose of sexy and stunning action – which permits the spectator to gloss over and forget their own mundane lives; allowing them to believe in an utterly dangerous and OTT world of spy action.

Director, Brad Bird (The Simpsons, The Incredibles) has gone out of his way to create the meticulous Ghost Protocol, applying his animated past’s pedantic creativity to constantly keep us thoroughly engaged. Of course, he also had help from the methodical writings of André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum: veteran scribes on producer JJ Abrams’ spy-fi show, Alias.

For once, and similar to the original television series, Ghost Protocol does its best to create a tight-knit group of characters rather than focusing entirely on Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, adding a certain level of intimacy that was lacking in the previous films. Albeit man-boobed, Cruise is again on top form, going so far as realizing his own stunts dangling a mile above earth on the Burj Khalifa; Jeremy Renner captures all with his stubborn and secretive Brandt; and Simon Pegg only cements his US mainstream success as nerd Benji, whose British humour creates the majority of the film’s most awesome moments. Aside from the sexiness of Pegg, there is plenty of female beauty to fall back on to as well with the powerfully dominant Paula Patton and assassin seductress Lea Seydoux.

To truly capture the size of Ghost Protocol, see it on the biggest screen you can find as Brad Bird has defied all with his first live action blockbuster. Even when you question the film – like, ‘how does Ethan survive four car crashes when I wimp out over a paper cut?’; the disavowing of Ethan’s marriage is sure to upset many (although, Bird and co work around that excellently *taps nose*); and some of the CGI is just staggeringly bad – you will enjoy the film far too much to even think about those kinds of hair-splitting idiosyncrasies. Plus, Tom Cruise once again fills his obligatory running quota so it can’t be all that bad, right? Right.

*hums Mission: Impossible theme whilst purchasing a ticket to see the film again*