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You know what you need to see this weekend, and it doesn’t star Kevin James.

Black Swan
We loved this masterpiece from Darrenofsky, the story of a ballerina’s battle to discover her darker, free-er self. It’s a movie that will have you tense from start to finish and is a true cinema experience. Plus Portman totally gets down and dirty with Kunis. Something for everyone.

The Dilemma
If you caught your best friend’s wife cheating on him would you have an hour and a half of hilarious consequences? Vince Vaughn would! Or he seems to try to her.

Get Low
A hermit throws himself a funeral with the help of Bill Murray and people discover things about themselves. You had me at Bill Murray.

John Carpenter’s The Ward
Sexy girls in a mental institution! It’s like Sucker Punch only there’s a ghost and less fantastical CGI filled sequences. Expect to yelp at least once in shock.

Morning Glory
Two ageing and warring news anchors and the young producer who has to revive their show. Hilarious! I hope at some point the young producer struggles to carry a large amount of something and drops it. I like it when that happens.

Ride, Rise, Roar
A documentary about David Byrnes from Talking Heads, in which he is no longer in Talking Heads.

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (limited release)
“A documentary on the mysterious and influential pianist.” Ooh mysterious! I’ve never even heard of Glenn Gould.

Honeymooner (limited release)
Dumped by his fiancée weeks before they get married Fran (a man) reconsiders his “strategy” for love. It’s British and very short.

I Spit On Your Grave (limited release)
The remake of a film about a woman who is raped and then goes on to brutally murder her attackers, which had to have a few seconds removed to get shown. Expect to be disturbed with nothing to redeem you or the movie.

NEDS (limited release)
Violent British youth in a contemporary period setting. So far, so familiar. Something to watch if young people don’t scare you enough.

The Portuguese Nun (limited release)
A slightly pretentious looking man at The Guardian positively gushes about this film, calling it “mesmeric, subtly comic and weirdly gripping”. Only on at the ICA in London. Obviously.

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On Monday morning the Golden Globes were awarded to some deserving recipients in the film categories, and some less deserving recipients in the TV categories.

The Social Network, our 2nd best film of 2010, picked up Best Score, Best Drama, Best Director and Best Screenplay in a clear sweep of all but the acting awards. No arguments there, it is a great film that goes way beyond being a Facebook movie.

The Kid’s Are All Right did well out of the Golden Globes’ bizarre system of splitting films into drama and comedy/musical for a few categories. While the directors all go head to head the actors and films don’t have to. With The Kid’s Are All Right being classed as a comedy (not a drama?) it was an easy win in Best Comedy for the wonderful Annette Bening in Best Actress.

In the drama acting categories the vibe was set for future award ceremonies with Colin Firth and Natalie Portman taking the top honours. Two very deserving wins and two lovely acceptance speeches, now Firth is sure to get a BAFTA now and they could both do well at the Oscars.

The Fighter also did well for itself in a supporting manner, winning Best Supporting Actor and Actress in two categories that were not split into drama and comedy/musical. Not sure where the HFPA draw the line at which categories to split and which require comedians and dramatic actor to battle it out. Regardless, having not seen The Fighter, I feel like some personal favourites had their award taken from them.

Toy Story 3 won Best Animated Film in the most predictable category of the night… there really is nothing more to say on that.

TV went crazy, Glee is not the best comedy, Boardwalk Empire not the best Drama and Jim Parsons, Chris Colfer, Laura Linney and Steve Buscemi did not put in the best performances this year. Katey Sagal I can’t comment on and Jane Lynch is the exception as someone who was easily one of the best in her category. A couple of these awards looked a lot like rewarding movie actors for doing TV to encourage them to keep going, rather than judging the actual performances.

Next up: The BAFTAs!

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Danny Boyle did good. 127 Hours is a tight film that fills its 94 minutes without a lull and keeps the energy high from the bouncy opening right through to amputation time, despite the main character remaining trapped under a rock for the majority of the film.

James Franco has stolen Ryan Reynolds’ “trapped actor easily carrying the film” crown as he gives he most convincing, and least bizarre, performance to date as Aron Ralston. In fact Franco’s slightly off kilter personality perfectly fits the isolated outdoorsman that goes running around rocky landscapes without telling anyone where he’s going.

The amputation scene itself is not an easy watch but is so well done it’s a crime to actually look away. The gore is not overplayed, though watching a man trying to get through a nerve is never going to be easy to stomach.

Boyle cleverly introduces the world from Aron’s point of view early on so it’s not too jarring when later on Aron’s hallucinations take over, a mixture of memories and “premonitions”. Of course through these hallucinations Aron learns something about himself, something he feels the need to awkwardly say out loud in the film’s only real weak moment. Of course you’re a fool for letting Clémence Poésy go.

127 Hours needs to be seen, and if you’re going to look away as he hacks his arm off I’d advise covering your ears too, that is one loud snap.

It’s so good I might finally watch Slumdog Millionaire.

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Richard Ayoade is going to direct America’s best current sitcom Community. For a show that is happy to change its style and feel every week this is very exciting.

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