Today bring with it a new music video from Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s band She & Him. Maybe not movie news but close enough for me. The song is called In The Sun and while not my favourite of their songs it is still very enjoyable and the video, well that is just adorable. Enjoy…

Mild Concern will be taking a trip to see She & Him live in May and will be reporting on the show, I bet you can’t wait.

The fact that my Oscar predictions were 73% accurate is less a testament to my psychic powers and more a sign of just how predictable this years ceremony was. Not to mention long. All the acting awards went to the recipients everyone expected and the big showdown between Avatar and The Hurt Locker was thankfully won by the latter. A full list of winners can be found here.

The show was an odd one. It felt incredibly long as the more famous winners seemed to be allowed to drag their speeches out forever, and most did not save their thank you lists for when they were off stage. Baldwin and Martin were funny hosts and were warmly received by the audience, something Jonathan Ross somehow failed to achieve at the BAFTAs. The tribute to John Hughes was genuinely moving and a celebration of the horror genre included some odd clips; is twilight a horror?

One of the big successes of the night was the personal speeches made about the ten Best Actor/Actress nominees, given by their friends and former co-workers. Another highlight was Neil Patrick Harris giving a great song and dance performance to open the show though it seemed a little out of place in a more toned down show, filled with movie stars.

The big win for me was Avatar just getting technical and visual awards, saving the big awards for films with more substance. It was interesting, for me at least, that none of the acting roles winning big awards were from award-heavy films. Ultimately the lack of tension over who would win most of the awards detracted from the usual Oscar excitement, only Best Foreign Film was a complete surprise; no one seemed to have even heard of the winner El secreto de sus ojos.

If this seems a bit scatty and all over the place just appreciate that I was up until 5am.

Tonight the awards season comes to a head with The Oscars, serving as a night of either disappointment or excitement, launching some careers and proving a last hurrah for others.

Tonight’s show has been designed to be more appealing to the viewer at home starting with the hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who should in theory inject some comedy into the ceremony. Hugh Jackman’s all singing, all dancing performance last year will be hard to top, though the show is said to have a draw-dropping opening.

There are a few changes this year including the attempt at saving the lists of thank yous from winners till after they have exited the stage, some younger presenter appealing to a youth audience and the removal of performances of the nominated songs. The emphasis is clearly on a more streamlined and entertaining evening.

One interesting change is the way the acting awards will be presented. Last year five previous winners announced a nominee each before the winner was revealed, a friend of each nominee will be on hand to call out the nominees and present the award to the eventual winner. With this, and the emphasis on speeches about what the award means to the winners, emotions should be flying high on stage.

I will be watching with interest to see if this all pays off, and of course to see how accurate my predictions were. While I won’t be live-tweeting, come back tomorrow for Mild Concern’s look at what happened at Hollywood’s biggest night out.

The Oscars are airing on Sky Movies Premiere from 1am 8th March. If you don’t have Sky a live stream will be available here: http://www.livestream.com/theoscars

Time for your recently regular look at the week’s film releases. At least one big release this week, one that we almost didn’t get to see at all.

Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton brings us this 3D adventure in which Alice returns to the “Underland” to find it taken over by the Red Queen. With appearances from all the usual characters Alice must slay the Jabberwock and end the Red Queen’s rule. Sure to be an interesting experience and will make a star out of Mia Wasikowska who shone in TV’s In Treatment. My pick of the week simply because everyone else you know is going to see it, and you don’t want to feel left out. Expect wierdness.

Chloe

Amanda Seyfried continues her transition to the big screen in this sexual thriller about a wife (Julianne Moore) who tests the fidelity of her husband (Liam Neeson) with the help of a young escort. Expect drama, sex and betrayal.

Legion

It’s the end of the world! God sends down angels to bring about the apocalypse while a pregnant waitress is believed to be carrying the new messiah. I’m not sure why God would send a messiah and try to end the world at the same time but I guess that’s what you have to watch the film to find out.  Expect a few epic fight scenes between supernatural things.

Case 39

Renee Zellweger is a social care worker who takes on the case of a ten year old girl which brings on all sorts of horrific events. Expect to see Bradley Cooper horrifically murdered and Zellweger’s face to look odd.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

It’s a documentary about and partially filmed by Banksy, revered graffiti artist. It might be good, IMDb seems to think it is. Expect it not to be out in a cinema near you.

Ondine

Ondine is a film I heard about for the first time about five minutes ago. It is a modern fairytale starring Colin Farrell as an Irish fisherman who finds a mermaid in his fishing net. Expect authentic accents for a change.

The Father of My Children

As this is a French drama about a film producer struggling with suicidal despair this is only on limited release. I included it here just to use the picture at the top of this post where the lead appears to be a cross between Johnny Depp and Sean Penn. Expect subtitles.

So many codes have been posted for free screenings of The Blind Side over at MoneySavingExpert.com I’ve decided to put them all in a post.

Just go to seefilmfirst.com and enter one of the codes below.

Vue Cinemas Sunday 7th March at 11.00am – 772351 or 112809
Odeon Cinemas Sunday 7th March at 11.00am – 734409 or 364544
Cineworld Cinemas Monday 8th March at 6.30pm – 666582 or 229601 or 383149
Cineworld Cinemas Tuesday 9th March at 6.30pm – 227719
Empire/Showcase Cinemas 14th March at 10.30am – 957795
Odeon Cinemas Monday 22nd March at 6.30pm – 422910

The Blind Side is an Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning film about a homeless boy who grows to become a successful American football player with the help of a woman, played by Sandra Bullock, and her family.

Thousands of fanboys and fangirls have been burning out their eyeballs as clips from the failed American remake of British comedy Spaced have finally made their way online. Spaced was a series with a signature style that the US pilot has failed to capture. Watch at your own risk.

The American remake was destined to fail once original creators Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes and Edgar Wright spoke out against the idea and it never went beyond the unaired pilot episode.

With Alice in Wonderland’s release imminent news has broken of a new Tim Burton project. He and Timur Bekmambetov are set to produce a big screen adaptation of the upcoming novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. The film will tell the little known, and entirely fabricated, tale of Abraham Lincoln’s lifelong battle with vampires. The pair last teamed up on the underwhelming 9 but considering the popularity of Grahame-Smith’s previous work they should have a good script to work with.

Seth Grahame-Smith also wrote and adapted Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which is both a much loved novel and soon to be a Natalie Portman starring feature film. I much more excited about the combination of Portman and zombies at the moment but that could all change when we know exactly who will be directing the Lincoln/vampire face-off.

While staying with die-hard horror fans at the weekend I couldn’t help but go and see The Crazies. Simply put, I really enjoyed it. This is not a film trying to reinvent the genre or push boundaries and you shouldn’t go in expecting it to. Part of the joy of horror is knowing what is going to happen and the suspense waiting for it to happen brings. What you get is a good strong horror that gets straight into the action and produces real shocks that can make you jump even when you know they’re coming.

The acting is as good as it needs to be and Breck Eisner’s direction occasionally provides some oddly beautiful shots. The Crazies is a big improvement on recent horror remakes like Halloween and Friday the 13th and doesn’t feel the need to insert endless sex scenes to distract the audience. This is not a perfect film but is really good fun; never before have I been so afraid of a car wash or combine harvester.

As to whether this is a zombie movie or not… possibly.

It’s Friday! Which means new films in the cinema for us to go and see, let’s have a look at what’s on…

The Crazies

This week’s blind favourite. The Crazies looks like an awesome horror about a small town in which people are driven crazy by contaminated water. As the army start to kill the infected a band of survivors have to try to make it out of town before they are killed by either their former neighbours or the rampaging soldiers. It just seems like a fun film to me. Probably not for the whole family though, unless you enjoy your children wetting the bed that is.

Everybody’s Fine

Apparently much better than the poster makes it seem though it has mixed reviews. Robert De Niro plays a widower who travels to visit, and reconnect with, his grown-up children. Sounds like Broken Flowers with ex-girlfriends swapped for offspring and no Bill Murray. Sam Rockwell is in it, it must be good.

Extraordinary Measures

I have seen the TV spot for this enough times to truly hate it already. Brendan Fraser plays the father of two terminally ill children trying to raise money so Harrison Ford’s scientist can research their cure. With pretty bad reviews and a trailer that inspires no confidence I’d give it a miss. Expect emotions!

From Paris With Love

This has gone completely below my radar but is apparently about an employee of the US ambassador teaming up with a spy to stop a terrorist attack in Paris. The poster seems to show a very bored Jonathan Rhys Myers and John Travolta firing weapons from a car. The reviews are bad and single out Travolta’s over-the-top performance as a highlight. Need you know more?

Leap Year

Another to steer clear of as Amy Adams continues to undermine her career as a woman travelling through Ireland to find and propose to her boyfriend. Matthew Goode plays the man she meets along the way that she almost definitely chooses over her beau. Two things make it almost worth watching; John Lithgow and one of the least convincing green-screened backgrounds for a car journey you’re likely to see this year. Even Goode doesn’t like the film.

Micmacs

Apparently they really think you’ll like Micmacs as preview screening code have been coming out of our twitter account’s ears. It comes from the director of Amelie and tells the tale of a group of friends with a plan to destroy two major weapons manufacturers. Though it may not seem like it this is a comedy, a satire to be precise, and with Jean-Pierre Jeunet it is likely to be filled with charm and oddities. Not one to see if you can’t read or speak french.

Capitalism: A Love Story (12A) (D)		Paramount	Curzon Soho & Key Cities
Crazies, The (15) (D)		Paramount/Momentum	Vues Finchley Rd, Fulham Broadway, Cineworld Shaftesbury Ave., & Nationwide	trailer
Everybody’s Fine (12A) (D)		Walt Disney	Cineworld Shaftesbury Ave., & Nationwide
Extraordinary Measures (PG) (D)		Sony Pictures	Nationwide	trailer
Freestyle (12A) (D)		Revolver Entertainment	London & Key Cities	press office
From Paris With Love (15) (D)		Warner Bros.	Nationwide	trailer
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (U) (R/I) (D)		Park Circus	BFI Southbank & Key Cities
Karthik Calling Karthik		Eros	C\\	trailer
Leap Year (PG) (D)		Optimum Releasing	Odeon Covent Garden, Vue West End & Nationwide	press office
Micmacs

There has been a lot of chatter about Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides lately and it all makes me feel like this could be the best of the lot. Admittedly it’s hard to tell as filming hasn’t even begun yet but those involved seem to know what they’re doing this time.

Johnny Depp has said, “”I’d like to give them a Pirates 4 that is very funny and entertaining and not convoluted or riddled with sub-plots and characters.” My major concern with the other sequels was that I had no idea what was going on most of the time, that and I hated Orlando Bloom in the same way heterosexual women hate Keira Knightley. With no Bloom, or Knightley, and a simpler plot Tides will just be a fun romp with plenty of Captain Jack.

The other news that has me excited is that Ian McShane is in talks to play Blackbeard in the upcoming movie. While I may have missed his earlier work in Lovejoy I have come to know McShane as a powerful actor through Deadwood and the shortly lived Kings. The thought of Depp and McShane adventuring on the high seas is enough to get me excited.

Well, as excited as you can reasonably get about Pirates of the Caribbean that is.

Move along everyone, there’s nothing to see here. It is reported that Odeon will now screen Alice in Wonderland just like everyone else. The boycott was weakened when Cineworld and then Vue dropped out leaving Odeon in an increasingly weak position. Disney were simply trying to be sensible and attempt to reduce piracy, not by attacking film fans who obtain films illegally, but by giving them a little bit of what they want. The DVD will be released 13 weeks after the film debuts next week and people will still flock to the cinemas to get the big screen experience. IMAX screenings are already sold out!

What a load of fuss about nothing. At least it gave me an excuse to use plenty of stills from Alice in Wonderland, and get it plenty of free press.

It was recently announced elsewhere on the internets that Christopher Nolan, the brains behind the Batman Begins and Dark Knight, would be helping Superman get back on his feet in the soon to be written movie The Man of Steel. Now it is revealed that David Goyer, writer of the two recent batman flicks, is to write the screenplay for Superman’s return to the big screen. The old(ish) team of Brandon Routh and Bryan Singer are out and the Batman team are in.

Obviously from the studio’s point of view this is a great idea; they made Batman cool and contemporary so should be able to do the same for Superman. In theory this makes sense, I just hope Man of Steel has a different tone to The Dark Knight as it’s nice to have a bit of diversity out there and it’s worth noting Goyer isn’t flawless; he did create the TV series FlashForward. As Goyer’s idea is described as “Modern.  Believable.  FUN!” we should be alright.

I’m just glad it’s not another origin story.

Apparently John Belushi’s widow, Judy Belushi Pisano, and former SNL scribe Anne Beatts have written a TV series set to continue the story of The Blues Brothers. Belushi Pisano has said, “We have scripted it over six to eight shows where they are on a mission down the Mississippi back to New Orleans.” Set to take on the lead roles are the two actors portraying the duo in the touring musical, and as both characters are featured this seems to be set before the second film.

It doesn’t look like the series has been picked up yet and it may never go anywhere. Is there any need for a TV series? Will it have the right mix of music and comedy? Is it too late to cash in on The Blues Brothers? I have no idea.

In possibly the last chapter in the tale of Alice in Wonderland’s UK release Vue has agreed to screen the film, following Cineworld’s lead, while Odeon plans to ban it. The real oddity here is that the film premieres at the Odeon Leicester Square as a fundraiser for The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts. So the Odeon is refusing to show the film… except for that one time. A boycott stops making sense when it’s just you following through, I can only see this as a huge revenue loss for Odeon.

Despite some horribly received jokes courtesy of Jonathan Ross’ final year hosting, the BAFTA’s turned into a great ceremony where nearly all the awards were given to worthy candidates. Though hopefully next year the BBC will broadcast live so I don’t have to close twitter to remain unspoiled. While the Oscars will no doubt have a more entertaining show the winners are likely to be much more disappointing. Let’s look at who won:

Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer – Duncan Jones for Moon

This was a great start for the night as a very promising new director steps out from his father’s shadow and gave a teary acceptance speech for a much deserved award. Shame this wasn’t kept for later on in the evening when things started to drag.

Best Acheievement in Special Visual Effects/Best Production Design – Avatar

The two awards I have to admit Avatar is entitled to. The film pushed boundaries and the teams looked dead chuffed to win. Cameron remained seated for both awards thank god.

Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds

Yes it was obvious, especially when up again Alec Baldwin in It’s Complicated, and it won’t be his last award but Waltz deserved to win. The only debate is whether he was really a supporting actor or just knew it would be easier to win in that category.

Best Supporting Actress – Mo’Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

She didn’t even turn up to collect the award! I’m sure she was very good but I’d have preferred someone from Up in the Air to win. Poor Anna Kendrick struggled to look happy while Edgar Wright beside her pretended to be Jason Reitman so no one would realise they’re dating.

Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year – Fish Tank

I have yet to see Fish Tank but it is supposed to be good and I know In the Loop had no real chance. An Education once again was shown to have lost its awards buzz sometime over Christmas.

Orange Rising Star Award – Kristen Stewart

Looks like those Twilight fans have been voting hard. Outside of the vampire franchise Stewart has put in some good performances in films such as Adventureland and Into the Wild and my only concern with her winning is that she is hardly a newcomer, they even showed a clip of her in Panic Room from 2002.

Best Screenplay (Adapted) – Up in the Air: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

I was very surprised and happy with this win though sadly Reitman wasn’t there to collect and Edgar Wright had to give up pretending to not simply being Anna Kendrick’s date. I’d be surprised if same result came out at the Oscars.

Best Animated Feature Film – Up

It was no surprise that Up won but it was a beautiful film. Pixar is so often expected to win in these categories but never has it been so well deserved. I always find the Pixar people slightly too nice and sincere though.

Best Film not in the English Language – Un prophète

Having seen none of the nominees like a true British cinema-goer I have no real opinion apart from to say that I thought Das weisse Band – Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte would win, for no good reason.

Best Actor – Colin Firth for A Single Man

After a long career Colin Firth has finally become a real actor. He looked very happy and gave the funniest speech of the night. Jeff Bridges will probably get the Oscar but should start to worry a little bit.

Best Actress – Carey Mulligan for An Education

Coming from almost nowhere Mulligan wowed critics and raised awards hopes that had almost disappeared, but with the home advantage she finally won something and was her usual adorable self upon accepting the award.

Best Screenplay (Original)/David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction/Best Film – The Hurt Locker

Winning these three big categories had made me realise I should probably get around to watching The Hurt Locker, a film that looks like it just might deserve the awards it keeps winning. Not sure why they kept calling the film a risk, but they certainly seemed to think it was one.

Academy Fellowship – Vanessa Redgrave

It was sad to see her daughter Natasha Richardson feature in the “In Memoriam” montage but Vanessa Redgrave seemed genuinely honoured to receive her Fellowship. Everyone watching became less and less happy for her though as her speech nearly reached the ten minute mark, an oddly painful way to close the show.