Evening Standard British Film Awards – Winners

Hi Oscar. Hi BAFTA. It’s London calling once more and we seem to be understanding this whole Awards malarkey a lot better than you. Yes, we may have been slightly overshadowed by the London Critics who also awarded Fassbender and Colman, but hey, AT LEAST WE NOMINATED THEM. Oh, and recognition for We Need To Talk About Kevin? Yeah, we went there. And would it be too much to mention our love for Senna, The Guard and Weekend? Ok, we’ll stop there. Check out the full list of winners below:

Review: Immortals (2011)

DIRECTOR: Tarsem Singh Dhandwar.

CAST: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Luke Evans, Freida Pinto, Stephen Dorff, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan, Kellan Lutz, Anne Day-Jones, Isabel Lucas, Daniel Sharman, Alan Van Sprang, Greg Bryk, Peter Stebbings, Steve Byers, Gage Munro.

SYNOPSIS: Driven by greed, King Hyperion (Rourke) searches Ancient Greece for the Epirus Bow, a weapon forged in the heavens. In his possession it would cause unimaginable destruction and annihilate the Gods. Zeus (Evans) therefore secretly chooses the peasant Theseus to save his people – and the world – from Hyperion.

Tarsem. Tarsem Singh. Tarsem Singh Dhandwar. Whatever you decide to call him, there’s no denying the director’s incredible vision, passion and individuality. 2006’s The Fall is a deliciously sumptuous treat for the eyes and I’ve yet to see a film better suited to the Blu-Ray revolution. From his use of symmetry, stunning landscapes and glorious colour, precision is part of Tarsem’s signature approach. So it’s a shame that Immortals ends up being more about style than substance.

Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

DIRECTOR: Tomas Alfredson.

CAST: Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, David Dencik, Toby Jones, John Hurt, Ciaran Hinds, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Stephen Graham, Kathy Burke, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Simon McBurney, Philip Martin Brown.

SYNOPSIS: After a covert mission goes horribly wrong, George Smiley (Oldman) and his superior, British Intelligence spymaster Control (Hurt) are let go from their jobs. But when Ricki Tarr (Hardy) turns up claiming to have evidence that there is a Soviet mole at the heart of British Intelligence, Smiley and colleague Peter Guillam (Cumberbatch) are enlisted to pin down the traitor.

Beautifully constructed and meticulously executed, Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a showcase in pitch perfect pacing, acting and storytelling. Centred around a series of flashbacks utilised as a way in which to pin down the mole at the top of the circus, the race to find the culprit is as sadistically frustrating as it is chokingly tense.