Film Awards 2005 - THE WINNERS AND LOSERS!

ixoy

Finally, just before the Oscars (bah! as if they count), the REAL awards are announced. And they're not just announced so late because I had a busy weekend...

And ladies and gentlemen of the boards, you sure liked "Batman Begins" this year - it won in nearly all the categories it was nominated in.... I'll reserve my opinion on that for each category.

One post here for each winner/loser to make my life easier....

ixoy

BEST DIRECTOR

NOMINESS:
Hirschbiegel, Oliver [for 'Downfall'/'Der Untergang']
Jackson, Peter [for 'King Kong']
Nolan, Christopher [for 'Batman Begins']
Whedon, Joss [for 'Serenity']

WINNER: Christopher Nolan for "Batman Begins" (with 37.5% of the votes)

OPINION: Of those on choice, a reasonable winner and showed how you can manage a summer blockbuster. Nothing I'd hold against it, although some of the more "Oscary" fare might, to me, appear better.

ixoy

WORST FILM

NOMINEES: Fantastic Four
Island, The
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Stealth

WINNER: "Miss Congeliaty 2: Armed and Fabulous"

OPINION: None. I managed to avoid all of these but "The Fantastic Four" which was poor, but I've seen a lot worse.

ixoy

MOST OVER-RATED FILM

NOMINEES: Batman Begins
Crash
King Kong
Serenity
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
War of the Worlds

WINNER: 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith' with 31.91% of the vote.

OPINION: Pretty fair. It won a lot of popular votes and I never thought it was much use and that was before anyone got the chance to sway my opinion. Personally I voted for "Crash" because it received a lot of critical praise too that I found undeserved but clearly the world is against me (except some of ye boards people - you know what I mean...).

ixoy

BEST SCREENPLAY

NOMINESS:
Batman Begins
Crash
Sideways
Serenity

WINNER: "Crash" with 32.14% of the vote.

OPINION: *Sigh* Definetely didnt' want to see this win here. I found the screenplay to be far less smart than it thought it was, forced, and banging home the point of racism with the subtletly of a pneumatic driller on crack cocaine. Here's how I feel a typical scene went:
(Interior of cafe)
Character 1: So you don't think this city has a problem?
Character 2: Yeah we do but it's not my place to fix it.
(Waitress approaches)
Character 1: You see that's such BS. You can't have that attitude.
Waitress: Would you like some coffee?
Character 2: Yeah sure.
Waitress: How would you like your coffee [pause] black or white?
[DRAMATIC PAUSE AND FADE TO NEW SCENE]

ixoy

BEST DVD

NOMINEES: Batman Begins - 2 Disc Special Edition
Clerks X
THX-1138

WINNER: "Batman Begins" with 55.17% of the vote.

OPINION: None as I don't have any of these...

ixoy

BEST SFX

NOMINEES: Batman Begins
King Kong
Sin City
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
War of the Worlds

WINNER:"King Kong" with 45.28% of the vote.

OPINION: Lots of deserved nominees here (bar SWIII) but I feel that "Kong" was a deserved winner for Kong himself and humanising the giant ape.

ixoy

BEST SCORE/SOUNDTRACK

NOMINESS: Batman Begins
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The
King Kong
Serenity
Sin City

WINNER: "Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The" with 41.67%.

OPINION: A worthy winner here as I really loved the soundtrack at the time and it stuck out in my head. Well done boardsie people...

ixoy

BEST CHARACTER

NOMINEES: Andy Stitizer [in 'The 40 Year Old Virgin']
Captn. Malcom Reynolds [in 'Serenity']
Marv [in 'Sin City']
Willy Wonka [in 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory']

WINNER: "Marv" with 52.08% of the vote.

OPINION: Interesting choice and one that I wouldn't have gone for given that the character was rather more "cool" than layered in any sense. Interesting also that, apart from Andy Stitizer, the others all had origins prior to the big screen in either book, graphic novel, or TV form. I imagine that helped the actors bring something to the role and that's reflected here.

ixoy

FILM THAT DESERVED BETTER

NOMINEES: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Land of the Dead
Lord of War
Machinist, The
Serenity

WINNER: "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" with 32.14% of the vote.

OPINION: Delighted with this one, and not just because it was my vote that clinched it. I felt this gem was horrifically over-looked. Yes "Serneity" was too, but that was always more likely to appeal to its loyal fans. I still hope this movie gets the audience it deserves but then, in these days of bodily function humour, we may never see it..

ixoy

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

NOMINEES: Corpse Bride
Howl's Moving Castle
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

WINNER: "Curse .." with 54% of the vote.

OPINION: The only Boardsy category that mirrors the Oscars and a deserved winner. I prefered the kookiness of "Howl's Moving Castle" but this was a charming and pleasant movie.

ixoy

BEST NEWCOMER

NOMINEES:Fillion, Nathan [as Captain Malcom Reynolds in 'Serenity']
Carrell, Steve [as Andy Stitzer in 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin']
Glau, Summer [as River in 'Serenity']

WINNER: Steve Carrel with 53% of the vote.

OPINION: Whilst I didn't see what the fuss was with this movie, Carrell did a good job. Not enthused by the win but not bothered like with others...

ixoy

WORST ACTOR/ACTRESS

NOMINEES: Alba, Jessica [for 'Into the Blue' and 'Sin City']
Johnson, Dwayne 'The Rock' [for 'Doom']
Holmes, Katie [for 'Batman Begins']
Radcliffe, Daniel [for 'Harry Poter & the Goblet of Fire']

WINNER: Katie Holmes with 36.84%

OPINION: I tried to get that little Radcliffe to "win" here, but Holmes beat me to it. Whilst not the worst onscreen performance, for someone paid as much as she has it was piss poor. A fair enough "victory" for her here.

ixoy

BEST ACTRESS/SUPPORTING ACTRESS

NOMINEES: Henley, Georgie [as Lucy Pevensie in 'The Chronicles of Narnia']
Watts, Naomi [as Ann Darow in 'King Kong']
Weisz, Rachel [as Tessa Quayle in 'The Constant Gardener']

WINNER: Naomi Watts with 47.06% of the vote.

OPINION: She did good here. I prefered Rachel Weisz's performance given that the character had a bit more to work with but no real issues here...

ixoy

BEST ACTOR/SUPPORTING ACTOR

NOMINEES: Bale, Christian - The Machinist/Batman Begins
Ganz, Bruno - Downfall
Giamatti, Paul - Cinderella Man/Sideways

WINNER: Christian Bale with 62% of the vote.

OPINION: He was good in his 2 nominated roles and he's often been over-looked so fairs enough. Still thought though that Bruno Ganz should have got it for his superb performance of the shattered Fuhrer.

ixoy

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FEATURE

NOMINEES: Ab-Normal Beauty/Sei mong se jun
Downfall/Der Untergang
Kung-Fu Hustle/Kung FU

WINNER: "Downfall" with 67% of the vote.

OPINION: It was always going to win this category, it always deserved to, and thus I'm always happy about it.

ixoy

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

NOMINEES: Mad Hot Ballroom
March of the Penguins
Murderball

WINNER: "March of the Penguins" with 70% of the vote.

OPINION: I knew this would win, given its wider exposure. Pleasant and pretty enough, but I prefered the more heartfelt and touching nature of "Murderball". But then not a lot of people saw it...