The Dossing Times

Apologies to Yeddnek – the great books of fiction will have to wait. The Academy Awards are this weekend and Top 6 looks to this self-congratulatory high point of award season for our list this week. Its considered a particularly poor year for diverse nominations and those nominated for Best Picture are getting the worst [...]

There are two cynical elements behind ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’ – firstly it has been promoted largely without mentioning the fact that its writer and director is Woody Allen and secondly it was marketed to us this past weekend as a romantic movie to draw out those considering a trip to the movies as part of [...]

Films can exist outside of the actual viewing experience – with the Wrestler, there is the movies award season buzz which people will know about without needing to see the movie, there will be talk of Mickey Rourke’s come-back, which he, the promoters and interviewers will be happy to flag, discuss and mention, again with [...]

So lets start with the good:
Heath Ledger, Best Supporting Actor for ‘The Dark Knight’ is not surprising, but very welcome. This category threw up the best surprise for me in the form of a nomination for Robert Downey Jnr. in ‘Tropic Thunder’ – its an all too rare sign of humour and a broad range [...]

I think this will be my last year commenting on these awards – the humour is gone from the premise for me and the nominations are unimaginative. Those nominated for being the worst Hollywood had to offer in 208 are below the break.

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ is equal parts extraordinary and so very ordinary. It encompasses the first and last breaths of a man and much of what passes in between, where aside from his condition he lives a life of questioning, struggle, joy and comfort that could characterise any life, [...]

The BAFTA nominations are an oddity, acknowledging films yet to be released in the UK in a desperate attempt to seem relevant. A few years ago they moved the nominations and awards to a date preceeding the Oscars, traditionally viewed as the end point to award season, as they struggled to attract stars to attend [...]

There were two wins for Irish talent at last nights ‘Golden Globes’ – Colin Farrell won Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical for his role in ‘In Bruges’. Its genuinely heartening to see his role and indeed the movie acknowledged. Farrell quipped that the vote counting must have been done in Florida.  Gabriel Byrne also won [...]

What’s important about these nominations is that 12 of the previous 19 winners of best feature as selected by the PGA has gone on to win Best Picture at the Oscars, including ‘No Country for Old Men’ last year. The appearance of ‘The Dark Knight’ here will raise hopes for many that it could feature [...]