Movie Overdose Service Announcement

Hello everyone!!!

Now, you will have noticed that we’ve been off the air for quite a while now. We explained a few reasons for this back in the last show we did but I just want to get across a few other reasons and then a couple of changes that will occur to the show so that you can all stop worrying.

The erratic recording schedule that kicked off for us back in about July was mostly down to me moving house. Two months after we moved, Tommy – for if you do not know, myself, Tommy and Producer John all used to live together, along with intermittent but extremely popular guest star Beth – also moved. Now Tommy and Producer John still live together in a lovely south London abode along with another very lovely guest Jon ‘JP’ Cooper and a man we desperately want to get in as a guest in the very near future, Big Sam.

The important thing to note now is that we live on different sides of the city. We are in the process of working out a new recording schedule, but the issue is finding the time to actually do this. I have been going through a very busy and stressful period at work, as has Producer John – Tommy may have, but he’s isn’t really a man to whom stress has that much impact, bad ass that he is – so that, along with settling into our new places, has meant that finding the time to record has become increasingly difficult.

Now, this does not mean we are done. Au contraire, mes petits singes effrontés, we will be returning to the air very soon. What is holding back, beyond the aforementioned moving and stress and shit, is that Tommy and I are working on a new way to do the show.

You see, though we haven’t been doing this podcast all that long, Tommy and I have been going to the movies together for a very long time. Over the course of this time, we have seen quite a significant amount of time-wasting crap. After a while, you begin to collapse into an existential funk and consider ‘why? Why do we put ourselves through complete crap like We Were Soldiers, Mothman Prophecies, Gamer, Transformers 2 or The Lovely Bones?’. It’s a good question. We have done it because, in my humble opinion, you should see crappy movies to appreciate the better ones. However, this point of view has somewhat shifted in recent years. The refined version of this now is: ‘Movies you don’t like are okay as long as there is something interesting about them’. I recently watched Somewhere, the Sofia Coppola film with Stephen Dorff. I was looking forward to the movie but really, really did not enjoy it. But that kind of thing is okay to pay money to see and then dislike. Because though I didn’t subscribe to what it was trying to say, it was at least trying to say something.

So, the new show format Tommy and I are working on will incorporate this and make things much easier for us to do a show each week. The length of the shows will likely drop somewhat, but again, when you’re knocking out 90 minute shows every week, often on films neither of us have that much to say about, it can get a little draining.

We should return by December, so look forward to a year-end list or two from us. Until then, I hope this will address some concerns of our listeners. I will update as soon as we know a little more about when we will return and exactly what the show will be when we do.

Out.

Sam

The Movie Overdose #74 – Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Tommy, Sammy and Johnny return to their erratic recording schedule for qualified fawning over Scott Pilgrim and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it review of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. They then talk at length about Bones, Rubicon, True Blood, Inglorious Basterds, Batman Begins, Public Enemies, Demolition Man and, with a passion unheard of for a CW show, Tom’s battle cry to the greatness of Supernatural.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 74

The Movie Overdose #73.5 – Movies of the Year So Far…

Tom and Sam count down the top five movies of the year so far, along with their top three male and top three female performances so far. Episode is mostly notable for Tom’s reaction to Sam’s top pick for male actor – priceless stuff.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 73.5

The Movie Overdose #73 – Inception and Toy Story 3

BACK! Yes, gentle ladies and gentler men, we have returned to the podcasting world and we are here to stay. After our time off, we catch up a little with reviews of Inception and Toy Story 3 and then some long talks about what we’ve been watching, including Stargate Universe, The A-Team, Karate Kid, Rubicon, White Collar and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 73

The Movie Overdose #72 – Predators

They may not able to replace Arnie, but Tom and Sam give their time over to assessing just how close Nimrod and Rodriguez have come to creating a worth successor to Predator. The boys have a chat about Ed Norton leaving The Avengers and about Mel Gibson ranting, raving and making it difficult to continue shouting praise for Apocalypto. They conclude things with chats about the BBC’s Dive, Community and, indeed, the original Predator.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 72

The Movie Overdose #71 – Eclipse

Tom and Sam cannot help it, they have dived into the world of twinkly vampires and sullen blandness with the latest instalment of the Twilight Saga. They go on to chat about the casting of Spiderman, more chatter on the IT Crowd and a little bit on a documentary about leaving a fundamentalist cult.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 71

The Movie Overdose #70 – Get Him To The Greek

John and Sam sink their teeth into Russell Brand and Jonah Hill, not to mention Diddy, in Get Him to the Greek. The boys chat about some movie news and what they’ve watched, rounding it all off with a trailer festival.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 70

The Movie Overdose #69 – Undisputed III: Redemption

Slow week on the new release front, so Tommy and John have delved into the straight-to-DVD world for a review of Undisputed 3: Redemption. The gents then chat about a new Shane Carruth movie, who should direct The Hobbit, the qualities of Misfits, question why Tom hasn’t seen Father Ted and round-off with a round-up of new trailers, including Gulliver’s Travels and The Green Hornet.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 69

The Movie Overdose #68 – Greenberg

Tom and Sam embrace the misanthropy of Ben Stiller in Greenberg, chat about Sam Raimi taking on the Wizard of Oz and Louis Letterier’s Gravity and round it off with chats about Michael Clayton, No Distance Left to Run and The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 68

The Movie Overdose #67 – The Killer Inside Me

Tom and Sam delve into the mind of a killer with Michael Winterbottom and Casey Affleck in The Killer Inside Me. They chat about a Les Grossman movie, The Hobbit and give some opinions on Friday Night Lights, Up, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Ip Man 2. They close out with a cleansing talk about Fringe and Lost.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 67

The Movie Overdose #66 – TV Pilot Pitches

A shorter instalment this week, with a review of Rian Johnson’s long-delayed Brothers Bloom. We also find some time to talk about Luther, Treme and Hot Tub Time Machine but conclude it all with a natter about a few TV pitches Tom has managed to unearth, including from from Abrams and one with Chiklis.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 66

The Movie Overdose #65 – Iron Man 2

Semi-feature review of Iron Man 2 this week, as Sam couldn’t get down to see the movie. This, however, is supplemented with chat on Terra Nova, Avatar 2 and new projects for Aronofsky and Cronenberg. Sam chats about some TV, John talks about a Spanish horror and Tommy enlightens us on the Human Centipede. We let it all come to rest with a trailer round-up, including The Killer Inside Me, Inception and Super-8.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 65

The Movie Overdose #64 – Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call: New Orleans

The boys all jump into the world of Herzog and Cage with a review of Bad Lieutenant Port of Call New Orleans. They go on to chat about remaking Commando, a second Dark Crystal and a fifth Die Hard. The touch on Fringe, take apart the science of What Women Want, celebrate the man-love of Humpday and the dark humour of World’s Greatest Dad. They close it off with a chat about date movies, what you want from a date movie and the best choices.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 64

The Movie Overdose #63 – Further Adventures In TV

Your usual esteemed host Sam is stricken with some unknown ailment! It falls therefore to your other esteemed hosts Producer John and Tom to steer the show through the rocky shoals of movie discussion. The main movie for this week was supposed to be Date Night, which the boys did watch, but for reasons revealed only in the podcast it was bumped to the “What We Watched” section…

Intrigued? Well if you’re a fan of intrigue then you’re probably going to enjoy our little love-fest over JJ Abram’s ‘Fringe’ and a further discussion on the art of the TV serial over-arching narrative.  Finally we fall back to our favourite emergency podcast feature, the Trailer Roundup! Join us for a look at some truly ridiculous films concerning a bald emo dude, a windy kid, more sparkly vampires, a sexy automaton, dough-faced cowboys and some kind of super horse.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 63

The Movie Overdose #62 – TV Round-Up

Oh no!! No main review this week, but plenty of chatter on Joss Whedon’s Avengers, a comedy Star Wars, early Brian De Palma and why Tom and Sam can’t get on board with Jude Law. They replace the movie chatter with talk about Lost, Glee, Fringe, Treme and Mad Men and conclude the day with a trailer round-up, taking in Paper Man, High School and, with great pain and suffering, Grown Ups.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 62

The Movie Overdose #61 – How To Train Your Dragon

We may only be the second most important debate of the week, but there should still be some love shown for our talks on How to Train Your Dragon and Whip It!. We also took in the delights of trailers for Sex and the City 2 and Ong-Bak 3, along with discourse on Lost, Mad Men and Fringe. We round things out with some girl power, picking the films we would want our daughters to see.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 61

The Movie Overdose #60 – Kick-Ass

John’s in heaven as we chat about Kick-Ass and get a chance for a legitimate discussion about Nicolas Cage. The boys also chat about movies being cancelled, a new version of The Toxic Avenger and casting for The Walking Dead TV series. They talk about House of the Devil, Survival of the Dead, Clash of the Titans and The Informant, before rounding off with a talk about the trailers for The Human Centipede and The Expendables, amongst an array of delights.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 60

The Movie Overdose #59 – The Blind Side

Tommy is out of town for the first time, so the Movie Overdose was able to get Beth to stand in for him and upstage him at every turn. She comes aboard with Sam and Producer John to chat about The Blind Side, Claudia Winkleman getting the Film 2010 job, Scott Pilgrim and Bond revolutions. She also helps Sam chat about In Treatment and aids him in attempting to convert John to Pineapple Dance Studios. It all closes out with the a discussion about the films which make us cry and why.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 59

DVDs This Week 22 & 29/03/10

Twilight Saga: New Moon
I am not going to be converting anyone with my comments on this film: chances are if you love it or hate it (and there is no middle ground), me telling you that it is a steaming pile of faeces aint gonna change your mind. I have no problems with REALLY bad films like this becoming massively popular, I like Taken, the Scooby Doo movies and have probably seen Dude, Where’s my Car around 15-20 times. We all have our guilty pleasures. My problem with this series of films is that there seems to be a complete lack of love for this film by the people who made it. Both films seem rushed, with bits missing and what is possibly the biggest lack of chemistry in cinema. Two(or in this case, three) leads having little chemistry is annoying but forgivable in, say, Transformers 2 (another film I absolutely can’t stand) because it’s an action film, but in a romantic film it’s an abomination. That says, it comes just above the Transformers series for me for the simple fact that it cost a hell of a lot less. This will probably break records for DVD sales and although completely undeserving, I am willing to consider in the same way as the topic of old people sex. I realise that it exists, just don’t talk to me about it otherwise I may vomit.

Harry Brown
If this wasn’t such a quiet weeks I would have just reviewed this with the words ” Michael Caine’s in it, therefore it’s a must see”. Caine has got to have been one of the most consistent actors of modern times and if it’s true that this will be his last film as said in press interviews during release, it will be a massive loss not only to British cinema, but to Hollywood too. This revenge tale is intelligent and relevant in ways that a lot of modern revenge tales avoid. While it is enjoyable to see Caine’s transformation from accidental killer to ruthless murderer, the film is no slouch in it’s re-enacting of modern Britain. Young gangs controlling areas, pensioners left to fend for themselves and the feeling that the police are unable to help are all issues in Britain that have been happening for years. An impeccable performance by Caine and great supporting cast made this a big hit at the film festivals last year, but it deserved more than the limited release that it got. Catch in on DVD.

Paranormal Activity
It’s easy to compare Paranormal Activity to the Blair Witch Project. While it seems lazy journalism to make the connection, there’s no shaking the similarities, and not just the amateur footage style. Paranormal Activity followed tips on market from Blair Witch and it paid dividends. Also, like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity is a very important horror film. These small films that make a huge return (and they are horrors in the majority) serve a purpose to show the studios that you don’t need to remake a successful movie or throw heaps of money to get a blockbuster on your hands. Both films try to concentrate on the FEAR itself, rather than the events, but Paranormal is definitely not as intelligent a film as the first Blair Witch and this is probably it’s failing. The Blair Witch Project didn’t need jump scares, loud noises or even something to be scared of.  It was essentially a character study in the arising of fear and how when it becomes conscious, how it can envelop you. Granted, there was something to be scared of in the Blair Witch, but we didn’t see if, just the outcomes of it’s actions. It was about a small group being isolated, growing in fear and reducing in hope and then a stark realisation that their fear was rational, that they were in danger.

So while Paranormal Activity was an important horror film, I think it doesn’t need a sequel and that repeat viewings of the film are not favourable. Maybe rent the DVD, then buy The Blair Witch Project, Rec, or Lake Mungo (which probably sell for less than a fiver now).

2012
Watch the trailer and you will pretty much immediately know what to expect from this film. Fantastic CGI, a wafer thin plot and poor characterisation. I always have time for films like 2012 because they don’t intend to be anything else. You get characters that wise crack despite it being the end of the world and limousines doing handbrake turns. This is a film I would love to be made into a theme park ride, because essentially the film is a ride – big, dumb fun. From a film critic’s point of view, it’s a bad film, but it’s one of those films where you can just switch your brain off and get a few friends around and just have a really good laugh.

Bunny and the Bull
Here is another film I saw at Leeds Film Festival (surely we must be near the end of them now?!). Right from the off, this film is inventive. Reminiscent of Gondry in style with a lot of guerrilla special effects (a theme park made from clock mechanisms), but able to be it’s own style, those expecting a Mighty Boosh movie will be SLIGHTLY disappointed. The humour is to some degree the same as Mighty Boosh, but is not as laugh out loud funny as the tv series. In fact, it’s quite short on real laughs to be honest, but in some ways that is to it’s benefit because it adds emotion into the mix. The film is bleak for the most part and is essence a story about someone who is not mentally sound. But there are out and out MAGICAL cinema moments (especially the scene with the titular bull).

This is a film which will follow suit with the Mighty Boosh in that it will gain cult status and it is definitely deserving. It may miss the mark a lot of the time, but when it delivers, it does so in such an original way that it’s hard not to be impressed.

Also out this week: Glorious 39 – Caprica (Pilot Episode) – Dread

Killing in Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass is undoubtedly a truly fun experience for watching. It’s filled with stabs of smart, profane humour and knowing touches and nods to inspirations peppered throughout. The performances, particularly from the future superstar Aaron Johnson and the ridiculously precocious Chloe Moretz are superb. The action sequences, though occasionally creaking under budgetary concerns, are packed to the gills with energy and kineticism. They may occasionally lose touch of themselves, but they have a slick vein of humour that drives all the events which occur.

But… I have seen precious little comment about the way that the violence is depicted, not on an aesthetic level but on an emotional, consequential level. As with Wanted, also based on a Mark Millar graphic novel, Kick-Ass revels in the violence and killing perpetrated by both the good and bad guys. We are consistently told to chuckle at the ultra-violent content, including a man exploding, one being eliminated in a car crusher and numerous splattering headshots.

I’m not preaching that this is necessarily wrong, director/writer Matthew Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman are going for something, and they mostly succeed. This is supposed to be a post-modern superhero story which nods and winks at its knowing, desensitised audience. You could even make an argument that the film is so arch as to be specifically pointing out this macabre sensibility in its audience, akin to Haneke in Funny Games, but I don’t think that’s where is going. If so, this is a film which has its cake, the person’s next to it and then eats everyone’s.

The killing that happens is so fetishised and so cheered it’s very hard to feel anything but a little discomfort at what you are seeing. There would appear to be a stupefying lack of emotional consequence to the violence which happens, even though much of the violence which happens is driven by emotional concerns. Sure, the Hit-Girl and Big Daddy characters are seeking revenge, but shouldn’t there at least be a slight acknowledgement in Hit-Girl’s character of the amount of murder she takes part in? Many of the human characters in the film, henchman though they may be, are dispatched with such a sense of glee, with no remorse or consequence for the perpetrator. There is no recourse to the violence, it just happens and we are supposed to cheer and laugh. It may be in a comic-book world, but there just seems too much having and eating of cake going on for me.

The Movie Overdose #58 – Crazy Heart

Crazy Heart for Tommy and Sammy this week, allowing them to express at least some like/love for country music. They then have a chat about Mike Myers coming back and Captain America being cast, about crazy Nicolas Cage and the excretion that is Jersey Shore. The finish with a trailer round-up, taking in the delights of Robin Hood, Predators and Eclipse.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 58

The Movie Overdose #57 – Shutter Island

SPOILERS!!! Tom and Sam dive into the world of surprise endings with a chat about the best and worst twists in movies. Before all that, though, they fall head-over-heels for Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, chat about another Twilight director and delve into all that is good and bad about George Lucas.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 57

DVDs This Week – 15/03/10

Zombieland
Good fun and definitely rewatchable zombie comedy. I am still unsure whether I find this or Shaun of the dead a better zom-com (although I still would take Dr S Battles The Sex Crazed Reefer Zombies over both of them).

An absolutely blinding title sequence and a fair hit count of good laughs helped me to enjoy this film a lot at the cinema and at times, it does look gorgeous, but I found it hard to escape the feeling that Jesse Eisenberg was essentially playing Michael Cera. While he did a decent job of this it felt a bit strange given that I was already getting a feeling of overkill with Michael Cera playing Michael Cera in his films.

By now everyone should know about the cameo, but I have to admit – I found it a massive disappointment. It is so forced and the only laugh it gave me (which was probably the biggest laugh to be fair) was in the character’s eventual death. The film is the perfect length so that it doesn’t feel too long and it’s great to see that a director can show restraint and knows when to finish a film before it gets too stale.

Overall, this film is definitely in my top 3 comedy films of 2009 and I highly recommend it, although at times the gags can be hit and miss possibly due to the high gag count. It looks really good for a comedy film and shows some moments of ingenuity, but may be guilty of trying to many tricks to gain it’s own style.

White Ribbon
Michael Haneke’s Palme D’Or 2009 winner also came very high in a large number of film critics films of the decade. The plot of the film involves a school teacher recalling memories of the year that he met his fiancee, where a number of strange occurrences take place in a German village during the twelve months between July 1913 and 1914..

As seems to be the case with Haneke’s films, White Ribbon can be described as both ‘violent’, but also ‘subtle’. I recently decided to rewatch Cache, another Haneke film starring my favourite foreign actor and actress, Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche. On first watch I didn’t enjoy the film but I decided to rewatch because I realised I had missed a hell of a lot of the plot because a lot of things happen in the background, and unlike a Hollywood film, isn’t telegraphed. I expect White Ribbon to be similar to Cache in that respect and Haneke is definitely a director that commands attention.

Cold Souls
I managed to catch this at the fantastic Hyde Park Picture House (my favourite UK cinema ever) late last year and while the movie is watchable, it is far from a great film. Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti preparing for the Chekhov play “Uncle Vanya”. To deal with his growing anxiety regarding the role, he decides to follow up an advert in a newspaper to store his soul in a storage facility until the play is over. The plot is amazingly high concept, but it just doesn’t seem to work. It tries to be subtle, but then hammers home some comedy elements (as though the writer was questioning the audiences’ intelligence). Also, rare for a Paul Giamatti film, he is guilty of some horrific overacting.

In summary, despite a great concept, the film never lives up to its premise. Cold Souls tries to be intelligent, but doesn’t have the brains that it thinks it has.

Also out this week: A Serious Man - Survival of the Dead - Paranormal Entity

The Movie Overdose #56 – Alice in Wonderland 3D

Tom and Sam dive into the rabbit hole and attempt to embrace Tim Burton’s vision of Alice in Wonderland. Producer John then joins the line-up to chat about big budget faith movies, Nicolas Cage in the third dimension, David Milch’s new series and the trailer for Tron Legacy. We then shift into chats about Ghost Rider, Tron, Triangle, Fantastic Mr Fox and Being Human, before a concluding trailer round-up with Iron Man 2 and owls in helmets.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 56

DVDs This Week – 08/03/2010

An Education
This Oscar-nominated film tells the tale of Jenny, a 16-year-old girl who is seduced by a 35-year-old man. If you are reading this after the Oscar results have come in, then you will already know that Sandra Bullock has robbed Carey Mulligan of a deserved Best Actress Oscar (my prediction of events anyway – (ed. well played, sir)). Carey’s turn is without doubt completely deserving of an Oscar win and even with a strong supporting cast, she manages to totally steal the show. The film contains a great story, is completely involving and as mentioned features without doubt the best actress performance of 2009. I cannot recommend An Education enough.

Julie and Julia
Another Best Actress Oscar-nominated, this time for the most consistently amazing actresses in Hollywood. Which makes me feel bad to say – I don’t think she necessarily deserves an Oscar for this performance. Whether it’s because I didn’t enjoy Julie and Julia as much as I was hoping or whether it is because Meryl Streep has acted better in other movies and has set the bar so high I am unsure. This film has had a LOT of great reviews and that Streep has received a nomination for Best Actress probably indicates that this is a good movie, I didn’t find it outstanding and at times found it a little annoying. This opinion is probably not shared by a hell of a lot of people, but I think for this year Carey Mulligan has out-acted Meryl Streep and An Education I found to be a better film.

As this is another quiet week for DVDs, I have decided to mention a couple of horrors due for release that sound quite similar in plot to other horror films

Starting with CUT, a slasher that stars (and I use the term as loosely as possible) Danielle Lloyd! The plot follows  5 friends who are returning from a party. They discuss how urban legends are a load of rubbish before the night takes a horrible turn (Urban Legends anyone?). What interests me in this one is that the entire movie is one continuous shot!! Now the presence of Danielle Lloyd makes me feel like this will be godawful, but the one continuous shot sounds fantastic. I will be getting round to watching this movie soon (being a british horror, I wasn’t able to get my hands on an early import) and will possibly do a mini review in the near future. Next up is THE GRIND, the tale of a man heavily in debt to a mexican mob who sets up a voyeuristic Big Brother style website to generate revenue, which sounds not too dissimilar to BigBrother.com and My Little Eye. Inevitably for a horror/slasher, things don’t go to plan. Finally IMURDERS (probably not an Apple inc official product!). This stars Tony Todd and Billy Dee Williams, which can’t be a good sign. Members of an online website are murdered one by one. While I am not aware of a niche social network based horror, but for examples of killer websites look no further than tv series Killer net or the absolutely terrible Untraceable (or Unbearable as it should be known).

The Movie Overdose #55.5 – Oscar Predictions

Tom, Sam and John take their seats and predict, with unerring conviction, who will win, who will lose and who will be disappointed on Oscar night. So it moves into print, Tom has even claimed that he will watch The Adventures of Pluto Nash should he come last in the prediction competition.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 55.5

Oscar Predictions: Best Picture

The Nominees
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

The expansion of the category has had some impact on the talk around the Oscars, mostly negative. It would appear that you could easily eliminate five films from the top category as being also-rans, if still good films. Where last year it would have served mostly just to allow The Dark Knight its nomination and sate the anger of so many over-hyped fanboys/girls, this year it felt as though the Academy was just reaching further to grab films from all corners, as if to indicate that they are not scared of honouring ‘popular’ films. The fact that they have never really done this and the actual small films almost always get screwed, that was left to the side of the discussion.

Oscar Predictions: Best Director

The Nominees
James Cameron for Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels for Precious
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air

This category seems to break down into three categories as regards the chance each has of winning the prize. In the last category, essentially the no-hopers, are Lee Daniels and Jason Reitman. Reitman is the kind of director who will consistently struggle to win this prize as his skill comes through his ability to manage performance and tone rather than anything visually spectacular or inventive. Up in the Air is a pristine film with some well-composed images, but it’s script and performance-driven, similar to Juno and Thank You for Smoking. He deserves plaudits, but they won’t be sufficient for the prize. Lee Daniels has promise as an inventive director, but too many choices fall flat in Precious and he won’t win.

Oscar Predictions: Best Actor

The Nominees
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
George Clooney for Up in the Air
Colin Firth for A Single Man
Morgan Freeman for Invictus
Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker

This one feels like it’s been complicated in recent weeks, too. I still don’t think Jeremy Renner will have the momentum to take the prize and I would be shocked if Clooney wins, even though I would cite Up in the Air as his finest performance. He should also, as argued by Stephanie Zacharek, be rewarded for his great role in Fantastic Mr Fox, but unfortunately that film, like Clooney, will go home empty-handed.

Oscar Predictions: Best Actress

The Nominees
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
Helen Mirren for The Last Station
Carey Mulligan for An Education
Gabourey Sidibe for Precious
Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia

Okay, let’s get going. This undoubtedly to be the most interesting category of the lot, if interesting for you is having four possible winners. A couple of months back, I was pretty sure that Carey Mulligan was a shoe-in to win this – she had all the momentum and buzz to get her over the line. Then things started to shift and, as I said, I think there are four possible winners here. Before we kick off then, let’s just say, Helen Mirren won’t win.