The week in film and TV

• Film

Oscars:

Last night saw Hollywood celebrate its biggest event of the year. The battle between The Hurt Locker and Avatar was finally settled as the former won a whopping six out of nine nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, who made history by becoming the first ever female to win the award. The blockbuster Cameron flick walked away with a modest three gongs, all in visual categories. The night otherwise saw very little surprises, the two most unexpected winners being Geoffrey Fletcher for his Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious, and Best Foreign Film going to little-known Argentinian film El Secreto de Sus Ojos. For a bit of a laugh, press play to see Ben Stiller's presentation for Best Make-Up:

If you haven't already, check out The Yorker's very own live-blog from last night to make sure you catch what all the highlights won't show you.

Releases:

Now that the Oscars are well and truly out of the way it is time for the films more pitched at the general public to see a release. The first of these is Shutter Island the new Martin Scorsese film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Emily Mortimer (Harry Brown, Lars and the Real Girl) that finally sees a release date having been periodically pushed back since early October. The film itself is an adaptation of Dennis LaHane’s (writer of Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River) novel of the same name and has been much awaited by this writer in particular.

Also out this week is Green Zone the latest from The Bourne Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass. Starring Matt Damon, Amy Ryan and Greg Kinnear Green Zone is a thriller where faulty intelligence leads to a search for WMDs.

News:

Alice in Wonderland made box office history this weekend, earning a whopping $116.3 million in its opening weekend, the highest-grossing Spring debut ever. Click here to find out what one of our The Yorker reviewers thought of it.

Wolverine 2 is being planned for shooting in January, with a great body of it being shot in Japan. This marks the fifth film based on the X-Men franchise and yet X-Men Origins: Magneto remains silent occupying development hell. Other X-Men films have had more success though with X-Men: First Class and Deadpool still in the works.

Also in the weirder side of the news is a new CGI adaptation of the much beloved children’s books The Smurfs with Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) having been signed onto the project with shooting commencing next month. And yes this is serious.

• TV

News:

Fans of British period drama should keep an eye out for Downtown Abbey later in the year on ITV. Written by Oscar winner Julian Fellowes, it boasts an impressive cast headed by Maggie Smith and the divine Hugh Bonneville, while support includes Penelope Wilton and Joanne Froggatt.

Also, US television network renewals are coming in steadily now - NBC renewed its three most successful comedies 30 Rock, The Office and Community, while The CW (believe it or not) renewed Smallville for its TENTH season. Colour me surprised.

New Series: The first episode of Women, a three part documentary on the rise of feminism, airs on Monday at 9pm on BBC4. Following Britain’s improved success last year, this year our Eurovision song is to be written by Pete Waterman; check out Eurovision: Your Country Needs You on Friday at 8.30pm on BBC1 to find out who’ll be singing it. And make sure to catch the second series of Pointless, a quiz in which knowing useless and obscure trivia is the key (weekdays 4:30pm, BBC2). It’s extremely addictive and not to be missed!

Listings Highlights: Celebrity gossip lovers should check out Cheryl Cole on this week’s Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. She’s mostly there to promote her new single, but Ross is bound to try and get some information about her personal life out of her.

Also, fans of all-things Upper East Side take note - Gossip Girl is back after its 3 month hiatus (Weds 9pm, ITV2), broadcasting an impressive 2 days after the US.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.