"Gravity" Floats Away With 11 BAFTA Nominations

"Gravity" leads all films this year with 11 nominations including best film and outstanding British film.         

              

The space blockbuster "Gravity" crashed into cloud 9 Wednesday morning after receiving 11 EE British Academy Film Award (BAFTAs) nominations, the most of any film this year.

"Gravity" was nominated for best film, outstanding British film, best director, best actress for its star, Sandra Bullock, and best original screenplay, and six technical nods. The film was a co-production between the British company Heyday Films and the Mexican company Esperanto films.

In addition to his nomination for directing, Alfonso Cuarón earned the most individual nominations this year with five, earning his four other nominations as a producer, writer and editor of the film. He shares his nomination for outstanding British film with producer David Heyman and co-writer, his son, Jonas Cuarón. This bring Alfonso's total BAFTA nominations up to nine.

Not far behind in nominations was "12 Years a Slave" and "American Hustle" earning 10 each, both competing for best film and best director. While "12 Years" sought three acting nods (actor- Chiwetel Ejiofor, supp. actor- Michael Fassbender and supp actress- Lupita Nyong'o), "American Hustle" earned a nomination in all of the acting categories (leads Amy Adams and Christian Bale, supporting for Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper). The "American Hustle" cast earned the same nominations at the Golden Globes, with Adams and Bale competing in the comedic races.

Movie Reviews; 'Inside Llewyn Davis,' 'Saving Mr. Banks' and 'American Hustle'

Inside Llewyn Davis: Their first overtly musical film since "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", "Inside Llewyn Davis" throws us to another decade of music, specifically the 1961 folk scene of Greenwich Village. As Llewyn (Oscar Isaac) struggles through the longest week of his life to get a music career going, he's approached with an aggressive ex-fling (Carey Mulligan), an older traveler (John Goodman) and an elusive cat. Beautifully shot and with spot-on direction, "Inside" is the Coen Brothers most different yet best film. Smart, engrossing and with a great folk-y soundtrack to boot. Beautifully haunting and emotionally raw. Rating: A+

 

Saving Mr. Banks: As Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) tries to woo Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to sell him the rights to her book, a never-ending story of stubborness and acid-tongued dialogue ensues. Travers, as portrayed by Thompson, is a crotchety old bitch that is pleased by nothing, but eventually sells the rights to her book out of financial desperation. This is one movie that would have done better on the Hallmark Channel because it's ripe with cliche and that mean old hag that eventually turns nice by the end. Oh, and the constant flashbacks to Travers' childhood added nothing to the film. Rating: D