Winners of the British Academy Awards

Best filmWinner: Atonement - Also nominated: American Gangster; The Lives of Others; No Country For Old Men; There Will Be Blood
Best British film: Winner: This is England - Also nominated: Atonement; The Bourne Ultimatum; Control; Eastern Promises
Leading actor: Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood - Also nominated: George Clooney - Michael Clayton; James McAvoy - Atonement; Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises; Ulrich Muehe - The Lives of Others
Leading actress: Winner: Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose - Also nominated: Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age; Julie Christie - Away From Her; Keira Knightley - Atonement; Ellen Page - Juno
Supporting actor: Winner: Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men - Also nominated: Paul Dano - There Will Be Blood; Tommy Lee Jones - No Country For Old Men; Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War; Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Supporting actress: Winner: Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton - Also nominated: Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There; Kelly Macdonald - No Country For Old Men; Samantha Morton - Control; Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Director: Winner: No Country For Old Men - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - Also nominated: Atonement - Joe Wright; The Bourne Ultimatum - Paul Greengrass; The Lives of Others - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson
Original screenplay: Winner: Juno - Diablo Cody - Also nominated: American Gangster - Steven Zaillian; The Lives of Others - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy; This is England - Shane Meadows
Adapted screenplay: Winner: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Ronald Harwood - Also nominated: Atonement - Christopher Hampton; The Kite Runner - David Benioff; No Country For Old Men - Joel Coen/Ethan Coen; There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson
Film not in the English language: Winner: The Lives of Others - Also nominated: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; The Kite Runner; Lust, Caution; La Vie En Rose
Animated film: Winner: Ratatouille - Also nominated: Shrek the Third; The Simpsons Movie
Carl Foreman award for special achievement by a British director, writer or producer in their first feature film: Winner: Matt Greenhalgh (writer) - Control - Also nominated: Chris Atkins (director/writer) - Taking Liberties; Mia Bays (producer) - Scott Walker: 30 Century Man; Sarah Gavron (director) - Brick Lane; Andrew Piddington (director/writer) - The Killing of John Lennon
Music: Winner: La Vie En Rose - Christopher Gunning - Also nominated: American Gangster - Marc Streitenfeld; Atonement - Dario Marianelli: The Kite Runner - Alberto Iglesias: There Will Be Blood - Jonny Greenwood
Cinematography: Winner: No Country For Old Men - Roger Deakins; Also nominated: American Gangster - Harris Savides; Atonement - Seamus McGarvey; The Bourne Ultimatum - Oliver Wood; There Will Be Blood - Robert Elswit
Editing: Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum - Christopher Rouse - Also nominated: American Gangster - Pietro Scalia; Atonement - Paul Tothill; Michael Clayton - John Gilroy; No Country For Old Men - Roderick Jaynes
Production design: Winner: Atonement - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer - Also nominated: Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Guy Hendrix Dyas, Richard Roberts; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Stuart Craig, Stepheanie McMillan; There Will Be Blood - Jack Fisk, Jim Erickson; La Vie En Rose - Olivier Raoux
Costume design: Winner: La Vie En Rose - Marit Allen - Also nominated: Atonement - Jacqueline Durran; Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Alexandra Byrne; Lust, Caution - Pan Lai; Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Colleen Atwood
Sound: Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum - Kirk Francis, Scott Millan, Dave Parker, Karen Baker Landers, Per Hallberg - Also nominated: Atonement - Danny Hambrook, Paul Hamblin, Catherine Hodgson, Becki Ponting; No Country For Old Men - Peter Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff; There Will Be Blood - Christopher Scarabosio, Matthew Wood, John Pritchett, Michael Semanick, Tom Johnson; La Vie En Rose - Laurent Zeilig, Pascal Villard, Jean-Paul Hurier, Marc Doisne
Special visual effects: Winner: The Golden Compass - Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Wood - Also nominated: The Bourne Ultimatum - Peter Chiang, Charlie Noble, Mattias Lindahl, Joss Williams; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Emma Norton, Chris Shaw; Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - John Knoll, Charles Gibson, Hal Hickel, John Frazier; Spider-Man 3 - Scott Stokdyk, Peter Nofz, John Frazier, Spencer Cook
Make-up and hair: Winner: La Vie En Rose - Jan Archibald, Didier Lavergne - Also nominated: Atonement - Ivana Primorac; Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Jenny Shircore; Hairspray - Judi Cooper Sealy, Jordan Samuel; Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Ivana Primorac, Peter Owen
Short animation: Winner: The Pearce Sisters - Jo Allen, Luis Cook - Also nominated: Head Over Heels - Osbert Parker, Fiona Pitkin, Ian Gouldstone; The Crumblegiant - Pearse Moore, John McCloskey
Short film: Winner: Dog Altogether - Diarmid Scrimshaw, Paddy Considine - Also nominated: Hesitation - Julien Berlan, Michelle Eastwood, Virginia Gilbert; The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island - Charlie Henderson, James Griffiths, Tim Key, Tom BasdenSoft - Jane Hooks, Simon Ellis; The Stronger - Dan McCulloch, Lia Williams, Frank McGuinness
The Orange Rising Star award (voted for by the public); Winner:Shia LaBeouf - Also nominated: Sienna Miller; Ellen Page; Sam Riley; Tang Wei
Academy Fellowship: Sir Anthony Hopkins
Outstanding British contribution to cinema; Barry Wilkinson

Tea Time

A Documentary film by Alexandra Moskalenko. This short movie is about the Blackheath Tea Hut, a facility that has sat on the edge of Blackheath on the A2 at Shooter's Hil since 1924. This area was riddled with highwaymen a century or more ago, and now this tiny building is open around the clock, and around the year (closed for Christmas though) and serves a varied community of locals and passers by, come rain come shine.

The director makes no contribution at all, the customers and staff do all the talking, interspersed with film of the area (with customer voiceovers) and film of the customers who treat it as a meeting place and open air community centre.

I found it fascinating, as the contributors spoke candidly, even therapeutically, about their lives, and how the Hut helped them and raised their sense of well-being.

Of course the Hut is not universally popular - the Blackheath Society wants it closed - it is (in their opinion) an eyesore, attracts the wrong elements, is a magnet for litter and degrades the environment. Their main concern was the 24 hour opening, something that has been happening for over 30 years. I reckon it would a great shame to end this institution.

This film is not on general release - but the original two showings have been extended to 6 - so get to the Greenwich Picturehouse to see this wonderful 'reality' picture. Rating: 8/10

The Golden Compass

Starring Nicole Kidman and Dakota Blue Richards, with Ian McKellan as the voice of a giant armoured polar bear. Frankly I'm not a fan of fantasy adventure movies - Harry Potter leaves me cold, and these child orientated stories rarely do it for me. The film is based on Philip Pullman's novels - all based on the notion that there are dozens of parallel universes in existence and they are connected in some way. The universe he has created is populated by people who have external souls called daemons in the form of some creature. In this episode Lyra a teenager who is the possessor of a golden compass that can tell the truth to the right person. She will undermine the authority of the sinister magisterium. I have to say that it was about half an hour in that I almost lost the will to live - I was just confused by the premise upon which this is all based. For reasons I couldn't quite understand there was a lot of traipsing about snowy wastes, a battle between giant armoured polar bears, vast numbers of children were encarcerated within a scientific establishment seeking to forcibly part them from their daemons before they stopped changing shape (keep up) whilst Daniel Craig in something slightly more than a cameo role was doing experiments in some isolated laboratory. Maybe I just don't buy the simplicity of the good versus evil thing that is depicted here - but this wasn't exciting, nor truly fantastical enough, nor adventurous enough. It's a bit rubbish really. Rating 5/10

The Savages

A film starring the wonderful (but seemingly rarely used) Laura Linney and the exceptional (but remarkably overused) Philip Seymour Hoffman. The movie follows the last few months of father Lenny Savage and his two children Wendy and Jon. The story is more about the children and their reaction to Lenny's sinking into dementia than about Lenny himself - he is always something of an onlooker. This is not a close family. The film opens with Lenny in Arizona, Wendy in New York and Jon in Buffalo. None seem terribly successful, none seem to want to talk about their lives together - in fact they are leading separate and rarely connecting lives. Only one sentence is said about Lenny's wife, Wendy & Jon's mother. The film opens with the death of Lenny's long time girlfriend and it becomes clear he cannot cope alone. What are the children to do with him? We move through guilt, anger, disappointment, frustration - and without sentimentality touch upon all those things that worry us all as we grow old - how would we deal with a parent or loved one who cannot cope independently. This is movingly handled, and with humour, darkly. It does, unusually, deal with a family situation where love does not come naturally, there are clearly bad aspects to the childhoods of both Wendy and Jon - but these aren't paraded like a psycho-analysts clinic, they are skirted around, left hanging unspoken, and referred to only on the edge. This is realistic. I would rate this much more highly than Julie Christie's Away From Her. Go see it - Rating 8/10

Heath Ledger

Sad news today with the announcement of the death of Heath Ledger, found 'surrounded by pills' in his New York flat. The star of Brokeback Mountain had not yet achieved the megastar status that he probably deserved. In a way it seems a pity that this talented actor will only be remembered for that one role.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Now one of my absolute all time favourite films is Airplane. So any spoof parody film is going to be good for me, and this was very enjoyable. Starring John C Reilly and Jenna Fischer this is a movie sending up every biopic that has come out of Hollywood. This is especially aimed at the Cash film Walk the Line, but manages to nod at the Buddy Holly biopic, The Coalminer's Daughter, the Ray Charles film and every other film about the life of a singer you can think of. Dewy Cox is a Rock & Roll musician of the 1950s whose childhood is overshadowed by a tragic machete fight accident, resulting him in losing his sense of smell - and killing his brother. Through the next fifty years the John C Reilly character (and yes the same actor improbably plays Dewey from age 14 to 70) through two marriages, prison, endless addictions, tragedy and shows. During his career (going through Jerry Lee Lewis lookalike performances, Presley, the Beatles, Tamla, and every other musical style you can think of) he meets every famous singer - Holly, Presley, the Beatles, the Temptations, all played by people who really don't look anything like the people they are supposed to be. The songs are clever pastiches and the jokes are silly but to my mind funny. Rating 8/10

Golden Globes results

Not a great deal of glitz & glamour at this year's golden globes because of the stars' support for the writers' strike, but the results - winners & losers produced some surprises, as well as the usual predictability!

Best film (drama)
Atonement
Also nominated: American Gangster; Eastern Promises; The Great Debaters; Michael Clayton; No Country for Old Men; There Will Be Blood

Best film (musical or comedy)
Sweeney Todd
Also nominated: Across the Universe; Charlie Wilson's War; Hairspray; Juno

Best director - film
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Also nominated: Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd; Ethan Coen and Joel Coen - No Country for Old Men; Ridley Scott - American Gangster; Joe Wright - Atonement

Best actor (drama)
Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Also nominated: George Clooney - Michael Clayton; James McAvoy - Atonement; Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises; Denzel Washington - American Gangster
Best actress (drama)
Julie Christie - Away from Her
Also nominated: Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age; Jodie Foster - The Brave One; Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart; Keira Knightley - Atonement
Best actor (musical or comedy)
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Also nominated: Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl; Tom Hanks - Charlie Wilson's War; Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Savages; John C Reilly - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Best actress (musical or comedy)
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Also nominated: Amy Adams - Enchanted; Nikki Blonsky - Hairspray; Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd; Ellen Page - Juno
Best supporting actor
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Also nominated: Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War; John Travolta - Hairspray; Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Best supporting actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Also nominated: Julia Roberts - Charlie Wilson's War; Saoirse Ronan - Atonement; Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone; Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Best foreign language film
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France and US)
Also nominated: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania); The Kite Runner (US); Lust, Caution (Taiwan); Persepolis (France)
Best animated feature film
Ratatouille
Also nominated: Bee Movie; The Simpsons Movie
Best screenplay
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen - No Country for Old Men
Also nominated: Diablo Cody - Juno; Christopher Hampton - Atonement; Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Aaron Sorkin - Charlie Wilson's War
Best original song
Guaranteed - Into the Wild
Also nominated: Despedida - Love in the Time of Cholera; Grace is Gone - Grace is Gone; That's How You Know - Enchanted; Walk Hard - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Best original score
Dario Marianelli - Atonement
Also nominated: Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild; Clint Eastwood - Grace is Gone; Alberto Iglesias - The Kite Runner; Howard Shore - Eastern Promises
TELEVISION CATEGORIES
Best series (drama)
Mad Men
Also nominated: Big Love; Damages; Grey's Anatomy; House; The Tudors
Best series (musical or comedy)
Extras
Also nominated: 30 Rock; Californication; Entourage; Pushing Daisies
Best mini-series or film made for TV
Longford
Also nominated: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee; The Company; Five Days; The State Within
Best actor (drama)
Jon Hamm - Mad Men
Also nominated: Michael C Hall - Dexter; Hugh Laurie - House; Jonathan Rhys Meyers - The Tudors; Bill Paxton - Big Love
Best actor (musical or comedy)
David Duchovny - Californication
Also nominated: Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock; Steve Carrell - The Office; Ricky Gervais - Extras; Lee Pace - Pushing Daisies
Best actor (mini-series or film made for TV)
Jim Broadbent - Longford
Also nominated: Adam Beach - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee; Ernest Borgnine - A Grandpa for Christmas; Jason Isaacs - The State Within; James Nesbitt - Jekyll
Best actress (drama)
Glenn Close - Damages
Also nominated: Patricia Arquette - Medium; Minnie Driver - The Riches; Sally Field - Brothers and Sisters; Holly Hunter - Saving Grace; Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer; Edie Falco - The Sopranos
Best actress (musical or comedy)
Tina Fey - 30 Rock
Also nominated: Christina Applegate - Samantha Who?; America Ferrera - Ugly Betty; Anna Friel - Pushing Daisies; Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds

Best actress (mini-series or film made for TV)
Queen Latifah - Life Support
Also nominated: Bryce Dallas Howard - As You Like It; Debra Messing - The Starter Wife; Sissy Spacek - Pictures of Hollis Woods; Ruth Wilson - Jane Eyre

Best supporting actor (mini-series or film made for TV)
Jeremy Piven - Entourage
Also nominated: Ted Danson - Damages; Kevin Dillon - Entourage; Andy Serkis - Longford; William Shatner - Boston Legal; Donald Sutherland - Dirty Sexy Money

Best supporting actress (mini-series or film made for TV)
Samantha Morton - Longford
Also nominated: Rose Byrne - Damages; Rachel Griffiths - Brothers and Sisters; Katherine Heigl - Grey's Anatomy; Anna Paquin - Bury My Heart On Wounded Knee; Jaime Pressly - My Name is Earl