The Darkest Hour

THE DARKEST HOUR *

The Darkest Hour is a story of five tourists who become one of the few people left in the city alive after the invasion of an unknown alien-type. Sound familiar? That’s because it is.

Business partners Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) travel to Moscow in the hope to sell their social networking software. When they are cheated out of their business scheme, the only thing left to do is to commiserate drink at a bar, at which they meet two young women Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor.) The foursome and the rest of the party-goers are soon interrupted by an illumine apparition that appears from the sky. The first inclination of wonder and anticpation is quickly turned to destruction and anarchy as the city of Moscow comes abruptly under attack. Locking themselves (and coincidentally the Swedish businessman who cheated the partners out of their chance of success) in an underground space of some sort, it is up to them to find help and ultimately, survive- yawn!

While the special effects are impressive (and easily the most credible aspect of the 3D movie) as you watch the aliens disintegrate the human life form limb my limb, there isn’t much in the way of ‘variety.’ You do start to wonder after the twentieth-something killing of this nature whether or not the aliens have another trick up their sleeve- or the film makers!

Just as you think the movie can’t get any more predictable, we are hit with a surprise! The now-three clan bumps into what I can only describe as the three Russian musketeers, one of who is wearing a prehistoric Roman Knight’s outfit and riding a horse. Apparently they are policeman. As they parade around waving doctor-who-like armory which zaps the invisible enemy, they propose some sort of reasoning to the alien’s motives as an attack on Earth’s metal resources. Although the movie at least attempts to offer a justification of the attack, it couldn’t have been done in a more comical and goofy way. 

The acting and depth of the characters is lame and you end up on the aliens side, hoping they kill everyone quickly so as to end the movie quicker. At least then they could claim some originality. Unfortunately they don’t, and Sean and his now love interest boards a ship to aid the rest of the world in fighting these martians and restoring world peace. Hirsch mutters out the phrase, ‘This is how it starts,’ but thankfully for us that is how it ends. Despite being easily the strongest member of the cast, Hirsch still pulls off a weak, less than convincing performance somewhat tainting my memories of the impeccable talent he showed in his leading role in Into the Wild five years prior.

So if you want to see a 3D movie purely for the one effect or to see a glimpse of the attractive sights of Moscow go ahead. But for any other reason, and for film buffs who like to be entertained by a decent picture, avoid this disaster noise at all costs.

Road to the Oscars

ROAD TO THE OSCARS

With the nominations of the 84^th Academy Awards released yesterday morning, a few people were left scratching their heads as Scorceses’ Hugo swept the board with a dominating 11 nominations. Critic’s favourite The Artist met expectations and closely followed with an impressive 10 but its suggested rival The Descendants fell drastically behind with only 4. Speilberg was surprisingly overlooked in the Best Directors category for his dramatic and compelling adaptation of War Horse, not to mention the exclusion not only of Leonardo Di Caprio in the Best Actor category but J.Edgar’s overall dismissal. Instead, Bichir received this nomination for his role in A Better Life (perhaps not expected, but deserved) -surprisingly left out of Best Foreign Film alongside A Separation. No stand-outs appear to be headlining the Best Animated Picture and Bridesmaid’s 2 nominations appear a distant hope for success.

A big cheer for film fans was the announcement of Gary Oldman’s Best Actor nomination for his leading role in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Oldman, never to have received a nomination previously- a shocking revelation in itself- and left our of last month’s Golden Globes is reported to have been shocked but overwhelmed by the news- ‘It is extremely humbling, gratifying and delightful to have your work recognised by the Academy.’ Fingers crossed for his long-awaited triumph!

However, where there’s revelations, there’s always the certainties that pull through! Meryl Streep’s genius performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady gained a firm nod for Best Actress and favourite Jean Dujardin’s history-making role in silent movie, The Artist, met its “dead-cert” expectations for Best Actor. Best Picture is a tough category this year. With the rules changed this year meaning that anywhere between 5-10 pictures could be nominated, the competition is rife for the chosen 9- no shocks there in particular regarding chosen nominees. The Harry Potter series picked up its usual nominations for Best Art Direction & Best Visual Effects with its Deathly Hallows Part 1 and the latest Transformer franchise (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) picked up similar recognition for its artistic and visual success.

Also seeming to be welcomed with good reception is the nominations picked up by Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (one of the few films nominated that I have not seen yet) who is up for Best Picture. Are we in for an "extremely loud" upset? Critics however have panned this movie since its release and it could be equally up for, and perhaps more likely to succeed in, the film worse reviewed that has achieved an Oscar nomination (or so the rumours say!)

Below, the Academy nominations across the board (as on BBC website):

BEST PICTURE

War Horse

The Tree of Life

The Artist

Moneyball

The Descendants

Midnight in Paris

The Help

Hugo

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

BEST DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

BEST ACTOR

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Demian Bichir - A Better Life

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

George Clooney - The Descendants

Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

BEST ACTRESS

Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis - The Help

Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill - Moneyball

Nick Nolte - Warrior

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo - The Artist

Jessica Chastain - The Help

Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer - The Help

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Bullhead - Belgium

Footnote - Israel

In Darkness - Poland

Monsieur Lazhar - Canada

A Separation – Iran

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig

Margin Call - JC Chandor

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen

A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

BEST ANIMATION

A Cat in Paris

Chico and Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

Hugo - John Logan

The Ides of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon

Moneyball - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin.

Tinker Tailor Solider Spy - Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan

BEST ART DIRECTION

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

War Horse

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Artist

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

The Tree of Life

War Horse

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse

BEST SOUND EDITING

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Man or Muppet from The Muppets - music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie

Real in Rio from Rio - music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown and lyrics by Siedah Garrett

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Adventures of Tintin

The Artist

Hugo

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

War Horse

BEST COSTUMES

Anonymous

The Artist

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Undefeated

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

God is the Bigger Elvis

Incident in New Baghdad

Saving Face

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

BEST FILM EDITING

The Artist

The Descendants

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Dimanche/Sunday

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore

La Luna

A Morning Stroll

Wild Life

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Penecost

Raju

The Shore

Time Freak

Tuba Atlantic

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Real Steel

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

BEST MAKE-UP

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The Iron Lady

Certainly an interesting and anticipated line-up with plenty of room for further bomb-shells to be dropped! The live broadcasting of the 84^th Academy Awards will be held on the 26^th February.