2011 Oscar countdown: Best Picture, Documentary, Foreign Film and the Melissa Leo fiasco

The double Goya/Bafta award ceremonies on Sunday last week left me intellectually and literally hung-over. I had diligently stocked up the freezer with champagne in the unlikely eventuality of Lesley Manville's triumph in the supporting category at the Baftas. Helena Bonham Carter predictably prevailed for her role in The King's Speech, which didn't prevent champagne from flowing. Thus, on Monday I had to deal not only with my disappointment at Manville's loss but also with a splitting headache.

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The Ghost Writer leads European Film Awards with 7 Nominations

The excessive discretion with which the European Film Academy announces, hands out and publicises its annual Awards may be a token of good taste but hardly the best strategy for a trophy whose main goal is to increase the visibility of European film production.

The relative immaturity of the awards, the geographical instability of the location where the ceremony is held and the grimness of a show that is erratically broadcasted through Europe are all factors that have contributed to the lack of allure the Awards still have for the general audience.

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2011 OSCAR PREDICTIONS (II): Jeremy Renner and Blake Lively stand out in Ben Affleck's The Town

To have a solid directing career is not what one would expect from someone who, at the age of 25, wins an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Not, at least, if the Oscar is awarded for a tear-jerking, phoney story like the one Ben Affleck and best pal Matt Damon wrote for Good Will Hunting, one of the most painfully self-complacent films Hollywood gave us in the 90s.

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BEST OF THE YEAR: Early Oscar Predictions 2011

As I promised when I posted the entry about my favourite songs of 2010, here are my film choices for the first part of 2010 in the categories of best film, directing, acting (both leading and supporting) and writing (original and adapted).

As my absolute favourite film of 2010, Mike Leigh's Another Year is ubiquitous in virtually all categories. With a good US release date towards the end of the year and the critical support it has managed to gather so far, my dream of seeing the film recognised should become true, come award time.

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