GOLDEN (A) AWARD WINNERS 2013 - FILM AND TELEVISION

It's been quite a year for us here at (A)musings - this time last year this blog was operating as purely a personal blog for editor Kyle's own personal ruminations and ramblings on the world and works of Film and Media, and beginning last April it has really bloomed into an active, press-accredited journalism venture which, amongst many highlights, has affiliated with major film studios and distributors such as Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios UK and Universal NBC, worked with a range of the top-tier Film, Theatre and Media PR companies and agencies nationwide, been accredited for and attended the 56th BFI London Film Festival and been invited to such prestigious events as the worldwide premiere of Les Miserables in London, the Royal Film Performance and London Film Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in the presence of Prince William, Sir Peter Jackson and the films cast and crew, and most recently the London opening night premiere of the record-breaking US musical smash hit The Book of Mormon.

(A)MUSINGS OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2013

It's that time of year again when Hollywood rolls out the glitz and glamour for the most prestigious date on the entertainment calendar - it's Oscar time!

As with last year, Editor/Founder Kyle Pedley presents his predictions on who will and won't be going home empty handed when the ceremony kicks off later this evening.

LES MISERABLES - FILM REVIEW

LES MISERABLES

Release Date: 11 January 2013 (UK)

Director: Tom Hooper

Running Time: 158 Minutes

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen

Screening Reviewed: National Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Given the renaissance of musical movies and adaptations which seemed to kick into gear with Moulin Rouge and Chicago in the early 00’s, it is a little surprising that it has taken so long for the longest running and most celebrated musical theatre production of all to get it’s big screen adaptation. In many ways the show seems a natural fit for the big screen - its ensemble narrative handling both the grandiose and the tender and passing as it does through time and geography at a relatively brisk pace. Yet for all of the cinematic flavourings of the stage show, it also presents a number of curiosities which make this screen adaptation a less atypical affair.

Les Miserables is for all intents and purposes entirely musical, with the majority of its dialogue sung rather than spoken, and there being very little in the way of stopping for set pieces or choreography - from the bombastic opening shipyard sequence through to its tender finale, this is a story told almost exclusively through song. The benefit of this is apparent from the offset, deftly avoiding any of the stop-and-start nature that plagues so many musical adaptations. These are not show numbers attempting to further the story - they are the story itself, the essence of the film and tale being told. The unfortunate downside of this perma-musical approach is that occasionally the more indulgent or frivolous moments from the stage show which could easily have been cut threaten to venture into self-parody or redundancy on screen.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES: MOVIE REVIEW

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Release Date: 20th July (UK)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Running Time: 165 Minutes
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

And so we come to it at last.

The Avengers Initiative has been assembled. Peter Parker is web-slinging once more. Yet in the wake of these worthy pretenders comes the real superhero event of the summer - the incomparably awaited The Dark Knight Rises. It is difficult to envisage a more hyped and anticipated movie release this year (except for maybe when we are all welcomed back to Middle Earth in December) but surely nobody on the planet needs reminding of that fact.

So how does it fare?

Firstly, those going in expecting a re-hash of The Dark Knight are likely to leave disappointed. For where the previous film felt more akin to a focused, frenzied crime thriller in the vein of, say, Michael Mann’s Heat seen through the filter of Gotham City, in this, Nolan’s final Batman outing, the movies comic book roots take front and centre, and in place of The Dark Knight’s erratic, chaotic surprise is an indomitable and epic ebb, a relentless advance to a grand, emotional crescendo for one of the most duly successful superhero franchises ever made.