Shropshire Star

So, Brit flick Atonement was named best picture at the British Academy Film Awards, writes Movie Blogger Carl Jones.

Not entirely a surprise - apart from the fact that it was overlooked for the major acting, directing and screenwriting awards.

For this begs a question . . . how can it then go on to be named best picture?

Perhaps the sum of the components was more spectacular than the components themselves.

Or perhaps, knowing it’s unlikely to trouble the scorers at the Oscars later this month, this was a case of the patriotic Bafta voters flying the flag for the most British of British movies.

It’s a really good film which has put Shropshire firmly on the movie map, but Atonement simply isn’t in the same league as the current batch of hot Hollywood offerings like No Country For Old Men - if we see a better movie
than this Coen Brothers offering this year, it will be one hell of a ride.

Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor for his performance as an oil baron in There Will Be Blood. It’s not yet opened in Shropshire, so we can’t pass comment.

But little-known French actress Marion Cotillard, who stole the show by winning the other top acting gong for her portrayal as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose, is fully deserving on the award.

That French film was the big hit of the night, walking away with four Baftas including awards for music, make-up & hair, and costume design, while Atonement won just two of the 14 categories it was shortlisted for.

Javier Bardem took the best supporting actor award for his chilling role as an assassin in No Country for Old Men - thank goodness - and Joel and Ethan Coen shared the prize for best director.

It was nice to see Oscar-winning legend Sir Anthony Hopkins presented with an Academy fellowship (or should that be long service award?) for a career spanning five decades and critical acclaim for his performances in films such as Remains of the Day, The Silence of the Lambs and Nixon.

But it was less satisfying to see that Transformers star Shia LaBeouf - soon to be seen in the new Indiana Jones movie - won the rising star award, beating Brits Sienna Miller and Sam Riley, but couldn’t be bothered to show up to collect it.

Whatever the Bafta organisers do to try to make the UK ceremony into an Oscars clone, they won’t succeed until more of the Hollywood A-listers make it an essential stopping point on their jet-setting calendar.