Tonight is the BAFTA Film awards in Covent Garden, London. I’ve always held the BAFTAs as the only awards ceremony that is really worth watching, and this goes all across all forms of entertainment, be it music, gaming or television as well as film. So, to kick off the new blog, I think it would be a good idea to live blog the entire ceremony as it unfolds on television – an armchair commentary, if you will.
The key thing you should note is that the TV broadcast is always an hour or two after the actual ceremony kicks off itself, so I’m having to avoid all news coverage this evening to keep myself from spoiling it. Check back just before 8pm where coverage will start.
8pm – Coverage just started. Straight to the red carpet warm up. Once again, it is raining. Predictable already!
8:11pm – Kylie Mingoue is presenting the award for Best Original Score. Wow, she’s really small! The BAFTA goes to…Slumdog Millionaire! Hopefully the first of many for that film tonight.
8:25pm – Still rattiling through the technical awards. So far it is Slumdog Millionaire 3 – 2 Bejamin Button in that heavyweight showdown, and no other film has won anything. Dev Patel looks starry-eyed everytime I see him on the screen. The cinematographer for Slumdog looks like an evil villain from a Bond film.
8:39pm – Onto the heavyweights. Slumdog wins Best Original Screenplay, Steve McQueen wins the Carl Foreman Award for Hunger and the Outstanding Contribution To British Cinema Award is now being awarded to Shepperton & Pinewood Studios. Nice to see a different type of winner for this award.
8:50pm – The Duchess wins for Best Costume Design. Unsurprising for a period drama really. Dev Patel is so far the best person who has introduced an award so far – all the others seem riddled with nerves (apart from Amy Adams). Marissa Tomei is now reading her introduction like a sixth former who has to give a PowerPoint presentation. She is my tip for best supporting actress.
9pm – We’re about to do something that I thought was a redundancy in this day and age – switching channels to watch the rest of the ceremony. So pointless – now we have to do the red carpet thing all over again. Waste of time. Oh well, the half-time report is that Slumdog Millionaire is doing stupidly well.
9:12pm – Penelope Cruz has just won Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Christina Barcelona. Proves that I cannot predict winners. Kate Winslet looks especially pleased – more pleased than the winner herself. Emma Watson is presenting an award for Best Special Effects – I swear she has been to at least three ceremonies now and she’s only just turned 18! Benjamin Button wins the award. Again, not so surprising.
9:23pm – Right after Heath Ledger wins the Best Supporting Actor award, a montage reel is played to pay tribute to those who have passed away in the last year. The Rising Star award, the only one voted for by the public, is now being presented by Shia LeBoeuf.
9:40pm – Marion Couttilard is presenting Best Actor in a composed manner – a complete contrast to her excitement at winning a BAFTA last year for Best Actress (which is now in the hands of – surprise, surprise – Kate Winslet). Mickey Rourke is the winner for The Wrestler. The f-word is bleeped out – for no real reason since it is now after 9pm. Idiots.
9:53pm – Now moving onto the BAFTA Fellowship, the last award of the evening. Terry Gillam is the recipient of the award this year. Whilst the tributes are paid to him, it is now a good time to recap. Slumdog Millionaire is, as expected, the big winner, with six awards, including Best Film. Now watching his film montage with hopefully lots of Python.
10:02pm – Ceremony just finished – decent enough ceremony with predictable winners. No real complaints though. I’m now convinced that Slumdog Millionaire is going to storm the Oscars. Now I’m going to read all these Tweets that I’ve missed on Twitter. Goodnight!
