BAFTA goes dafta ....

Award Season madness is here once more!  Watch those actors on the award trail - even if they won last year! BAFTA announced its nominations and puzzled/annoyed a lot of us, the Golden Globes are tonight, and the Academy Awards nominations are out later this week ....

BAFTA (the British awards) chose to ignore maybe the best British film of the year: 45 YEARS and its great performance by Charlotte Rampling - which seemed a shoo-in after all the rave revews , but then they also ignored Timothy Spall and MR TURNER last year.  Tom Hardy has also been ignored here, despite having 4 films out this year. .... plus I hardly see Rooney Mara as 'supporting' as per my other comments on CAROL, and, much as we like her, Julie Walters hardly merits a nod for BROOKLYN, where she phones in her standard performance and is barely in the film. Alicia Vikander (new to us) is nominated twice - as lead and supporting - so they may hardly want her to go away empty-handed ..... ROOM has not even opened here yet, so we know nothing about it. Ditto Leo's THE REVENANT. 

Maybe its a moot point who is up for best actress - sorry, Saoirse - as I am sure BAFTA will not want to miss honouring Maggie Smith one more time, 57 years after her first nomination as most promising newcomer in 1959, and a mere 47 years after her win for MISS BRODIE for what may well be her last leading role. 

Tom Hooper winning-director of the pedestrian KING'S SPEECH gets nominated for THE DANISH GIRL while the more interesting and quirky Andrew Haigh gets ignored for 45 YEARS ..... which is only nominated as one of the Best British Films .

The awards are dished out at the Royal Opera House on Valentine's Day, Feb 14 .... meanwhile, 45 YEARS has just arrived, so we will review it properly tomorrow.