Joe Cornish @ BAFTA

Joe Cornish, director of the fun British sci fi actioner ATTACK THE BLOCK is giving a talk at a screening for BAFTA. They say:

"Writer/Director Joe Cornish's Attack the Block is one of the year's biggest
home-grown hits, a brilliantly inventive south-London set sci-fi horror
where 'inner city meets outer space', as the tagline memorably puts it.
We're delighted to welcome the filmmaker ahead of tonight's screening to
discuss some of the movies which influenced him, from the work of directors
John Carpenter and Walter Hill, to E.T. and action-packed 80s extravaganzas
such as the first part of tonight's double bill, Die Hard."

So if you've not caught up with the movie yet or you want to listen to the man about what it takes to make a sci fi blockbuster then head over to the BAFTA what's on board and look up July 30th.

BAFTA nominates a few genre shows

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts TV nominations are out and there are some genre nominations to be pleased about.

Misfits has a number of nominations, cementing its place as the country's favourite genre show (at least in the eyes of the industry). These include Robert Sheehan for best supporting actor, Lauren Socha for best supporting actress, Best Drama Series and New Media.

BEING HUMAN's scorching third season also gets a nomination in the Best Drama Series category and Matt Smith is nominated for his performance as the 11th Doctor in DOCTOR WHO in the Best Actor Category.

Surprisingly, there are no nominations for either THE DEEP or OUTCASTS (this last bit is ironic).

Want To Write A Hit Show Like Misfits?

Well, if you're anywhere within reach of Nottingham on MARCH 28th then your luck is in because creator/writer Howard Overman will be appearing in a Q&A for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (or Bafta as it likes to be known) in the shire formerly haunted by one Robin Hood.

The venue is the Broadway Cinema on Broad Street, the start time is half pas six in the evening and tickets can be claimed/bought/blagged/obtained by less than legitimate means by visiting the Bafta website http://www.bafta.org/

Whilst you're there, you could ask him from us what went wrong with DIRK GENTLY.

BAFTA gets it right over AVATAR

AVATAR, now the biggest moneyspinning movie of all time, failed to become a big winner at last night's BAFTA bash when the British academy gave it awards only in two of the categories for which it was nominated.

This was not a backlash against the film's success or popularity, but rather a sign of the academy getting it right when handing out the awards.

The CGI epic won for special effects and production design and there isn't anyone who would disagree with those, surely. The virtual movie has pushed computerised movie making way beyond anything it previously was (though there are many who don't think that is necessarily a good thing) and the planet Pandora was never anything less than stunning. In many other aspects (plot, dialogue, acting etc) it really didn't make the grade.

So well done BAFTA for getting it right and not being swayed by the success or popularity into giving out awards that it didn't deserve.