'The Grand Budapest Hotel' Leads 2014 BAFTA Nominations with 11

While some of the U.S.-based guild awards are becoming less of an indicator in determining the Oscar nominations, the BAFTA Awards have been good at picking out a few dark horses. And if that's the case this year then Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel has suddenly become a real contender. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts have revealed their nominations for the 2014 BAFTA Awards, and The Grand Budapest Hotel leads all with a whopping eleven. Right behind it is Birdman with 10, and unsurprisingly The Theory of Everything also had 10 while The Imitation Game followed with 9.

Much of the other major categories follow the pattern of other awards but there are a couple of key surprises. Damien Chazelle entered the Best Director field for Whiplash, while also earning a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for his screenplay. Also the Outstanding British Film category gave some love to Under the Skin, '71, and surprisingly, Paddington. What you find anywhere is Ava DuVernay's Selma, which was completely shut out just days after the Producer Guild did the same. It's unclear if the film, which opens in the UK in February, didn't click with voters or if there was some other issue. Also left out were Angelina Jolie's Unbroken and Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice.

 Full list of nominees below.

Best Film
"Birdman"
"Boyhood"
"Grand Budapest Hotel"
"Imitation Game"
"Theory Of Everything"

Best Director
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - "Birdman"
Richard Linklater - "Boyhood"
Wes Anderson - "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
James Marsh - "The Theory Of Everything"
Damien Chazelle - "Whiplash"

Best Actor In A Leading Role
Benedict Cumberbatch - "The Imitation Game"
Ralph Fiennes - "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Jake Gyllenhaal - "Nightcrawler"
Michael Keaton - "Birdman"
Eddie Redmayne - "The Theory Of Everything"

Best Actress In A Leading Role
Amy Adams - "Big Eyes"
Felicity Jones - "The Theory Of Everything"
Julianne Moore - "Still Alice"
Rosamund Pike - "Gone Girl"
Reese Witherspoon - "Wild"

Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Steve Carell - "Foxcatcher"
Ethan Hawke - "Boyhood"
Edward Norton - "Birdman"
Mark Ruffalo - "Foxcatcher"
J.K. Simmons - "Whiplash"

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette - "Boyhood"
Keira Knightley - "The Imitation Game"
Rene Russo - "Nightcrawler"
Imelda Staunton - "Pride"
Emma Stone - "Birdman"

Best Original Screenplay
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu & co - "Birdman"
Richard Linklater - "Boyhood"
Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness - "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Dan Gilroy - "Nightcrawler"
Damien Chazelle - "Whiplash"

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jason Hall - "American Sniper"
Gillian Flynn - "Gone Girl"
Graham Moore - "The Imitation Game"
Paul King - "Paddington"
Anthony McCarten - "The Theory Of Everything"

Outstanding British Film
"'71"
"The Imitation Game"
"Paddington"
"Pride"
"Theory Of Everything"
"Under The Skin"

Best Documentary
"20 Feet From Stardom"
"20,000 Days On Earth"
"Citizenfour"
"Finding Vivian Maier"
"Virunga"

EE Rising Star Award
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jack O'Connell
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer
Elaine Constantine - "Northern Soul"
Gregory Burke, Yann DeMange - "'71"
Hong Khaou - "Lilting"
Paul Katis, Andrew De Lotbiniere - "Kajaki: The True Story"
Stephen Beresford, David Livingstone - "Pride"

Best Film Not In The English Language
"Ida"
"Leviathan"
"The Lunchbox"
"Trash"
"Two Days, One Night"

Best Animated Film
"Big Hero 6"
"The Boxtrolls"
"The Lego Movie"

Best Original Music
Antonio Sanchez - "Birdman"
Alexandre Desplat - "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Hans Zimmer - "Interstellar"
Johann Johannsson - 'The Theory Of Everything"
Mica Levi - "Under The Skin"

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki - "Birdman"
Robert Yeoman - "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski - "Ida"
Hoyte van Hoytema - "Interstellar"
Dick Pope - "Mr. Turner"

Best Editing
Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione - "Birdman"
Barney Pilling - "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
William Goldenberg - "The Imitation Game"
John Gilroy - "Nightcrawler"
Jinx Godfrey - "The Theory Of Everything"
Tom Cross - "Whiplash"

Best Production Design
Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau - "Big Eyes"
Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock - "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana McDonald - "The Imitation Game"
Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis - "Interstellar"
Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts - "Mr. Turner"

Best Costume Design
Milena Canonero - "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Sammy Sheldon Differ - "The Imitation Game"
Colleen Atwood - "Into The Woods"
Jacqueline Durran - "Mr. Turner"
Steven Noble - "The Theory Of Everything"

Best Makeup and Hair
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"Guardians Of The Galaxy"
"Into the Woods"
"Mr. Turner"
"The Theory Of Everything"
Best Sound
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"The Imitation Game"
"Whiplash"

Best Special Visual Effects
"Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes"
"Guardians Of The Galaxy"
"The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies"
"Interstellar"
"X-Men: Days Of Future Past"

Best Short Film
"Boogaloo And Graham"
"Emotional Fusebox"
"The Karman Line"
"Slap"
"Three Brothers"

Best Short Animation
"The Bigger Picture"
"Monkey Love Experiments"
"My Dad"

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Box Office: 'Exodus' Leads the Way with $24.5M; 'Top Five' Cracks the Top Five

1. Exodus: Gods and Kings- $24.5M
Ridley Scott's expensive Biblical epic, the one with all the Aussie and British actors, got off to a middling start with $24.5M, but it was enough to lead a weak box office. To put that into context, it's nearly $20M less than what Darren Aronofsky's Noah did at the early part of the year, and is just short of the small-budget Son of God's $25.6M. Scott was adamant that casting big names such as Christian Bale and Ben Kingsley were necessary to get the film made, and we're seeing that pay off in the international numbers. Add another $32M overseas and the $57M total doesn't seem so bad.
2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1- $13.2M/$277.3M
3. Penguins of Madagascar- $7.3M/$58.8M
4. Top Five- $7.2M
Notice how Chris Rock has been all over the news lately? How every word he says on race or politics is getting plastered everywhere? It's not random; he's got a movie to promote. That would be Top Five, which has been blanketed by amazing reviews (including mine) and some solid awards buzz, even if Paramount hasn't done much to hype the celebrity comedy. And all of Rock's self-promotion has worked because it debuted with $7.2M on only 979 screens, giving it the highest per site average in the top 10. Not too shabby, and being so high on the charts is its own promotion for a film titled Top Five, right?
5. Big Hero 6- $6.1M/$185.3M
6. Interstellar- $5.5M/$166.8M
7. Horrible Bosses 2- $4.6M/$43.6M
8. Dumb and Dumber To- $2.7M/$82.1M
9. The Theory of Everything- $2.5M/$17.1M
10. Wild- $1.5M/$2.4M
Fresh off a Golden Globes nominations for Reese Witherspoon, the hiking drama Wild expanded to 113 theaters in its second week and earned a respectable $1.5M. Expect this one to have pretty long legs (no pun intended) as we get closer to Oscars announcements.

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Box Office: 'Mockingjay' Holds Steady at #1 Over Slow Weekend

1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1- $21.6M/$257.7M
The post-Thanksgiving weekend is generally one of the slowest of the year and this was no different. Mockingjay held on to #1 for the third straight week in the face of absolutely zero competition. Soon it will move into the #2 highest-grossing domestic movies of 2014, surpassing both The Lego Movie and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it has a long way to go to match Guardians of the Galaxy's $331M. Worldwide, the Jennifer Lawrence-led film has earned $560M.
2. Penguins of Madagascar- $11.1M/$49.5M
Dreamworks' animated spinoff Penguins of Madagascar tumbled 56% in its second weekend, well off the pace of the proper Madagascar movies. It may be feeling the effects of the continued strong showings of Disney's Big Hero 6, which was better reviewed and of course has that whole superhero thing going for it.
3. Horrible Bosses 2- $8.6M/$36M
Not even going to come close to matching its predecessor, Horrible Bosses 2 slid a respectable 44%, but still only has $36M domestic, $47M worldwide. By now the first film had earned $60M on its way to $209M. Maybe a spinoff of Jennifer Aniston's deliciously raunchy character is in order? I'd pay to see that, and I bet so would most people.
4. Big Hero 6- $8.1M/$177.5M
5. Interstellar- $8M/$158.6M
6. Dumb and Dumber To- $4.1M/$78M
7. The Theory of Everything- $2.6M/$13.6M
8. Gone Girl- $1.5M/$162.8M
9. The Pyramid- $1.3M
The only new semi-large release of the week is a film you probably never heard of and clearly didn't go see. The Pyramid is just another cheapie found footage horror flick with no marketable stars (although Ashley Hinshaw is pretty awesome), no press screenings, no buzz, and few positive reviews. Even by the meager standards set by the genre a $1.3M debut is pretty sad.
10. Birdman- $1.1M/$18.9M

Released on only 21 screens but nabbing an impressive $30K per site for a $630K total was the Reese Witherspoon walkabout drama, Wild. This one has plenty of awards buzz for her and director Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club), so that probably led to the high numbers and bodes well for a larger expansion.

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Review: James Marsh's 'The Theory of Everything' starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones

It may be coincidence that Interstellar and James Marsh's biopic The Theory of Everything are arriving within days of one another, but the two are inextricably linked. Christopher Nolan's deeply analytical sci-fi film is built on radical ideas involving quantum physics, black holes, and relativity, common dinner conversation for Stephen Hawking who informed much of what we know about all of them. But more than that, both films suggest that love is a powerful enough force to overcome all the science the universe has to offer.

Directed by James Marsh, known for his daring documentaries Man on Wire, Project NIM, and more, The Theory of Everything is fairly standard stuff by comparison. This isn't the most challenging look at the relationship between Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his wife Jane (Felicity Jones), adapting her first book would have been more interesting probably, but an uplifting one that explores how she helped a brilliant man survive a crippling diagnosis that would have destroyed others. Beginning in 1963 Cambridge, Hawking was a genius even then, but an underachieving one stymied by boredom and distraction. That is until he spies the beautiful Jane from across a crowded party, and both their lives are forever changed. The two couldn't be more different, but those differences unite rather than divide. He's an atheist, she isn't; she studies Medieval Spanish poetry as a major; he studies time travel. "I like to time travel like you!” she says jokingly.

It's a real joy to watch their bond grow. Too many movies skip this part of the courtship; figuring audiences don't need it because we know they'll end up together. In one especially great scene showing Hawking's intellectual brand of flirting, they attend a party and he explains why all of the men's ties are glowing under the UV light. The short answer? "Tide" laundry detergent. It's a happy moment, one we know isn't meant to last. Before long, Hawking begins to experience the early signs of the moto-neuron disease that would inflict him the rest of his life. It starts off subtle, and then builds to the point where he can barely walk. She pursues him further, he pulls away, but Jane is tough and willing to stand by his side. Given only two years left to live, he decides it's a good time to get on with his life's work, and while he's at it why not start a family? His work in the field of time and space earns his accolades the world over, but Jane's career is essentially put on hold. Marsh and screenwriter Anthony McCarten are eager to show that Jane is just as much an intellectual with a bright future, and that she set it aside to care for the man she loved. It was her ability to keep him engaged and laughing that helped survive the rough patches, of which there were many. Quietly, the film becomes more about her than about Hawking, not completely unexpected given his physical state. The screenplay isn't quite strong enough to give both their equal due, and a subplot involving Jane's love affair with a handsome churchgoer (Charlie Cox) comes away looking like soap opera melodramatics.

What the film does extremely well is staying upbeat even in the face of incredible tragedy. This could have been just another stodgy, tedious British period piece but it stays true to Hawking's real-life disposition most of the way through. This is due in part to Redmayne who gives a monumental performance, one that must have been complicated emotionally and physically taxing. He captures Hawking's intellectual vigor as well as his comical spirit; that sparkle in his eye always present. Jones continues to impress but it does feel like she's running in place a little bit. We've seen her play this sort of support role too often in the past (in The Invisible Woman most recently), and it would be good to see her try something a little different. We take movies like this for granted visually, but Benoit Delhomme does some truly inspired work that constantly surprises. Often he frames each scene like a complicated equation waiting to be figured out, and it's never less than involving for the audience. While it's too small to truly capture the enormity of Hawking's presence, The Theory of Everything is a solid biopic about an extraordinary man.

 Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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New Trailer for 'The Theory of Everything' starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones

Is it possible that Eddie Redmayne's performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything will net him an Oscar this season? Coming out of the festival circuit (sadly, it won't be playing in Middleburg), the film has earned him nothing but rave reviews, and perhaps it's time to start taking his ascendance as a legitimate star a little more seriously.

The latest trailer for the James Marsh-directed biopic gives another look at Redmayne as the brilliant Hawking, with Felicity Jones as Cambridge student Jane Wilde, the woman who would stand by his side through the most difficult time of his life. It looks like the kind of film the Academy loves to honor, and we'll see if lives up to the buzz when The Theory of Everything opens November 7th. Here's the synopsis followed by the new trailer.

Starring Eddie Redmayne (“Les Misérables”) and Felicity Jones (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), this is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed. The film is based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, by Jane Hawking, and is directed by Academy Award winner James Marsh (“Man on Wire”).


The Theory of Everything - Official Trailer #2 (Universal Pictures) HD. by NewTrailers BOS

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Eddie Redmayne is Stephen Hawking in First Trailer for 'The Theory of Everything'

This season's Oscar race may be graced with a couple of movies about extraordinarily smart individuals. There's Benedict Cumberbatch starring as Alan Turing in the much buzzed-about The Imitation Game, about the famed code-breaking and mathematician. And then there is The Theory of Everything, which features rising-star Eddie Redmayne as the famous theoretical physicist and intellectual champion, Stephen Hawking. The latter film hasn't quite gathered the same amount of momentum but that may be changing with the release of the first trailer ahead of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Redmayne caught a lot of attention for his soulful performance in Les Miserables, and he's set to play the villain the Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending next year, but taking on the role of Hawking poses a unique challenge. Directed by James Marsh (Man on Wire) and co-starring Felicity Jones (Like Crazy) as Hawking's wife, Jane Hawking, the film tells the " extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed."

Adapted from Jane's memoir,Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, this appears to be just as much her story as it is his. The Theory of Everything opens in theaters on November 7th.


THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING - Official Trailer (2014) [HD] Stephen Hawking Biopic-Drama by Travis Hopson

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