It’s been a pretty big week for the world of film. From further vague STAR WARS rumours (both for EPISODE VII and the long-mooted spin-offs) to a more concrete indication of Quentin Tarantino’s next film being another Western. SHERLOCK wrapped up its third season too with a superlative and surprise-filled finale, and already the craving for another trilogy of sort-of-TV-movies with Benedict Cumberbatch’s sociopathic sleuth has kicked in. Three stories that broke this week in particular stood out for me, and I’d like to present my take on them as follows:

The Beef’s “Retirement”

Shia LaBeouf has maybe-possibly-officially “retired from public life” following him acting like a bit of a plagiaristic tool and the world turning against him. The straight-faced, self-obsessed way he announced that he might not act again (via Twitter) doesn’t give his public image any favours. I can’t say I’ll miss the star of TRANSFORMERS and INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. He turned in one decent performance in his career in LAWLESS, perhaps with another interesting one to come in NYMPHOMANIAC. He’s just not a screen presence I ever particularly enjoyed seeing. Farewell to The Beef, well at least until he has no-no-no-no-no-no money left!

BBFC Shake-Up

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) has reviewed the criteria by which they classify films for release in the UK. While they are still (quite rightly) strict with such subject matter as sexual violence, they are taking into consideration more the context of strong language and even considering whether disturbing horror (though not necessarily bloody or explicit) imagery disserves more attention. Largely prompted by the release of THE WOMAN IN BLACK and the number of young-ish HARRY POTTER fans who flocked to see it and left disturbed. It wasn’t gory or violent, but it was really disturbing for many. What is and isn’t scary is a very subjective thing, so how can this ever be classified? We shall see…

The Road to the Oscars

The Golden Globes were handed out at the weekend, and they were an interesting mix. AMERICAN HUSTLE was the multi-award winner (though in my opinion shouldn’t have been) getting two awards for performance (Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence) and what is essentially the big runner-up prize of Best Film, Comedy or Musical. Predictably, as the year’s biggest drama, 12 YEARS A SLAVE got Best Film, Drama, but otherwise went home empty-handed. It was good to see Alfonso Cuarón getting Best Director, though personally I’d have gone for THE HUNT as Best Foreign Language Film as it is one of the most resonant, memorable and important films produced anywhere in the last decade. It annoyed me that Daniel Brϋhl was nominated in the Supporting Actor category because he’s the main focus of RUSH, not Thor. Beyond that, it was business as usual, and we’ve been given a decent idea what might be top of the Academy’s list. The brave and the bold were rewarded, unless you’re Michael Douglas and you want an Oscar this year, because you can’t have one! SSP