Ones To Watch 2011: Cowboys And Aliens (TRAILER)

Last seen camping up Ironman 2, director and Swingers money-man Jon Faveau is back with Cowboys And Aliens later this year, where a spaceship arrives in the Wild West, and is faced off by cowboy gunslingers. Yes, it's very much the 'Snakes On A Plane' / Ronseal of its day, and will be out in July in the UK. Aiming for the big summer blockbuster market, see? Oh, and it stars unemployed Bond star Daniel Craig, and Harrison Ford, with Olivia Wilde. Enjoy.

The Writers Guild Awards 2011 Nominations: The List

And so, Hollywood's back slapping red carpet season cranks into gear, as the Writers Guild announce their list of nominees for their annual awards.

There are no surprises in the nominations for Original Screenplay of Oscar Baiting movies like Natalie Portman much lauded lesbian ballet flick Black Swan and highly rated Christian Bale's The Fighter, while lesser known Please Give also gets a nod. Last year's highly grossing, thinking man's action movie Inception also makes the cut.

Though not as prestigious as the Oscars, the WGA are highly respected industry awards, and this year's ceremony will be held on Saturday, February 5, 2011, while simultaneously taking place at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel-Grand Ballroom in Los Angeles and the AXA Equitable Center in New York City. 

In the adapted screenplay category, it's notable to see recent Oscar winner Danny Boyle get his new movie 127 Hours listed (surely a contender), while the gay theme continues with Jim Carrey / Ewan McGregor love story of I Love You Philip Morris. The highly critically rated The Social Network also gets into the list, perhaps a chance to gain early momentum as the season inevitably marches towards the Golden Globes and Oscars.

The full list of movie nominees is below. The TV nominees, and further details can be seen at the  WGA site.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Black Swan, Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz; Fox Searchlight

The Fighter, Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington &Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Paramount Pictures

Inception, Written by Christopher Nolan; Warner Bros.

The Kids Are All Right, Written by Lisa Cholodenko &Stuart Blumberg; Focus Features

Please Give, Written by Nicole Holofcener; Sony Pictures Classics

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

127 Hours, Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston; Fox Searchlight

I Love You Phillip Morris, Written by John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; Based on the book by Steven McVicker; Roadside Attractions

The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich; Sony Pictures

The Town, Screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck &Aaron Stockard; Based on the novel Prince of Thievesby Chuck Hogan; Warner Bros.

True Grit, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Based on the novel by Charles Portis; Paramount Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Enemies of the People, Written, Directed, Filmed and Produced by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath; International Film Circuit

Freedom Riders, Written, Produced and Directed byStanley Nelson; International Film Circuit

Gasland, Written and Directed by Josh Fox; HBO Documentary Films and International WOW Company

Inside Job, Produced, Written and Directed by Charles Ferguson; Co-written by Chad Beck, Adam Bolt; Sony Pictures Classics

The Two Escobars, Written by Michael Zimbalist, Jeff Zimbalist; ESPN Films

Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?, Written and Directed by John Scheinfeld; Lorber Films

VIDEO: Pete Postlethwaite RIP

Veteran British screen and stage actor, Pete Postlethwaite has died at the age of 65, from cancer, it has been announced. The seasoned Shakespearean stage performer, once referred to by Steven Spielberg as "the best actor in the world", appeared in a host of movies, including The Usual Suspects, Brassed Off, A Private Function, In The Name Of The Father, Distance Voices, Still Lives, and Inception.

Some of his most notable performances have been in Brassed Off, where he plays the leader of a brass band in a beleaguered Yorkshire mining community (see his standout speech from teh movie, below) , and Distant Voices, Still Lives, which has been described as "Britain's forgotten cinematic masterpiece".

Here we include a selection of clips and trailers from these films, as well as a Guardian interview relating to one of his final movie appearances, The Age Of Stupid. Postlethwaite's final screen performance will be in the forthcoming movie, Killing Bono, which will be released later this year.

Review: Cemetery Junction

I didn’t grow up in a cold, grey, wet council estate in inner city Manchester in the 80s dreaming of escape. In the world of my imagination, I in fact grew up in a small town in America, in the 70s, far cooler than I actually was, driving round in a souped-up car, smoking Lucky Strikes, pulling girls who wore flares and listening to Led Zeppelin. And so it is for so many of us here in Britain. The world of our youthful imaginations find affinity in the depictions of Americana’s finest coming of age movies, be it the small town of Richard Linklaters’ Dazed and Confused, the rebellious New York nightlife of Saturday Night Fever, the angry, misunderstood cool of James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause, or the mourning of lost childhood innocence and freedom in 80s flick Diner. And of course, the are the high school movies of John Hughes, classics like Ferris Beuller Day Off, the Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink. Nowadays, there’s Judd Apatow, of course. I could go on, but you get the idea....

We don’t do that here. Youthful rebellion, escapism, struggling to hold onto one’s dreams in the face of a cruel, uncaring world have always been depicted in grim, tragic terms, the “kitchen sink” dramas of the 60s, like Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (think Shameless without the comedy and sense of fun), or, more recently, Shane Meadows’ This Is England. For Americans, growing up can feel good, but on this side of the Atlantic, does growing up always have to be grim?

For the makers of Cemetery Junction, Ricky Gervais and his lanky cohort Stephen Merchant, the film came out of a sense that we could compete on an equal footing with the Americans. Thankfully, the results are beautiful, and joyous. The story revolves around three friends, first of all, Freddie Taylor (Christian Cooke), a handsome, sincere young man whose life is changing as he starts a new job working in door to door life insurance sales, after escaping from the factory his dad (Gervais) works in. Then there’s his friend, good looking bad boy Bruce Pearson (Tom Hughes), an angry young man who is popular with the ladies, quick with his fists, and likes a drink, not unlike his alcoholic father, with whom he often clashes. Finally, there’s Snork (Jack Doolan), the loveable loser of the bunch, who is a big miss with the ladies, and provides a lot of the comedy with his efforts.

While they go out, chasing girls, and getting into fights, their lives are changing, as Freddie realises he needs to leave the larking about and “grow up”, taking his new job seriously if he’s to have any chance of escaping his humble working class background. Things take a turn for the unexpected when it turns out the bosses daughter is none other than his childhood sweetheart, Julie, who is engaged to his new mentor at work, Regional Manager Matthew Goode, an evil misogynist who prays on the fears of the people he sells life insurance to.

As for Julie, she’s trapped in the backwards sexist attitudes of the time, given the old-fashioned values of her parents and husband to be, so when she shares her dreams of seeing the world with Freddie, sparks fly for both of them, and Freddie realises he needs to leave Reading to follow his dreams, rather than spend 40 years in a job he despises.

While the couple provide the romance of the piece, it’s Bruce that provides the heart, as his carefree demeanour hides a great deal of anger. While he spends his days working the factory, outside work his childish antics often take a turn for the worse. He constantly clashes with the local police, regularly ending up in the cells, while constantly taking his anger out on his father, all because he did not standing up to the man who his mother had an affair with.

Bruce dreams of leaving his dead-end life, but never does anything about it until Freddie says he’s had enough. Meanwhile Snork, dreaming of meeting foreign girls who won’t understand his terrible chat up lines, and leaving his job at the local railway station, Cemetery Junction, agrees. But will they, or won’t they find the courage to leave their small town lives behind?

While Cemetery Junction provides these likeable, familiar characters, who we care about, and a plot that feels familiar, there no major surprises or upsets, it’s the experience that makes it worth watching. In the end, Cemetery Junction is like those train journeys on sunny days you experienced as a child. Nothing unexpected or bad happens, the sights are nice, and it leaving you with a warm, good feeling inside. And given that, in Britain, the feelgood movies we do have usually involve the affluent, upper middle class world inhabited by characters played by bumbling toffs like Hugh Grant, to see the lives and dreams of ordinary people celebrated in a joyous, glorious manner, is very refreshing indeed. 


Hack Rating: 4/5

Liveblogging :The Oscars, 2010!

Hi People,

It's only the early hours of Monday March 8th here in England, and I may lose interest in this bullshit, but I'm going to do a bit of Oscars coverage.

00.42 GMT: The cunts covering this on E!Online are totally gaying out, and banging on about dresses, styles, and that sort of stuff.

00.44 Ryan Seacrest is talking to some bird from Ugly Betty, who is helping to present. He's dropping a huge, clunking hint that somebody who appears at a lot of awards ceremonies, including one this year, might be making an appearance. My gut instinct says RICKY GERVAIS.

00.47 US TV is on ad breaks. They keep showing adverts highlighting the tragedy of cervical cancer experienced by women, and advising that people go and see their doctor. What about the 40 million people in the US who don't have medical care cos they can't afford it?

00.48 We're back to the gayfest.Ugly Betty woman and her camp friend are complementing Meryl Streep on her dress. Sanity, in the form of Gerard Butler, prevails as the action switches to Seacrest interviewing him. Butler is explaining what a "moonie" (showing your arse) is to Seacrest.

00.50 Now it's turn for Jason Bateman. I'm off for a piss.


00.52 Finally he's interviewing someone decent. The Dude.

00.54 It's all too fleeting, and we're back with the cretin twins. They have some phone in result, suggesting George Clooney will win over Jeff Bridges for best actor. Having seen Clooney's performance in Up In The Air, I say, furry muff.

00.59 Cameron Diaz is on.  Looking incredible, but she's more than just crumpet, fair play to her. Doing a cheezy skit about the Hollywood extended family of beautiful people, mind.

01.02. Switching now from the celebrity cuntfest on the red carpet stream, to the actual ceremony inside. Hopefully better returns.

01.04 Montage time. Following Sky movies coverage, with Claudia Winkleman. Man, she is hot.

01.05. I am being spoiled. She is joined by comedian / intellectual David Baddiel (not as shit as he is often depicted to be), Ronnie Ancona (just incredibly beautiful, and well spoken, and stuff), and some other cunt I don't know or care about.  Oh no, actually, he does some movie stuff on British telly. He's half decent.

01.07 A VT tonight's Oscars are to be presented by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Both fairly decent blokes.

01.13.The panel are discussing the politics of Avatar vs Hurt Locker, and A Serious Man, etc.

01.15 Another VT, more analysis. Jeff Bridges for best male? My take, the Oscars are so out of touch, it takes them years to get round to recognising people. Jeff should have won for the Big Lebowski, so I think he'll get it now, fucking years later. The Travesty that was Mickey Rourke not getting it last year is mentioned.

1.22 I'm off for a piss again. Angela Griffin is looking hot and is on telly. She is "so in love" with Sarah Jessica Parker. I'd like to see that. Off for a piss. Again.

1.28. Ronnie Ancona does a great impression of a generic young female actress accepting an award in a histrionic style. Everyone around her responds with complete indifference and just moves on. Bloody fools.

1.30. Finally. That annoying, trashy no-business-like-show-business musak. It's showtime, ladies and gennelmen!

1.33 A fucking Song and dance musical theatre number with Doogie Houser MD.  Fucksake.

1.35 End of the dance. The Double Act begins. They introduce each other.

 1.36. Apparently 6,000 members of the Academy are polled for the awards. The duo seemed to be putting on their best Anglicised accents. Why is that?

1.42 The duo introduce most of the main contenders with a series of lame insults. The manage to set up the Cameron vs Bigelow battle, amongst other things. Alec Baldwin keeps putting on a faux English accent, for no good reason. A stream of lame gags, taking in the usual suspects. None of them particularly funny, and all within the accepted Hollywood conventions and parameters.Where is Ricky Gervais when you need him?

1.46. I saw Invictus recently and I can hardly remember it. They're showing the VT. I like Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, and Nelson Mandela for that matter but it was just not very good. Christopher Plumber is up there at the ripe old age of 80. I like that dude. Give it to him. Actually. I want Christopher Waltz to get it. He must. He will.

1.49 He Does. Surprise.He is incredibly kind and verbose as he thanks everyone else who was in Inglorious Basterds. Then off, according to this new rule limiting time. Fact is, he carried pretty much everyone in that movie, including Quentin Tarantino.

1.54. We're back with the Oscar panel here in England. I've just noticed this bunch are wearing tuxedos and dresses. I guess these award ceremonies bring out the social climbing, try-hards in everybody.

1.56. Steve Carrell, and Cameron Diaz present Animated films, I think. Diaz loses her way with the teleprompter. I shall skip the blonde jokes, as I think Diaz is pretty intelligent, and hell, who wouldn't be a bit flabbergasted by Oscar nite?

1.58. Shit VT with lots of animated pricks going on about being nominated for an Oscar.

1.59. I've seen fuck all of this, movie wise. Up wins. Fair play.There's something vaguely indie movie and alternative and rebellious about this category and the dude and the movie that won it. More of that, please.

2.01. Myley Cyrus is soooo hot. Jailbait.

2.05 It's good to see a VT of District 9, and to see Incvictus nominated, and Christoph Waltz win. Course, Slumdog sweeped the boards last year. It's good to see Oscars reaching out into the world, and go beyond the confines of the US, it makes them more relevant, I feel.

2.13 Vaguely mistifying fake Anglo accent from Baldwin, then the yummy Tina Fey comes on with Robert Downey. I refuse to call him Junior. There's just no need for it, frankly.

2.14. It strikes me as I see Brad Pitt's role in Inglorgious Basterds briefly in the VT for nominees that the horror of the violence-hungry character he plays is probably lost on US Audiences. Mark Boal wins for his script of The Hurt Locker. this was the only movie that escapes any moral evaluation of the US presence in Iraq made by Hollywood, and it is a huge critical success. What does that tell you?

2.18 Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick introduce and give their take on a memorial to John Hughes. Amen.

2.20. He captured the pain,the anger, the confusion, and the wonder of being young so beautifully. Probably better than anyone before or since. What a waste. Incredible VT.

2.23 Some of his most famous actors get on stage to thank him. MacCaulay Culkin has me breaking up, as he pauses. Wow.

2.24. Samuel L Jackson presents a VT. Maaaayn.. I need me a taaaasty Buuurger.

2.36 Some poor fucker is getting his 45 seconds of fame hijacked.

2.40 Ben Stiller is totally weirding me and everyone else out with his makeup as a Nav'i, with some dialect to match. completely WEIRD.

2.42. Star Trek wins for Makeup and stuff. Who 'king cares.

I am getting the feeling I'm on to diminishing returns. Plus, I've run out of booze. That's it for now.

Should the Brightest Female Star in the Hollywood Sky really be 19?

Emma Watson, star of the Harry Potter movie franchise was yesterday named the highest paid female star in Hollywood, making £20 million including endorsements and advertising. The figure puts her above seasoned such as Angelina Jolie and  Sarah Jessica Parker.

She came 14th in the Vanity Fair list of Tinseltown's highest earners.For me, looking at the list provides a shocking insight into the priorities of the film industry. Looking at the top 5 male earners, it includes Michael Bay ($125 million), and Steven Spielberg ($85 million), and is entirely comprised of producers and directors, men with gray hair, beards and paunches. The top 10 women in the list are incredibly beautiful, all actresses, all have fashion endorsments, and all make a fraction of what the men earn. While I wish the best of luck to the lovely Watson, I cant help but think her star will fade with age, and that is terribly, terribly sad.

If It's a sign of any kind of progress, the fact that Kathryn Bigalow has gained an Oscar nomination for her work as Director on The Hurt Locker, since the it appears the big money is behind the camera, shows that things are changing, albeit painfully slowly, in Tinseltown. Her nomination makes her only the fourth woman in history to gain this accolade, while she won the 2009 Directors' Guild of America's award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, the first woman to win this prize, a further sign of progress. Here's to hoping that Hollywood goes further down the path of enlightenment sooner rather than later.

Vanity Fairs Top Male Earners in 2009:

1. Michael Bay, producer-director ($125 million)

2. Steven Spielberg, producer-director ($85 million)

3. Roland Emmerich, producer-director ($70 million)

4. James Cameron, producer-director ($50 million)

5. Todd Phillips, director ($44 million)

6. Daniel Radcliffe, actor ($41 million)

7. Ben Stiller, actor ($40 million)

8. Tom Hanks, actor ($36 million)

9. J. J. Abrams, producer-director ($36 million)

10. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer ($35.5 million)

Vanity Fair's Top Female Earners in 2009:

1. Emma Watson, actress ($30million)

2. Cameron Diaz, actress ($27million)

3. Sarah Jessica Parker, actress ($24million)

4. Katherine Heigl, actress ($24million)

5. Reese Witherspoon, actress ($21million)

6. Angelina Jolie, actress ($21million)

7. Jennifer Aniston, actress ($20million)

8. Sandra Bullock, actress ($20million)

9. Kristen Stewart , actress ($16million)

Best Movies Of The Noughties Pt. 1: Films 1 to 25

So, with a new decade stretching before us, and a host of end of decade polls, I figured I'd add my own 2 cents on the subject. After scooting around, and reading various lists of the best films of the noughties (rubbish word for the decade, but it's all we have), I noticed a few glaring omissions.


The Times published a very popular list, which ranks highest in the google search. No 24 Hour Party People? No Igby Goes Down? Ahem. Ok, the latter is my a person fav of mine rather than a general classic, but a British list should surely include a film which documents the most important musical and cultural movement of the past 30 years in the post war UK.


Anyway, this is my list of the best movies from the past decade, and in it I have tried to balance what I think are objectively the best movies, while adding a few of my own personal favourites, and including some of the incredible contributions of world cinema, the likes of City Of God, and Infernal Affairs (though to be honest, I'm still learning and discovering the wonders that foreign language films have to offer, and consider myself an ignoramus on the subject, despite knowing a bit). Bear in mind, this is IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, and please feel free to let me know what you think, what I've missed and what I've clearly over-rated! Thanks guys...


1. The Departed: Scorsese directs, and an ensemble cast of amazing actors compete for his affections in a brilliant remake of the original Jap flick 'Infernal Affairs'. The result finally got the veteran moviemaker his first Oscar, after 3 decades of trying. Watch out for a prequel in the pipeline.

2. Training Day: Denzel Washington gives an Oscar-winning performance as corrupt LAPD narcotics detective Alonso, uttering the immortal lines "King kong ain't got shit on me", and, my person favourite, "this shit ain't checkers, it's chess". With a man shouting lines this good, it's surely a Scarface for the 21st century?


3. The Beach. Essentially flawed, but I couldn't help fall in love with this movie, as it captured a beautiful moment in the early noughties, when lots of young western people were discovering the wonders of South East Asia, and trying to capture a dream. I was one of them, so it meant something to me...


4. The Wrestler: It came late on, but Mickey Rourke's career-reviving portrayal of a washed-up wrestler was both tragic and moving, with excellent supporting performances including Marissa Tomei as an ageing lap dancer with a heart. It was robbed at the Oscars.


5. Avatar: Not much needs to be said about this billion dollar epic, which came right at the tail end of the decade, and will probably go onto define Hollywood aesthetics and special effects for some time to come, in the way that the first Matrix movie did a decade earlier. 


6. LOTR Trilogy: Another special effects extravaganza, Peter Jackson's epic retelling of the J.R. Tolkien classic combined wonderful storytelling with compelling performances, and, erm, a little fella called Gollum. you'll never look at New Zealand the same way again.


7. Amores Perros. 3 cleverly intertwined stories taking place in Mexico city, exploring the manifold ways that love is indeed a bitch, and including a wonderful performance by a young Gabriel Garcia Bernal. 


8. Igby Goes Down. A personal favourite of mine, Kieran Culkin, Macaulay's brother, in a brilliantly caustic social satire on the East coast upper classes, it has quite a resemblance to Catcher In The Rye, and a brilliant soundtrack. A cult classic of the decade, and one that it bound to be revived in the years to come.


9. In the Loop. Last year's first cinematic effort by Armando Iannucci and the team behind BBC's The Thick Of It. This has to have an award invented especially for it, for Best Swearing In A Movie Ever.







10. Bowling For Columbine. The noughties was surely the decade of the documentary, and Michael Moore's contributions were exceptional. Never less than highly polemical and partial, they drew criticism and praise in equal measure, but you could never doubt his sincerity.







11. There Will Be Blood. Young director Paul Thomas Anderson produced one of the greatest movies of the late 20th century when he made Magnolia, for me, and so it was always going to be a difficult job to top that achievement, but he managed it with this critique of American capitalism in the Wild West goldrush of the nineteeth century, with a brilliant performance from Daniel Day Lewis, and an approval rating of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. 


12. Pan's Labyrinth. Guillermo Del Toro produces an exquisitely beautiful, dark fairytale of a movie, which works on so many levels, telling the story of a young girl who discovers a fantastic parallel world while in desperate circumstances after the Civil War in Franco's Spain. 


13. Ratatouille. A Pixar movie about a rat who dreams of being a Parisian Chef. It sounds insane, but as a story, it's perfect, winning a near-perfect score of 96 on Metacritic. 


14. City Of God: This 2002 movie took me to a world I'd never seen before, it's gritty documentary style and gripping narrative reveals how desperate and dangerous life is in the favellas of Rio De Janeiro. Based on a 1997 book by Paolo Lins, it won several international film awards, and for me, it's one of the best films of all time.





15. The Lives Of Others: This German-language thriller about life in Cold War East Germany deservedly won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Based on a true story, it tells the story of playwrights, actors and creatives living under the scrutiny of the Stasi in East Berlin. Any resemblance that Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds has to it is purely coincidental, ahem.


16. Anchorman :The Legend Of Ron Burgundy: The tale of a pusillanimous 70s TV news anchorman played by the delightfully idiotic Will Ferrell, whose world it turned upside down when the first ever female news reporter (Christina Applegate) joins the team in the macho world of News. 


17. 28 Days Later: Danny Boyle may have come to the attention of much of the world with his Oscar smash Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, but he was building a reputation well before that. This 2002 zombie / post apocalyptic movie became a sleeper hit, and was famous for it's opening scenes, which show a deserted inner city London, and it's pioneering use of digital video cameras.


18. Children Of Men: Clive Owen and Julianne Moore inhabit a London of the near future where there has been a world crisis of fertility, and the populace live in a totalitarian state, when an illegal immigrant suddenly, mysteriously becomes pregnant. This film is worth watching for the way it looks alone, with the constantly moving documentary-style camera work and rich detail of a dilapidated England of the future, as well as a mean-ass cameo from Michael Caine as a weed-growing hippie. 

19. The Dark Knight: Heath Ledger won all the plaudits for his disturbed, brilliant portrayal of The Joker in this Batman Begins sequel, but the film is so much more than that, including an interesting allegory with the War On Terror, and excellent direction from Christopher Nolan. 


20. Lost In Translation: Romantic comedies are notoriously uncool, but Sofia Coppola's dreamy story of 2 very different strangers who fall in love in Tokyo was entrancing and enchanting, and it was the film that turned Scarlett Johansson into a worldwide star.


21. Gladiator: Blade Runner director Ridley Scott revived his critical fortunes with this "swords and sandals" historical epic, which harked back to a golden age of movie making. Oh, and Russell Crowe shouts a lot and looks scary. 


22. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kaazakhstan: Sacha Baron Cohen's comic creation Borat exposes bigotry and anti-semitism in this documentary-style comedy which was followed by a trail of lawsuits and controversy, which just added to its' huge box-office success. 

24. Casino Royale: Daniel Craig's ruthless, steel-eyed Bond swapped campness for killer instinct in this brilliant reboot of the indefatigable James Bond franchise, with a captivatingly seductive performance from Eva Green, though the follow up, the disappointing Quantum of Solace was more a coda than a movie of its' own.


25. No Country For Old Men: the Coen brothers sucked hairy balls with their comedy Burn After Reading, but more than made up for it with this cat-and-mouse chase across the desert, with cold-blooded Javier Bardem managing to be menacing, despite having a silly Emo Philips haircut.