2014 AACTA Awards - the movie wrap!

The Oscars it ain't, but the Aussie equivalent just three years young had it's night of nights last night on 30th January at Sydney's Star Casino, where the creme de la creme of Australia's film and television talent turned out to pay tribute to themselves at the 2014 AACTA (Australian Acadamy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards.

This years event was hosted by Shane Bourne, and he tried hard enough but failed with the ad-libbing, relied heavily on the auto cue at times to the point of being obvious, and his quip about 'Bonox' injections fell flat on the gathered audience. He seemed ill at ease in front of the industry's finest, but having said that the guest presenters for the awards only fared a little better. Sam Worthington fell off the stage and was clearly very embarrassed, many of the presenters struggled to read the auto cue cohesively, and there was a disjointedness at times amongst the celebrity presenters about who should be saying what, when & where. This event needs more polish, more refinement and a greater degree of professionalism if it is to stand up there besides The Oscars, The BAFTA's and The Golden Globe's - against which the AACTA's will be judged!

Only Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett and Jackie Weaver brought any sense of gravitas to the proceedings - showing off their maturity, experience and composure in front of a live television audience and doing it with aplomb. They are after all seasoned Oscars recipients, presenters and standing attendees and it shows when compared to their Aussie industry counterparts.

And so to the filmic awards of the night, which I am not sure I entirely agree with (hence my archival review of Gatsby immediately below!), but then I'm only a Blogger with an opinion!

• Best Film - Gatsby
• Best Director - Baz Luhrmann for Gatsby
• Best Actor - Leonardo DiCaprio for Gatsby
• Best Actress - Rose Byrne for The Turning
• Best Supporting Actor - Joel Edgerton for Gatsby
• Best Supporting Actress - Elizabeth Debicki for Gatsby
• Lifetime contribution to Australian Film - Jackie Weaver

If last night's awards ceremony and the film awards above inspire you to rent or buy 'GATSBY', then you can judge for yourself. Having not yet seen the Tim Winton adapted book 'THE TURNING' I do feel inspired to do so now to see Rose Byrne's crowning glory. Check out the other movie nominations too that fell by the way side, but are worthy of your attention.

In 2014 . . . see as many movies as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-