Best screenplay:

• Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche – In the Loop

The Best Screenplay is always the most important award as the movies wouldn’t get made without the writer’s contributions. This year’s winner shows us how skillfully dialogue should be written. This screenplay is an excellent example for any newbie writer to see how the experts carry out their work. Comedy is always difficult to write, especially to maintain the laughs all the way through. This screenplay has you rocking in your seat from start to finish.

Best film/movie:

• Invictus

Almost acting like a documentary, this movie takes us through the highs and lows of such an important subject; mixing the end of apartheid with sport. This movie charts the change of a country. It hits all the high notes of acting, directing, story, crew, camerawork, lighting and most of all, audience appreciation. Take note how well South Africa has come on, in world terms, since Nelson Madela took over and spread the word.

Best actor:

• Sharlto Copley – District 9

This actor portrays the change between human and alien, moving from the power of authority to the chase for his own death. That takes a specialist professional and Sharlto Copley masters it completely. His skills in portraying how he thought he was doing the right thing certainly changed beyond recognition finding himself on the other side. South Africa found itself with three great movies last year, including Skin with Sophie Okonedo. Footbal World Cup follows in June.

Best actress:

• Isabelle Fuhrman – Orphan

This actress has to show us both her good side and her bad side and all the extremes in being a child’s friend, to a murderer. A wonder class in acting skills, so believable we don’t doubt her for one moment. She’s a name we should all look out for in the future if this performance is anything to go by. The way she’s able to convince the audience that she’s both a little girl and a grown woman within the same movie is wonderful.

Best musical:

• This Is It – Michael Jackson

This was never going to be a difficult choice. The director made the movie feel like a concert which was an extraordinary achievement. He did, however, have great songs to work with. Michael Jackson music will live on for decades and this movie gives a fine example of his last work and a guide to what his concerts would have been like. The director should be proud of his work here.

Best score/music:

Hans Zimmer – Sherlock Holmes

The music keeps this movie rolling at the fast pace the director requires, mixing both Irish piano bar melody with vast orchestral power. Hans Zimmer makes a perfect match for the mood of the movie and obviously spends quality time organising the score with the director’s thoughts and plans in mind. The role of music in a movie is just as important as all the other aspects. You soon notice when they get it wrong.

Best director:

• Clint Eastwood – Invictus

Yet another great directed movie from this legend. He brings a connection between audience and those on the screen that makes contact in both the heart and the soul. The audience gets to really ‘feel’ the movie. Perhaps Clint Eastwood brings such talent to this side of the camera because he was such an expert on the other side or maybe he just has the eye for knowing what works and what doesn’t.

Best animation:

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

My seven year old daughter was in charge of this section. This movie made her laugh more than any animation this past year, she enjoyed the story and didn’t get bored. She was more delighted after seeing this motion picture than any other in the year and she sees a lot of movies.Personally I thought that Ice Age 3 edged it, but she has the last word and it’s final.

Special FAMM mention 2008:

• Hush 2 – The Movie

The special mention award goes to a movie that should be seen by all teenagers and their parents/guardians. It brings home the many problems that exist for today’s teenagers (drink, drugs, rape, abuse) and can give parents/guardians a motive to make sure they know their children/ward better. Made on a small budget with the cast and crew working for free to bring home this very special message, the producers and directors should take note that their actions have already brought many extra calls from children to the family abuse telephone lines. It was a great initiative to give out contact information to worried teenagers and to show the film specifically to teenage school children.

Michael Jackson has gone up on my estimation; way up. So has Kenny Ortega.

This movie explores MJ at work showing his definite recipe for success; he had a hand in everything involved in his projects. He’s a master perfectionist. Not only does he write and perform most of the songs, but he also works hard at the on stage choreography. To MJ a flick of the wrist is an important moment. It means something in relation to the song. Everyone in his crew needed to know that so they could ‘feel’ the action as it grooves along.

Before seeing this movie I’ve always appreciated his songs, especially ‘Beat It.’ They were always constants in the charts and I’d never turn the radio off when his songs came on, but I wouldn’t necessarily going searching for them either. Grouping together a high number of his hits for what would have been his final concert tour, shows the high quality of the product.

Kenny Ortega is a name I didn’t know until MJ died and then he appeared to be around every other interview on television. Now I can see what a great director he is. He’s managed to take rehearsal recordings and give a ‘feel’ of an MJ concert mixing it with footage of seeing the band rehearse and back stage moments. Before the movie, I wondered how much the film could appear like a concert and through careful editing he shows us a delicate line between documentary and live footage.

It was obvious that the band and crew were in awe of MJ and they all knew who was boss. The documentary aspect of the show was just as enlightening. They all knew they had a job to do and wanted to help their master give 100% perfection, but they all lived in the fun of the moment, even daring occasionally to question the word of the leader, even if the master’s word was final.

The revelation of the show, thought, has to be the lead guitarist, Orianthi Panagaris. Ori (to her friends) is just 24 but shows a style of playing you’d only expect from someone with 40+ years experience. She absolutely nails ‘Beat It’ with a riveting solo. During those rehearsals she gives the impression of not be over shadowed by the enormity of the event. She’s almost casual to a fault even when asked to step up to the front to have her moment that MJ offers her. We’re going to hear a lot more about this lady who plays the guitar like it’s an extension of her fingers.

Go see Ori and MJ together on stage at: http://www.orianthi.com/player/default.aspx?meid=5213

It’s easy to see the concerts would have been one of those moments you could look back at during your life as pinnacles. Seeing Paul McCartney sing ‘Yesterday’ live, or Art Garfunkel master ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.’ This show would have been ‘it’ with ‘show’ being the operative word. It reminded of Alice Cooper’s shows where what’s going on around the band is just as important as what’s been played. The link with the new Thriller video is obvious; show masters. The dancers, the action and the thrill of it all mean so much. Great effort had been placed by MJ in having the whole show much more important than just the songs. This bears no relation to those pop bands who just have dancers on stage to boost the shallow songs and singers you’re supposed to be listening/watching.

Kenny Ortega’s direction is first class. We were there at the gig. I never saw MJ live in concert. This is the closest I’ll ever get. How sad, but how glad I am to have seen this movie.

The bigger shame is that the CD of this movie features the original songs as recorded way back when and not those as performed in this movie. They’ve missed an opportunity there.