2010 Hong Kong Film Critics Society winners and Oscar nominations.

Results for the 16th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards came in a couple weeks ago. There were a few interesting winners that infused some light into the dying Hong Kong cinematic fire. Best Picture went not to a shoot em up stuffed with stars but to KJ (音樂人生), a documentary about a local music prodigy. Meanwhile, Kara Hui (惠英紅), added another Best Actress trophy to her Golden Horse win for her performance as a distressed single mother in At the End of Daybreak (心魔). Mainland actor Wang Xueqi (王学圻) elbowed out all the other bodyguards and assassins, including Hu Jun, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Leon Lai, Nic Tse, Eric Tsang, Simon Yam, and Donnie Yen, for the Best Actor prize in that movie (十月圍城). Of course it wouldn't be a proper Hong Kong film awards without some recognition for the star-laced hits that keep the industry afloat. Best Director went to Alan Mak and Felix Chong for the cops v financial industry thriller Overheard (竊聽風雲). Another Lau Ching-Wan film, Written By (再生號), took the top writing prize.

Shortlists include: Prince of Tears (淚王子); Tactical Unit - Comrades in Arms (機動部隊 - 同袍); McDull Kung Fu Ding Dong (麥兜粛噹噹); Michelle Ye; Zhang Jingchu (張靜初); Sammi Cheng; Ada Choi; Liu Kai-Chi (廖啟智); and Simon/Ching-Wan/Louis.

On the other side of the International Date Line, the Academy announced nominations for the 82nd annual awards. Entirely predictable in the categories that people care about, meaning that Avatar and The Hurt Locker cleaned up with nine nods a piece. Up in the Air grabbed the most acting nominations with 3 for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress(es). As usual, I have not seen most of the films but will be rooting for one of the 3 that I did see, In the Loop, which is up for Best Fucking Adapted Screenplay. Oscars drop March 7.

'Overheard' trailer

Get ready, kiddies! Overheard (竊聽風雲) is coming out in a couple weeks and I am ex-i-ted! They just released the trailer, so take a look. Alex Fong gets a couple lines of dialogue. Not bad considering he gets about 4th billing.

The day before the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen

The obsession continues.......At least the tv show that started my Alex Fong episode (浴火鳳凰 or Phoenix of the Ashes) is finished with his storyline. I think his character got blown up in a train. Pity. I think Shawn Yue kind of takes over from there. My life was already a certifiable mess when I was just interested in Richard Armitage, but now I have to toggle between the two.

Speaking of.....Over the weekend I caught the latest Robin Hood. Sometimes the show actually impresses. Something to do with expectations? I've concluded that this would be great to watch with the kids, if I had any. But it's still miserable to sit through on occasion. I think this season's suffered because of the change in cast; it's trying to reorient itself without a leading character while still maintaining continuity between this and the previous two seasons. I thought series one segued well into series two but the third has been lacking direction. Also we might attribute this to my watching solely for actors rather than any perceptible story, but again, because there's less story to watch for. The first two seasons had a good combination of sheer plot and action combined with some really intriguing characters. The ambiguity of Guy and Allan balanced the moral absolutism of most of the other characters. And their shifting loyalties were well-integrated with the plot. Guy is definitely less interesting this time around and Allan and most of the gang are all but invisible. Isabella has been a bright spot but I think the writers jerk her around from one extreme to the other so much that she loses a lot of nuance. I was looking forward to Friar Tuck as well, but he's disappointed so far, through no fault of David Harewood.

In any case, I write this because I thought that last weekend's episode returned to some of the emotional sophistication of the last two seasons. (Did I just use the word sophistication with Robin Hood?) It was nice seeing hints of goodness in Guy, and this is where Richard Armitage gets to show off that LAMDA training, or talent, whichever route you want to go. Being a baddie can be fun - see Toby Stephens who has been deliciously evil throughout his run. But the show has been lacking emotional traction since Guy's descent, so his relationship with Meg, a fellow prisoner played by Holliday Grainger, was refreshing. Actually, the interaction between Guy, Meg, and Isabella was challenging in that it gave substance to the whole sibling squabble. Previous episodes saw a duplicitous Isabella trying to stick it to her bastard brother, but their exchanges often felt like a ping pong match with nothing to really ground each other's accusations. The unexpected arrival of Isabella's husband and the ensuing chaos, however, gives new life to this relationship, particularly as Isabella is confronted with Guy's sympathies towards Meg, who tries to spring him from the dungeon after he demonstrates civility, even kindness, to her. (Side note: I thoroughly enjoyed Holliday Grainger's performance and hope to see more of her in the future. Which will probably happen because she's appeared in everything, including Merlin and Demons. I didn't particularly care for her in those roles but she was quite affecting as a headstrong but somewhat innocent girl here.) I'm at last looking forward to the next few episodes where it is revealed that Bobbin and Guy are brothers in one way or another. There will be some flashback sequences next week, so this should again give some emotional complexity to season, however belated.

Since I started the night obsessed about Alex Fong, I should end there too. His new movie comes out end of July, I believe. It's called 竊聽風雲 (Overheard) and also stars Lau Ching Wan, Daniel Wu, and Louis Koo. I'm excited about at least one of those actors. The movie's about stock traders and corruption, both things near and dear to Hong Kong. Presser the other day. The question everyone's asking: Why is Louis Koo in shorts? Or why such a flat title? Or why don't they make awesome thrillers with strong female characters in Hong Kong?

This looks like an unhealthy amount of testosterone.