Wednesday, December 15, 2010

My thoughts on the Golden Globe nominations


Some were well deserved, some were down right shocking...but my reaction alone can't sum up some of the nominations. So I've got my friends to help me: Strutting Leo, Mark 'You have my attention' Zuckerberg, and random guy from Legion (let's call him...Steve).

Here's the rating system:
Strutting Leo represents general happiness with the nominations...like the stuff they actually got right.
Mark 'You have my attention' Zuckerberg represents a 'meh' sort of attitude towards the nomination.
Steve represents a 'holy fuck!' approach to the nominations. Almost like I had a heart attack when reading the nomination.
 
And away we go...
 
BEST MOTION PICTURE-DRAMA
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
 
While there were lots of snubs in this category (namingly 127 Hours and True Grit), these are some fine movies, and definitely deserve their place. I guess when it comes to Oscar time, the ten movie category will help some of the other films that missed out...but we all know that these are the best. Thank God Inception was nominated. I see these awards won't be making the same mistake as they did two years ago with that Batman movie (I still hate you for that.)
 
BEST MOTION PICTURE-MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kid's are All Right
Red
The Tourist
 
Oh hell. Did these nominees seem to forget all the other good comedies that came out this year? No Scott Pilgrim? No Kick-Ass?! Oh no, just stick in three movies which are all rated rotten. Alice in Wonderland was an eyesore...how did that shit get nominated? Just because Burlesque is a musical, did it have to be nominated or something? The Tourist has Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in it...*INSTANT NOMINATION*. How did RED get in there? I know it's better than the rest of them, but it wasn't particularly memorable. Looks like The Kid's are All Right will win, by a landslide.
 
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE-DRAMA
Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network
Colin Firth for The King's Speech
James Franco for 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg for The Fighter
 
This is a pretty well nominated category. To be perfectly honest, I think the main competition will be between Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth, and though I wish that Colin Firth would win an Oscar, I'm really rooting for Jesse Eisenberg. In saying that, I would love to see James Franco shine through for 127 Hours. Mark Wahlberg is an odd choice, and I would have thought that Leonardo DiCaprio may have taken that spot for his work in either Shutter Island and Inception. If Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth were the only actors in the category, I would be completely happy, but the odd choice of Mark Wahlberg kinda drags it down a bit. Overall, I'm pretty happy.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE-DRAMA
Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman for Black Swan
Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine

I wonder who could win this one...? We all pretty much know that Natalie Portman is the go here, and will probably make it to that little golden man come Oscar night. Jennifer Lawrence and Nicole Kidman are a couple of names which have been circulating the awards talk for quite some time now, and have some promise against Portman. Michelle Williams is so deserving of an Oscar nomination for a leading role, that I hope her campaign with Blue Valentine works in her favour. I don't really understand the nomination of Halle Berry, as I haven't really heard that much about Frankie and Alice, but I guess time will tell...

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE-MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Johnny Depp for The Tourist
Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland
Paul Giamatti for Barney's Version
Jake Gyllenhaal for Love and Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack

Well well...here we go with the shambolic (yes I made that word up) mess of the Comedy/Musical section again. Every one of these movies, apart from Barney's Version, is currently rotten on Rotten Tomatoes. The Tourist is death defyingly rotten. But will the non-love for these movies prevent these actors from getting the gong? Who knows. I couldn't tell you who would win this award, but I think I'll stick with Jake Gyllenhaal. Coz, y'know, he still deserves something for his often forgotten work in Brokeback Mountain from all those years ago. And also, he deserves an award for sticking through the mess that was Prince of Persia. Even though Johnny Depp has gotten two nominations, he won't be winning either of them, as I'm pretty sure those noms are just place fillers. Again, we could have seen some love for Kick-Ass, or maybe newish comedies like How Do You Know or Somewhere. But never mind voters...give the underdogs a go this year :/

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE-MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Annette Bening for The Kid's are All Right
Anne Hathaway for Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie for The Tourist
Julianne Moore for The Kid's are All Right
Emma Stone for Easy A

OMG would The Tourist just GO AWAY already?! I know you just want some extra star power for your little show, but there are more deserving actresses that could easily have taken Ms. Jolie's spot. Other than that slight hiccup, I'm pretty happy about the lineup here. Annette Bening and Julianne 'Hurry up and give me an Oscar already!' Moore have the best chance here. If they weren't there, then Emma Stone would win. Thank God someone finally recognized her for her unbelievably amazing work in Easy A. See that? Teen comedies can have good actresses in them. Anne Hathaway is sorta the wildcard here, but I love that she got nominated. Any nomination for Anne is like a little miracle for me.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Christian Bale for The Fighter
Michael Douglas for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Andrew Garfield for The Social Network
Jeremy Renner for The Town
Geoffery Rush for The King's Speech

You know in the trailer of The Fighter how it says "Academy Award nominee MARK WAHLBERG", and then it has just "CHRISTIAN BALE" after it? That is so sad. Christian Bale is easily the most dedicated actor out there (a little too dedicated if you ask me), and it certainly shows in the stuff I've seen of The Fighter. It's about time this guy got something. Anyway, I need to get something off my chest: ANDREW GARFIELD IS NOMINATED! ANDREW GARFIELD IS NOMINATED! ANDREW GARFIELD IS NOMINATED! Right, now that is settled. Yeah, I'm rooting for my future husband Mr. Garfield to win, even though I know he doesn't have as bigger show as Bale. But my God, I am so HAPPY he got nominated! Jeremy Renner, the most underrated actor of the century, continues his run with the awards circle, deserving another nomination. As for Michael Douglas...well, I didn't even know he was in the supporting role of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. I thought the movie was about him? Geoffrey Rush is pretty much in there because The King's Speech is in everything else, and I don't have a problem with that. But where the hell is Mark Strong for Kick-Ass?! Or am I the only person who thought he was amazing in that movie (or everything else he is in)? I'm 'Strutting Leo' for the Bale and Garfield noms, but I'm still feeling 'meh' about the category in general.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams for The Fighter
Helena Bohnam Carter for The King's Speech
Mila Kunis for Black Swan
Melissa Leo for The Fighter
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom

Australia, though it pains me to say this, for once you have done me proud. Jacki Weaver is so completely and utterly deserving of that nomination for Animal Kingdom...what can I say? Her performance was one of the best female performances I had seen in a while. This category is pretty good, actually. Again, an actress who continues to make little miracles for me every time she gets nominated, Amy Adams, makes her way into the supporting category for the third time. Melissa Leo, probably the best bet here, gets in for The Fighter too. Helena Bohnam Carter continues The King's Speech reign (haha, get it?) over the Golden Globes, and better make it to the Oscar, coz my goodness, she deserves it. Mila Kunis is definitely the most surprising, but nonetheless deserving addition to this category. It's about time the girl got this sort of attention. Not only is she the perfect pin up girl, but she's a damn good actress, which is usually a pretty rare combination. My only snitch is that Chloe Moretz is getting recognized for Kick-Ass. Yes, I know I am going on about Kick-Ass a lot here, but what do you expect? The movie was bloody marvellous, and it got snubbed in every single category.

BEST DIRECTOR-MOTION PICTURE
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
David Fincher for The Social Network
Tom Hooper for The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan for Inception
David O. Russell for The Fighter

So, of course, I'm gonna have to get this off my chest: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN GOT NOMINATED! CHRISTOPHER NOLAN GOT NOMINATED! CHRISTOPHER 'GOD' NOLAN GOT NOMINATED! I know this ain't quite Oscar territory yet, but OMG he got nominated! You have no idea how happy this makes me. He's never been recognized for his directorial work at the Golden Globes (or Oscars) yet...you know how sad that is? Before I go on a rant about how Master Nolan deserved nominations years ago, I will go on about the other nominees. Darren Aronofsky is another director who has never been recognized for his amazingly artistic directorial efforts, and could nab the award. Tom Hooper is in with The King's Speech, which is likely to sweep the whole awards season, but I'm thinking he could miss out. David O. Russell, too, despite the critical rep he has gathered from The Fighter, could miss out on the award. Lets just hope he doesn't try to headlock Christopher Nolan again so he can get the award. I think the biggest threat to this category, however is David Fincher. Snubbed so many times, now is the right time for him to win some awards. His effort on The Social Network was so damn good, too. It's hard when you're two favourite directors are battling it out for an award they both really deserve...

BEST SCREENPLAY-MOTION PICTURE
127 Hours-Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
Inception-Christopher Nolan
The Kid's are All Right-Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko
The King's Speech-David Seidler
The Social Network-Aaron Sorkin

Here's the last category which I will be attacking, which also happens to be my personal favourite out of the lot. I promise not to go psycho over the Christopher Nolan nomination like I did last time. But in this one, he truly deserves the award on a original and creative basis. That's why I can see him already with the golden man in his hand, as he wins the award for Best Original Screenplay. However, the thing that gets in his way here is Aaron Sorkin and all his big words. There is no denying it, his script for The Social Network was simply amazing. Listening to those great actors spit out his words at 100 miles an hour was worth the price of the ticket alone. It would be a real surprise if he didn't take this award home (unless Nolan bet him). The rest of the category is made up of well deserving films: 127 Hours, The King's Speech and The Kid's are All Right. I couldn't be any more happy about this category. Every film deserves the award, but it's really the great war between Inception and The Social Network that is the clincher here.

IN CONCLUSION:
5 Strutting Leo's.
3 Mark 'You have my attention' Zuckerberg's.
2 Steve's.
Seems like I'm pretty happy with this years lot at the Golden Globes. Apart from the horrible abominations that were the Musical/Comedy sections and The Tourist's 50 nominations. But hey, if my idol Nolan is nomination, I am there!

Check back for some more ratings on awards nominations when they come up. You'll be seeing a lot of Leo, Zuck and Steve this awards season!

4 comments:

  1. Loving your article, Stevee!
    Even if Sorkin takes the Golden Globe, Nolan will surely take the Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars, as The Social Network is an adapted screenplay. Woohoo, thank God, The Social Network is besed on the book!

    And I am also greatly surprised they neglected Kick-Ass so rudely. Unbelievable.

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  2. I pretty much laughed to myself when I saw the nominations announced. As everyone does, I like making my predictions come Oscar night (and before for the nominees are announced) but I have lost so much hope in Hollywood award shows for their complete and utter snubs 2000 - onwards for some great films, and things undeserving of any award (such as The Blind Side.)

    On that note, pretty much the drama category is exactly how everyone pictured it minus Boyle and the Coen's, but WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with the comedy/musical section?

    Except Burlesque, none of them should even be in there based on the 'genre.'

    Sure, I was probably the only person in the universe that had a ball with Alice in Wonderland as an entertaining romp, but why is it there? It's certainly not award worthy (apart from the beautiful costumes, as always - thankyou Coleen Atwood.)

    Oh, have you managed to watch Black Swan yet? Seems so since you're on board the Mila train!

    I totally agree with Kick-Ass being snubbed - very predictable. The only thing it'll be up for is probably MTV awards, which is a sad, sad occasion.

    Again, I am probably the only person in the world that wasn't cheering on Scott Pilgrim - one of the most overrated films of the year imo. The fight scenes were cool, as were the graphics, and I should have loved it (being into comics and the like) but I just didn't, and that pissed me off.

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  3. @Lesya Thanks! If Nolan doesn't win best original screenplay there will be trouble. His Inception screenplay is the BEST *original* screenplay. Full stop.

    @Cherokee I just get so excited for the awards season so I had to make predictions already. But these nominations are laughable (well, mainly the comedy/musical sections).
    Black Swan doesn't come out here 27th Jan, but even then I probably won't be able to see it as it will probably be an R16 here. But I've always really liked Mila Kunis, and it's good to see her nominated for a film like that one!
    Kick-Ass+snub=me very sad :(
    Oh, I love Scott Pilgrim! But that's what you could expect from me, being the comic book movie nerd that I am :)

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  4. I think everyone has a ball making predictions! I have my predictions of things I would like to win that'd never be nominated, but than I have the list that I'm pretty sure of who is going to get nominated, back to reality right there!

    I really like Family Guy, so it is nice that Mila Kunis is getting some attention outside the TV show world, that's for sure!

    Black Swan comes out the same time over here I think too. Tried to get a ticket to see it at the London Film Festival - was so close, yet so far. Well, it better be worth the wait!

    Kick-Ass was indeed a snub, but I hadn't thought about it being nominated (shame on me) until people kept mentioning that it was overlooked.

    I love a good comic book movie too (being a fanatic about comics in general since as long as I can remember)but what Scott Pilgrim was based on was a good idea (i'm speaking of the comic here,) but with horrible drawings and writing (for me, the art of comics is so important - if it doesn't look good, there is no way in hell you'd be able to read it) but I'd heard good things about Pilgrim - the movie - so checked it out when nothing was on, and was so dissapointed by it. I had subsided my hatred for Michael Cera too, came out disliking him all over again xD

    Though, I wouldn't bash it in entirely - the graphics were awesome, so were the fight scenes, the music, and Jason Schwartzmen (as always.) Everything else fell through D:

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You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

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