Well, as a semi-respectable, maybe not so much, let’s say occasionally read film blogger, I can’t ignore the overuse of commas in this sentence and the fact that it is awards season for movie. Pretty much between now and February 26th, which is the Oscars, there are roughly 7 awards shows that will all award the same thing, I hope that won’t happen, but who knows. While the Oscars is the big enchilada for all those films, I needed another article to write and predicting the upcoming Golden Globes will be entertaining for me and hopefully fun for you to read and tell me how wrong I am in my selections. So, with the prestige and honor that comes with awards season, time for me to pick my selections for the Golden Globes, which will take place this Sunday January 15th.
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
The Descendants (2011) – WINNER
The Help (2011)
Hugo (2011/II)
The Ides of March (2011)
Moneyball (2011)
War Horse (2011)
There is a clear winner in my book and that is the Alexander Payne directed film, The Descendants. George Clooney is amazing in everything he does and even his small role in The Ides of March was incredible and tense. War Horse has been getting decent reviews and is placed there because Spielberg has his name attached to the movie. I personally have not seen The Help and I don’t plan on seeing it. There seems to be this trend in Hollywood now where racism can only be solved with the guiding hand of a good-looking white person. This disdain stems more from the movie The Blind Side, which was infuriating to me and how it was about Sandra Bullock’s character instead of, oh you know, Michael Oher. Yeah lets shaft the strong black character, one who is fascinating in real life and smart, and have the movie focus on the folksy help of a white, suburbanite mom and her transcendence of seeing pass race. God that movies irritates me to no end.
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
The Artist (2011) – WINNER
Bridesmaids (2011)
50/50 (2011)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
The Artist. Book that shit and call it a day. In my mind, there is no film on this list that encompasses both the musical and comedy aspect of this category better than The Artist. I gave that a perfect score and for good reason. I am happy to see 50/50 get a nomination as that was an honest and funny film about cancer. It’s about cancer for fucks sake. It pulled at the right emotional strings and was able to disarm the viewer with humor and remind you that you are watching a film about a person’s struggle with cancer. While I would love to see it win, The Artist will take it. Bridesmaids making the list is nice, but I didn’t think that movie was worth all the hype. Yeah it was interesting and entertaining, but not the side-splitting laugh fest that people made it out to be.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
George Clooney for The Descendants (2011) – WINNER
Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar (2011)
Michael Fassbender for Shame (2011)
Ryan Gosling for The Ides of March (2011)
It’s hard not to want to George to win and I think with the win for The Descendants, it would be hard to pass up Clooney for his titular role. Shame hasn’t made it’s way to my neck of the woods, but I really want to see Michael Fassbender in this film. Everything I have read so far has his performance as a blistering, dramatic role that will define him. Ryan Gosling should be nominated more for his character in Drive, but his role in The Ides of March will do.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs (2011)
Viola Davis for The Help (2011) – WINNER
Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady (2011)
Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
I don’t have much to say about this selection. I haven’t seen The Help, nor will I personally, but Viola Davis will probably get the win and the insane, manic performance by Tilda Swinton in We Need To Talk About Kevin will be overlooked. Till this day, We Need To Talk About Kevin is just an unsettling film and Swinton was amazing as the broken down mother of a high school killer. As for Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady was absolutely abysmal, but her performance of Margaret Thatcher was spot on. I feel that it wouldn’t be an awards ceremony without Meryl Streep in there somewhere. Rooney Mara, while her role as Salander was intense and perfect, I just don’t see her snagging the award, but getting nominated is a good thing since it will get people to recognize her acting efforts.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011) – WINNER
Brendan Gleeson for The Guard (2011)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for 50/50 (2011)
Ryan Gosling for Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Owen Wilson for Midnight in Paris (2011)
Jean Dujardin will win. He has to win. Having to act out on screen and use the emotional and physical range of your abilities to get across the wide range of human emotions to the audience without saying a word is incredible. Just flat out incredible. I am a bit stoked that Brendan Gleeson got a nod, but I only saw his movie this past week on DVD, so I couldn’t give it the full movie review treatment. But his role reminded me of the one that Collin Farrell in the movie, In Bruges. Also, another nod for Gosling? Just nominate the man for Drive and then he will win, at least I hope he would win for that role.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Jodie Foster for Carnage (2011)
Charlize Theron for Young Adult (2011)
Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids (2011) – WINNER
Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Kate Winslet for Carnage (2011)
While I didn’t find Bridesmaids to be the most outright, hilarious movie out there, Kristen Wiig’s performance can’t be denied. Her role in the film was earnest and touching, while having a bit of humility mixed in there. I love seeing her get the leading role after being more of a bit player in previous movies. Charlize would be a good front runner as well, but her character wasn’t really the most likeable person in Young Adult.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Albert Brooks for Drive (2011)
Jonah Hill for Moneyball (2011)
Viggo Mortensen for A Dangerous Method (2011)
Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2010) – WINNER
I want Christopher Plummer to win. I hope that he does as this has been a strong year for him with Beginners and his role in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. He is an amazing actor and his role in Beginners was very touching and poignant. I did think Albert Brooks playing the bad guy in Drive was awesome and it’s good to see a nomination for Drive at least.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Bérénice Bejo for The Artist (2011)
Jessica Chastain for The Help (2011) – WINNER
Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs (2011)
Octavia Spencer for The Help (2011)
Shailene Woodley for The Descendants (2011)
While I have not seen The Help, again for personal reasons that will more or less infuriate me, there is no denying that Jessica Chastain should win something. She has had a hell of a year with The Debt, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter and future projects with established directors means there is no limit to her potential. I personally would have like to seen her get nominated for Take Shelter or even The Tree of Life. On the other hand, I would love to see Berenice Bejo win, but got to give it to Chastain.
Best Director – Motion Picture
Nominees:
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris (2011)
George Clooney for The Ides of March (2011)
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist (2011) – WINNER
Alexander Payne for The Descendants (2011)
Martin Scorsese for Hugo (2011/II)
The love fest for The Artist will continue in my book as Michel Hazanavicius made a true send up of the silent film era and created one of the most engaging films of the year. While Payne and Clooney both turned in amazing films, it will be the night of The Artist.
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Nominees:
The Artist (2011): Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants (2011): Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Ides of March (2011): George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Midnight in Paris (2011): Woody Allen – WINNER
Moneyball (2011): Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin
This is a bit of a hard choice, while two of the films are adapted screen plays (The Descendants and Moneyball), I would like to see The Artist win, but I think that Midnight in Paris will take it. It’s Woody Allen, it’s a good rebound from his previous films that flopped and a good return to form for him.
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Nominees:
Albert Nobbs (2011): Brian Byrne, Glenn Close(“Lay Your Head Down”)
Gnomeo & Juliet (2011): Elton John, Bernie Taupin(“Hello Hello”)
The Help (2011): Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas(“The Living Proof”) – WINNER
Machine Gun Preacher (2011): Chris Cornell(“The Keeper”)
W.E. (2011): Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry(“Masterpiece”)
I totally want Chris Cornell to win this category, but the ensemble power that The Help’s original song has will be the reason why it wins out.
Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Nominees:
The Artist (2011): Ludovic Bource – WINNER
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo (2011/II): Howard Shore
War Horse (2011): John Williams
W.E. (2011): Abel Korzeniowski
While The Social Network had a stellar, moody score from Trent Reznor, I didn’t really feel the score in the isolated nature of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The Artist had a great score which needed to help propel and set up the emotional cues and points of the film, but at times it seemed like it kind of recycled a few parts here and there. In the end, The Artist will win for the pacing and style needed to enhance the visuals of the silent movie it accompanied.
Best Animated Film
Nominees:
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Arthur Christmas (2011)
Cars 2 (2011)
Puss in Boots (2011)
Rango (2011) – WINNER
RANGO! An unconventional animated film that really exceeded my expectations. This had the makings to be a bad film. This isn’t the cute, family oriented animated film we are accustomed to, so seeing a film like this, being both for kids and adults was a refreshing change of pace. A solid animated film that should get some awards, if not for defying the convention of the cutesy, Pixar dominated era of animated films.
Best Foreign Language Film
Nominees:
The Flowers of War (2011)(China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)(USA)
The Kid with a Bike (2011)(Belgium)
A Separation (2011)(Iran) – WINNER
The Skin I Live In (2011)(Spain)
This is a hard category to choose from as the foreign film releases don’t get a big release date here and are hard to come across. This is more of a toss up in terms of who will win, but considering there is a film from Iran in the mix, I wouldn’t put it past those in charge of the awards show to have this as the favored winner. For me, it will more than likely win.
So that is the movie portion of the Golden Globes and while their is a television portion of the awards, Community is not nominated for anything, which means I don’t care. It will more than likely be a jerk fest over Glee and Modern Family which are apparently the only shows in existence that people watch. So I am a bit jaded at this point. I do hope that Game of Thrones will pick up some awards and anything for Breaking Bad will be a welcomed addition to the awards show.
Let me know what you think or what you
