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Jan 14, 2008

If an award show falls in a forest...

Before I start, I want to give a plug for Reel Whore's monstrous "Confessions of a Reel Whore" post-a-thon, his a-bit-late-but-made-up-for-with-length 2007 blowout. Today brought us part four of his seven day ordeal - be sure to read the first three as well. Just great stuff all around.

Anyway...

No, I didn't watch the Golden Globes, either. But I am good at going to Yahoo, grabbing a list of the winners, going to Google and getting a funny/topical picture, then making snarky and/or extremely insightful comments about all of it. Winners in italics.

Best Motion Picture - Drama
American Gangster
Atonement
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Comment: At first, I looked at this and thought "Really? Atonement?!? (Granted, I haven't seen it - or The Great Debaters, but I'm going off what I've heard and my own educated guess). But then I remembered that this is the Hollywood FOREIGN Press and not A.M.P.A.S. No Country? There Will Be Blood? Too American, too artsy, and too subtle. American Gangster? American is in the title for chrissakes (otherwise, a normal type of film for H.F.P.A.). The Great Debaters? Too talky. Ditto Michael Clayton. This left Atonement as the perfect film - epic, not American and straightforward (I'm guessing).

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Jodie Foster - The Brave One
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley - Atonement

Comment: For all the movies I've seen this year, I've seen but one of the films that the actress pool came from (A Mighty Heart). Deduct one point from my score.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
James McAvoy - Atonement
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington - American Gangster

Comment: On the other hand, I've seen all here but for Atonement, and we all knew McAvoy had the slightest chance of winning, considering the heavyweights in this category. No shocker here from a Day-Lewis win.

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Across the Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
Hairspray
Juno
Sweeney Todd

Comment: Meh. Juno should win this, but again - too talky for the foreign press.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky - Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Ellen Page - Juno

Comment: The Globes really need to fix/get rid of their splitting of the films into "Drama" and "Musical or Comedy." It makes almost no sense - in this case, La Vie en Rose is a straight drama, but since it's a biopic about a singer, it's a "Musical" all of a sudden. Huh? I think Joaquin Phoenix and Jaime Foxx were in this category (not for Actress, obviously) for Walk the Line and Ray, respectively. I propose that Animated films (also currently their own category) be lumped in with "Dramas" from now on, just for the fun of it.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks - Charlie Wilson's War
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Savages
John C. Reilly - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Comment: I know not that many people saw it, but please, please, please tell me how Lars and the Real Girl got placed as a "Comedy." I think the nominators (that's a word, right?) saw Bianca the sex doll and just assumed it had to be a comedy. In a manner of speaking, I guess...

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Julia Roberts - Charlie Wilson's War
Saoirse Ronin - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Comment: JD, I demand a reaction. I'm cool with Cate winning, personally. She rocked (no pun intended).

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
John Travolta - Hairspray
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

Comment: "Call it." No surprise here, either.

Best Animated Feature Film
Bee Movie
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

Comment: But would it have won were it lumped in with "Drama?" That is the question...

Best Foreign Language Film
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Kite Runner
Lust, Caution
Persepolis

Comment: I still think this is a dark horse to land an Oscar nom for Best Picture, but it will probably be held back by not having enough people see it. A strong category this year, nonetheless - but where's El Orfanato (review coming soon)?

Best Director - Motion Picture
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd
Ethan and Joel Coen - No Country for Old Men
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Ridley Scott - American Gangster
Joe Wright - Atonement

Comment: Wow - the painter takes out quite a few big names. The bigger story: where the hell is Paul Thomas Anderson's name (There Will Be Blood)??? He's your Oscar winner.

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Diablo Cody - Juno
Ethan and Joel Coen - No Country for Old Men
Christopher Hampton - Atonement
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Aaron Sorkin - Charlie Wilson's War

Comment: And Juno got shut out. For shame, considering how spread out the winners were. Ditto for The Savages. Also strange because a) the Coens won this award for an adapted screenplay (the Globes don't split them out, and original should always trump adapted) and b) a friend who's read the book says that the movie is more or less line-for-line filmed according to the book. That deserves an award? Boo!

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Michael Brook, Kaki King, and Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild
Clint Eastwood - Grace Is Gone
Alberto Iglesias - The Kite Runner
Dario Marianelli - Atonement
Howard Shore - Eastern Promises

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Despedida - Love in the Time of Cholera
Grace Is Gone - Grace Is Gone
Guaranteed - Into The Wild
That's How You Know - Enchanted
Walk Hard - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Comment: Uh, Soundtrack Geek - you wanna handle these two? Thanks.


6 people have chosen wisely: on "If an award show falls in a forest..."

J.D. said...

Just frickin' see it. In fact, see it...

Or I vill keel you! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I will indeed Fletch, and there will be blood (no pun intended, ok maybe a little) :D

Handsome B. Wonderful said...

I adored "Atonement" (as I think you know) and was happy to see it win. I guess I'm a snooty European masquerading as an American.

Actually, I do like the European way of life more than here a lot of times.

I, however, must say that I was totally blown away by "There Will Be Blood" as well. Mostly because of Day-Lewis. One of the best performances in a long damn time.

He was noting short of spellbinding. It was a delite to watch this man descend into madness.

Reel Whore said...

Thanks for the shout-out to my every plodding behemoth! In defense of the GGs, as someone who assigns arbitrary genre's to films for awards, um...no comment.

I too have been avoiding Atonement like a draft dodger but I should sac up and see it this weekend. (you know once I stop writing about last year!)

I learned yesterday There Will Be Blood opens here next weekend. Bout friggin time, now I can finally join the discussion.

Nayana Anthony said...

OK, kudos on the La Vie En Rose comment. SO not a comedy or musical. (And why should musicals be lumped with comedies anyway? So many of them are damn dark). Also, in my humble opinion, Diablo Cody got jacked for screenplay.

* (asterisk) said...

I don't think I care enough ever to watch Atonement. For the record.