Althouse: Golden Globes.

December 14, 2006

Golden Globes.

I'm in too big a rush to provide opinions, but here are the nominations.

17 comments:

MadisonMan said...: Once again I've seen nothing nominated -- not a movie, nor a performance.

But I remember TV ads on Channel 11 in NYC for Dreamgirls when it was on Broadway quite a while ago. So I guess I'll hope that it wins.; 12/14/06, 9:12 AM
Anonymous said...: I really didn't think much of the movies nominated for best picture, except for the Departed (which was also flawed -- Scorcese can't end his movies well). I thought Helen Miren was great in the Queen, but I didn't think it was best picture material.

That is, in that fantasy land I live in where best picture awards are given to good movies.

Here's another vote for Apocalypto!; 12/14/06, 9:16 AM
Troy said...: I cannot believe Curious george, Cars and Happy Feet were not nominated . That tells you pretty much why I am in Madison Man's shoes -- I'll see these on PPV.; 12/14/06, 9:32 AM
Anonymous said...: I cannot believe Curious george, Cars and Happy Feet were not nominated.

Animated Film: "Cars," "Happy Feet," "Monster House"; 12/14/06, 10:02 AM
Revenant said...: This list reminds me that I really haven't gone to the theater this year. The only thing on this list that I've seen is the Pirates of the Carribean sequel.; 12/14/06, 12:33 PM
Anonymous said...: "Monster House" beat "Cars" hands down as the best animated movie this year. I'm still up in the air about "Happy Feet." I would be OK with tap-dancing penguins finding their self-expression, but the environmentalist turn the film takes seems too whacky for me to subject my kids to it. We'll see how bored we get over Christmas break.

Other than the animated films, the only other nominees I've seen were the POTC2, Borat and "Thank You For Smoking." The last was the best of the three, but even so, they're all pretty weak to be considered awards material. Have movies really been that bad this year?; 12/14/06, 12:47 PM
price said...: Boy, if the Golden Globes' nominees are too obscure for you, please, please make an effort to change that feeling. Seek out an indie or two, or maybe watch one of Prof. Althouse's faves, and maybe you'll have less reason to believe good movies aren't being made.

There's always going to be Happy Feet for you and your family, but shouldn't you at some point realize that your tastes are extremely ordinary and that you as an individual deserve to have better taste than that?; 12/14/06, 12:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Jackal:

I thought The Departed was awful - a conclusion helped along by seeing the superior Infernal Affairs earlier that day -, not least Jack Nicholson's horrible performance that should have seen the movie rated "H for Ham - Jews, Muslims and Vegetarians Not Admitted". I suspect this is going to be Scorsese's year though, if only as payback.

Now, here are my picks for 'Should Win' vs. 'Will Win'.

Picture, Drama:
SHOULD WIN: The Queen
WILL WIN: The Departed

Actress, Drama:
SHOULD WIN: Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
WILL WIN: Penelope Cruz, "Volver" or Kate Winslet, "Little Children"

Actor, Drama:
SHOULD WIN: Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"
WILL WIN: Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland", though DiCaprio might carry the day for the best performance in The Departed (though that's not saying much)>

Picture, Musical or Comedy:
SHOULD WIN: Thank You for Smoking
WILL WIN: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Actress, Musical or Comedy:
SHOULD WIN: Toni Collette, "Little Miss Sunshine" (Over-rated film, IMO, but nobody does tightly-wound like Collette.)
WILL WIN: Toss up between Beyonce Knowles & Meryl Streep.

Actor, Musical or Comedy:
SHOULD WIN: Aaron Eckhart or Chiwetel Ejiofor.
WILL WIN: Sacha Baron Cohen. Gag.

Supporting Actress:
SHOULD WIN: Emily Blunt, "The Devil Wears Prada"
WILL WIN: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"

Supporting Actor:
SHOULD WIN: Brad Pitt, "Babel" - simply for coming though this tooth-grindingly pretentious mess with his dignity relatively intact.
WILL WIN: Jack Nicholson or Mark Wahlberg.

Director:
SHOULD WIN: Steven Frears, "The Queen"
WILL WIN: Scorsese, alas, though I wouldn't rule out Clint Eastwood.

Screenplay:
SHOULD WIN: Peter Morgan, "The Queen"
WILL WIN: I'm picking pity prize for either Guillermo Arriaga, "Babel" or Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, "Little Children".

Foreign Language:
SHOULD WIN: "Pan's Labyrinth," Mexico
WILL WIN: Volver" Spain (Sorry, I'm not an Almodovar groupie - Golden Globe voters are. If Eastwood is locked out of the director prize, "Letters from Iwo Jima" might pick up a consolation call.

Animated Film:
SHOULD WIN: None of the nominees. Pretty dire slate this year.
WILL WIN: "Happy Feet"; 12/14/06, 1:07 PM
MadisonMan said...: Boy, if the Golden Globes' nominees are too obscure for you, please, please make an effort to change that feeling.

I'm not sure to whom this comment is directed, but as someone who's seen no GG nominees, I should clarify that I've seen no movies period (in the theater) this year.

Eventually, movies make it to DVD and I check them out of the library. I'm not sure what drives people to see movies just as they come out. Hollywood hates people like me, I imagine.; 12/14/06, 1:49 PM
Bissage said...: MM,

I'm very sure Price's comment wasn't meant for me. Still, he can read me like a book as it is entirely true that my tastes are extremely ordinary. I now realize this all too well.

I find myself desperately grateful for his good advice and I have taken constructive action, to wit, I have crafted for myself a new-age affirmation thingy that I shall repeat to myself until it takes hold, as follows: "Every day, in every way, I deserve to have better taste than that."

Okay. I'm kidding. This comment is just a silly pretense to see if that picture of Balok shows up.

I hope you relish it, as much as I.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!; 12/14/06, 2:21 PM
Joseph said...: Little Miss Sunshine was probably my favorite film of the year.

Annette Benning did a great job in Running with Scissors as did perennial favorite of mine Toni Collette in Little Miss Sunshine.

The Queen had some great acting, but I'm really surprised its being nominated for best movie, best director. Not even close in my esteem.

I'm sure Scorcese has his merits, but I just don't like his violent gun-toting mobster/cop/criminal genre so I can't really judge where he fits in.; 12/14/06, 3:19 PM
Anonymous said...: The Queen had some great acting, but I'm really surprised its being nominated for best movie, best director. Not even close in my esteem.

Um, yes, I guess it's really confusing to some audiences to see a nuanced tragicomedy of manners rather than a shrill anti-Blair, anti-monarchy polemic - which many were expecting given Stephen Frears blidingly obvious left-wing politics. Neither is it a pretty costume drama where the furniture and frocks are more interesting than the actual story.; 12/14/06, 3:37 PM
price said...: Sorry for the pretentious comment... it was in response to the admission of only having seen Pirates 2 this year. (p.s. are you okay? Many didn't survive those screenings with their sanity intact.)

At work there is a water cooler where people literally discuss movies like Happy Feet or Pirates 2. Sorry, it makes me feel so Holden Caufield-y.; 12/14/06, 4:14 PM
Bissage said...: Hey Price, I hope that water cooler is full of tranya.

Let’s all have some tranya and a good laugh!

Bill Shatner’s buying.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!!; 12/14/06, 4:26 PM
Anonymous said...: I must confess- the last movie I saw at the theater was “Cars”, and I waited a year to see that on opening weekend.

Before that the last was “Harry Potter IV”.

I enjoyed them both. But, I don’t ask much from a movie. All I want is a decent story, convincingly told.

I quit doing the movie thing when they started thinking CGI, sex, cussing and violence were more important than the story. Which is why I have never seen anything that Scorsese has done, and really don’t care if I ever do.

I’d much rather spend a few hours with an old John Wayne western than almost anything Hollywood has produced in the last few years.

If a movie has a decent ‘buzz’ I’ll catch it on one of the networks when it comes out in a few years; edited to remove the garbage it didn’t need anyway.

Just for the record- what movie won best picture in 1977; anybody know?

But how many of you have seen “Smokey and the Bandit”?

That’s really what awards are worth.; 12/14/06, 4:57 PM
MadisonMan said...: But how many of you have seen “Smokey and the Bandit”?

I always thought the scene where Burt Reynolds (in his car) hides between two trucks -- with a third truck in the passing lane -- was extremely cool.; 12/14/06, 6:03 PM
Gray said...: F*** the Golden Globes, I just became Time magazine's 'Person Of The Year'!
:D
(oh, and YOU, too. All of you); 12/17/06, 9:35 AM