Friday, December 17, 2010

Golden Globe Nominations 2011: Rightful Spot-Earners and Egregious Snubs



What a strange year for the Golden Globes. SAG Award nominations also just came out, but I decided to cover the Golden Globes instead because – as the nominations this year demonstrate – it’s an unpredictable show. The awards are always up for grabs, and I love that it’s the least serious award show of the season (perhaps besides something boring like the People’s Choice Awards). The Globes are notoriously boozy, fun, and a celebration of entertainment in general rather than a serious lauding of it. Favorite Ricky Gervais is hosting again – lucky for us – and people pay attention to the Globes. I’m taking a look at the nominations in the lead categories here, and then will cover the show on and after awards night! Here goes:

Best Picture - Drama
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

A flawless category. Exactly what films should be included, and likely what films will be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

Oh my. This is embarrassing. Was it really that slow of a year for comedies/musicals? Burlesque? Seriously? The only movie that deserves to be in this category is The Kids Are All RightRed is a stretch, but I can understand why it was included. What about I Love You, Phillip Morris, which is getting great buzz, or the innovative Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, or even Kick-Ass? Or instead of the The Tourist, in which the two leads had no chemistry, how about The Other Guys? Not really Golden Globes material either, but better than The Tourist altogether because of the brilliantly improvised Tuna vs. Lion scene. Was Alice in Wonderland even a comedy? General consensus is you had to be on some kind of hallucinogenic to find it amusing.

Best Actor - Drama
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

A solid enough category, and all actors nominated were the expected ones. However – and I know I’m going to be killed for this – but Ryan Gosling seems to be playing a version of himself in Blue Valentine. An off-beat hipster? His role in All Good Things was certainly more of a stretch, and as usual, he was brilliant in it. Would have liked to see Stephen Dorff in there for his understated, fragile movie star in Somewhere, but no cigar. Don’t really care about the Leonardo DiCaprio Inception snub – a nod for Shutter Island would have been more understandable. His real snub was no Oscar nomination for his 2002 performance in Catch Me if You Can. No, I haven’t forgotten!

Best Actress - Drama
Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Same here – all solid (but somewhat expected) actresses. About time Michelle Williams got her due! She is fantastic in everything she does, Dawson’s Creek included. Would have liked to see Gwenyth Paltrow in here for Country Strong because I love the new, spunky Gwenyth, or newcomer Katie Jarvis for her stellar performance in Fish Tank, but voters and the Golden Globes audience love Halle Berry, so they weren’t going to kick her out of the race, and they couldn’t kick out any others because it would be criminal to overlook them.

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney's Version

Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs

Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

An even more perplexing list of nominees than Best Musical or Comedy, which I guess stems from a slow year for musicals/comedies. But really, the only deserving one here is Kevin Spacey – always a revelation – and perhaps Jake Gyllenhaal, for his emotional turn in an otherwise predictable romcom. Again, voters, if you are going to stoop as low as Johnny Depp in The Tourist, you might as well have nominated Russell Brand in Get Him to the Greek instead – his twitchy, drug-addled rock star was fantastically funny and at times, surprisingly dark. Again, no Jim Carrey for I Love You, Phillip Morris? What is this?!

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs

Angelina Jolie, The Tourist

Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right

Emma Stone, Easy A

Obviously, The Kids Are All Right actresses more than deserve these noms. But none of the others do. No, I am not an Emma Stone worshipper. Sorry. The whole smoky-voice red-hair thing doesn’t make her interesting. She plays the same character in every movie: Superbad, Zombieland, The Housebunny, The Rocker, and Easy A, and has yet to show any talent beyond sarcastic retorts and the ability to mesmerize nerds. I’m also not impressed by Anne Hathaway in Love and Other Drugs, and the only award Angelina Jolie should be getting for The Tourist is Worst English Accent of the Year.

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter

Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

Jeremy Renner, The Town

Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

ANDREW GARFIELD FANGIRL SCREAM! AAAANNY WAY, substitute Michael Douglas in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps for Justin Timberlake in The Social Network and I am one hundred percent happy with this category. I read somewhere today that for some reason people don’t want to acknowledge what a talented actor JT is. I’d say it’s about time to acknowledge it. If we buy Kal Penn working for the White House, we can buy Justin Timberlake as an actor. Let’s give the kid a break. Also – wish Mark Ruffalo could somehow be included in here for The Kids Are All Right. I loved his sperm-donor- dad-with-a-heart who somehow managed to gain our empathy even after he so royally screwed up.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech

Mila Kunis, Black Swan

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Perfectly happy with this category, especially with the Mila Kunis nod.           

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
           
David Fincher, The Social Network

Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

Christopher Nolan, Inception

David O. Russell, The Fighter

Happy with this category as well. Really want Darren Aronofsky to win; the incredible acting in The Social Network is due to his hundred-take tendency and the film is his vision come to life. That being said, would have rather had Ben Affleck’s fantastic directing job on The Town be nominated rather than David O. Russell after his documented freak-out on the I Heart Huckabees set a few years ago. People still remember him almost hitting a prop girl and breaking a lamp, right?

Best Screenplay
127 Hours, Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle

Inception, Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg

The King's Speech, David Seidler

The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin

Sorkin for the win.

Best Television Series – Drama
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men
The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead nomination is a little premature, but I can’t talk because I haven’t been able to watch it yet. (Blame my addiction to roughly 200 other TV shows). Not happy about the Friday Night Lights snub, but if Mad Men doesn’t win, it will be criminal. Best season yet. I really believe no other TV show measures up.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men
Piper Perabo – Covert Affairs
Katey Sagal – Sons of Anarchy
Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer

Really tired of Kyra Sedgwick getting nominated for The Closer. Let’s give some others a chance. What about Lisa Edelstein, who always delivers (and has recently become more of a focus) on House? What about the underrated Emily Deschanel on Bones? Or Connie Britton on Friday Night Lights? Her not being in this category is a massive snub. She deserves this award.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama
Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall – Dexter
Jon Hamm – Mad Men
Hugh Laurie – House

A great category, stiff competition. Surprised Matthew Fox isn’t on the list. As much as I love Hugh Laurie, he’s gotten a Golden Globe before; he’s just simply way overdue for an Emmy. This award belongs to Jon Hamm. Let’s hope he submits “The Suitcase.”

Best Television Series - Comedy Or Musical
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
The Big C
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie

No Parks and Recreation or Community, but the inconsistent Glee and laugh-track Big Bang Theory instead? Aghh! Also, Weeds had a weirdly good, unpredictable season. Wish it had been recognized. A welcome relief after a few crazy years.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical
Toni Collette – United States of Tara
Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey – 30 Rock
Laura Linney – The Big C
Lea Michele – Glee
           
As with Kyra Sedgwick, Toni Collette and Edie Falco have both gotten their countless nominations/awards for these repetitive roles and need to be let go from the race. How about Mary Louise Parker’s unknowable drug-dealer mom on Weeds or Amy Poehler’s enthusiastic government employee on Parks?

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
Steve Carell – The Office
Thomas Jane – Hung
Matthew Morrison – Glee
Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory

All good here. Matthew Morrison pretty much plays himself, though – Steve Carell will likely (and deservedly) win this one, as it’s his last season on The Office and he hasn’t before.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hope Davis – The Special Relationship
Jane Lynch – Glee
Kelly MacDonald – Boardwalk Empire
Julia Stiles – Dexter
Sofia Vergara – Modern Family

Well, I don’t watch Mini-Series or Motion Pictures made for Television, so I can’t really say anything about Hope Davis here. But Christina Hendricks being overlooked after a transformative season for Joanie on Mad Men is frustrating. Also, would have been nice to see Alison Brie on here for Community or even Jayma Mays for Glee, even though both of their roles are tiny.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Scott Caan – Hawaii Five-O
Chris Colfer – Glee
Chris Noth – The Good Wife
Eric Stonestreet – Modern Family
David Strathairn – Temple Grandin

Again, I got nothing on David Strathairn. Chris Noth: yawn. Chris Colfer: crying in every scene does not equal good acting. Happy to see Scott Caan and Eric Stonestreet on here, but would have preferred a little more Modern Family love, like Jesse Tyler Ferguson and/or Ty Burrell noms.

That’s everyone – now for the long wait until January 16th to see how it all turns out. 

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