Thursday, December 15, 2011

Golden Globes Nominations: Better, but Not Great

The minute I saw the Screen Actors Guild nominations yesterday, I tweeted that the Golden Globe shortlist would be infinitely better. (To be fair, how could it not?) Yet despite a mild surge in correctness, the Globe nominations, in my mind, don’t fully reflect the greatness that the films of 2011 bestowed on us.

For the record: I detest the Golden Globes. It is basically 90 people voting on the movie and performance that has the most hype at that given time. However, with Ricky Gervais at the helm yet again, you can expect one goddamn hell of a show.

Best Picture: Drama
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse
The older I get, the less I care about Best Picture. I think the award is often about hype and campaigning more than anything else. My point is, aside from Hugo, none of these films will be on my Top 10 (or 15) list of the year. These nominees don’t surprise me, as they are all extremely safe.

Best Director
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
George Clooney – The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Woody Allen is a nice surprise, while Clooney is a huge shock. Definitely thought Spielberg would’ve gotten a spot here. Or Nicolas Winding Refn. Or Steve McQueen. I can dream, can’t I?

Best Actor: Drama
George Clooney – The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Michael Fassbender – Shame
Ryan Gosling – The Ides of March
And here it is, the category that instantly discredits the absurdity of the SAG awards this year. With the nominations of Fassbender and Gosling, validation (however so slight), has been issued. Look, I know they have no chance at winning, but to see them earn an Oscar nomination would be incredible. Here’s to seriously hoping their nominations here can generate the proper amount of buzz.

Also... so, is Gary Oldman officially out?

Best Actress: Drama
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton – We Need To Talk About Kevin
Rooney. Mara. Oh how I love that she is here, and I haven’t even seen the damn film yet. Again, she’ll never win (this is Davis’ or Streep’s), but the recognition is nice.

Best Picture: Comedy
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn
I don’t remember 50/50 being very funny (or very good), but no matter, The Artist will win this without breaking a sweat.

Best Actor: Comedy
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Brendan Gleeson – The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – 50/50
Ryan Gosling – Crazy, Stupid, Love
Owen Wilson – Midnight in Paris
Gosling was the only worthy part of Crazy, Stupid, Love, so it’s nice to see him here (and as the only double acting nominee of the lot). Also, Gleeson – what a nice treat. Still, Dujardin’s for the taking.

Best Actress: Comedy
Jodie Foster - Carnage
Charlize Theron – Young Adult
Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Kate Winslet – Carnage
Nothing negative to say. Can’t wait to see Young Adult and Carnage.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks – Drive
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen – A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
The good: Albert Brooks. The bad: no Ben Kingsley, which I just don’t get it. Kingsley did inarguable wonders in Hugo. I am at a complete loss as to why his performance is being overlooked.

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Janet McTeer- Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer – The Help
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
The good: Shailene Woodley. The bad: no Carey Mulligan. Love that Chastain is being recognized (as she was really, to me, the only worthy part of a lame film). But Mulligan deserves to be here.

You can check out the full list of Golden Globe nominees here, but what does everything think… are the Globes a step up from the SAGs? Who (or what) do you most want to see nominated come Oscar time?

12 comments:

  1. And the madness begins! I am happy with the nominations, just slightly bummed for no Drive, McQueen, Nick Nolte, Ben Kingsley and Harry Potter, but overall good! Happy that some got a shot, like JGL, Rooney Mara, Fassbender, Viggo Morgenstern, the Carnage ladies...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so happy for Ides of March, Gosling and Fassy. And I think they have a good shot at winning, maybe even at the Oscars, especially Gosling, through I have no doubt Fassbender's performance is superior.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I too cannot wait to see Young Adult and Carnage. It's going to be a great weekend.

    I can't find Carnage in any theaters around here though!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Aziza Yeah there's some really good stuff here; lot of worthy surprises. But also, some baffling ones as well.

    And so it begins...

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Sati. You really think Gosling or Fassy (is that what we're calling him now) actually have a shot at Oscar? Boy do I hope you're right.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @How Now Brown Thao? Yeah Carnage is slowly being distributed, I believe.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Alex Withrow

    Absolutely, the race seems to be between Clooney and Pitt but somehow it seems to easy to me. Clooney already has his Oscar and Pitt winning would just be boring, I mean really? Moneyball the peak of his career? So I think Gosling may swoop in especially since he already has 2 noms so the Academy si fond of him.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Sati. I said this a while ago, but I think we're going to see an Artist Oscar sweep. Picture, Director, Actor, and so on.

    I haven't even seen the film, but I'm pretty confident in that prediction.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Devastated about the WAR HORSE inclusion. Seriously. Wait until you see it. This, overall, is better than the SGA, and I think it makes some of the categories pretty clear. Still some head scratchers, though.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Andy Buckle Wow really? And just when I was starting to give it a slight glimmer of hope...

    ReplyDelete