Not enchanting enough for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, apparently.
The Golden Globe nominees were announced yesterday. Stop jumping up and down with excitement, all of you! You’re going to cause an earthquake!
It’s easy to make fun of the Globes, mostly because of their awarding organization, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. To be an HFPA member, basically all you have to do is live in southern California and write four articles for an established newspaper or magazine outside the US. Here’s the application to become a member; you might be eligible.
The Golden Globes used to be just a minor awards show, but have risen to an unwarranted level of prominence in the last ten years or so. Variety attributes this to the Globes gaining a rep for predicting Oscar winners, with a ten year streak ofr good guesses from the ’90s to early 2000s. I think it’s more that the TV ceremony became popular. Taking place in the doldrums of January, with the Oscars then almost two months away, the show began to attract a lot of stars. With casts of TV shows and films seated around tables instead of formally in an auditorium, it took on the feel of a drunken office party more than a formal serious occasion and began to get a rep as being fun or unpredictable.
The Golden Globes were televised for a while on TNT, which is on almost every basic cable station. Then it moved to NBC, which suffering from a case of Oscar envy, pushed it relentlessly, trying to confuse viewers into thinking the Golden Globes were as important as the Oscars (and since the Globes also cover TV, it also was a good promotion for NBC shows…back when they had good shows). Now the Golden Globes are a more recognizable name and they’re easily used in December ad campaigns, to make a last big push for holiday box office. Throwing a few “Golden Globe Nominee” lines onto an ad of a movie just about to open gives it a credibility that might mean more to your average moviegoers than a quote from a reviewer they don’t know.
So the nominees are out and are as typically confusing and scattered as everything has been this year, with the added snarl caused by the Globes division of Best Picture into Drama and Musical/Animated Feature. Just at a quick glance, the screwiest decision seems to be the choice of Across the Universe in the Best Musical or Comedy category instead of Enchanted, which not only was a box office hit, but easily one of the best reviewed movies of the year. I guess the Hollywood Foreign Press just likes the Beatles and cliched baby boomer stories (Did I say that?! Was that mean?! Oops, sorry!). Another weird one was Bee Movie over Persepolis in animated feature. People I know who’ve seen Persepolis have been pretty divided over it but I think they would all agree that it’s better than Bee Movie (Sorry, Jerry! don’t worry, I’ll still watch your reruns). Here’s the list.
MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
“American Gangster” – Imagine Entertainment/Scott Free Productions; Universal Pictures
“Atonement” – Working Title Productions; Focus Features
“Eastern Promises” – Kudos Pictures – Uk Serendipity Point Films – Canada A Uk/Canada Co-Production; Focus Features
“The Great Debaters” – Harpo Films; The Weinstein Company/MGM
“Michael Clayton” – Samuels Media and Castle Rock Entertainment a Mirage Enterprises/Section 8 Production; Warner Bros. Pictures
“No Country For Old Men” – A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production; Miramax/Paramount Vantage
“There Will Be Blood” – A Joanne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production; Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films
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”
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”
MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
“Across The Universe” – Revolution Studios International; Sony Pictures Releasing
“Charlie Wilson’s War” – Universal Pictures/Relativity Media/Participant Productions/Playtone; Universal Pictures
“Hairspray” – New Line Cinema in association with Ingenious Film Partners; New Line Cinema
“Juno” – Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production; Fox Searchlight Pictures
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” – Parkes/Mac Donald and Zanuck Company; Warner Bros. Pictures
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Amy Adams – “Enchanted”
Nikki Blonsky – “Hairspray”
Helena Bonham Carter – “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Marion Cotillard – “La Vie en rose”
Ellen Page – “Juno”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp – “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
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
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation; DreamWorks Animation
“Ratatouille” – Pixar; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Distribution
“The Simpsons Movie” – Gracie Films; Twentieth Century Fox
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days” (Romania) – Mobra Films; IFC First Take
“The Diving Bell And The Butterfly” (France And USA) – A Kennedy/Marshall Company And Jon Kilik Production; Miramax/Paramount Vantage
“The Kite Runner” (USA) – Dreamworks Pictures Sidney Kimmel Entertainment And Paramount Classics Participant Productions Present A Sidney Kimmel Entertainment And Parkes/Macdonald Production Distributed By Paramount Classics
“Lust, Caution” (Taiwan) – Haishang Films; Focus Features
“Persepolis” (France) – 247 Films; Sony Pictures Classics
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 Ronan – “Atonement”
Amy Ryan – “Gone Baby Gone”
Tilda Swinton – “Michael Clayton”
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”
DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
Tim Burton – “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Ethan Coen & Joel Coen – “No Country For Old Men”
Julian Schnabel – “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”
Ridley Scott – “American Gangster”
Joe Wright – “Atonement”
SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
Diablo Cody – “Juno”
Ethan Coen & Joel Coen – “No Country For Old Men”
Christopher Hampton – “Atonement”
Ronald Harwood - “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”
Aaron Sorkin – “Charlie Wilson’s War”
ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder – “Into The Wild”
Clint Eastwood – “Grace Is Gone”
Alberto Iglesias – “The Kite Runner”
Dario Marianelli – “Atonement”
Howard Shore – “Eastern Promises”
ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
“Despedida” from “Love In The Time Of Cholera” – Music By: Shakira, Antonio Pinto, Lyrics By: Shakira
“Grace Is Gone” from “Grace Is Gone” – Music By: Clint Eastwood, Lyrics By: Carole Bayer Sager
“Guaranteed” from “Into The Wild” – Music & Lyrics By: Eddie Vedder
“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted”- Music & Lyrics By: Alan Menken
“Walk Hard” from “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” – Music & Lyrics by: Marshall Crenshaw, John C. Reilly, Judd Apatow, Kasdan
