Golden Globes Rundown

Today I woke up early, not on purpose, but decided to get a head start on my day anyway. I even made breakfast--not something I usually do. I then headed to Zoka Coffee to do homework, except even at 9 am, which I personally feel is plenty early enough, it was completely full on a Monday morning. I'm starting to think that it may be slightly busier than usual because it's a holiday. If it's not normally so busy and I can find a seat there, it may become my new homework/reading haunt on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings (late mornings, basically early afternoons), because let's face it, when I'm at home, I'm terribly unproductive. This post--case in point.

So I checked my school email, no small task, before feeling defeated by my JavaScript class and opting to read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay instead. Now I'm back home and don't feel particularly inspired to do homework--and the day started off so well. My printer came in the mail though, and I just set that up. So instead of reading I thought I'd give a quick rundown of last night's hoopla. If you're not into film and television and Hollywood navel gazing the way I am, you may as well stop reading now.

First though, on Friday, after class, I made my way down to Capitol Hill to see Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (worst movie subtitle ever) in the historic (drafty) Harvard Exit Theatre. It was a pretty depressing and bleak movie, and while it offered some hope it didn't really offer redemption. Gabourey Sidibe did a fantastic job, though I'm not sure what all the buzz is about. Mo'Nique, a stand-up comedienne, gave a wrenching performance fully deserving of the Golden Globe, even if I would have preferred the lovely Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), or perhaps Julianne Moore, who I always love, even if I still haven't seen A Single Man. Even though the movie was kind of a punch in the gut in the theater, I had mostly forgotten about it by the next day.

On Saturday I saw It's Complicated which was delightful. I was the only guy in the theater with a bunch of middle-aged women. It's a typical Nancy Meyers' film, so it's not going to be a most amazing film you've ever seen. But I think they're smart, funny, well-written, easily-digested movies about relationships. I laughed out loud a lot, and I was charmed. Meryl Streep is fantastic as always, opposite Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. John Krasinski (The Office) stole several scenes even though he's getting typecast as Jim.

So last night I sat down with some hummus and a Framboise Lambic from Belgium--technically it's a beer, but it tastes more like alcoholic raspberry juice--to watch the Golden Globes. My reception of NBC is a little fuzzy, so I don't really have any comments on the dresses, though everyone looked lovely. I don't recall any fashion disasters. Ricky Gervais hosted and the man is incorrigible. Aside from shameless self-promotion and catty, British asides, my favorite jokes included being replaced by Jay Leno and blaming anything offensive on the beer a la Mel Gibson. And almost everyone was wearing pins to support Haiti.

The first award went to Mo'Nique for Supporting Actress as I've already mentioned though she forgot to thank the HFPA and mention her fellow nominees. Toni Collete won for United States of Tara beating Tina Fey. 30 Rock has enjoyed a lot of love, but it won only one award last night for Alec Baldwin who was already engaged in a charity event for . . . Haiti, I think. Anyway, I thought the third season of 30 Rock was uneven while the current season is killing it. Still, it's nice to see other shows/people win. John Lithgow won for Dexter and while I've still only seen the first season, I'm excited to eventually get to season four. And Up predictably won Best Animated Feature. Up is a perfectly fine film though I was seriously underwhelmed when I saw it for all the hype, and it might make a nice change if Pixar didn't win for once. And Michael C. Hall also won for Dexter, and apparently he had cancer which is now in remission. And Julianna Margulies won for The Good Wife which I have never seen, though it sounds interesting.

Cher and Christina Aguilera presented Best Song which went to the movie Crazy Heart which doesn't even come out until February. And Best Score went to Up, beating Avatar, A Single Man, and Where the Wild Things All. Best Miniseries went to Grey Gardens which is very predictable since it's HBO and everything. Meryl Streep was nominated twice for Best Actress in a comedy, but still managed to win for her inimitable portrayal of the iconic Julia Child. Which is as it should be, even if she wants to change her name to T-Bone. She was of course fantastic as a Nancy Meyers "everyday" woman, but Julia Child is a legend. And really the other contenders didn't have a chance. Marion Cotillard and Julia Roberts gave fine performances but not necessarily award winning. And I didn't see The Proposal, but really?

Kevin Bacon won for some miniseries. And then Drew Barrymore won her first Golden Globe for Grey Gardens and was flustered and charming and who doesn't love Drew? Still she had some pretty steep competition from Joan Allen, Jessica Lange, and Sigourney Weaver. Well, I'm only guessing because I haven't seen any of the miniseries, but they're all pretty big players. Jason Retiman and Sheldon Turner won Best Screenplay for Up in the Air, yay!, even if they beat Quentin Tarantino's superb Inglourious Basterds the only other real contender.

Sophia Loren presented Best Foreign Language Film which went to The White Ribbon from Germany. And Mad Men won Best Television Drama for the third year in a row. Chloe Sevigny won for Big Love and shared her award with her sister wives, and some guy stepped on her dress. Tear. And Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor who, despite the billing, is the true star of Inglourious Basterds and not Brad Pitt. And then Martin Scorsese's leading men, Robert DeNiro and Leonard DiCaprio, presented him with the Cecil B. DeMille award.

The Best Director category was pretty intense. James Cameron and his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelowe were both up for Avatar and The Hurt Locker respectively. Jason Reitman was up for Up in the Air which as I've mentioned is the best movie of the year, I think so anyway. Quentin Tarantino was up for Inglourious Basterds, again superb, and of course the category has to include Clint Eastwood who directed Invictus which I haven't seen so I didn't even know he was nominated, but of course he was. So James Cameron won, which seems almost inevitable when your film costs $250 mil. Still I would have preferred Reitman, Tarantino, or even Bigelowe or Eastwood. We'll have to see in March whether or not the Academy has forgiven him for Titanic. Who else is bummed that the Oscars aren't until March this year? And who else is upset that they upped Best Picture nominees to ten instead of five?! I mean really!?

Glee won Best Comedy for TV which was great. So the pilot was really good, but then it was apparent that Glee wasn't working at every level. Eventually though, I think the show did get everything together by the end of the first half of the season. So even if 30 Rock was better, it's still great to see Glee win especially since it's so different from everything else on the air. We'll just have to wait to see whether or not FOX cancels it.

And then The Hangover won Best Musical/Comedy. Really? So this was never really going to be my kind of film, but it was a small movie that exploded in the summer and got all sorts of critical love, so I decided to see it. But then the summer ended and I didn't see in the theaters. So when I saw it, it was by myself on a TV screen, but I was seriously underwhelmed. I'm not sure if I laughed even once. Sure it's well-written, and well-acted, and makes more of the material than really any other similar movie would, but I would have preferred any of the other films in this category. (500) Days of Summer is witty and whimsy, yet real. It's Complicated is an actually funny movie. Julie & Julia doesn't work at every level but it's perfectly enjoyable. And Nine is a great musical that I haven't stopped thinking about since I saw it last week.

Sandra Bullock also won her first Golden Globe for The Blind Side. At least it wasn't for The Proposal. I also think Carey Mulligan was deserving for An Education. A perfectly lovely film she holds effortlessly together and who's as glamorous as Audrey Hepburn. But she's young and she'll be back. And this point my mother called me, so I didn't really hear any of the other speeches, which is sad because apparently Robert Downey Jr. gave a really good one. He won, and I didn't even know he was nominated, for Sherlock Holmes. And then Jeff Bridges got a standing ovation when he won for Crazy Heart. Again this movie doesn't even come out till next month, so I don't even know what it's about. But George Clooney needs to win himself a Best Actor (not supporting) Oscar and Up in the Air has been declared his subtlest performance yet. Also I hear Colin Firth is amazing in a Single Man which I am going to see soon . . . I hope.

This brings us to Best Picture Drama. I think Up in the Air should have won. We'll see what the Oscars think. Precious is a well made film, but kind of forgettable--maybe that's just me. The Hurt Locker is a masterwork of suspense and one of the best, non-polemical films about the war in Iraq to date. Inglourious Basterds may be Tarantino's best work even if it doesn't have the cult status of Pulp Fiction, not yet anyway. And I still prefer Kill Bill. Apparently there's a Kill Bill 3 in the works. I'm excited, but also a little apprehensive. So Avatar won of course. Well it did take like 10 years to make, and the amount of money was outlandish though well spent, and it's a fine film in its own right, I just didn't connect with it. So whatever.

Afterward, I watched the final disc of season four of Weeds which Ellen gave me for Christmas. And it sure has gone downhill. The first two seasons were so great and subversive. The third season introduced a lot of changes, which I didn't really care for. Zooey Deschanel who appears as Kat is amazing in her pitifully small four episode arc that bridges seasons two and three. Love you! In season four the location changes entirely, which is pretty unusual for a TV series though Saved by the Bell moved to college. And Heylia and Conrad are gone. So the first two seasons are about a pot-dealing soccer mom living in the suburbs and it's satirical. Now I'm not sure what the series is about--there seems to be no focus anymore. Besides the characters are pretty caustic and there's also been unbelievable scenarios throughout the series which used to be funny but now are just off-putting. And people die though nobody cares. So even though I would watch Mary-Louise Parker read a phone book, I think I'm done with Weeds even though season five just came out, season six has been announced and there are plans for a seventh--I'm out.

Better get back to homework. Blerg.