Golden Globe Nominations

[Eric]

I always love the "so not gonna happen at the Oscars" nominations:

John Travolta, Hairspray
Julia Roberts, Charlie Wilson's War
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (foreign film)
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
John C. Reilly, Walk Hard (though I could see this being the best performance in that category)

[Eric]

I hate to say it, but There Will Be Blood is practically as likely a beneficiary of the expanded drama category as Eastern Promises or The Great Debaters, since Day-Lewis is the only other nomination the film got. (I'm just soooo sure Clint Eastwood's music for Grace Is Gone is soooo much better than Jonny Greenwood's for Blood.) My hunch is their inclusion of Blood amongst the SEVEN nominees was in deference to the L.A. critics' coronation.

So, yeah, Into the Wild is probably out of the running aside from maybe Hal Holbrook (somebody has to replace John Travolta from that line-up), but I'd argue so is Blood. I'm betting for Paul Thomas Anderson to come in as the odd-man-out Best Director nominee now. If the Globes remain as big an Oscar predictor as they used to be in the past (and I'm not saying they are), the post-GG-nominations Best Picture line-up that seems the strongest, the one with the strongest show in either nominations or key categories like director/screenplay, is this:

Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd
and then either Charlie Wilson's War (second most nominations?!) or Michael Clayton ... I'll go with the latter



Edited By Eric on 1197571343

[OscarGuy]

I think Borgnine could get nominated for a Globe for reading a phone book.

I don't think Diving Bell's going to do as well as people think. Sure critics were over the moon, but the Academy isn't as friendly to foreign entries as anything. I think Schnabel could be the benefit of a Kieslowski-type love. Respectful couple of nominations, but that's it.

[Damien]

Two words: Ernest Borgnine?

(At age 90, he must be the oldest Globe nominee ever.)

[Big Magilla]

And here's an interseting thing. Was looking at the Miss/Mr. Golden Globes and noticed a rather pathetic trend. They rarely ever pick people who go on to any fame...

Donna Douglas, Linda Evans, Anne Archer, Melanie Griffith, Laura Dern, Joely Fisher, Freddie Prinze Jr.

That's it. Since 1963 and that's it. Pretty sad.

Who's Anne Archer related to?

She's the daughter of Marjorie Lord and John Archer.

[Greg]

Does anyone think The Diving Bell & The Butterfly can go all the way to a Best Picture nomination?

[flipp525]

I think Julia Roberts' nomination will go to Vanessa Redgrave and there you have the BSA nominees for the Oscar. Keener still has a chance to slip in as well. How is this category weak in any way? I've never signed up to that notion.

[OscarGuy]

And here's an interseting thing. Was looking at the Miss/Mr. Golden Globes and noticed a rather pathetic trend. They rarely ever pick people who go on to any fame...

Donna Douglas, Linda Evans, Anne Archer, Melanie Griffith, Laura Dern, Joely Fisher, Freddie Prinze Jr.

That's it. Since 1963 and that's it. Pretty sad.

Who's Anne Archer related to?

According to the HFPA site, Anne Archer's lineage is Marjorie Lord and John Archer.

[The Original BJ]

I nearly had a heart attack looking at the Best Picture Drama list. My browser showed the top five nominees at first -- I breathed a BIG sigh of relief when I saw the category included No Country at number 6, and then an even bigger sigh when I saw the category had been extended seven-wide to include There Will Be Blood.

I think the big news is the gigantic shaft given to Into the Wild, which I expected to pick up Picture, Director, and up to three acting bids. I still think at least Holbrook is assured an Oscar nod, but I don't have as much faith in the film as I once did.

Tee, I'm with you on Eastern Promises, especially after History of Violence couldn't even pick up an Oscar director nod. Ditto Mortensen, who, after the success of the Rings films and Violence could finally get his "it's your turn" nod...he certainly has had more staying power than I thought.

I think it's safe to say at this point that (as expected) Atonement and No Country are the heavy-hitters. But Diving Bell keeps kicking -- that screenplay nod over far more "writerly" movies isn't meaningless. I expect a decent number of nominations.

I'm not sure what to think of Linney's omission. In another thread I had posted that if she missed the list, her Oscar chances would be over...but now I'm not sure. I certainly wasn't surprised to see her ommitted (Blonsky, the likely fifth-placer, was absolute Globe-bait). With many of the Drama nominees D.O.A., and with some of the Comedy/Musical contenders possibly too lightweight for Oscar, Linney's still in the hunt. But it's an uphill battle -- with Christie and Cotillard picking up the majority of critical support, and plenty of populist choices available (Adams, Carter, Page somewhere between the two), Linney could once again fall by the wayside. (Plus, having seen the performance, I think she could definitely suffer from "we've seen this before from this actress...a lot" syndrome.")

I don't think Persepolis was eligible for animated feature. Speaking of which, I was pretty surprised to see Bee Movie knock out Beowulf. Given Oscar's animation committe's aversion to motion capture, the Zemeckis film could go the way of Polar Express in this category. (I seriously shudder to consider the possibility of a big hit like Bee Movie Jimmy Neutron-ing Persepolis out of this category come Oscar time...hopefully the critical support and the year-end release will persuade voters to do the right thing.)

Looking at the Comedy/Musical Picture list, my first thought was: Once, meet the big boys. Then I saw the Song list and got depressed. The Globes, though, have notoriously loopy Song nominees. I fully expect "Falling Slowly" to make the Oscar list. I also think the Hairspray song is still very much in the running -- songs from Chicago and 2/3 Dreamgirls songs missed this nod en route to eventual Oscar attention, and I bet the songwriters won't resist rewarding this musical's songwriters as well. (Side note: I saw Love in the Time of Cholera, and I can't remember a single song.)

Tee, I agree about The Kite Runner. It could be one of those rare Cider House Rules-type films that starts off VERY slowly, but eventually becomes a powerhouse...so I wouldn't rule it out completely. But it clearly isn't staking its claim as a top Best Picture contender very strongly.

American Gangster is the one I'm starting to worry about. The Picture/Actor nods here were expected, but if Scott starts to become a top contender in the Director races...oy.

The Globes have long been the place to reward popular comedies...so I'm a little surprised Judd Apatow's films haven't done as well. Not a single nomination for 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, or Superbad. I guess he got his token recognition this year with Walk Hard's Song nod...but I know I thought his film's would have done better here.

And Johnny Depp, after five Best Comedy/Musical Actor nominations in a row, welcome to the podium.

And one more thing: Casey Affleck was once again nominated in the wrong category. Clearly he should be sweeping the awards for Best Animated Film. The visual look of his character -- those high cheekbooks, the haunting and expressive eyes -- was so original that he had to have achieved this image through an animation effects program. He looks just like a character out of those old Jesse James illustrated books, an astonishing visual accomplishment that nicely conveys the films ideas in a technologically groundbreaking manner. Why he's slumming in some acting category when he could be gunning for the IMPORTANT trophies is beyond me.



Edited By The Original BJ on 1197564999

[Jim20]

Did you guy's notice Clint Eastwood earned another nomination this morning for his score for "Grace is Gone." Do we have a winner there, merely on a name-only basis?

[Mister Tee]

And here's an interseting thing. Was looking at the Miss/Mr. Golden Globes and noticed a rather pathetic trend. They rarely ever pick people who go on to any fame...

Donna Douglas, Linda Evans, Anne Archer, Melanie Griffith, Laura Dern, Joely Fisher, Freddie Prinze Jr.

That's it. Since 1963 and that's it. Pretty sad.

Who's Anne Archer related to?

[Mister Tee]

Short takes:

Word of the Atonement meltdown apparently didn't reach HFPA. The film got everything it needed to revive its chances.

American Gangster might be a Globe fluke -- seems frequently a big-budget, name-director project gets film and director here and nothing from AMPAS. On the other hand...as EW keeps pointing out, it's unusual to have an Oscar best picture slate without a $100 million grosser, and Gangster is the only one so far this year.

The seven drama nominees suggests they maybe threw in There Will Be Blood at the last second when LA picked it.

Just as fast as the Broadcasters puffed Into the Wild up, HFPA deflates it. I could see the film going either way at the Oscars.

Eastern Promises I still don't take seriously (they gave the same nods to History of Violence, a better/more successful film, and it went nowhere further). Mortensen, however, may turn out to be a surprise candidate (partly in tribute to his run of films in the past few years). Beyond Day-Lewis, Depp and probably Clooney, best actor is so murky, a candidate with a small-but-committed pool of support could make it.

Across the Universe is the memorial "Huh?" nominee. (Some might say The Great Debaters fills the slot, but I'd say that more falls into the Still Giving It Up for Harvey category)

Charlie Wilson AND Hanks AND Roberts AND Sorkin -- Let's...do..the star-fuck..again!

Comedy/Musical Actress has never been so competitive -- Linney couldn't even crack the list, let alone Heigl, who in many years would have been a shoo-in.

Do we figure Persepolis' exclusion from animated was because foreign films were ineligible, or is just a failure of taste?

Speaking of which...Kite Runner was limited to foreign and music. If the film truly had momentum, you'd think it would have got Forster onto the directing slate over Schnabel. At least, we can pray that's true. (I agree, by the way, that Diving Bell is shaping up as at least a medium-level Oscar player)

It's quite extraordinary: opinion here, even among those who liked Michael Clayton, was that Wilkinson was ham-on-rye -- yet he seems to be breezing to a nomination.

Why no Once song?

On the TV side -- bravo for Mad Men (esp. Jon Hamm!) and The State Within.

E!'s coverage was execrable. First they didn't bother to cover the first round; when they did join in, they let their idiot critics rattle on in the abstract when it would have been alot more helpful to run a list; and then, once the yop nominees were announced, they couldn't cut away fast enough. E! was never exactly a class network, but they used to at least cover these things thoroughly and competently.

When I say "idiot critics", that's really being unfair to the movie guy -- he's James Agee compared to the woman doing TV. I couldn't believe she talked about the Mad Men nominations as if they fell from Mars, when it's clear the show is a cult smash, and the long history of the Globes is to be ahead of the curve in honoring shows just like that (see: The X-Files, Six Feet Under, The Office).

The Oscar field of competition does seem to have narrowed quickly -- lots of the same titles keep turning up. I of course haven't seen any of the December titles, but, based solely on pedigree, it seems like a higher-quality batch than usual.

[OscarGuy]

Dylanfan, Sopranos is done. It's over. The GG's are on the calendar year, which means that if they didn't get nods this year, they won't get anymore because the show ended within the 2007 awards year.

And here's an interseting thing. Was looking at the Miss/Mr. Golden Globes and noticed a rather pathetic trend. They rarely ever pick people who go on to any fame...

Donna Douglas, Linda Evans, Anne Archer, Melanie Griffith, Laura Dern, Joely Fisher, Freddie Prinze Jr.

That's it. Since 1963 and that's it. Pretty sad.

[criddic3]

I feel kind of bad for Russell Crowe. Two excellent performances this year and no awards at all.

Also, Ben Affleck actually deserves some recognition either in screenplay or direction.

None of the actors-turned-directors made the director list, including Affleck, Washington, Penn and Polley.

I'm on board with those disappointed at the low showing for Into the Wild.

Michael Clayton looks like an acting category contender but maybe not best picture at the Oscars.

[dylanfan23]

And no soprano's in best drama and no gandolfini in drama actor....maybe they'll get nominations next year.