Golden Globes

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:39 am

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has just announced this year's dry run for the Academy Awards. I've enjoyed following these things since high school. I probably shouldn't since it's basically avarice at its most unfettered. Rich, beautiful and (sometimes) very gifted people patting each other on the back from now till April. Still, I get hooked every year.

I was stunned that Scarlett Johannson grabbed double nods for best actress. In the musical/comedy ghetto she's up for Lost In Translation and Girl With A Pearl Earring got her a drama nomination. Personal bias aside (I have a huge crush on her), I think she's an astonishing actress and I'm jealous that someone who is just eighteen can be as good as she is.

I was also suprised at the lack of out-and-out bonehead calls on the HFPA's part. They seemed to like Seabiscuit and The Last Samurai a little too much, but there were no knee-jerk nominations for Jim Carrey or Mike Meyers or ANYTHING having to do with Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Radio.

The critics have started weighing in their choices as well. The NY Film Critics gave Best Picture to LOTR while the National Board of Review gave a bow to Mystic River. I haven't seen Return of The King yet (we're supposed to have a dvd marathon of the first two sometime next week and then go see the final installment afterwards) but it seems appropriate that Mystic River and Peter Jackson's epic are the two front runners.

Since the Golden Globes are such a crap shoot, I'm gonna skip ahead and give my Oscar predictions for this year...

Best Picture - The Return of The King
Best Director - Peter Jackson. I can't see how they wouldn't reward the franchise at this point. It's already a legend.
Best Actor - Sean Penn, Mystic River
Best Actress - Diane Keaton, Something's Gotta Give
Best Supporting Actor - Alec Baldwin, The Cooler. He and Tim Robbins seem to be the front runners. They are also two of the most outspoken individuals in Hollywood so they may screw the pooch for themselves.
Best Supporting Actress - Renee Zellwegger - Cold Mountain. Big star in a showy supporting role.
Best Original Screenplay - Lost In Translation
Best Adapted Screenplay - Mystic River. I think it will squeeze by LOTR. Barely.

I guess The Secret Lives of Dentists gets to be this year's great casualty. It garnered universal raves, had great performances by well-liked actors and was a return to form for maverick Alan Rudolph. So many good movies this year, but it's sad to see this one left out of the reindeer games.

taz · Post by **taz** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:47 am

I remember reading something where Sean Penn said "If I ever do win an Oscar I'd be stuck standing up there in front of a room full of people who couldn't find their asses with both hands." Or something to that affect...

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:49 am

Something tells me I'm sure he would find something to say.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:53 am

Which is EXACTLY why it would be phenomenal for him to win! Unless they go with Bill Murray (who looks to be Penn's only serious competition) they almost don't have a choice on this one. He's been racking up great performance after great performance and he hit the motherlode by having Mystic River AND 21 Grams follow one another so closely. They're throwing the Greatest Actor tag around for him now like they did for DeNiro and Brando in their prime.

Having said that, my heart is with Bill Murray. He's just as great in Lost In Translation and he should have already won by now (Rushmore) and have at least two other nominations (Groundhog Day & Cradle Will Rock) beside that in his pocket.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 5:11 pm

http://www.thegoldenglobes.com/welcome. ... -2003.html

Big surprises,imo, though deserved nominations
-Actor In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy
Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa

-Actress In A Leading Role - Drama
Cate Blanchett in Veronica Guerin

-Actor In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy Series
Ricky Gervais in The Office

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 6:56 pm

Picture - Drama....Master and Commander: The Far Side Of the World (made me feel patriotic about britain in some weird way, and I haven't felt like that for donkeys)

Picture - Musical Or Comedy...Lost In Translation

Actor In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy... Johnny Depp (as much as it pains me he was ace in Pirates, oh well at least he likes Python and the Fast Show)

Actress In A Leading Role - Drama... Rachel Weisz (just because I fancy her lots, and she was good in The Shape of Things)

Director...Peter Jackson (the man is the sasquatch king of the middle earth!)

Television Series - Musical Or Comedy... The Office (what else? certainly not bloody Monl or f***ing Sex and the city)

Television Series - Drama...Six feet under (brilliantly dark and unashamedly twisted)

Bernie Mac should get an award for looking cool in a stupid hat, rather than an acting award.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 7:22 pm

Well, I've never been able to take the Globes seriously (actually, awards should NEVER be taken seriously, well, maybe the Nobels...maybe -- but some are definitely less equal than others). It must the memory of the time that Pia Zadora' husband quite literally bought her a "best new actress" award.

Anyhow, I'm now in the process of buying a farm so I can bet it on "Return of the King" taking away the Best Picture Oscar, though I won't be seeing it until Saturday morning. (I've just caught the extended versions of the prior two films on the big screen here -- not at the "Tolkien Tuesday" event, but still, geeky enough.)

Agree with El Vez -- this thing is already a legend and, in terms of excitement and mass critical praise and likely huge popular success, nothing else this year comes close. Not "Mystic River" nor "Master." Though prepare for one mighty backlash from folks who come late to the party and don't quite get it.

"Best Picture" aside, Jackson will probably win for Director. Again, viewed objectively, the acheivement is just so immense -- though there's an outside chance Eastwood could snag it since he's getting up there and it might be awhile or never before he directs another potential Oscar film.

As for "Secret Lives" (which I missed), there's always the Spirit awards, I suppose.... (though "American Splendor" and "Lost in Translation" will likely dominate there).

A couple of other thoughts. "Rings" will no doubt dominate the technical awards which usually go, thoughtlessly, to whatever big film people happen to like -- these awards should probably only be voted on by technical people, rather than being thrown open to the peanut gallery. Even editors, for example, have a hard time discerning whether the editing on a movie is good or bad. In this case, though, that will be entirely justified -- EXCEPT in terms of production design. Not that it ain't perfect in LOTR -- it's just that I think they were done one better by the set in "Kill Bill, Volume I."

Similarly, expect to see Uma Thurman robbed of a much deserved acting nomination here for KB. Awards always go to obvious, actory performances -- rarely to more subtle or off-the-wall achievements. The physicality and rage of Uma's performance was genuinely something to behold, but the glorious silliness of the movie will probably assure she goes unrecognized. Still haven't seen "Mystic River" but let me be heretical and say that I think Sean Penn these days is somewhat overrated. (My favorite performances of his -- Jeff Spicoli and "The Falcon and the Snowman"). Maybe it's the Brando comparisons that are annoying me. (I think Brando too is slightly overrated -- enough to ensure that I will never get to hang with James Lipton, nor answer Bernard de Pevoe's fabled quesionaire!)

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 8:36 pm

I think Sean Penn these days is somewhat overrated

I couldn't agree more. My favorites would be "Sweet And Lowdown" and "Fast Times" - he's a pretty good comdic actor, but I don't buy him as a tough guy - on the screen or in real life.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:49 pm

One of the things I really like about Sean Penn's acting is that when he does play macho parts (which is often) you can usually see something scared and wounded in his eyes and in his manner. He was perfect casting in Mystic River because it played off his entire career as a punk ass Icarus who has slowly grown into someone with more heft and wisdom. Jimmy, his character in Eastwood's film, is sympathetic because he has obviously been trying very, very hard to stay clean but is pulled apart by his sense of paternal revenge against whoever killed his oldest daughter. There is an intelligence and humanity in Penn's portrayal that, for my money, makes him all the more frightening when he becomes violent.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:04 pm

I guess the film of his that I have the biggest problem with is Dead Man Walking. I know I'm in the minority, but I didn't buy into his character for one second - nor Susan Sarandon's. El Vez - you're whole wincing at southern accents applied big time there - because they were almost pulling it off - but not enough to make you forget they were "acting". The whole thing came off as if James Lipton had directed it. Serious American Acting.

By the way, one of my favorite southern accents is Faye Dunaway's in Bonnie & Clyde (okay, Texas accent).

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:10 pm

Regarding Brando.....

I think that his work over the past quarter century has been so erratic that it has managed to retroactively taint his best performances a bit. Another problem is that there really aren't THAT many truly great Brando performances preserved on film. The Men, Streetcar, Viva Zapata!, Julius Caesar (though he does have his critics on that one), and On The Waterfront were so far ahead of what any other American actor was doing in the 1950's and it inspired countless after him who have wanted to touch the same truth in their art that he did in those films.

After that, shit starts to get dodgy. He did some very cool work in Burn! and his back-to-back homeruns in The Godfather and Last Tango In Paris briefly restored him to the top of the heap. Problem is......the man's kinda crazy. After Tango we got The Missouri Breaks (so bad), a tepid cameo in Superman and him nearly derailing Apocalypse Now in every conceivable way both on and off screen. As far as film acting went in the 1980's, he was pretty much a deadbeat dad except for a knockout turn in A Dry White Season. He started off well in the 90's with a wonderful comedic performance in The Freshman and, unfortunately, that looks like the last worthwhile Brando performance we're gonna get because it's been pretty bad since then.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:36 pm

Boy With A Problem wrote:I guess the film of his that I have the biggest problem with is Dead Man Walking. I know I'm in the minority, but I didn't buy into his character for one second - nor Susan Sarandon's. El Vez - you're whole wincing at southern accents applied big time there - because they were almost pulling it off - but not enough to make you forget they were "acting". The whole thing came off as if James Lipton had directed it. Serious American Acting.

I agree with you on DMW. I remember wanting to love that film but walking away from it thinking, "It was good, but I don't buy it." Penn's death scene was wrenching and the actors playing the victim's families (R. Lee Ermey is a personal fave of mine) were all excellent but Sarandon was off key. Sean Penn was good, but he's been better plenty of times and not been nominated for it (coughcoughCarlito'sWaycoughcough) Your analysis of it being a James Lipton-style workshop is amazing. I've never thought of it quite that way but it makes total sense.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 12:02 am

Lipton: Ms. Prejean....what...is your favorite..swear word?

Susan Sarandon (as Sister Prejean):..lethal injection

Lipton:...delicious!

taz · Post by **taz** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 12:40 am

Anybody see the Inside the Actors with Hugh Grant...god I loved it, was like Lipton didn't get that Grant was pretty much mocking him the entire night...I hate that guy...unfortunately the shows are usually good...

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 10:45 am

Lipton is the world's best-researching keister-kisser. He may be a toady, but he knows his toady stuff. Scary.

RE: the various controversies I started. Well, just goes to show you, I actually really liked "Dead Man Walking" and all the performances in it, especially Penn's. Still, only saw it once and it's possible I'd have a different reaction. I was just so impressed at Tim Robbins'handling of it, the way he didn't stack the anti-death penalty deck. Still, the charges you folks level at it I've leveled at a few acclaimed movies myself. Just shows how subjective this stuff really is.

Penn started to annoy me with "Sweet and Lowdown", which I thought was just a lot of flash with nothing in particular behind it. I thought Samantha Morton was about 10 million times better than him. Also, clips I've seen of him from recent movies, seem to show him doing a lot of that acting contest thing. (Why he'd do that movie about the mentally challenged guy? To me, the subtitle should have been "Sean Penn REALLY wants an Oscar!")

Still, haven't seen "Mystic River" yet...I'm hoping he actually does blow me away, but knowing my perverse tastes, I'll probably come away raving about Kevin Bacon!

Actually, strangely enough, the Brando performances that I think are overrated are some of those very ones El Vez cited from the early days. No doubt they were extremely influential. Certainly acting styles changed immensely in the fifities largely due to Brando's influence. Still, I can't help preferring Monty Clift and even James Dean if we're going to talk about young method actors from this time.

As for Brando's "Stanley" -- it was good, I guess, but a few years back they did a TV version with Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange as Blanche. While Lange couldn't hold a candle to Vivian Leigh (who gave one of my all time favorite performances in the Streetcar movie), I liked Baldwin's take on Kowalski better -- funnier, scarier. Not trying so hard to get us to feel this #$#@#$'s pain. (Maybe it's just that I really hate Stanley Kowalski. He reminds me of every guy I've ever regretted playing poker with.)

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 10:48 am

I didn't see Baldwin's take on it, but I just saw Kazan's Streetcar in a movie theater a few months ago, and I felt like I could smell Brando...