I can't believe I spaced on the Golden Globes

Actually, I can. This is going to be a long one, folks. This is what I think about most and I have lots of opinions on the topic of Movie awards and over/under rating of films and actors.

I just realized while reading Pop Candy that the Golden Globes were announced last night...holy anti-climactic. While I love the process of the awards, they have 3 big flaws:

1. Joan Rivers is no longer front and center during the Red Carpet. Let's be serious here...Joan is great and despite the fact that Melissa is TERRIBLE, I love listening to her fumble and rip on peoples outfits.
2. They always miss really significant performances from being nominated. Of course I can't think of anything right now, but they just do.
3. Finally and most annoying, I hate when they nominate a great actor or actress for a not-fantastic role b/c they gipped them previously - which happens all the time! Case in point - Denzel Washington for Training Day. Come on - Training Day? It was a good movie and nice to see Denzel as a bad guy, but an Oscar-worthy role? I don't think so. He kicked serious ass as Malcom X and if anything should have won of his, that should have. Do you know who beat him that year???? Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman which was a RIDICULOUS and STUPID movie. I love Al, but this was such a dumb movie and certainly not his best performance. In fact, Al winning in SOAW was another example of this phenomenon since he got gipped on Godfather I and II. I could go on forever...
   

Back to the Golden Globes...As usual, since I am a mom of young kids, I've only been the movies maybe 4 times this year (Shrek 3, Bee Movie, Bourne Ultimatum, and No Country for Old Men)and I haven't seen most of the nominees, although almost all are on my Netflix queue. Here are my preliminary thoughts...

Best Picture: No Country for Old Men and Eastern Promises should NOT have been nominated. NCFOM should have a few actor noms, but not for picture. EP was good, but not award-worthy. Haven't seen the others, but I'm dying to see There Will Be Blood. Daniel Day-Lewis in a film pretty much guarantees a great movie (also agreeing with me will be my friend DS who swears by him).

Best Actress: Julie Christie was amazing in Away from Her which I recently saw on DVD while Joe was out one night. I really like Sarah Polley who wrote and directed it (her first time) and it was such a great movie. The other noms seem reasonable from what I've read about those movies except maybe Jodie Foster. The Brave One seemed like a trite idea to me but whatever. I LOVE Cate Blanchett and she was gipped for Elizabeth the first time around, but having her win this time would probably fall under item #3 above. She lost that year to Gwyneth P in Shakespeare in Love. That was a little tougher of a call b/c I loved that movie and GP in it, but Cate was fantastic in Elizabeth and really should have won.

Best Actor: Haven't seen most and it seems like it was probably a tough call. But, as usual, DDL is just tops and probably totally deserved it. It's a given, isn't it?

Best Animated Film: While I think it's nice that these movies have a category, aren't there usually only 3 or 4 of them anyway? That means they all get nominated, even if they are crappy.

Best Supporting Actress: First of all, I really have no interest in seeing that Bob Dylan movie. I don't know why...there are some great actors in it and the idea is really cool. I just don't care about it. It's not even on my Netflix list, which is saying a lot since I have 180 movies on there right now. I just must say this...Julia Roberts is completely overrated and I cannot believe she is nominated again. THERE. I SAID IT. Those who know me well know how irritated I get over all the accolades she gets. Okay, I loved Mystic Pizza - who didn't? Mostly b/c of Lili Taylor of course, but a solid 80's movie. Satisfaction too - a guilty bad movie pleasure. Steel Magnolias - good. StepMom - pretty good. Pretty Woman was an ok movie and she has a great laugh, blah blah blah. Erin Brockovich was a boring movie and not CLOSE to Oscar worthy - this was one of the biggest Oscar travesties of all time - do you know who she beat out????? Laura Linney in You Can Count on Me, Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, Joan Allen in The Contender and Juliette Binoche in Chocolate. ALL of whom should have beaten her (I probably would have gone with Ellen Burstyn - RFAD was an insanely good movie and she was freaky good. Made me think of that awesome movie Resurrection she was in way back when). This was when my I-will-only-see-your-movies-if-they-are-otherwise-highly-recommended phase with Julia Roberts officially began. (Renee Zellweger falls under that category too). More mediocre performances: Oceans movies, Pelican Brief, all those sappy romantic comedies (Notting Hill, Best Friends Wedding, Runaway Bride)...oh I'm bored just listing them out. I'm drained from this one.

Best Supporting Actor: I just wanted Casey Affleck to win. For no other reason then I just like him and Ben gets too much attention.

Best Original Score and Best Original Song: I love the Into the Wild soundtrack. I've lost interest in Pearl Jam in the last years, but loved them in and after college. I thought it was awesome that Eddie Vedder wrote this soundtrack...he seemed like a good choice for it and I just saw him on Iconoclasts with Laird Hamilton and was wondering what PJ was up to. Haven't seen the movie yet. Don't like Sean Penn b/c I think he is probably a dick (And now I don't like Robin Wright Penn b/c she married him, although 1) they are now getting divored and 2) she was awesome in Princess Bride and Gump). I will admit he does have talent though and do really want to see ITW. Glad this won for music.

I need to take a break and actually do some work today even though I'm only 1 of about 10 people at the office today. I'll post later on the TV side of the awards...