Boldly Not Going There
Yes, I'm still smarting over the Academy stiffing "The Dark Knight" last year — a film that will stand the test of time and be remembered as the game-changer that it was. Other nominees from […]
Awards
Girl Wins Boys Club Award
With her historic win, the narrative going into the Academy Awards gets a little trickier and a lot more fun. As everyone knows who cares, “Avatar†director James Cameron and Ms. Bigelow were once married. It’s like the perfect set-up for a Nancy Meyer rom-com. The other likely Oscar nominees — Jason Reitman, Lee Daniels, and Quentin Tarantino — go into the race as also-rans and bridesmaids, unburdened with the compelling domestic drama — Divorcee Twelve Million Grossing David Potentially Clobbers Her Ex-Box Office Goliath. No one’s betting on a big upset. After all, only six DGA winners have failed to repeat their wins on Oscar night. Forty-seven of the films that won the DGA prize went on to win best picture at the Academy Awards, and so the “Inglorious Basterds†momentum that seemed to be building at the SAG awards screeched to a sudden halt. “Avatar” has splintered every box office record in its path, but Cameron’s Golden Globes acceptance speech wasn’t terribly humble or eloquent; Bigelow’s at the Broadcast Film Critics was. These early awards season speeches are dry runs, virtual auditions. The industry tunes in and decides which player they want to represent them on the Big Night. Reitman’s consistently adorable and convincingly humble; they’ll surely give him a screenplay award. Tarantino is something of a loose cannon; if he dressed a little better, he’d probably have more of a chance. Hollywood is a giant high school, and the directors are running for class president. (The movie stars vie for prom king and queen.)
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When In Rome (2010) -vs- Roman Holiday (1953)
Featuring precious little Rome and a lot of Antic, “When In Rome†falls back on every exhausted (and exhausting) rom-com convention in the book. In Rome for her sister’s wedding, a career woman cynically steals coins from a fountain and unknowingly makes five strangers fall madly in love with her. Kristen Bell makes for an adorable lead who needs fresher and smarter material to reach her full rom-com heroine potential. Josh Duhamel stands tall as her love object, slightly less generic than the usual rom-com Ken doll. There’s not much standing in their way, no real obstacles, and therein lies the rub. The two meet semi-cute in the first ten minutes, and we know they’ll wind up together; nothing much happens in the middle to call their happy ending into question. There’s much ado about the nothing; pilfered coins, local legend, and enchanted suitors sound like more fun than they are.
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VOTE NOW: Writers Choose One of Their Own as Host!
No one could ever call the Writers Guild Awards predictable. Even the most enthusiastic Avatar booster admits to having some issues with that film’s script (or at least, with the occasionally clumsy dialogue). The brilliantly scripted In the Loop makes for a glaring omission that can be explained; the film was not included in the list of candidates for nomination.
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An Education (2009) -vs- A Single Man (2009)
It’s 1962, stylishly retro and way cool. TV’s Mad Men have paved the cultural way for two more stellar entries in the Sex And The Sixties pantheon. With the swinging sixties looming right on the horizon, Los Angeles college literature professor George (Colin Firth) and sixteen year old suburban London student Jenny (Carey Mulligan) fumble their un-merry ways through the rough-and-tumble terrain of love, loss, secrets, and sexual experience. Both lead performances have stirred up considerable Academy Award buzz, but they’re unlikely to compete head to head anywhere but right here. Dewy Maiden with Distinct Audrey Hepburn Echoes takes on World-Weary Confirmed Bachelor with a Not-So-Secret Secret. The winner? A grateful arthouse (and beyond) audience.
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The Hurt Locker Defuses Top Award from the Producers Guild
If you haven’t seen it, the film is about a bomb-defusing unit in Iraq, a job that comes with a guarantee of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when you go home. Although it won at the Critics’ Choice Awards, it lost ground when the Globes chose “Avatar” as best dramatic film and then SAG gave its film ensemble award to Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.”
What’s it all mean? Well, for starters, this PGA award always gets looked at as an indicator for which way the wind’s blowing in the race for the Academy Award for best film. During the past two decades, a baker’s dozen (13) of previous PGA winners have gone on to win the best film Oscar. The last time they didn’t connect was when the producers gave “Little Miss Sunshine” the win while the film academy went with “The Departed.”
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A Single Man (2009) -vs- Far From Heaven (2002)
The Smackdown Sex in the late fifties and early sixties involved even more guilt, hiding, and loss than it does today, particularly for gay men of a certain age. But enough about those men, let’s […]
The Golden Globes: The Elephant in the Room
The humanitarian crisis in Haiti hung thick in the air, mentioned occasionally by winners and presenters and PSA’s, the tragic elephant in the designer-bedecked room. Real life tragedies often impinge on the proceedings at these annual self-aggrandizing soirees; it’s challenging for attendees to strike the right balance and tone. Some may remember the Emmys were scheduled to occur right after 9-11 and pushed back. And right after Martin Luther King was shot, the Academy Awards were delayed a couple of days. Real life and disasters happen on their own time; the most gracious and moving acceptance speeches take eloquent note of this awkward situation.
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The Smack Seen ‘Round the World: Bullock -vs- Streep
What was she thinking? Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep tied for BEST ACTRESS at this year's Critics' Choice Awards. This led Bullock to either a) lose her mind, b) go for some kind of Oscar-attention-grabbing agenda […]
James Cameron -vs- Ex-Mrs. Cameron
Friday night in the Critics' Choice Awards, James Cameron's "Avatar" lost out to Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" in the BEST PICTURE category. Bigelow used to be married to Cameron. Ouch. It got a little […]