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Roll up your sleeves, Hollywood – Award Season has officially begun!

 

Nipping at the heels of the SAG Award nominations a couple days ago, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have released THEIR picks for those eligible for a shiny new Golden Globe Award. After all the buzz in the past year, we can finally get a better sense of what we might be seeing at the Academy Awards in a couple months!

 

Ah, but I get ahead of myself… This morning, Jessica Alba, Megan Fox, and Ed Helms arose at the buttcrack of dawn to announce the nominees for the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards. As always, here are my impressions and observations in handy bullet-point form:

 

- Silver Linings Playbook, which is at best a dramedy, very shrewdly put itself forth as a straight-up comedy so as to get some love in the Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical category. However, it’s now up against Les Miserables, and from what I have been hearing, that musical powerhouse is gonna cream the competition.

 

- 3 of the 5 ladies nominated in the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical are over the age of 60 (Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith). Who says women-of-a-certain-age can’t be funny?

 

- As always, the categories for Supporting roles combine genres, and here is where we find Anne Hathaway for her (what I’ve been told is) STUNNING performance as Fantine in Les Miserables. She has some pretty intimidating competition, including 3 past Oscar winners, but let’s face facts – this is Anne’s year.

 

- Quentin Tarantino finds himself once more into the Award Season fray with his yet-to-be-released Django Unchained, which currently boasts 5 nominations, including Best Picture – Drama, Supporting Actor nods for both Leo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz, and 2 nominations for Tarantino himself, for Best Director and Best Screenplay. Pretty standard, really.

 

- Yes, Little Leo, quickly becoming the Susan Lucci of film award shows, was nominated yet again, and yet again, in all likelihood he will be sent home empty-handed. His role in Django, as a dastardly plantation owner, has definitely gotten the press in a tizzy (indeed, I am very much looking forward to checking it out), but he’s up against the likes of Alan Arkin (Argo), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), and Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln). Mmmm, not looking too good for you, Lenny. Again.

 

- Cloud Atlas, the Wachowskis' return to grand esotericism on an epic scale, which wowed critics like Roger Ebert (even if they weren’t exactly sure WHY), was shut out from all major categories, receiving a token nom for Best Original Score. Burn! Sorry, Andy and Lana, perhaps the world just isn’t ready for this kind of material… Or, maybe it just needs to be presented in a more palatable way… HMMMM. (<-- Warning: Shameless Self-Promotion Alert!)

 

- Ben Affleck is quickly proving that directing might indeed be his true calling. His latest flick, Argo, not only has audiences and critics alike drooling all over themselves due to multiple cinemagasms, but it showcases Affleck’s truly nuanced and capable directing style. The HFPA has taken notice as well, bestowing upon him a Best Director nod (the film is also up for Best Motion Picture – Drama, duh). Could this be his year? Well, he’ll have to elbow the likes of Tarantino, Spielberg, Kathryn Bigelow, and Ang Lee – ALL previous Oscar winners – out of the way. Good luck, Ben, we’re rooting for you!

 

- When you have a war movie taking place in the Middle East and need some serious Oscar cred, apparently the person to turn to for that is Kathryn Bigelow. Ms. Bigs, whom we all remember was the first lady to ever win a Best Director Oscar for her film The Hurt Locker, returns to the hostile sands for Zero Dark Thirty, a gripping thriller about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. The film has garnered 4 nominations, including Best Picture – Drama, Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Chastain, Best Director for Bigelow, and Best Screenplay (Mark Boal). As great as it is to see Kathryn become a major player among the Big Boys in the industry, it concerns me that the films for which she is recognized are rather… masculine in nature, no? I wonder, if she had directed Lincoln or Life of Pi, or even Silver Linings Playbook, would she get the same recognition? Just some food for thought, people…

 

- Very happy to see Jack Black on the ballot, recognized for his performance in the dark comedy Bernie. Likewise, Daniel Day-Lewis ain’t the only fella on the ballot getting props for playing a past POTUS on the big screen – Bill Murray has also earned a nod for his intriguing portrayal of FDR in Hyde Park on Hudson. Wouldn’t it be great if both Day-Lewis and Murray won?

 

- Neither the HFPA nor the AMPAS are particularly known for recognizing popular franchise films in their yearly bag o’ nominations. With the exception of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, other franchises like the Harry Potter series are regularly passed over for any major awards and given consolation prizes like special effects nominations, despite their outstanding box office performances. Such seems to be the case (so far) with The Hunger Games, which is only nominated in one category – Best Original Song (“Safe & Sound”).

 

- Other notable exclusions – Quvenzhané Wallis for her breakout role in Beasts of the Southern Wild; both The Master and Flight were recognized in acting categories but not Best Picture; no love for Russell Crowe or Tom Hooper for Les Mis; Ted, which many claimed to be “the funniest film of the year”, got nada in any of the Comedy categories (not that I am complaining… seems pretty justified to me); and where OH WHERE is Anthony Hopkins on this ballot?? His performance in Hitchcock was a revelation to say the least! Booo!

 

- Moving on to Television, really just the same ol’ same ol’ there – “Breaking Bad”, “Boardwalk Empire”, “Downton Abbey”, Jon Hamm, Bryan Cranston, “Modern Family”, Tina Fey, blah blah blah… It will be interested, though, to see how newbies like “Homeland”, “Girls”, and “Louie” perform this year; if they see the same successes (or not) here as with the Emmys a few months ago.

 

So, that about covers it. The Golden Globes, hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, will air January 13 on NBC.

 

 

- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor

katie@younghollywood.com