Golden Globe TV nominees

And I thought the movie nominees were bad...

The less said about this batch the better.

No Office. No Lost. No Battlestar Galactica. No Friday Night Lights. I don't watch The Wire, but if I did, I would surely be typing "No Wire."

Series, drama:
Big Love, HBO
Damages, FX Networks
Grey's Anatomy, ABC
House, Fox
Mad Men, AMC
The Tudors , Showtime

Actress, drama:
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Glenn Close, Damages
Minnie Driver, The Riches
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Actor, drama:
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors
Bill Paxton, Big Love

Series, musical or comedy:
30 Rock, NBC
Californication , Showtime
Entourage, HBO
Extras, HBO
Pushing Daisies , ABC

Actress, musical or comedy:
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Actor, musical or comedy:
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
David Duchovny, Californication
Ricky Gervais, Extras
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies

Supporting actress, series, miniseries or movie:
Rose Byrne, Damages
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy
Samantha Morton, Longford
Anna Paquin, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Jaime Pressly, My Name Is Earl

Supporting actor, series, miniseries or movie:
Ted Danson, Damages
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Jeremy Piven, Entourage
Andy Serkis, Longford
William Shatner, Boston Legal
Donald Sutherland, Dirty Sexy Money

Golden Globe film nominees

The makers of Atonement are breathing a sigh of relief this morning, as the well-received adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel, leads all films with seven Golden Globe nominations. The film, considered an Oscar front-runner, has been shut out thus far in the critics awards.

Also getting a boost is Charlie Wilson's War, which picked up nominations for Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor and Screenplay. No Country for Old Men continued its strong showing, with Picture, Screenplay, Director and Supporting Actor nods, though Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin were left out.

Michael Clayton picked up acting nominations for George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton.

The oddest move is the expansion to seven nominees in the Best Picture/Drama category (voting must have been tight). The Great Debaters and Eastern Promises appear to be the "extra" films here, as they didn't pick up many other nominations (none in the case of Debaters).

The biggest snubs (as I mentioned in my last post) were for this year's highly successful and well-reviewed comedies: Knocked Up, Superbad and Walk Hard (though John C. Reilly did pick up an acting nomination).

Full list below:

Best Picture/DRAMA
American Gangster
Atonement
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood


Best Picture/COMEDY/MUSICAL
Across The Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
Hairspray
Juno
Sweeney Todd


Best Actor/DRAMA
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Daniel Lewis – There Will Be Blood
James McAvoy – Atonement
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington – American Gangster

Best Actor/COMEDY/MUSICAL
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling - Lars & The Real Girl
Tom Hanks - Charlie Wilson's War
Phillips Seymour Hoffman - The Savages
John C Reilly - Walk Hard

Best Actress/DRAMA
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her
Jodie Foster – The Brave One
Angelina Jolie – A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley – Atonement

Best Actress/COMEDY/MUSICAL
Amy Adams – Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky – Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd
Marion Cotillard - La vie en rose
Ellen Page - Juno

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
John Travolta - Hairspray
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Julia Roberts - Charlie Wilson’s War
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Best Director
TIm Burton - Sweeney Todd
Ethan & Joel Coen - No Country For Old Men
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
Ridley Scott - American Gangster
Joe Wright - Atonement

Best Writer
Diablo Cody - Juno
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Christopher Hampton - Atonement
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
Aaron Sorkin - Charlie Wilson's War

Animation
Bee Movie
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie


Original Score
Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Edder, Into the Wild
Clint Eastwood, Grace Is Gone
Alberto Iglesias, The Kite Runner
Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Howard Shore, Eastern Promises

Foreign Language Film
4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days (Romania)
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (France, United States)
The Kite Runner (United States)
Lust, Caution (Taiwan)
Persepolis (France)


Original Song
Despedida from Love in the Time of Cholera
Grace Is Gone from Grace Is Gone
Guaranteed from Into the Wild
That's How You Know from Enchanted
Walk Hard from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Golden Globes piss on comedies

The Golden Globe nominations are in, and what stands out the most to me is how little respect this organization has for "real" comedies in its 'Comedy/Musical' category.

First of all, the idea of lumping comedies and musicals together is absurd — especially when films such as Walk the Line, La Vie en Rose and Ray are considered musicals. All three are pretty heavy dramas about people who sing... they are NOT musicals. What they are is an excuse for the Golden Globes to nominate even more dramas and ignore movies that actually make people laugh.

This year, the Globes went so far as to nominate SEVEN dramas, and then stocked the Comedy/Musical category with the likes of Across the Universe, Sweeney Todd and Charlie Wilson's War (maybe Charlie Wilson really is primarily a comedy, but that wasn't my impression). Yet they couldn't find room for Knocked Up or Ratatouille, two films that are among the best reviewed of the year and also genuinely funny? Or even Superbad, which has its flaws but which tapped into something very sweet and real amidst the raunch. And no Walk Hard, also well-reviewed, which is both a musical (by the Globes' standards) and a comedy? What a slap in the face for Judd in the 'Year of Apatow!'

And I'll let Amy express her outrage at the absence of Once from the Musical category, as well as all the rest.

No End in Sight

Date: December 11
Location: Clifton Living Room

I realize Michael Moore is an entertainer and propagandist first and documentary filmmaker second, but he should watch this powerful film for a lesson on how to level an utterly devastating attack on a corrupt administration without once veering from the hard, cold facts. The material covered in this documentary isn't new — it's made up the front pages (and regrettably, many inside pages) of newspapers for the past four years — but seeing it all laid out, and dissected by people who were in the middle of it and trying hard to make it work, the outrage feels utterly fresh. The fact that an incompetent president and his band of chickenhawk advisers could so badly botch such an important mission is unforgivable. This film is a must-see for every American citizen, regardless of their position on the war.

So how do you rank something like this against something like, say, Knocked Up? It's tough... it is certainly more important than anything else on my list, but also far less entertaining. Ultimately, I rank the film high for the skill with which it was made, but not so high as the very different, but equally skillful, films that I can see myself returning to again and again.

Diving Bell complications

I heard today that France has declined to submit The Diving Bell and the Butterfly as its entry for the Foreign Language Oscar because, although the film is set in France and the actors all speak French, the director is American.

This could mean the film has a better chance at a Best Picture nomination, as that is now its sole chance at a major Oscar. Or it will wind up getting screwed completely.

The film France has chosen to submit, ironically, is Persepolis, a film about an Iranian girl. I'm not sure if it would be the first animated film nominated for Best Foreign Film, but it would certainly be the first in awhile. Then the question becomes whether or not it will also be nominated for Best Animated Film.

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

The other bigwig critics group chimes in, and it's another victory for No Country For Old Men, which also picks up prizes for the Coen Brothers' direction and script as well as yet another win for Javier Bardem.

Amy Ryan continues her sweep of the Best Supporting Actress awards. A commenter on the last post asked if these critics awards really mean anything to the Oscar race, and the short answer is that they definitely do for somebody like Ryan, who before yesterday was only minimally on the radar but now should be considered not just a lock for a nomination but a pretty good bet to win. It was assumed that Cate Blanchett would take most of these awards for her portrayal of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There, and she'll still be a strong contender, but Ryan is suddenly the one to beat.

There Will Be Blood gets a couple more mentions here, and the producers of that film must be happy with these early results. Also, Persepolis has really been duking it out with front-runner Ratatouille for the animated prize.

Best Picture
No Country for Old Men

Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Actress
Julie Christie, Away from Her

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Best Screenplay
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Cinematographer
Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood

Best Foreign Film
The Lives of Others

Best Animated Film
Persepolis

Best First Film
Sarah Polley, Away from Her

Best Documentary
No End in Sight

Lifetime Achievement
Sidney Lumet

Special Critics' Award
Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

The next big critics group chimes in and it's another win for There Will Be Blood, which picked up directing and acting wins as well. Amy Ryan and Marion Cotillard show up again but Javier Bardem loses out for the first time — to an actor from 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, a Romanian film about abortion that picked up quite a few awards from the New York Critics.

Here we have the first mention of Once, for Best Music. Without some more attention in the early awards, that film is probably looking at a Best Song nomination (or two) and little else come Oscar time.

BEST PICTURE
There Will Be Blood
Runner Up: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Runner-up: Anamaria Marinca, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening

SCREENPLAY
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Runner-up: There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Runner-up: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Vlad Ivanov, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Runner-up: Hal Holbrook, Into The Wild

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Runner-up: The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM
No End in Sight directed by Charles Ferguson
Runner-up: Sicko, Michael Moore

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Jack Fisk, There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: Dante Ferretti, Sweeney Todd

ANIMATION
tie - Ratatouille (Brad Bird) and
Persepolis (Vincent Paronnaud/Marjane Satrapi)

MUSIC
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, Once
Runner-up: Johnny Greenwood, There Will Be Blood

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Runner-up: Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood

NEW GENERATION
Sarah Polley - Away from Her

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
Sidney Lumet

New York Online Film Critics Awards

More hardware for Diving Bell — the question is whether it can be the rare foreign film to cross over into the Best Picture category — and the first mention of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. We probably won't get that film until after the New Year, but I'm excited to see it make the cut here.

Javier Bardem makes it three for three, and Cate Blanchett gets her first award on her way to a sure Oscar nomination. The younger Online Film Critics group shows some love to Wes Anderson, with a screenplay award and a spot in the top ten list, but I doubt that will be the start of a trend.

BEST PICTURE
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (tie)
There Will Be Blood (tie)

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie – Away From Her

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
There Will Be Blood – Robert Elswit

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Darjeeling Limited – Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola

BEST FOREIGN PICTURE
The Lives of Others (tie)
Persepolis (tie)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Sicko

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Persepolis

BEST MUSIC/SCORE
There Will Be Blood – Jonny Greenwood

BEST BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE
Ellen Page – Juno

BEST DEBUT AS DIRECTOR
Sarah Polley – Away From Her

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

BEST PICTURES (alphabetical)
Atonement (Focus Features)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (THINKFilm)
The Darjeeling Limited (Fox Searchlight)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Miramax)
I'm Not There (The Weinstein Company)
Juno (Fox Searchlight)
Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)
No Country for Old Men (Miramax)
Persepolis (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sweeney Todd (DreamWorks)
There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage)

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Awards

Another win for No Country, which bodes well for the Coen Brothers. Oscar nods for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Supporting Actor seem be to pretty much locks at this point.

Julie Christie is also in good shape, and here we see George Clooney's name show up for the first time. He's an Academy favorite who could well land in the Best Actor race. The actor who should be happiest about the first two announcements is Amy Ryan, recognized for her work in Gone Baby Gone. Her performance was singled out by just about every critic, but she and the film are low profile and need all the momentum they can get to make it to Oscar.

Best Film
No Country for Old Men

Best Director
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)

Best Actor
George Clooney (Michael Clayton)

Best Actress
Julie Christie (Away From Her)

Best Ensemble
No Country for Old Men

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)

Best Breakthrough Performance
Ellen Page (Juno)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson's War)

Best Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody (Juno)

Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille

Best Foreign Language Film
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

Best Documentary
Sicko

Best Art Direction
Sweeney Todd:The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

The first of the big four critics awards are in, with New York, Los Angeles and Chicago to follow soon. Then we'll see awards from pretty much every city in the United States. "Sean Penn named Best Director by the Little Rock Film Critics Circle!" I believe my parents make up the voting committee for Middlebury, Vermont.

As for the Boston picks, I'm very happy about No Country For Old Men and Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard's Best Actress win and Brad Bird winning screenplay honors for Ratatouille. Also of note: A very good showing here for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which could wind up as a major player at the Oscars.

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men

Best Actor: Frank Langella for Starting Out in the Evening

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone

Best Director: Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Screenplay: Brad Bird for Ratatouille

Best Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Documentary: Crazy Love

Best Foreign-Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best New Filmmaker: Ben Affleck for Gone Baby Gone

Best Ensemble Cast: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead