Sunday, January 11, 2009

10 Thoughts on 66th Golden Globe Ceremony

1. Slumdog Prediction. As far as my predictions...I was right on Slumdog Millionaire winning best picture drama (wrong on happy-go-lucky winning best picture comedy or musical)...we'll see if I'm right on my A. R. Rahman Oscar prediction and my Benjamin Button prediction. Rahman has a great chance...but there certainly was a lot of star clapping for Slumdog Millionaire (...and the clappers at this ceremony are the voters at the Oscars.)

2. Winslet wins. The big story, that I'm sure will get the bulk of the globes press is the double win for Kate Winslet. Not sure exactly what to make of it, or how it effects the Oscars. I'm sure Penelope Cruz's publicist is concerned and surprised with her non-win. Could Winslet win an Oscar for either of these performances? It certainly seems like a long-shot, but it's starting to seem more possible and although both speeches had a strong case of logorrhea, I found Winslet's joy in her surprise wins exciting and sincere.

3. Sam & Leo. In Winslet's win for Revolutionary Road her praise for Leonardo DiCaprio seemed to far outshine her praise for her director-husband Sam Mendes. It honestly felt a little uncomfortable. Sorry Kate...you can't love Leo "with all your heart" and also love your husband with all your heart as well.

4. The Bird. Darren Aronofsky gives Mickey Rourke the bird...should that have been bleeped (or rather, blurred) for network television. I'm curious to see if this creates any post-globe discussion. It's certainly not a wardrobe malfunction, but something I've never seen on NBC.

5. Rourke's outfit. More than questioning Rourke's outfit, I'm curious -- was he wearing a grill in his teeth. I can't see teeth jewelry catching on. Rourke looks rough and I feel like Rourke really painted the film the Wrestler as the orphan-child success story from the slums. And the standing ovation the Rourke received certainly showed the tonight may not be Mickey's last time to receive a statue for his performance. It looks like a Sean Penn vs. Mickey Rourke Oscar battle. Speaking of which...why wasn't Sean Penn there?

6. Bitter Mad Men. In the acceptance speech for best TV drama, did anyone else sense that the Man Men producer who accepted was a little bitter that the Globes got canceled last year. At least they won again and sure Jon Hamm lost out this year to Gabriel Byrne, but at least they were invited back and won again...it's not a Nikki Blonsky story. As a critically acclaimed show that has received many awards, I thought the tone of bitterness was a little unnecessary.

7. Film Clips. Who chose the film clips to represent a scene from the nominated films? The Reader clip with the naked bath scene, a spoiler scene from Slumdog Millionaire, and a handful of other scenes from films that just seemed random and disjointed. Bizarre.

8. Spielberg Speech. Steven Spielberg's Cecil B. DeMille acceptance speech was one of the best "life time achievement" award speeches I have ever heard. In fact, one of the best speeches I've ever heard period. You can tell what makes Spielberg such a great film maker in this speech. Spielberg simply told a clear and accessible story that helped demonstrate and create a platform to tell why he loves film making and to express gratitude for those who came before him. This was a very refreshing portion of the awards show.

9. Ledger's Win. The Golden Globes seem like such a "happy" awards show. People tend to be a little goofy and jovial as a result of the atmosphere. But the Ledger win, although not a surprise, still sort of left a weird feeling in the air. A posthumous award for someone who died young, under unique circumstances, playing such a creepy character, is awkward enough...and to show clips of him as the joker when it already feels weird, only made it more weird. Director Christopher Nolan could not redeem the situation. I have to say, I was glad that this award was followed up with a commercial.

10. The Commercials. Speaking of commercials, I don't know if every telecast was the same, or if there were regional differences in the advertising, but it certainly seemed to me like every other commercial was a target commercial. Fortunately target commercials are pleasant and visually stimulating, but you'd have to think that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Cameron Diaz would have had to wear dresses made by Target for the amount of money target paid NBC during the three hour telecast.

6 comments:

Attila the Mom said...

Really great analysis! And yes, I had a lot of Target commercials too here in the midwest. ;-)

Michael Parsons said...

I wish I could have seen it.

Anonymous said...

It seems like a longshot that Winslet will win an Oscar? What are you talking about? She just picked up two Golden Globes. I could understand you saying that it would be a long shot for her to win two Oscars, but she is in a great position to pick up two nominations and, at least, one statue. And why do you call her wins surprise wins? Would it not have been a surprise if Viola Davis had won? Would it not have been a surprise if Anne Hathaway had won? I feel like the acting categories are pretty competitive this year, and there are several individuals in each category who have a real shot at walking home with an Oscar. It's not like Daniel Day-Lewis last year, where it would have been a surprise if someone else had won.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree about Kate Winslett's gushing over her BFF, Leo. Seems like her relationship with hubby Sam is a back-burning "appreciation" for his professional talents and abilities and that she is, really, in love with Leo. Poor Sam.

Anonymous said...

The finger scene was actually edited out in the west coast showing of the golden globes...by that I of course mean that they went to black once Mickey Rourke say's you son of a bitch and comes back once everything has passed.

Anonymous said...

here i thought Mickey Rourke would never show up in public again, and there he was, winning big at the Golden Globes