Saturday, January 23, 2010

SAG Awards and the Bazillion Other Awards - A Mini Rant

I don't write this post implying that "I don't care." Or that I don't understand the difference between the various award bodies, but honestly, award season's full scope is hardly interesting without a little bit of variety.

Who was surprised tonight by any of the SAG award winners? Not only do the nominee list start to stack up in ways that are remarkably similar, but as awards are announced, there is hardly any variety. Tonight's film winners lined up exactly with the big winner's at the Golden Globes.

Maybe consensus has been reached that the performance of the year are those of Christoph Waltz, Sandra Bullock, Mo'Nique, and Jeff Bridges.

So why do we all need to keep on having award shows awarding the same people?

If any category makes the SAG awards interesting it is the best ensemble category one of my favorite awards of the whole season because it's completely different. This award goes to the cast of a film, so in a way it signifies to me the best film for acting...so this year, some films like Avatar, don't make the top 5. This year's type 5 ensemble nominees were An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Nine and Precious.

The winner...Inglorious Basterds. Who could have known with certainty which film was going to win, and who can truly gauge what a win in this category means for the rest of award season...and why should it have to mean anything else for awards season...it should instead me a special accomplishment to get nominated for this award, one that while award to selected cast members, should also be meaningful for the directors, producers, and screenwriters who shaped and presented these roles and performances. Now this to me is a special award.

Tonight's Screen Actor's Guild win for Mo'Nique is her 18th win for her role in Precious, and Oscar nominations haven't even been announced. Think that's a lot...this is Waltz's 20th win for his performance, Bullock's 3rd win (I'm sure she's still able to act humble and excited when she wins), and Bridge's 4th win.

Makes you wonder what Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique do with all those awards and trophies? Time to buy a trophy case I suppose.

2 comments:

Andrew K. said...

Ha. I signed off a few days ago, and I knew IB was winning. I didn't watch, but no surprises - how typical. Ah well.

Lorna said...

I guess I'm still, after all these years, starry-eyed. I love the idea of awards, both for the joy they bring to the not-blasé types and for the what-were-they-thinking?-moments