Thoughts On The Golden Globe Noms

Ah, the Golden Globes. They're like the younger brother of the Academy Awards-the one that wants to be just like his older brother and tries to do what he does, but in his own way at the same time. A Golden Globe may not be as prestigious and recognized as an Oscar, but it holds esteem of it's own (otherwise, why would be it be on DVD covers in big letters?) In addition, unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes include television categories (also, of course, covered by the Emmys).

This year's nominations were announced this past week, and there are some interesting inclusions...read on for my thoughts!



Golden Globe nominations are an interestingly mixed bag-you usually get the Oscar buzzed films and performances mixed in with more widely loved favorites, obvious choices and ones that make you scratch your head. This year's nominations are no exceptions...here are some of my thoughts on the nominations I like, don't like, and am confused by.

First off:
Best Motion Picture-Drama
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

-First of all, I love the fact that both The Social Network and Inception were included, as they are two of my favorite films of the year and they deserve the recognition. Both The Fighter and The King's Speech seem like obvious choices given their buzz (The Fighter more recently). I'm not sure Black Swan deserves a nomination when 127 Hours was, in my mind, far superior. It feels like one of those films that was nominated merely for it's director (Darren Aronosky) and talent (Natalie Portman). Overall, though, this category feels well picked...

...which I can't really say for:
Best Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical
Alice In Wonderland
Burlusque
The Kids Are Alright
Red
The Tourist

-Were these picked via dart board?! Alice In Wonderland? Red? The Tourist?!?! (is that even a comedy...or a musical?). I've always liked the fact that the Golden Globes have split the Best Picture category into genres. It would never work in the Oscars, but it's great for the Globes. But this year just seems absurd...maybe the pickings were slim, but should a poorly reviewed musical starring Christiana Aguilera and Cher win an award? I hope The Kids Are Alright wins because it was actually a good movie.

I won't bother to list all of the actor and actress nominations (there's 30 of them...) so here are some quick and dirty lists of the ones I think were well picked and the ones I could do without.

Agree with:
Natalie Portman-Black Swan
Jesse Eisenberg-The Social Network
James Franco-127 Hours (in my opinion, he should win this AND an Oscar)
Mark Wahlberg-The Fighter (he wasn't phenomenal, but he wasn't bad)
Annette Bening & Julianne Moore-The Kids Are Alright
Melissa Leo-The Fighter
Christian Bale-The Fighter (he deserves the Best Supporting award, as he was fantastic)
Andrew Garfield-The Social Network

Disagree with/Am baffled by:
Jonnny Depp-Alice In Wonderland (Depp is a great actor, great performance, but very odd choice)
Emma Stone-Easy A (Again, good actress but odd choice)
Angelina Jolie & Johnny Depp-The Tourist (I'm just baffled this movie has so many nominations...)
Michael Douglas-Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (The movie was pretty terrible...) 

Jolie was nominated for playing a sexy, mysterious character. That's great news, it's a big stretch for her!

Best Director-Motion Picture
Darren Aronofsky-Black Swan
David Fincher-The Social Network
Tom Hooper-The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan-Inception
David O. Russell-The Fighter

-OK first of all...it's about damn time Christopher Nolan got nominated for Best Director in an award this recognized! The rest of the lest is good too-Fincher and Russell both did great jobs. I haven't seen The King's Speech (when the hell will it come out in Denver?!) but I hear great things. I'm lukewarm on Arronfosky, but off the top of my head I can't think of anyone else to fill that 5th spot.

Best Screenplay-Motion Picture
Simon Beaufoy, Danny Boyle for 127 Hours
Christopher Nolan for Inception
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko for The Kids Are Alright
David Seidler for The King's Speech
Aaron Sorking for The Social Network

-This category is actually very well put together this year, as all of these films were good (or great) and had writing that stuck out. I'm very torn between The Social Network and Inception-the former made the creation of Facebook, a seemingly silly story, an interesting and entertaining story; the latter is some of the best writing a Hollywood movie has seen in years and years, with great layering, interesting characters, and a damn cool story.  

I'll wrap up with a quick run through of the TV nominations I'm excited about:
-The Walking Dead: It better win...enough of Mad Men!
-30 Rock: I'm finally catching up with the series and think it's one of the smartest shows on TV
-Tina Fey for 30 Rock: one of the funniest women on TV right now
-Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock: Even people who normally hate Baldwin love him on the show
-Jane Lynch for Glee: The only good thing about the incredibly over-hyped show (sorry fans...)

If you've made it this far and read all my ranting, I applaud you...thanks for reading!

The Golden Globes will air January 16th on NBC. For a full list of nominations, click here.