In the last one week, we have seen the Oscar
nominations and the Golden Globe Awards. Here, I take a look back at both, as
we wait to see what unfolds at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards and how things
turn out for the Oscar nominees…
THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Usually, they have any two popular actors announcing
the nominees, or one actor and the Academy’s president, like they did last
year. This year, however, they gave us this year’s host, Seth MacFarlane and actress
Emma Stone. And what usually is a clinical announcement of the nominees in the main
categories was turned into an entertaining little bit by both the announcers. It
was interesting to see Stone sitting in the audience when MacFarlane called her,
after making a joke about being alone on stage that early in the morning. What
followed was some good on-stage chemistry between the two, as they revealed the
nominees. MacFarlane expressing excitement over being nominated for Best
Original Song, and Stone humorously pointing out that all Supporting Actor
nominees had won before, made for some good entertainment instead of simply
being told who was contending. They shared bits of trivia like the youngest and
oldest actresses nominated for Lead Actress being nominated this year, adding
value to their presentation. It was a fun 15 minutes and made me look forward
to seeing MacFarlane as host, which I was skeptical about (hoping he wouldn’t
bring his FAMILY GUY sense of humor to the Dolby Theatre).
THE 70TH GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
It was an entertaining show for sure. I didn’t expect
any less from hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. They opened so well, making jokes
about Meryl Streep being ‘amazing in the flu’ and Anne Hathaway looked ‘abandoned
in Les Mis like she did alongside
James Franco at the Oscars’. Then the presentations began, and I was left
wishing for more Fey-Poehler screen time. Although they did come back every now
and then for some low-blow humor like implying that being married to James
Cameron must’ve been like torture for Kathryn Bigelow, etc. The presentations
were quite good, barring a few awkward moments like Paul Rudd and Salma Hayek
being caught off-guard when the teleprompter went blank, while everyone was
waiting for them to say something. I also thought that a few of them tried too
hard to be funny, like Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell. They were funny for the
first minute or so, but then their act about not having watched the movies nominated
in the category they were presenting went on for too long and became tedious.
Among the acceptance speeches, I
think Jodie Foster’s was excellent. She made such a strong comment on the
evolution of the film industry and celebrity, speaking about privacy and the
redundancy of reality TV. She also made a smart comment on her sexuality. And
of course, the emotions ran high when she spoke of her mother, and her life
being the world of films. It was a very sophisticated speech. However, Anne
Hathaway (Supporting Actress – Film, Les
Misérables) had the best speech according to me. It came from a very
sincere and humble place, even though it was almost certain she would win. Making
that joke about the statuette being a ‘blunt object’ and then turning it into a
profound statement saying that she promised to use it as a weapon against any self
doubt she may have, was my favorite statement of the night. Other very
endearing speeches were made by Jessica Chastain (Lead Actress – Drama, Zero Dark Thirty), Christoph Waltz (Supporting
Actor – Film, Django Unchained) and
Ben Affleck (Director, Argo).
The results were a little
surprising. I honestly didn’t expect MODERN FAMILY to not win TV Series –
Comedy, and was disappointed to see GIRLS win. Drama in TV came as no surprise,
with HOMELAND sweeping Series, Actor and Actress. The results of the actor and
actress categories in film also came as no surprise, and neither was Les Misérables winning Best Picture –
Comedy/Musical. However, Argo winning
Best Picture and Director was a surprise, not because I didn’t like the film or
don’t think that it deserved it, but simply because the Academy hasn’t been so
generous (having not nominated it for Directing), especially since the Oscars
& Globes are usually quite in-sync with at least the Picture and Director
categories. While I thought Lincoln would be the big winner this year, right
through till the Oscars, Argo’s wins
have changed that. But I’ll review its chances at a later date, when I’m
dissecting the list of Oscar nominees. Things will become clearer after the SAG
Awards.
So there’s the
Award Season update for the last one week. I’ll be back to predict the SAG
winners, so watch this space, and do share your views on how things are going
for Award Season 2012-13.
COMING SOON: The
TV TALK Best Of 2012
Agree with most of what you said and I'd also like to add Jennifer Lawrence's speech to that list of speeches. She was a lot more "real" than most people who got on that stage. I understand having self-doubt but when it starts to get too Taylor Swift and I want to vomit.
ReplyDeleteGirls winning, I can't say if it was deserved or not next to ModFam because I haven't watched any of it after the first season I saw here in 2010. I do like Girls a lot. I like the writing a lot. I don't know what it is really because I'm very repulsed by the fact that I like a show called "Girls", with mostly all girls. I'll tell a few people. That's all.
I said "a lot" twice. Ick.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah and Tina and Amy, I wish there was more of them too.
I don't think people cared that the teleprompter died when Salma was on stage. Hahahaha!