King’s Speech Heard Loud and Clear by Globes Voters
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The King’s Speech and The Social Network were confirmed as leading Oscar contenders this morning when they snagged, respectively, seven and six Golden Globe nominations.
Speech’s Colin Firth, Network’s Jesse Eisenberg and 127 Hours’ James Franco are all nominated for best actor in a dramatic film. Natalie Portman’s nomination for best actress in a drama upholds her status as an Oscar front-runner, as does Annette Bening’s nod in the comedy/musical actress category.
As in every year, the nominations included a few dashes of the absurd. Burlesque, disliked by most reviewers and ridiculed by some, is nominated for musical or comedy film. The Tourist, which scored a mere 20% at Rotten Tomatoes, is up for three awards – including acting nominations for Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in the comedy/musical category, even though the movie is (arguably) neither a comedy nor a musical.
What isn’t mentioned often enough (and perhaps couldn’t be pointed out too often) is what a silly little clique the Globes’ Hollywood Foreign Press Association is, with fewer than 100 members and many of them not film critics or even serious journalists. Many members don’t write full-time. Many live on pensions and produce just a few articles annually.
Highly respected reviewer David Denby of The New Yorker has described HFPA members as “very fawning” in their regard of screen stars. A New York Times scribe has remarked that the association is “treated with a shrug and a certain humor by the Hollywood elite.”
In a sane world, the HFPA’s choices of “best” in film and TV would get little notice. But Hollywood isn’t all that sane, and the Globes sadly influence American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members in their own Oscar voting.
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From the movies I have seen I can say it is not a stellar year. Social Network is probably the best I’ve seen, I was enthralled by Inception, but the critics were split into love/hate camps, no middle ground with that one. Thoroughly enjoyed The American, think I was on my own with that, not a very American film.
My sweetheart loves Clooney, but saw The American and disliked it intensely. I haven’t seen it, but will probably rent it.
IF you like cinematography, silence (no dialogue sometimes), intrigue, and a story about the pathetic life of an assassin, it could be right up your alley. Clooney takes chances with some of his movies, The American is one of those movies, he must have known it wasn’t going to pack them into the multiplex, but did it for love.
That’s hysterical that Angelina and Johnny were nominated for best acting in a musical comedy!! The Tourist really got panned…..
Remember when Jack Nicholson won a Globe for drama actor for About Schmidt, which is of course a comedy?
I loved Social Network and am looking forward to seeing King’s Speech.
I loved the opening scene in The Social Network, where the lead character goes full Asperger’s on his girlfriend, but I’ve yet to see a truly outstanding movie in this year’s crop. Nothing on the same level as American Beauty, Eternal Sunshine or last year’s 500 Days of Summer.
Black Swan is the one to watch this year with Kings speech IMO. Colin Firth deserves it after getting seriously snubbed last year for A Single Man.