Looking Forward To...

Gravity
Release: October 4, 2013
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and Ed Harris

The Artist and Homeland Win Golden Globes

While I got 7 of 11 predictions right with the TV categories, I bombed with the films getting only 6 of 14 predictions right including only 2 of the 6 acting categories! The award ceremony itself moved fairly well. Host Ricky Gervais did his schtick which ended up being not as controversial as was marketed. The big winners of the night ended up cable/premium TV shows and Harvey Weinstein as you will see from the winners below...


Best Motion Picture, Drama: The Descendants
Best Motion Picture, Comedy: The Artist
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Best Actress, Drama: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Actress, Comedy: Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Best Actor, Drama: George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Actor, Comedy: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Animated Film: The Adventures of Tintin
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation
Best Screenplay: Midnight in Paris
Best Score: The Artist
Best Song: "Masterpiece," W.E.

Weinstein's The Artist was the top film of the night netting three wins for Picture, Actor, and Score. It definitely looks like this is the film to beat for the rest of the awards season culminating at the Oscars. Good news for it is that there isn't a clear-cut challenger from amongst the other films with the field divvying up the other awards. While The Descendants also won Best Picture, it didn't get Director nor Screenplay, which were arguably won by superstars in their field, Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen respectively. Weinstein also steered Meryl Streep and Michelle Williams to their Golden Globes win (Streep's 8th, Williams' 1st) giving presumed frontrunner Viola Davis real competition for Oscars. Davis was the only BFCA winner to not win tonight as George Clooney, Octavia Spencer, and Christopher Plummer solidifying their chances by winning here. Jean Dujardin also won and showed off just how charming he is. Finally, Madonna won Best Song and made sure to thank Harvey Weinstein for believing in her film.

Best TV Series, Drama: Homeland
Best TV Series, Comedy: Modern Family
Best Actress, Drama: Claire Danes, Homeland
Best Actress, Comedy: Laura Dern, Enlightened
Best Actor, Drama: Kelsey Grammer, Boss
Best Actor, Comedy: Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Best Mini-Series or TV Movie: Downton Abbey
Best Actress, Miniseries/TV Movie: Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce
Best Actor, Miniseries/TV Movie: Idris Elba, Luther
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Best Supporting Actor: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

On the TV side, Modern Family was the only broadcast show to win an award taking home Best Comedy Series. Homeland was the only multiple winner here taking home Best Drama Series and Best Actress for Claire Danes. It marked Showtime's first Best Series win at the Golden Globes. I predicted Kelsey Grammer's win, but totally didn't expect Laura Dern and Matt LeBlanc to win even though in retrospect, both wins totally make sense. The latter was also helped by a particularly thin category. I was pretty damn happy to see Downton Abbey win its category as well as seeing Kate Winslet get her third Globe win. Deserved wins also went to Idris Elba, Jessica Lange, and Peter Dinklage though Lange thanked Ryan Murphy for his great writing. Hilarious. Dinklage in the meantime urged people to Google Martin Henderson.

There's not much else I could say about the ceremony. There were an unusually numerous mentions of poop and penis. The former most due to the Bridesmaids presence and the latter courtesy of Seth Rogen claiming he had an erection and Clooney extended tribute to Michael Fassbender's member. My favorite speech of the night probably went to Michelle Williams. She was noticeably happy, but still reserved and even paid tribute to Marilyn Monroe. I also loved Sidney Poitier and Helen Mirren honoring Morgan Freeman with the Cecil B. Demille Award. Of course Uggie goofing off on stage after The Artist took home the last award was probably the one moment everyone will remember from tonight's ceremonies. It's a dog eat dog world after all.

National Board of Review Winners

The National Board of Review has always been one of the first major precursors to the Academy Awards and even if the NYFCC beat them to the punch by a couple of days the fact that they went in several different directions just shows how volatile and possibly exciting the awards season will be this year. At least I'm hoping!

And this year's NBR winners are...

Best Film
Hugo

Top Ten Films
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
The Ides of March
J. Edgar
Tree of Life
War Horse

Choosing Hugo was a bit unexpected, but that's what makes it the more exciting. That film should worry though since more often than not this past decade, the winner here has gone on to lose at the Oscars including last year's supposed front-runner The Social Network. We get the usual fan service to their favorites such as George Clooney and Clint Eastwood, but their inclusions of Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter, and Drive are quite interesting. I am a bit disappointed to see Midnight in Paris miss out here and surprised to see Moneyball and The Help miss out as well. In any case I have seen 6 of the 10 films listed and will no doubt see the other four soon enough.

Best Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actress
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Breakthrough Performance
Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Ensemble Cast
The Help

Spotlight Award
Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)

Getting an acting win here, even for breakthrough performance, definitely increases one's chances of getting an Oscar nomination if the last few years are any indication. Translating those nominations into wins is a bit more dicey. The big winner here is perhaps Tilda Swinton and Shailene Woodley especially the latter since she's a newcomer. Speaking of newcomers, seems like Felicity Jones and Rooney Mara held off Elizabeth Olsen this time around. Neither Glenn Close nor Viola Davis won, but the latter (as well as Jessica Chastain) was buoyed by that Ensemble award. Finally, Michael Fassbender, the male equivalent of Chastain, won the Spotlight Award which he certainly deserved. I do wish he shared it with Ryan Gosling who has two films in the Top 10.

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Debut Director
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call

Best Original Screenplay
Will Reiser, 50/50

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, & Jim Rash, The Descendants

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Harry Potter Franchise

Best Animated Feature
Rango

NBR definitely gave Hugo, The Descendants, 50/50, and Harry Potter big boosts today. The latter especially for being in the Top 10 and getting a Special Achievement Award. It's also quite fun to see Jim Rash (Dean Pelton in Community) pop up in the Oscar race.

Top Ten Independent Films
50/50
Another Earth
Beginners
A Better Life
Cedar Rapids
Margin Call
Shame
Take Shelter
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Win Win

This was yet another huge blow for Martha Marcy May Marlene since it was expected to end up here. Two years ago, District 9 made this shortlist and ended up getting Oscar-nominated for Best Picture. I wonder if any of these films can do the same. For my part, I've only seen 4 of the 10 films here--50/50, Beginners, Cedar Rapids, and Win Win.

Best Foreign Film
A Separation

Top Five Foreign Films
13 Assassins
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Footnote
Le Havre
Point Blank

Best Documentary
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Top Five Documentary Films
Born to be Wild
Buck
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Project Nim
Senna

NBR Freedom of Expression
Crime After Crime
Pariah

Not much to say about these last few categories since I haven't seen any of the films. I have only heard of good things regarding A Separation and Pariah so they'll be on top of my Netflix queue as soon as they're available there.

Basically, it's still anybody's game.

Looking Forward To...

The Ides of March
Release: October 7, 2011
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Director: George Clooney
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Jennifer Ehle, Gregory Itzin, and Philip Seymour Hoffman