The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards – Nominees & Pre-Ceremony Analysis (UPDATED with results)

January 15, 2011 1 Comment


Another year has passed, and the awards season is upon us. It is a time to recognize and honor the year’s best films, filmmakers and productions. The Academy Awards (or informally known as the Oscars) are the premier awards, which will presented by the Academy of Motion-Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on February 27, 2011. The Golden Globes, though, are probably the second most distinguished (For a list of all film awards, including festivals, click HERE). Most of them include a set of similar prizes but each one also contains unique rewards or titles. The Golden Globes involve awards regarding both motion pictures and television (TV) series. However, just because a film or filmmaker wins the Golden Globe does not necessarily mean that it or he/she will win the Oscar too; for example, in 2009 James Cameron’s Avatar won the GG but lost to his ex-wife’s, Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker at the Academy Awards and Mickey Rourke won the GG Best Actor for The Wrestler in 2008 but lost to Sean Penn (Milk) at the Oscars. Remember that dynamic as you read through my predictions and see/hear about the actual results.

The 68th annual Golden Globe awards ceremony will be broadcast live on Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 8 PM EST and hosted by British comedian-actor Ricky Gervais. (If you would like to know more about the 68th Golden Globe Awards timeline, including various balloting and announcement dates, click HERE). The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), or those responsible for voting for the Golden Globes, announced this year’s nominations on December 14, 2010.

Included below is a list of nominations for all of the motion-picture categories (with the exception of the Best Original Song category). For a full list of all the Golden Globe categories and nominees (including TV series), click HERE. I ranked the nominees in order of how likely they are to win in their respective categories, NOT in order of my preferences. Nonetheless, I have written some thoughts, notes, and perspectives (under some categories) regarding the nominees’ chances, histories, and which are my favorites. Enjoy!

* The winners in each category are followed by an asterisk and appear red.

 


 

Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient – Robert De Niro

Best Motion Picture Drama

  1. The Social Network*
  2. The King’s Speech
  3. Black Swan
  4. Inception
  5. The Fighter

 

  • Although I love every one of these nominees and especially like that Christopher Nolan finally got some awards-love for his Inception, some other films could have easily replaced one or two on this list. For example, the Coen brothers’True Grit and Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone are just as worthy of a nomination as The Fighter, or maybe even more deserving. However, it is hard to be that upset with this list of five excellent films. The first two are probably the most likely to win the award, but Black Swan and Inception could steal the show; more on their directors’ awards histories later…

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

  1. Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)*
  2. James Franco (127 Hours)
  3. Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine)
  4. Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
  5. Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter)

 

  • This list of nominees is filled with fine performances, but Colin Firth should and most likely will take home both the Golden Globe and Oscar. James Franco and Ryan Gosling could have won had Firth not been so perfect in The King’s Speech; they both appeared in great films and made the best out of their tough roles. Jesse Eisenberg pleasantly surprised me with his captivating turn as Mark Zuckerberg. I knew he could portray Zuckerberg’s nerdy side well, but I had no idea how compelling and at times chilling he could be; just watch the “Do I have your attention?” scene again and tell me otherwise. Mark Wahlberg does a fine job but not nearly as well as the others on this list (at least he came with his A-game and not whatever appeared in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening).

 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

  1. Natalie Portman (Black Swan)*
  2. Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone)
  3. Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)
  4. Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
  5. Halle Berry (Frankie and Alice)

 

  • Natalie Portman gave a career-best/defining performance in Black Swan; if she does not win this and the Oscar for Best Actress I will be shocked and upset. Jennifer Lawrence breaks through in Winter’s Bone, but most likely will not win (even though it is a strong dark-horse candidate). Michelle Williams supposedly displays amazing range and force in Blue Valentine – I am excited to witness it. *UPDATE: Williams (and Gosling for that matter) display great, raw power in the film.  In another movie that I have not seen but heard good things about, Nicole Kidman apparently made a strong impression in Rabbit Hole.

Best Director – Motion Picture

  1. David Fincher (The Social Network)*
  2. Christopher Nolan (Inception)
  3. Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
  4. Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
  5. David O. Russell (The Fighter)

Regarding both Best Director and Screenplay categories:

  • While I would love to see Christopher Nolan rewarded for his work on Inception, critical consensus appears to predict David Fincher as the winner. However, both Nolan and Darren Aronofsky have been inappropriately shut out in previous years in just about everything they have done. Nolan and Aronofsky possess great visions and talents, but neither has been given proper recognition in the directing and writing categories for which they are solely responsible. Before Inception, Nolan only received one Golden Globe and one Oscar nomination: Best Screenplay for Memento (2001); many fans and viewers criticized voters for not even recognizing The Dark Knight (2008) in any of the major categories, except giving the late Heath Ledger just about every Best Supporting Actor award. Aronofsky, though, has never obtained a Golden Globe or Oscar nomination before Black Swan; not even his cult classic Requiem for a Dream (2000) or deeply moving The Wrestler (2008) were given Best Picture, Director, or Screenplay nominations.

Because of the awards community’s (largely made up of journalists I believe) history of snubbing Nolan and Aronofsky, voters may just reward them this year. Still, I would not hold your breath as it appears Fincher and Aaron Sorkin are basically locks to win the Best Director and Screenplay awards On the other hand, Nolan has a very good chance at winning at the Oscars since awards for writing are split into two categories: Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplays. The Social Network is an adapted screenplay, but Inception is original and definitely deserves the award (its story was actually the first movie he ever wanted to make back in the late 1990s but had to wait for technology to progress for instance) – the gap between those two screenplays is vast, though, so do not expect a Golden Globe victory for Nolan. Then again, Tom Hooper and David Seidler did outstanding work on The King’s Speech and could easily take home the awards and sweep both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards. The races certainly will be interesting.

 

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

  1. Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)*
  2. Christopher Nolan (Inception)
  3. David Seidler (The King’s Speech)
  4. Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right)
  5. Simon Beaufoy, Danny Boyle (127 Hours)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

  1. Christian Bale (The Fighter)*
  2. Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)
  3. Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
  4. Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps)
  5. Jeremy Renner (The Town)

 

  • Like with Nolan and Aronofsky, the awards community has also previously snubbed Christian Bale, a notoriously hard-wording but hard-to-work-with method actor. They ignored his brilliant performance in American Psycho (2000), for which he did not even get a nomination, and his harrowing turns in The Machinist (2004) and Rescue Dawn (2006), both of which he lost an extreme amount of weight to play his characters. This year, though, Bale’s passionate efforts and sickly weight-loss will not go unnoticed. In fact, unless the HFPA decides to go absolutely “bat-shit” (pun-intended), a-la Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 1998 for instance (when they gave Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love over Steven Spielberg’s definitive World War II film Saving Private Ryan), Bale should win Best Supporting Actor. This category is probably the easiest one to determine the winner. However, I do not want to neglect Geoffrey Rush’s heartfelt performance in The King’s Speech. On almost any other year Rush could have very well won the award, but he has already been nominated several times, won two Golden Globes and one Oscar; he probably will not win it this year. Bale’s performance as the troublesome meth-head Dicky Eklund in The Fighter is spot-on (it is not over-the-top – watch some videos of the real Dicky and you will understand). It is wholly deserving of the award regardless of Bale’s snub-filled history. One could make a strong case that this is his best performance ever.

As a few side notes…  Jeremy Renner was very good in Ben Affleck’s The Town, but his and Michael Douglas’s performances are far from Bale, Rush, and Andrew Garfield’s ones. Garfield, seemingly nerdy at first like Eisenberg, commands the screen in The Social Network – the “I like standing next to you…Makes me look so tough…” scene’s acting and music are superb.

 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

  1. Melissa Leo (The Fighter)*
  2. Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech)
  3. Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)
  4. Amy Adams (The Fighter)
  5. Mila Kunis (Black Swan)

 

  • Melissa Leo completely disappeared into her role as the villain-like mother in The Fighter and really deserves to win the award, but the versatile Helena Bonham Carter should give her a very good race. The latter’s performance fit the character/person pretty much perfectly, but it is not the mind-blowing one that the former gives. I still need to see Animal Kingdom in which Jacki Weaver is apparently awfully good as well. Typically “good-girl” Amy Adams does very well as the rough-around-the-edges Charlene in The Fighter but Leo outperforms her. Mila Kunis balances her role well as a viperous competitor and sweet admirer/fellow ballerina; I am glad she got some recognition for her performance, but I could just as easily name a few other actresses that could replace her nomination. Examples include Barbara Hershey (Black Swan), Marion Cotillard (Inception), and definitely Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), although why Steinfeld’s performance is considered a “supporting role” and not a leading one is beyond me (she really carried that movie).

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

  1. Hans Zimmer (Inception)
  2. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network)*
  3. Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech)
  4. A.R. Rahman (127 Hours)
  5. Danny Elfman (Alice in Wonderland)

 

Best of all, though, is what Zimmer did to make the Inception score. Zimmer dissected, slowed down and then integrated a small part of Édith Piaf’s song “Non, Je ne Regriette Rien” into almost every piece of music in the film. He and Nolan used Piaf’s song itself as a musical cue for the “kick” in the film; what’s more, Marion Cotillard, Mal in Inception, played Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007) and won an Oscar for that performance. You can basically taste the delicious irony served by Zimmer and Nolan. But their decision to do this (and cast Cotillard) is beyond ironic; it is genius. The concept of dream-sharing in the film includes the fact that “In a dream your mind functions more quickly. Therefore, time seems to feel more slow.” And as the team of extractors/inceptors go deeper into Robert Fischer’s mind (dreams within a dream), time becomes exponentially slower (hence, ten hours in the real world means about a week in the first dream layer, about six months in layer two, and almost ten years in the third layer). At any rate, Zimmer and Nolan chose to slow down and use Piaf’s song to represent the extrapolation about time slowing down in dreams. Listen closely again to the songs on the soundtrack, such as “Half Remembered Dream, Dream is Collapsing, Dream Within a Dream [and] Waiting for a Train,” the last of which clearly sounds off the actual Piaf song and then it dissolves into the score (to skip to the part of the song where this begins to occur, click HERE) ; it is absolutely awesome. To hear and understand how her song is remixed into Zimmer’s score, watch/listen the following short clip:

Also, Zimmer and Nolan answered a few questions regarding the score and its inspiration in an interview/article, which can be found HERE; it is quite an interesting (and brief) read. Some things to note include that Nolan encouraged Zimmer to use the Piaf song and that the application of it was not meant to be a surprise to audiences.

On the negative side: where is Daft Punk? Their electrifyingly epic music in TRON: Legacy is one of the film’s two saving graces and excellent in its own right. The songs “The Son of Flynn, Outlands (pt. 1 & pt. 2), [and] C.L.U., and Derezzed.” are just a few highlights from it. I really want to know why their score has been ignored by the HFPA; the AMPAS better not exclude it from the Oscars too. Is Danny Elfman’s Alice in Wonderland score that good?

Also upsetting: it is a shame that both Clint Mansell and Carter Burwell’s scores for Black Swan and True Grit (respectively) were ineligible to win the award. The AMPAS has the authority to disqualify scores from awards’ considerations because of an “abundance of unoriginal music.” A couple of notable disqualified scores from recent years include Jonny Greenwood’s haunting There Will Be Blood (2007) score and Zimmer’s The Dark Knight one. This year AMPAS disqualified Black Swan, True Grit, The Fighter, and The Kids Are All Right. Similar to Alexandre Desplat’s The King’s Speech soundtrack, Burwell’s hymn-like music in True Grit is cordial and inspiring. On the other hand, Mansell’s half-original and basically half-Tchaikovsky soundtrack to Black Swan is dark and powerfully unforgettable. As for the original music, the songs “Lose Yourself, Power Seduction and Lies, [and] Opposites Attract” are some of Mansell’s best works, though nothing can quite compare to his piece “Lux Aeterna” from Requiem for a Dream. As for Black Swan’s Tchaikovsky-influenced songs, “It’s My Time, A Swan is Born, [and] Perfection” really shine. Even though it was heavily influenced by Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” music, Mansell’s operatic score is still one of the year’s best (top three IMO). More explanation regarding this year’s disqualifications can be found HERE. Too bad the AMPAS and awards community could not name an honorable mention or two in this category to at least give these kinds of scores proper recognition, or maybe even create a separate “Best Adapted Score”…unlikely, but oh well.

Lastly, I will say a few things about a couple of the remaining nominees that I have not yet discussed. Desplat’s music in The King’s Speech is elegant and touching. Unlike the boisterous scores from Inception, 127 Hours, and Black Swan, his one does not overwhelm the viewer; rather, it mixes delightfully into the story. Yet, it does not reach the same level(s) that Zimmer and Reznor/Ross’s scores do. As for A.R. Rahman’s soundtrack, I am a bit surprised that it was not disqualified as well. Although some of the unoriginal songs found in 127 Hours are lively, entertaining, and interestingly suit their respective moments in the movie, I am not sure the original music is great enough or that there is a sufficient amount of it to garner a nomination. Besides, my favorite songs from the film are mostly the unoriginal ones, such as Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” and Sigur Ros’ “Festival,” but the original songs “Liberation” and “If I Rise” are very good too. The music for the film does get the viewer’s pulse up a bit and stirs emotions in the end, but it is a bit below the top nominees. Finally, I have not seen Alice in Wonderland or heard Elfman’s soundtrack for it and, thus, have nothing to say about it.

In conclusion, what began as a short commentary on the Best Original Score category turned out to be a lengthy short essay about the nominees and on disqualifications to the category. Evidently I am pretty passionate about music in film. But if one thinks about it, soundtracks/scores can really make or break movies. Cinema is a visceral medium that not only demands visual artistry but also requires audial artistry. The music is one of a movie’s most apparent features and must fit in it; sometimes, as these nominees have shown, the music elevates the film beyond entertainment and can be life-changing. You can enjoy it anywhere. So here’s to another year of fine film music.

 

Best Animated Feature Film

  1. Toy Story 3*
  2. How to Train Your Dragon
  3. Tangled
  4. Despicable Me
  5. The Illusionist

 

  • How to Train Your Dragon is highly entertaining, surprisingly deep, and a big step in the right direction for DreamWorks Animation, but Pixar’s conclusion to their beloved Toy Story trilogy is wonderful; Toy Story 3 even has a good chance to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

 

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

  1. The Kids Are All Right*
  2. Red
  3. Alice in Wonderland
  4. Burlesque
  5. The Tourist

 

  • Okay seriously HFPA, what is up with this category and its nominees this year? Only The Kids Are All Right is even remotely close to garnering an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. The rest of the nominations may be entertaining (or they may not be at all according to many reviews), but are they award-worthy? The presence of this category may be good for the industry and recognizing the filmmakers, but is this all that this year could drum up for Best Comedy or Musical? Moreover, is this really the best five films for this category? All right, I must admit that I have only seen the first, but the other four have an average RottenTomatoes.com score of only 44.75% – not even considered “fresh!” Most of the time people complain that awards ceremonies only reward the pretentious critically acclaimed (often indie) films and not the blockbuster, entertaining movies, but apparently the HFPA either has decided to go against the grain or simply did not have that many quality comedies or musicals this year. Looking through some of the history of this category’s nominations, I will say that the category is usually filled with entertaining but less-than-highly praised films. Nonetheless, one wonders why better ones were not made in 2010; The Hangover won in 2009 and had stiff competition from the refreshing romantic indie flick (500) Days of Summer (a romantic comedy that even guys can really relate to and enjoy). Oh well, nothing can be done to change the HFPA members’ minds now.

On a more positive note, Red does have a 70% fresh rating and many claim it is a very enjoyable movie; I may have even included it in the honorable mentions lists in my “The Top 10 Films of 2010” post (found HERE) had I remembered it while writing the article. Also cool is the fact that German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s first Hollywood feature film, The Tourist, has received some recognition despite its dismal 20% rating on RT and mixed audience reviews evident in the 5.1 score found on IMDB. Hopefully Hollywood producers will stick to him and allow for more original work by Florian because he made my absolute favorite foreign film of all time in The Lives of Others (2006), or Das Leben der Anderen, which also ranks probably in my top 5-10 films of all time! At least the presence of The Tourist here has given me an opportunity to recognize and promote Lives – watch this film as soon as you possibly can; it is absolutely amazing.

Anyways, to conclude a somewhat rambling discussion of the Best Comedy/Musical category, I simply state a general dissatisfaction in this year’s nominees.

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

  1. Johnny Depp (Alice in Wonderland)
  2. Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack)
  3. Paul Giamatti (Barney’s Version)*
  4. Johnny Depp (The Tourist)
  5. Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs)

 

  • I did not see and do not care that much to see any of these films or performances. Still, watching the presentation of the award with brief overviews will be entertaining.

 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

  1. Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)*
  2. Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right)
  3. Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs)
  4. Emma Stone (Easy A)
  5. Angelina Jolie (The Tourist)

 

  • Similar to Bale and the Best Supporting Actor in a Motion-Picture Drama category, Annette Bening has secured this one. Her very good performance stands above the other nominees and there is talk that she may even win the Oscar for Best Actress because of her (extraordinary amount of) defeats in the past (3 to be exact). Hopefully, though, this dynamic will not steal what should be Natalie Portman’s Oscar gold.

 

Best Foreign Language Film

  1. Biutiful (Mexico, Spain)
  2. I Am Love (Italy)
  3. In a Better World (Denmark)*
  4. The Edge (Russia)
  5. The Concert (France)

 

  • I have not seen any of these foreign films and will not before the ceremony on January 16, 2011, so the presentation will be an intriguing one to discover what made these films that good. Hopefully they are as powerful or exciting as last year’s nominees, such as Argentina’s The Secret in Their Eyes and France’s A Prophet.

 

 

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* The following table shows the leading motion-picture contenders, or those with more than three nominations, and how they fared at the Golden Globes.

 

Motion-picture title

 Number of nominations Number of wins

Categories won
The King’s Speech 7 1 Best Actor (Drama)
The Social Network 6 4 Best Picture (Drama), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score
The Fighter 6 2 Best Supporting Actor (Drama), Best Supporting Actress (Drama)
Black Swan 4 1 Best Actress (Drama)
Inception 4
The Kids Are All Right 4 2 Best Picture (Comedy/Musical), Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)


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For a full list of all the Golden Globe categories and nominees (including TV series), click HERE.

  • I only have one thing to comment about the TV awards – The Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced WWII miniseries The Pacific (on HBO) is notable but far from their masterpiece Band of Brothers. Of the six or so episodes that I saw, I was a bit disappointed; then again, how could anything live up to the standard that BOB set? You must watch it (BOB) as soon as you can if you have not yet seen it, because it is virtually perfect and would easily fit into my favorite films of all time if its episodes were combined into a single movie. – (Carlos won in that category.)

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