Golden Globes 2011 nominations

There are award winners and nominations pouring out of every corner.  Critics are releasing their best of lists from all across America and I promise I'll try to cover as many of them as I can.  But one of the biggest  awards nights of the season for movies and television, the grand party of them all is the Golden Globes and they just announced their nominations for 2011.   Let's have a look at the movie nominations.

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The King's Speech

The Social Network

My Take: All worthy nominees here.  I'm a bit surprised that the critically loved Winter's Bone didn't make it but seeing as it's an independent film, the big awards sometimes don't always acknowledge them.

Best Motion Picture -Comedy/Musical

Alice in Wonderland

Burlesque

The Kids Are All Right

Red

The Tourist

My Take: What in the world is Burlesque doing on this list?  What are they thinking?  In my opinion, the race is between Alice in Wonderland and The Kids are All Right.  The rest should be just happy to be nominated.  

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

My Take: Now this is a race for best director! Hurray for Nolan, Fincher and Aronofsky who are at their creative best in this year's films.  Who's missing? No Danny Boyle for 127 Hours, or Lisa Cholodenko for The Kids Are All Right or Debra Granik for Winter's Bone.  I would have hoped that after Kathryn Bigelow's win, we could see more female nominees.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King's Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

My Take: Mark Wahlberg made it on to the list edging out Leonardo DiCaprio who had a double chance at making it with his performances in Shutter Island and Inception.  Shame, really!  Both Colin Firth and Jesse Eisenberg have been the top of most critic's lists so it will be interesting to see who gets the big price in January.  Ryan Gosling and James Franco could also be the dark horses if the Globes decide to go another way.  

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

My Take: The lone and sole nominee for Winter's Bone, Jennifer Lawrence's performance couldn't be ignored.  All of the women here are capable nominees but I feel the award already belongs to Natalie Portman.  Could she be one of the youngest Best Actress winners? 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical

Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland

Johnny Depp, The Tourist

Paul Giamatti, Barney's Version

Jake Gyllenhaal, Love & Other Drugs

Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

My Take: I really don't know what to say in this category.  I'm glad the Golden Globes does divide it according to category but the nominations are usually so random for comedy/musical.  I'm happy for the Johnny Depp double nomination and hurray for Jake Gyllenhaal in Love & Other Drugs (I really want to see this movie!) but this is a wide open category, people.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Anne Hathaway, Love & Other Drugs

Angelina Jolie, The Tourist

Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right

Emma Stone, Easy A

My Take: Sorry to say, but Angelina Jolie is the odd woman out in this category.  I'm sure they could find another worthy performance this year.  I'm truly surprised that Julia Roberts didn't sneak in for Eat Pray Love.  Everyone loves Julia but not the Golden Globes this year, it seems.  I'm really happy to see Emma Stone recognized for Easy A.  Younger actors never usually get noticed and Stone's was really a breakthrough performance for the year.  But seriously, the competition is between Annette Bening and Julianne Moore for The Kids Are All Right with Bening having the edge here.  

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

Christian Bale, The Fighter

Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

Jeremy Renner, The Town

Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

My Take:  Christian Bale has been on almost every critic's list for Best Supporting Actor so it's no surprise to see his name here, he's the frontrunner.  Everyone else, be glad for the nomination and smile for the cameras.  Nice to see Michael Douglas recognized for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; he also had another worthy performance in Solitary Man.

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

Amy Adams, The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech

Mila Kunis, Black Swan

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

My Take:  Ditto here for Melissa Leo for The Fighter although she's got competition from Amy Adams but do not count out Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech.  Dark Horse of this category could be Jacki Weaver who just won the Australian Film Institute award for the same role.    

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right

Christopher Nolan, Inception

David Seidler, The King's Speech

Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

My Take: As much I love and am in love with Inception and its deeply complicated screenplay, I know the screenplay award is Aaron Sorkin's to lose.  It's his year.  

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Alexandre Desplat, The King's Speech

Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland

A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Hans Zimmer, Inception

My Take: Out of all the films, I think the most impact through music shown would be Inception.  It was the soundtrack that everybody was talking about this summer.  However, I haven't hear the soundtrack for 127 Hours or The King's Speech so I can't comment on that.  But kudos to A.R. Rahman to making back on the list again.  Not a one-hit wonder for Slumdog Millionaire.  I would have liked to see How To Train Your Dragon and John Powell make an appearance here.  

Best Original Song - Motion Picture 

"Bound to You," Burlesque

"You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," Burlesque

"There's a Place for Us," The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

"Coming Home," Country Strong

"I See the Light," Tangled 

My Take: Again, I haven't heard any of these songs here but I've read positive reviews of "I See the Light" from Tangled so I'll go with that.  We'll take your word for it, Golden Globes.   

Best Animated Feature Film 

Despicable Me 

How to Train Your Dragon 

The Illusionist 

Tangled 

Toy Story 3

My Take: I haven't seen Tangled or The Illusionist yet as they haven't released here but I'm hoping to correct that before the big awards.  All worthy nominees here although I'm bummed not to see Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole here.  As usual, Pixar has the edge but I'm hoping to see an upset with How To Train Your Dragon.

Best Foreign Language Film 

Biutiful, Mexico/Spain 

The Concert, France

The Edge, Russia 

I Am Love, Italy

In a Better World, Denmark

My Take: This one is an eclectic bunch.  The Concert from France made the list but I was expecting to see another French film, Of Gods and Men here.  No mention of the critically-acclaimed Mother from Korea or the big winner from Cannes, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives from Thailand.  Surprising!

National Board of Review Picks the 2010's Best

Best Film
The Social Network

Ten Best Films (in alphabetical order)
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King's Speech
Shutter Island
The Town
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Rest of the winners under the cut

It's Trailer Time!!!

It's here, The Tourist.  After seeing pictures of Brad, Angelina and the kids all summer in Venice (but no Johnny Depp), I was wondering what will this movie be about?



In recent years, Johnny Depp has played all sorts of interesting and varied characters, Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd and the Mad Hatter to name a few. This time, Depp plays an American tourist named Frank who meets a woman, Elise (Angelina Jolie), on a train and quite suddenly is involved in a case of mistaken identity and boat chases and lots of men with guns after him.

Best exchange of the trailer
Depp: You're ravenous!
Jolie: Do you mean ravishing?
Depp: I do.

This will be interesting if only for the star power the movie has. Along with Depp and Jolie, the cast includes Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton and Rufus Sewell. The film is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film for The Lives of Others, one of the best German films and has possibly the best ending of any movie I've seen.

Disney's Tangled is impressing me with each trailer it releases. It's warm and fuzzy and I think I want to live there. With the voice talents of Zachary Levi (Chuck), Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) and Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond), this one is sure to please. The UK trailer, I believe, is slightly different and that's the one I've posted here.



Also from Disney, Disney Pixar that is, is the first look at the Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales. The 9 short toons from the Cars universe will be released on DVD November 2.



The Fighter brings together Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale for the first time. Directed by David O. Russell (Three Kings), The Fighter is the story of the early years of boxer 'Irish' Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his brother (Bale). Amy Adams and Melissa Leo are also a part of the cast.



Last but not least, to remind you that Christmas is only 3 months away comes The Nutcracker 3D. Because everything is better in 3D. Let's hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as last year's A Christmas Carol 3D. Starring Elle Fanning, John Turturro, Nathan Lane and Charlie Rowe and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, it's the movie the whole family can enjoy during the holidays.