The Hot Blog: Globes...

January 13, 2008

Globes...

It was a very odd evening at the Beverly Hilton , The awards were pretty unsurprising… with the primary exception of Atonement taking Best Picture/Drama from No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and Michael Clayton… all three of which are currently expected to be nominated for Oscar’s Best Picture. (The only person in Hollywood not surprised by this, it seems, was Sasha Stone. One HFPA member just kept saying, after it was announced, “I know how that happened… but I can’t tell you.”)

But it wasn’t really an evening of movies. It was an evening of weird.

It was a Beverly Hilton empty enough to park in the small self-park lot connected to the building with no delay, coming or going, when normally, you can’t even get close enough to the building to park. It was the empty bar, where about 20 of us watched the end of the Giants game. It was a room full of publicists who were unable to even consider getting an eventual winner of a Globe on the phone to comment afterwards. It was a print press room with fewer than 20 print reporters typing along. It was cameras from 50 different outlets gently taking up the space where Daniel Day Lewis or Johnny Depp would have been sitting (or Julie Christie and Cate Blanchett not sitting).

The room was made of up press, security, and HFPA members, and publicists, pretty much in that order of quantity. There was an odd mixture, all very low key, of amusement, excitement, and sadness at how things had come to this… this quirky bit of Hollywood history.

And the winners?

Atonement & Sweeney Todd. Depp & Day-Lewis. Cotillard & Christie. Ratatouille & The Diving Bell & The Butterfly. Bardem & Blanchett. Coens for Screenplay. And minor surprise (since he was unlikely to lose to Wright or Scott, but could have lost to Burton or The Coens), Julian Schnabel.

The Globes, had these been the picks in a normal year, did the job it usually does… would inspire the conversations with these picks it normally inspires. And as usual, these picks will be fortunate to match 50% of the ultimate Academy winners. But amazingly, the only possibly winners that could fail to even be nominated for Oscar, by this week’s likely overstated trend watching, would be both Best Picture winners.

The numbers suggest that Atonement should get Oscar nominated, as see only one Best Picture/Drama Globes winner that didn’t get an Oscar nod… back in 1964… the year of my birth. (Many failed to go on to win Oscar.) On the other hand, 4 times in the last ten years, the Best Comedy/Musical winner didn’t make it.

It is not an influencer of Oscar nominations, as the Oscar nomination voting is closed. But a stat is a stat and Focus should be a lot happier tonight, after suffering a week of gloom and doom talk in the media.

Of course, if Atonement is in – and it really would be less of a shock than some made it out to be last week – then two of the following titles that have been seen as being ahead of Atonement recently will be out:

No Country for Old Men
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood
Juno
Diving Bell and Butterfly
Into the Wild

There are a lot of voices out there whispering that deals have already been struck – or are at least well advanced in negotiation – for both DGA to deal with AMPTP and for AMPAS to get waivered by WGA. Of course, as we have learned during this period, even deals that seem done tend to get undone in a flash.

Let’s just hope that this show of muscle by the unions tonight was the beginning of the end, satisfying the taste for destruction. In the end, as important as settling the strike is – and it is the real point of all these actions – the goal is to settle and to move on, both sides united. And honoring people with awards that have a historic asterisk kinda sucks for the filmmakers who deserve better.

Tonight, we experienced about the right amount of attention for HFPA’s awards. But there wasn’t a moment of fun in it, except for some laughs from the TV comedies. Not liking these things at all is fine. But for those who do enjoy them, it was unfortunate. And as I walked down empty hallways where I am used to walking past ballgowned beauties and tuxedoed men, though the photos of the past still line the halls, I decided… I don’t really like ghosts as much as I enjoy the living, even when I mock them.

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You can comment, if you like, as I wirte this up. Sorry there was no BYOB before the event. Duh!

Posted by poland at January 13, 2008 07:52 PM

Comments

yeah, thought that no open thread seemed strange..... anyway (as i posted on another site) i loved that a normally three-hour award show wrapped in 32 minutes..... not crazy about the reporters chosen to present and hated the 'jungle drums' before each announcement but..... 32 MINUTES!.... i think i'm now hopeing that ampas doesn't get the wga waiver.....

Posted by: scooterzz at January 13, 2008 08:05 PM

Like a dumbass, I watched the awful, padded NBC telecast for the first 10 minutes. Am I the only one who was horrified by the repeated showings of that video of Nikki Blonsky knocking over the coffee table?

Posted by: Rob at January 13, 2008 08:34 PM

Atonement's Oscar fate could have been sealed tonight. Or it could be on it's way to OSCAR GOLD! Who freakin knows? I am just pissed that EXTRAS won for best TV COMEDY. What other ridiculousness.

Posted by: IOIOIOI at January 13, 2008 08:51 PM

Utter ridiculousness, but OTHER RIDICULOUS has a sort ring to it. I do like that Depp wins an award, and does not get a ceremon around it. This seems some what apt on my part.

Posted by: IOIOIOI at January 13, 2008 08:53 PM

Anyone else found it weird that, during the hour-long NBC "announcement" show, a few winners -- most notably, Best Song, Best Score, Best TV Movie or Miniseries and Best Foreign Language Film -- weren't announced?

BTW: Scooterz, I have to agree -- this streamlined version of awards bestowing isn't half-bad at all.

Posted by: Joe Leydon at January 13, 2008 09:49 PM

Didn't the original Oscar ceremony take 10 minutes or something?

Posted by: Blackcloud at January 13, 2008 09:54 PM

yep.... i'm thinkin' they replace the ten vapid hollywood reporters (of the gg's) with ten (vapid?) hollywood stars and knock those oscars down to an hour......tonight worked out pretty well....

Posted by: scooterzz at January 13, 2008 10:46 PM

David, I'm assuming you've written an essay in the past about why you give awards so much attention. I get that you're a professional and awards are on your beat, but I'm always surprised by how passionate you seem about the season. Should I go digging for it? Anybody remember such a thing?

For me, the farce of the press conference showed how truly these awards are. If we were in a world where Crash and Beautiful Mind weren't considered best picture, I could understand it more, but we're not. It's like covering a dirty political campaign without real stakes and it seems decisively un-fun. I'm really starting to hate winter in Hollywood.

Posted by: sloanish at January 13, 2008 10:50 PM

Ok, Sloanish, I have to ask: "how truly" what?

Posted by: Joe Leydon at January 13, 2008 11:26 PM

Heat, the Ghost are only entertaining if they are lively. These ghost were the regular depressing kind. Nevertheless; the strike might be on it's way to being over. Or this could just be the beginning of grander pithy freakin shenanigans.

Posted by: IOIOIOI at January 13, 2008 11:26 PM

Uh, what is exactly so surprising about Atonement's win? Most nominated film? Of course it was going to win.

Anyway, I think Schnabel's win is the most surprising. That's about it. Maybe Blanchett.

Posted by: Kristopher Tapley at January 13, 2008 11:43 PM

And I don't think there's anything "overstated" about paying attention to the nominees from groups that cross over with AMPAS.

Posted by: Kristopher Tapley at January 13, 2008 11:45 PM

that was terrible and the NBC version (was their another one I could have watched) was an abomination. Imagine if ABC did an hour long for the oscars, cut all the technicals from the broadcast and over the clips in the men's categories they simply read the names rather than letting the audio play. Ugh. Bring back the pageantry and the speeches, and could two worse 'hosts' have been found if NBC tried? and how crass is it to talk about frontrunners, upsets etc during the show, much less from the podium?

Posted by: movielocke at January 14, 2008 01:04 AM

Billy Bush is the human incarnation of EVERYTHING that is wrong with Hollywood.

Can the WGA put a concession in their negotiations for a visual and auditory ban on Billy Bush?

Tonight looked like a visual representation of the "Nervous Breakdown" people have been predicting for Hollywood over the last 10 years.

Wasn't there also a link to an article on MCN that discussed how essentially the star system has crashed and there were disappointing returns on many of the major star vehicles?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Posted by: THX5334 at January 14, 2008 01:55 AM

I'm enjoying the critical beating that NBC is getting for stretching the results to an hour, when the CNN and E! telecasts were over in 35 minutes.

Lowest point occurred when the AH duo asked David Karger for his predictions on Best Drama, pretending the results were not already known.

Posted by: digitalhit at January 14, 2008 04:37 AM

Kris, while I don't think Atonement's win was surprising in the slightest - it was totally up their alley and last year they gave it to Babel over The Departed - but most nominated does not reap the ultimate awards. Just ask Anthony Minghella.

Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at January 14, 2008 05:05 AM

Oh, and when is somebody of stature in the industry (and not just obsessive bloggers) going to call complete and utter bullshit on Marion Cotillard winning the best actress musical/comedy awards (let alone being nominated) for a performance that is neither comedic nor musical, in a film that is neither comedic nor a musical.

It happened with Jamie Foxx in Ray, but that film was about music so I don't particularly mind. But La Vie en Rose is just an ordinary drama about a woman who occasionally gets on stage and lipsyncs.

Utter.Bullshit.

I feel sorry for Amy Adams and Ellen Page especially. They don't deserve to be beated by Cotillard and her stupid wigs.

Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at January 14, 2008 05:09 AM

"But there wasn’t a moment of fun in it"

Are you kidding? The entire thing was LMAO expose of just how empty this particular awards show is. The idea of giving out awards for what is supposed to be art is idiotic enough, but the Globes take to a whole 'nother level down. There is absolutely NO DIFFERENCE between the Globes and if I got 82 of my friends to decide what should be given an oversized paperweight. NONE.

************* ************* ************

Yet

Believe it or not, it could have been worse as any of us who happened to tune into Larry King Live were witness to last night.

I was surfing around for background noise while I cooked dinner and left it on CNN. As jaw-dropping, "OMFG" awful as the presentations were (with the presenters acting as if they had won something by being there), it sank even further with King throwing in his beyond-inane two cents after every win.

Nothing will ever strip-bare and expose the worthlessness of these (or most) awards as this. It made my night.

Posted by: RoyBatty at January 14, 2008 09:53 AM

im glad atonement won, even though this is truly the bargain basement of awards shows.

javier bardem feels like a no brainer for best supporting actor at the oscars.

will the best pictures now be Atonement, No Country, There Will Be Blood, Juno, and Michael Clayton.

I could live with that lineup. Personally, that seems like the best 5 pics i saw this year. Even if Into the Wild takes one of the spots, i'd be happy.

This is the first year in a long time that feels like the awards could be more about the celebration of film than an annoying competition and political fight for the awards.

Maybe downgrading the award shows is a good thing. It certainly doesn't feel like the massive day after slugfest than it usually does. And with all the WGA strike stuff going on, the focus seems to be elsewhere.

I would love to see a downplayed Oscars where the awards are handed out and the scripted bits are kept to a minimums. I can't be the only one thinking that maybe this is a good thing for the industry. Maybe not financially, but creatively speaking, not sitting through a 3+ hour oscars would feel like a win to me.

Posted by: anghus at January 14, 2008 10:17 AM

KCamel, we all know you hated the movie but how is La Vie en Rose less 'about music' than Ray?

Posted by: jeffmcm at January 14, 2008 12:59 PM

For the last few years those films that got nominated by both DGA/PGA/WGA all ended up been Oscar best film contenders. So here are the four potential nominees:
*Living bell & the butterfly
*There will be flood
*No Country for old men
*Michael Clayton
The 5th contender will be either Into The Wild (good chance since it's also DGA nominee), Juno, or Atonement.

Posted by: oscarpdx at January 14, 2008 01:05 PM

RoyBatty,

Yes, the King comments showed his usual "research". Especially when the Best Actor Musical/Comedy nominees were announced and he commented that he couldn't believe Day-Lewis wasn't in the running. Wrong category, King, wrong category...

Posted by: digitalhit at January 14, 2008 04:48 PM

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January 13, 2008

Globes...

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