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Monday, January 15, 2007
Golden Globes Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Hollywood
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, that small group of foreign journalists in Hollywood almost got its awards right.
The Helen Mirren Awards … and let’s be honest here, while you may call them the Golden Globes, I’ll refer to them by what they really were tonight because nobody has so commanded these honors since a guy named Jamie Foxx grabbed a show-stopping best movie actor trophy a couple of years ago for “Ray.”
So, the Helen Mirren Awards did bestow a twofer on the actress as Queen Elizabeth I on TV and Queen Elizabeth II on the big screen, but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association also named the paltry, globe-trotting, we-are-the-world “Babel” as best dramatic motion picture.
That’s so Hollywood. Celebrities patting themselves on the back for their humanity while underneath ultimately trying to sucker everybody into buying a movie ticket to see the great and powerful Brad Pitt stomp his foot in a bad case of puffy acting.
Yes, in his acceptance speech director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu paid homage to his fellow Mexican directors Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro. But Inarritu needs to understand - his “Babel” isn’t half the film of Cuaron’s “Children of Men” or, especially, del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
But these Golden Globes did get so much right:
1. Mirren as best drama movie actress for “The Queen.” It’s her awards season. Like Foxx, she should coast to the Oscars and win big. She also won the TV acting award for “Elizabeth I.”
2. Forest Whitaker as best drama movie actor for “The Last King of Scotland.” After all the old-hat grandstanding of Warren and Clint and Jack and Tom (as in Hanks), it’s nice to see somebody emotionally overwhelmed by a big awards show moment. (By the way, no, I don’t know what gutter the disheveled Philip Seymour Hoffman crawled out of to come on stage and announce the award.)
3. Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy as best movie supporting actress and supporting actor for “Dreamgirls.” They are easily the two best aspects of a fun, if irregular, film musical. “Dreamgirls” also won best comedy/musical movie. (Note to Jay-Z: it might be considered good form to at least look at Beyonce every now and then when you’re out together.)
4. Sacha Baron Cohen as best comedy/musical actor for “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” His acceptance speech was hilariously disrespectful, referring to the film’s nude wrestling bout with his 300-pound male co-star. He talked of body orifices and small air pockets … and we’ll say no more now or we’ll get into trouble.
5. Martin Scorsese as best movie director for “The Departed.” The film’s not nearly as good as Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” or “Raging Bull” or even “Casino,” but it’s finally his year. A seven-time Oscar loser, his chances are looking very good for the Academy Awards.
6. “Ugly Betty” as best TV comedy series and America Ferrera as TV comedy actress. It’s all real nice and sweet and the show is good and she’s good … but … doesn’t it seem a bit strange that all the beautiful people in Hollywood will give themselves a standing ovation and chest-swell with pride because they’ve uglied up a pretty actress and honored her so they can say, “See, world, we care about fat people with braces.”
I’ll believe that shameless blarney only when Miss Golden Globe is some 300-pound lovely pushed into a Dolce and Gabbana gown and laden with multimillion-dollar loaner jewelry.
But I also have questions about this year’s Golden Globes ….
Like, what does it mean that during E!’s red-carpet coverage one could spot Will Smith taking the time to sign autographs from fans in the bleachers, but a few moments later Brad Pitt was seen deflecting a similar fan request by pointing at his watch and seeming to mouth something about not having time?
Like, what is Sharon Stone doing sitting at a table with Donald Trump?
Like, how does it feel to be Jeremy Piven? I mean, he was being interviewed on the red carpet on E! when he was suddenly cut off in midsentence by the arrival at another microphone of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who seemed to warrant the kind of hallowed media attention usually bestowed upon the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Santa.
Am I the only one who notices these things?
What did you think of the awards?
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