popular thinking

My initial thoughts on today's nominations for Golden Globe Awards by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association...winners announced Jan. 15, 2007, on NBC.

Best Picture, Drama: Babel (weighty gloom = awards recognition), Bobby (more because everyone loves RFK and seeing his real-life footage made anyone yearn for a different ending, and not because Emilio Estevez is a genius), The Departed (it's that good), Little Children (see Babel formula) and The Queen (jolly good, even though Lady Di still dies in the end, or the beginning -- hope I didn't spoil it for you).
Note that neither of Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima movies made the final cut. Neither did the 9/11 movies World Trade Center or United 93. Those foreign press people just don't love America, do they...

Movie Actress, Drama: Penelope Cruz (muy caliente), Dame Judi Dench (muy not so much), Maggie Gyllenhaal (grittiness always is a plus in awards season), Helen Mirren (aging it up) and Kate Winslet (as always).

Movie Actor, Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio vs. himself (South African or South Boston accent, it's a toss-up), Peter O'Toole (a chance to reward the old man), Will Smith (given), Forest Whitaker (critic's choice).
Where's Matt Damon? Don't worry. Oscar may still give you a chance. Daniel Craig? Sorry, too, Mr. Bond. They loved you, just not that much.

Best Picture, Comedy/Musical: Borat, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine and Thank You For Smoking.
That standing ovation at Cannes for Kevin Smith's Clerks II seems like a lifetime ago, especially for Mr. Smith. Memo to Beerfest: You were as outrageous as Borat, but more like the frat guys who got their hats handed to them by Sacha Baron Cohen. Jack Black will be angry at first, then enjoy how this just makes him more of a cult classic.

Movie Actress, Comedy/Musical: Annette Bening (despite her turn on SNL last weekend), Toni Collete (as a lead?), Beyonce (say her name, say her name), Meryl Streep (who'll likely win if Bening doesn't), and Renee Zellweger (um, OK). I'd rather add Anne Hathaway here somewhere.

Movie Actor, Comedy/Musical: Sacha Baron Cohen (he acted and sang, mind you), Johnny Depp (in a repeat performance), Aaron Eckhart (sorry, but you're up against Borat), Chiwetel Ejiofor (sorry, but you're up against Borat), Will Ferrell (sorry, but you were more dramatic than funny in this movie, and you're up against Borat).

Animated Movie: Cars, Happy Feet, Monster House (go with the one that's not about cars or penguins, please)

Foreign Language Movie: Apocalypto (that's Mel Gibson's Apocalypto), Letters from Iwo Jima (that's Clint Eastwood's, oh, you get the idea) The Lives of Others (Germans), Pan's Labyrinth (makes me dizzy), Volver (makes me dizzy, but in a good way)
Notice how two of these movies were made by Americans, who are foreign in the eyes of the foreign press, and not in English, so I guess that sort of counts...right?

Supporting Actress, Movies: Babel lady, Cate Blanchett in a non-Babel role, Emily Blunt (as the funny evil co-worker in Prada), your winner Jennifer Hudson and someone else from Babel.

Supporting Actor, Movies: Ben Affleck (as Superman, er, I mean, George Reeves, but hooray, he's back in good graces!), Eddie Murphy (who was pretending to be James Brown 25 years ago), Jack Nicholson being Jack Nicholson, Brad Pitt, and Mark Wahlberg in his best role ever (even including Boogie Nights).
Alec Baldwin also could've gotten a nod here, so let's hope we see his name later on this list.

Director, Movies: Clint Eastwood vs. Clint Eastwood (you want that in English or Japanese?), Stephen Frears (in the Queen's English), the Babel guy, or the man, the myth, the legend, Martin Scorsese, who should get a slew of awards this time around, finally.

Screenplay, Movies: More Babeling, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, The Departed or The Queen. Again, I'd say The Departed, but you never know.

Movie Score and Song, I'm skipping you for now. Sorry.

TV Show, Drama: 24 (yay!), Big Love (OK), Grey's Anatomy (eh), Heroes (yay!) and Lost (yay, but clearly the press has more patience than us fans do at this point).
Friday Night Lights, which I just got into, is a great little drama. Everyone I know who watches The Wire (not me) says it's the best. I like Dexter, too, but maybe that's because I'm weird. House is good, too. There's a lot to like, though, so some folks just get stuck.

TV Actress, Drama: Patricia Arquette sees dead people and criminals, Edie Falco hopes she's not going to end up dead, Evangeline Lilly is pretty Lost, Ellen Pompeo talks in voiceovers way too much, and Kyra Sedgwick has a great role as The Closer, so she should close this one out.

TV Actor, Drama: Patrick Dempsey is McDreaming if he thinks he'll win, Michael C. Hall as Dexter (that's some consolation), Hugh Laurie as Dr. House (crankypants), Bill Paxton in Mormon Country, or Keifer Sutherland saving the world, again.
Pretty solid, though Denis Leary gets passed over this time, as do his F/X counterparts from The Shield.

TV Show, Comedy/Musical: Desperate Housewives (which I've stopped watching, so there), Entourage (overrated, but not as much as the previous show here), The Office (hooray!), Ugly Betty (yes, funny, too), and Weeds (eh).
What does this say about the state of TV comedy? Bad things. Wasn't Extras on HBO this calendar year? Or they could've put South Park in there.

TV Actress, Comedy/Musical: Marcia Cross, America Ferrera, Felicity Huffman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mary-Louise Parker. Ugly Betty wins?

TV Actor, Comedy/Musical: Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock proves he has a real knack for this comedy thing, in case you hadn't noticed, Zach Braff, Steve Carell will give Baldwin his main competition, Jason Lee (isn't really all that, at least in this role), and Tony Shalhoub needs to share trophies more often.

TV Supporting Actress: Didn't see her, didn't see her, Katherine Heigl as the hot doc Izzy, Sarah Paulson pretending to be funny but not really, or Elizabeth Perkins. I give up.

TV Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church is no longer wingin' it, Jeremy Irons is good, Justin Kirk is unknown to me, Masi Oka is a superhero in my book, and Jeremy Piven is great and all, but he's no superhero.