Monday Morning Quarterback Part I
By BOP Staff
January 18, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Kim Hollis: What were your impressions of the Golden Globes? What do you consider to be the highlights and low points of the event? Also, do you consider this year's Oscar race to be a foregone conclusion?
Josh Spiegel: My impressions are that the Globes know how to surprise people, but are completely unimportant. As stated by a few people already, the two Best Picture winners were ridiculously popular, which proves that the Golden Globes like the shiny, shiny glow of movie stars and popular directors. That's not to say that the winners were bad, but was Avatar a better film than The Hurt Locker? Up in the Air? Hard to say. The low points were the majority of the acceptance speeches, which either went on too long (Mo'Nique, while moving, went on for two minutes too many), or were inexplicably played off 30 seconds in. Another low point was the direction of the ceremony, which was terrible. When Jeff Bridges is sitting in the front row, but you can't find him when his name is being read off, there's a problem. Highlights included Robert Downey, Jr., Ricky Gervais, and the Martin Scorsese speech. The Oscar race is far from foregone, but Avatar got a boost with the Globes.
Jason Lee: I didn't catch the show, but even in just looking at the winners, I still think the Best Picture race is wiiiiiiiiiiide open. Up In The Air, Avatar, Hurt Locker and Precious all have a shot, especially given the fact that there will be ten nominees to choose from and potentially a great deal of split votes. I think the Globes definitely helped Sandra Bullock's chances of scoring her first Oscar nod and I think they've all but sewed up Oscars for Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz. I hope they've also done the same for Meryl Streep - she was just wonderful in Julie & Julia, and absolutely "wuz robbed" last year for Doubt.
Reagen Sulewski: Dear Ricky Gervais - you may want to look over your shoulder. Mel Gibson may play a good sport but if his movies have taught me anything, he'll hunt you down to the ends of the Earth.
Calvin Trager: I was impressed with Julia Roberts; she successfully extended her streak of making the "awards presenter" role ALL about herself (as in when she held us all hostage to talk to her kids in the spot where the announcement of the most important award of the evening is supposed to go). I know we have been calling her out on this annoying-habit-slash-massive-character-flaw literally for years, but I think we should now be at the point where a little credit is due. I mean, look around: There are marriages - complete, committed relationships involving two separate people - that haven't lasted as long as Julia Roberts' love affair with herself. That is an impressive amount of self-esteem, if you ask me. We are at the point now where the only logical next step is to name a flower after her.
George Rose: I swear to God, if Avatar wins Best Picture at the Oscars over Up in the Air, I'm going to turn my back on Hollywood and become a sports fan. I'm dead serious. It can win every technical award, that's fine. It can even win Best Actress for Zoe Saldana. I'd even support it winning Best Animated Movie instead of Pixar's Up. But $2 billion in worldwide box office does not make a movie the best movie of the year. By this logic, the winner should be whichever movie makes the most money in a year and that is rarely the case at the Oscars. Should Sandra Bullock win Best Actress? No, but they might throw her the bone as like a "career achievement" Oscar, which is wrong but still not the worst thing the Academy has ever done. James Cameron doesn't need a bone thrown in his direction. The $1 billion he'll make off the movie is more than enough, as are the many Oscars that Titanic walked away with.
As much as the Golden Globes are one big Hollywood joke, this was the first time I failed to laugh. I don't get the joke one bit. Why is Avatar trying to ruin my love of the film industry? Why don't the Golden Globes ever take anything seriously? Why does Drew Barrymore seem like the most insane, bipolar person on the planet, but is someone I'd kill to be friends with? Like everything else in the world, Hollywood is unpredictable. The joke isn't always funny, the good movies don't always win awards, and nothing... not awards, not opening weekends, not worldwide box office... can be predicted. That's why it's usually so much fun to follow! As for the Oscars, nothing is a foregone conclusion. The Golden Globes aren't the final say on anything, and while I hate almost every aspect of Avatar's release, it's going to make one very intense and interesting Oscar viewing party.
Tom Macy: For a second there I was worried I wasn't going to get to talk about Avatar this week, which has now overtaken Up in the Air as the film to beat at this year's Oscars. It's amazing how a box office phenom can translate into awards success. To me the most notable trait of each of the winners of Best Picture - Avatar and The Hangover - was their performance at the box office.
In more bad news for Up in the Air, Jeff Bridges - despite starring in a much lesser seen film (though a superior one) - is starting to look like a formidable opponent for George Clooney. But Clooney's still in it, in fact it's probably the most intriguing race at this point. As for Best Actress, I'm very bummed that the fantastic Carey Mulligan didn't get a boost, though I still see her as a dark horse to look out for in what's shaping up as a fairly weak category this year. Speaking of which, man what a year for Sandra Bullock, huh? The supporting acting awards seem to be a bit more of a lock and probably already have Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique printed on the statues. Overall there's not a lot to chew on. I think I'm most intrigued to see if Avatar can match/surpass Titanic's Oscar pile. My hunch is no, but I know better than to doubt James Cameron again. Prediction: 27 Oscars.
Matthew Huntley: Some of the Golden Globe winners really surprised me this year. I thought Kathryn Bigelow was a lock for Best Director (not that James Cameron isn't also deserving) and I didn't expect Robert Downey Jr. to win over Matt Damon or Michael Stuhlbarg.
The highlights of the evening were Mo'nique's acceptance speech and Jeff Bridges' standing ovation. When Bridges mentioned his wife, it was truly touching, as was Sandra Bullock's humble thanks to her cast and crew. I also liked Downey Jr.'s irreverent acceptance speech, which loosened everybody up.
Not that it's a low point, but I do wish Bigelow had won Director and Hurt Locker took home the statue for Picture. Don't get me wrong; Avatar is phenomenal in its own right, but Hurt Locker just seems like the better film overall. I was also disappointed that The Hangover won for Best Comedy over (500) Days of Summer. The Hangover is funny, sure, but it's not that funny, and in the end I think its popularity won it the award. The only question now is if it will get a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, now that the category has opened up to ten films.
Ultimately, no, I don't consider this year's Oscar race is already decided. Avatar will surely get numerous nominations and technical wins, but I still say Hurt Locker will be the big winner. I think it will be a battle between these two films, but there are always surprises, just like the Globes proved tonight.
Michael Lynderey: The Globes were a modestly entertaining show, and that's about the most anyone can expect from them. As for the Oscars, there's been one foregone conclusion for me since just about August: Christoph Waltz = Best Supporting Actor. The other acting awards are a little more sketchy; Jeff Bridges could still get toppled from the Best Actor throne, the Supporting Actress category loves to start the night off with a surprise, and the Bullock win tonight just made the Best Actress race the least predictable one of the four: will the Academy give the prize to the veteran superstar who just had her biggest box office year yet (Bullock), or to one of the two ingenues (Sidibe, Mulligan) who carried a pair of very different coming-of-age stories? Now that's going to be the question of the night. As for Best Picture and Best Director... a little less of a mystery there, isn't it? Though word on the street is that Pixar's getting beat in the Best Animated Film category this year (I heard it from a friend of a friend of mine, so it must be true).
Kim Hollis: What I took away from last night's ceremony is that Avatar will now always be Abadah to me from now on. I'll never be able to think of it any other way. I was less surprised than most by all of the winners. I know our staff has a lot of love for The Hurt Locker (and it's a great film to be sure) but it's not the kind of movie that the Academy likes to award. And with the ten nominees and the split voting system, I expect it to not win Best Picture. I do think Bigelow could sneak in for director, but the problem is that she didn't direct a movie that was potentially industry-changing and highly regarded at the same time. The only lock I see is Christoph Waltz for Supporting Actor, as everyone knows he is winning (and should win) that award.
My favorite moments were, like many, Robert Downey Jr.'s speech, the Scorsese honors, and Michael Giacchino getting all starstruck up on stage over Paul McCartney. It was kind of a crappy ceremony in general - I think a lot of people were having some trouble with the teleprompter.
David Mumpower: I hate to use the term foregone conclusion, but Avatar strikes me as a mortal lock for Best Picture. Watching last night's show simply reinforced this assumption I'd already made. Even the other Best Picture winner last night, The Hangover, isn't a legitimate threat, almost as if the Hollywood Foreign Press Association wanted to raise Avatar over all the other Best Picture Oscars contenders that much more. The reality is that whether Avatar moved you or not, the rest of the Best Picture contenders this year are too flawed to make a serious run at it. The Hurt Locker earned too little, Up in the Air is a better performance than a movie (to most critics, anyway), Precious has lost momentum and everything else makes for lousy competition. As for whether or not Avatar deserves Best Picture, this is an instance of history repeating itself as the same arguments were made for/against Titanic. I'm sure they will be hotly regurgitated between now and the day after the Academy Awards are held. Independent of whether you agree with any of it, Avatar is THE big fish in a very small pond of awards contenders this year.
In terms of the show itself last night, I thought the big winner was Robert Downey Jr. for a phenomenal, unrehearsed speech. I was annoyed with the production, particularly rushing an accomplished actress like Sandra Bullock (who not only should win Best Actress for The Blind Side but deserves it as well) off the stage. Moments later, Julia Roberts walked on the stage to talk about how the show ran short, giving her time to kill which she used in discussing her children as Calvin Trager addresses above. These people give years of their lives to these projects yet the music plays them off the stage the instant the producer realizes they're not famous enough. If Sandra Bullock doesn't qualify for extended discussion time, what hope does Christoph Waltz have? I also never find Ricky Gervais funny, which continues to be a source of constant outrage to the rest of BOP's staff. Last night's ceremony was no exception. While I give him credit for saying things to the faces of the other celebrities in attendance, all he managed to do was piss off Paul McCartney. At least the people in attendance at the Golden Globes are always nice and drunk, which is probably the doomsday scenario for all of their PR people, but it creates a loose atmosphere where everyone sounds like Mickey Rourke, at least for one night. I like that a lot more than the generally stuffy atmosphere at the Oscars.