Posts Tagged ‘Golden Globes’
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As I type this, Cami is downstairs watching the last of the Golden Globes. She always gets excited during award season. Personally, I could care less about some of them. And of all the wolves in sheep’s clothing, I think the Golden Globes are the worst offenders.
Everyone talks about how the Golden Globes are a precursor to who will win the Oscar. My feeling is that Oscar voters are just lazy and will mark down on the ballot whichever name rings a bell first. The media fills in all the gaps between now and March.
You only need look at the nominees for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical to realize that the opinions of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association mean exactly nothing. Goldie Hawn for The Banger Sisters? C’mon!
I didn’t get a chance to see any movies this weekend because I was doing it up Minneapolis-Style with my good friend Nick when Cami, Jared, Jared’s wife Patti and I all went to visit him and his wife Erin over the weekend.
I had an awesome time catching up with them and they took us to a really cool Thai restaurant whose entrees did not result in me clutching my throat while steam poured out my ears. It was really good.
Visiting places like Minneapolis makes me realize how boring Des Moines could be. We went out to the Uptown district and were cruising by all of these shops. There were more people walking around on a Saturday night then you’re likely to find in a whole month in Des Moines. Never mind the temperature was, like negative 5. There were still people milling about.
If anything, going North for the weekend has taught me that I am not as equipped to handle the cold as I once thought. I’m wearing a turtleneck and a heavy wool coat, freezing my ass off and I’m seeing locals wandering about with no jackets, wearing only t-shirts. Sick.
I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get an opportunity to get some face time with my fellow web-comic authors Mitch from Nothing Nice to Say or Zach from No Pants Tuesday. But our time was brief. Still, it would have been cool. I guess these links to their sites will have to do…
You may have noticed that we’re starting to flesh out the reviews section. Today, I’ve added some words about the new Jason Lee/Julia Stiles flick A Guy Thing. How appropriate that it was written by our good friend Nick! You should go read it right now and learn why Nick has the BA in English and I don’t. That kid writes scary-good.
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For those of you who have been voting for Theater Hopper over at BuzzComix this week, you may have noticed a theme. Well, today I chose to continue that theme and I’m probably the proudest of this piece. It’s has a little sex appeal. Consider it a favor to the fanboys. And before you question – Yes, Cami approved it. Click the link to find out what all the fuss is about!
Today’s comic really isn’t so much of a dig against The Perfect Score – although it’s clearly a detestable slice of cinema. I think my judgment is fairly accurate when you consider the number of times I’ve seen the advertisements for this movie on MTV, I’ve been able to stitch together the entire beginning, middle and end of it without having paid a dime.
I really wouldn’t need to go to all that trouble. They basically give away everything in the trailer. Some high school kids are stressed about the S.A.T., so they decide to steal it. After much ballyhoo, they realize that, in the end, it’s just a test and they’ll still be good people once it’s over. MORONS!
Cami’s take on Scarlett Johansson (while not as violent) is pretty fairly represented in today’s comic. I dunno. She just doesn’t like her. Thinks she has attitude. Doesn’t work well with others. In a way, I can see it. Part of me knows that there won’t be much left for her once she grows out of her ingenue phase. She seems cold. Distant. A little W.A.S.P.y… Is it just me?
We have a big weekend planned. Lots of time with friends and family. Of course The Super Bowl is involved. I don’t follow football very closely, but even a casual fan like me can recognize that the match-up between the Patriots and the Panthers is going to be a real snooze-fest. There is no rivalry between the two teams and no personalities in their roster to cheer for. It’s kind of like two inner city gangs showed up to the same place at the same time expecting to fight, but then not having a problem with the people they end up meeting there. It’s kind of an “Oh, you’ll do.” situation.
Side Note: I just had the complete first and second season of The Critic dropped off on my front step this afternoon. If you haven’t seen this Jon Lovitz animated program on Fox or in reruns on Comedy Central (it was produced by the creators of The Simpsons), you owe it to yourself to pick it up on DVD. It’s essential watching for all movie satirists.
Take care everyone! Stay warm this weekend!
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I know today’s comic seems like a partial retread of Friday’s comic, and I apologize for that. But it’s important to show that Charlie feels guilty for what she’s done. Charlie’s guilt over her actions is a necessary character moment in this story arc. One that will have important significance later on.
The implications of what’s being shown to you here should affect how everything else unfolds. Consider it the turning point in the storyline. Introductions are complete. Now it’s time to answer the questions. Why is Charlie being so defensive? What is her reason for coming back home? All of this will be revealed in time immediately following this comic.
An interesting thing happened last week. On Wednesday I asked for feedback because it seemed the readership was being usually mum on the subject of Charlie’s introduction. It turns out they were just being polite. After soliciting everyone, I received some positive feedback, but stronger negative notices. The pacing was too slow and unfunny, they said. It left me with serious doubts as to how I would progress the story.
On the one hand, I wanted to tell the story I wanted to tell and was fairly adamant about telling it in the time span I wanted to tell it.
On the other hand, I felt I was alienating readers who couldn’t see the bigger picture. That once told, Charlie’s full integration into the comic would provide new avenues for commentary when I returned to topic humor.
Sharing this on Friday resulted in a swell of positive feedback. “Don’t listen to them,” they said. “We’re interested in seeing where this goes. Stick with it!”
And so here we are…
I had given thought to suspend the two week story I had been building to return to topical humor for a week, and then pick up where I left off later. I felt it would have been a strong compromise between those looking for easy laughs and digestible humor.
And while I understand the need for that, I feel a stronger need to do what I need to do. So Charlie’s story will continue.
I know that will alienate some of you. All I can say is that I’m sorry. I hope you come back to us at a future date. In all honesty, I’m still trying to figure out how to make this work. Where to sacrifice characterization for laughs while still trying to establish that WITHOUT characterization – without the background knowledge of a character’s motivation and past experiences – those laughs will ring hollow. People won’t know where they’re coming from.
My thought is that the only way to resolve it is to plow through the exposition that gets us from Point A to Point B. Starting this week, you can expect a full week of comics. So come back tomorrow for an accelerated understanding of the Who, What, When, Why and How.
I don’t mean to assign more importance to what I do than it’s worth. But I made an effort to listen to You and now I need to listen to myself. My philosophy is that if I had to choose between being entertaining or lacking integrity as an artist capable of making his own decisions, I would choose the former and not the latter.
Those of you finding it difficult to cultivate your patience, I implore you to stick with it and trust that in the end, it will all be worth it.
Because it will be.
Even if this story line doesn’t cut it for you, allowing me to stretch out creatively in this way keeps me happy. And keeping my happy keeps me motivated. And keeping me motivated brings you one step closer to seeing the kind of comics we laid the foundation of Theater Hopper with. Except better, more involved and richer.
To those who support Theater Hopper unconditionally, your support will always be appreciated with sincerity. Thank you.
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Your ability to understand or appreciate today’s comic relies entirely on whether or not you watched Saturday Night Live this weekend with host Sigourney Weaver.
If you’re at all confused by the punchline, watch this video to be brought up to speed.
As you can see, I’m really aiming for jokes that will stand the test of time after this video’s viral status has faded.
I think I may have accomplished making this comic both topical and obscure at the same time.
Of course, last night was The Golden Globes. Usually I don’t pay too much attention to the Golden Globes because I don’t really care what the Hollywood Foreign Press has to say about, well… anything! But I was interested to see how Ricky Gervais would handle himself as host and was also looking for some kind of trend in terms of what movies might be nominated for Oscars this year. I was particularly interested in the latter considering that the Academy has opened up the field for Best Picture to 10 nominees. Could The Hangover’s win for Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical have any bearings on Oscar nominations? We have to wait and see, I guess.
Incidentally, I live-blogged the event last night and you can read the entire transcript here. I’m using an application called Cover It Live which allows readers to participate in the conversation. I think it went really well. We had a really strong turn out despite very little advance notice. So I will definitely have to promote the fact that I’m live blogging for the Oscars.
If you don’t want to read two hours of snark, here are some of my highlights and lowlights from last night’s show.
- Mo’Nique’s acceptance speech – Maybe I’m just over the hype Precious has generated for itself, but the speech that others found uplifting, I found self-important and a pretentious way to start the evening.
- Martin Scorsese wins the Cecil B. DeMille Award – I kind of thought Hollywood was finished giving Scorsese gold watch awards after The Departed, but their montage of his films made me want to sit down and watch every single one of them in order – even Kundun. Of course, then they had to ruin it by making it a big advertisement for Shutter Island. Aw, who am I kidding? I’ll still go see it. It looks like a great Hitchcockian thriller and I was smitten listening to Scorsese talking about film preservation. Seriously!
- Glee wins Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical – Sorry, I’m not a fan and you’re not going to convince me that Glee was any better than 30 Rock this season or any other. Where was all the love for prime-time musicals when Cop Rock was on the air?
- Ricky Gervais as host – I thought he got in a good dig on Mel Gibson as someone who “likes to have a drink from time to time,” but found him classless for plugging his HBO series at the end of the show before dashing away from the podium.
- Up wins Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score – Motion Picture – I was legitimately thrilled when I saw Up win for Best Animated Feature… until I remembered Fantastic Mr. Fox was up for the same role. (Maybe I should flip my last two picks for the Top 10 of 2009…) There was no disputing Michael Giacchino’s win for Best Original Score – one of the most emotional and effective of the year.
- Christoph Waltz wins Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role for Inglourious Basterds – Another gimme. If Waltz doesn’t win a Best Supporting Oscar, I’ll be shocked. The man speaks 4 languages in his performance!
- Jason Reitman looked pissed when he lost Best Picture to Avatar – Go back and watch the tape. He looked livid.
- James Cameron speaks in Na’vi – During his acceptance speech for Best Director, Cameron came precariously close to the pretentiousness that killed any remaining good will I had for Titanic after his boastful “I’m the king of the world” Oscar acceptance speech in 1998. Also note that he didn’t thank any of the fans who helped push Avatar to nearly half a billion dollars in box office domestically.
- Robert Downey Jr. wins Best Actor – Comedy or Musical – I was convinced Matt Damon would win for his work in The Informant! That’ll teach me to bet against RDJ, who delivered one of the most entertaining speeches of the night.
- Jeff Bridges wins Best Actor – Drama – Another upset, as I was sure George Clooney would win for Up In The Air. I had a cursory interest in seeing Crazy Heart. Now it’s at the top of my “must see” list.
- Beards – Between Jon Hamm, Christoph Waltz sporting beards and William Hurt looking like Rutherford B. Hayes, what was up with all the facial hair last night?
Anyway, that’s my take on the Golden Globes. Did any of you watch last night? What did you think about the broadcast? What were your favorite moments? What were your least favorite moments. Leave your comments below!
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I think everyone was left scratching their heads when The Hollywood Foreign Press nominated The Tourist, Burlesque and Red for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical. But, for me, it was the final revelation that the Emperor TRULY wears no clothes.
I mean, the Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical category has always been a bit off a goof. Especially considering that the two genres have very little (if anything) to do with each other. And besides, how many musicals does Hollywood produce a year? One? Maybe two?
When you look at the nominees in this category, you begin to understand why comedic actors are rarely nominated for Oscars. Because, apparently, what counts as “comedy” in that town is REALLY friggin’ subjective.
I missed the first hour of the Golden Globes because I was busy being a parent (or some such nonsense) and was reading Henry stories before putting him to bed. I kind of wish I had caught the first hour because I heard Trent Reznor won Best Score for his work in The Social Network, went on stage to collect his award and that would have been very surreal to see.
But I started watching in the second hour and after about :30 minutes, thought to myself, “I’d really rather be playing video games right now.”
I managed to stick it out for the rest of the show. Chalk it up to exhaustion and not wanting to get up off the couch. But as I laid there, I asked myself “How do I get sucked into this every year? How does The Hollywood Foreign Press manage to convince me that this is important? That they’re not plying all of these celebrities with booze so the can take pictures with them later? Why does this matter?”
I still haven’t come up with a good answer for you on that one, but I’ll be sure to get back to you when I do.
More than the nominees or the winners, it seems like people are talking about Ricky Gervais as the event’s host. I guess his opening monologue was pretty incendiary and Robert Downey Jr. shot back at one point. I missed that stuff.
The stuff I did manage to see I thought was a little mean-spirited. Not that I’m against knocking celebrities off their high horses (obviously), but I’ve always kind of found Gervais to be insufferable. It’s that snarky, know-it-all tone and ridiculous grin, I think.
No doubt that Gervais is devastatingly smart, but Gervais’s put downs are never about getting the target to laugh at themselves. It’s straight up insults – “You’re a drunk! You can’t get work! You’re stupid!” – and it’s not entertaining to watch.
As I pointed out on the Theater Hopper Facebook page, I was left with the distinct impression that Gervais was doing everything in his power NOT to be asked back as host next year. Mission accomplished, bro.
If you’re curious, I’ve posted all of the Golden Globe winners in the new Theater Hopper blog – Bonus Materials. Be sure to check that out. I float a lot of odds and ends in there, so be sure to check back often. Or, feel free to subscribe to the Theater Hopper RSS feed. The blog posts show up there as well.
In the meantime, did you watch the Golden Globes last night? Were you as flummoxed as I was? What is your reaction to the nominees and the winners? Leave your comments below!
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In case you had money on the line, here are the winners of the 2011 Golden Globes.
MOTION PICTURES
Best Picture, Drama: “The Social Network.”
Best Picture, Musical or Comedy: “The Kids Are All Right.”
Best Actor, Drama: Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech.”
Best Actress, Drama: Natalie Portman, “Black Swan.”
Best Director: David Fincher, “The Social Network.”
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Annette Bening, “The Kids Are All Right.”
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Paul Giamatti, “Barney’s Version.”
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, “The Fighter.”
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, “The Fighter.”
Best Foreign Language: “In a Better World.”
Best Animated Film: “Toy Story 3.”
Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, “The Social Network.”
Best Original Score: “The Social Network.”
Best Original Song: “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” (written by Diane Warren), “Burlesque.”
TELEVISION
Best Series, Drama: “Boardwalk Empire,” HBO.
Best Actor, Drama: Steve Buscemi, “Boardwalk Empire.”
Best Actress, Drama: Katey Sagal, “Sons of Anarchy.”
Best Series, Musical or Comedy: “Glee,” Fox.
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory.”
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Laura Linney, “The Big C.”
Best Miniseries or Movie: “Carlos,” Sundance Channel.
Best Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Claire Danes, “Temple Grandin.”
Best Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Al Pacino, “You Don’t Know Jack.”
Best Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jane Lynch, “Glee.”
Best Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Chris Colfer, “Glee.”
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Last night on the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Emma Stone confirmed to MTV’s Josh Horowitz that Spider-Man’s web shooters will be a mechanical device in the reboot – not the organic web shooters of Raimi’s films.
So, I’m glad that’s been all cleared up.
That said, I think Emma Stone would have made a MUCH more interesting Mary-Jane Watson. Not for the red hair, but because she has the right tough-chick attitude.
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I was kind of spacing off for a moment and quietly reflecting on Trent Reznor’s win last Sunday at the Golden Globes for Best Original Score.
After watching the ceremony last week, Reznor’s win along with the several additional trophies The Social Network took home that night, I was motivated to listen to the film’s soundtrack and slipped into it’s dithering electronic hum for an hour or so.
Reznor’s score is probably one of my favorites of the year. But another electronic act – Daft Punk – also ranks highly for their work on the Tron: Legacy soundtrack.
I am certain I am not the first to notice that these two genre powerhouses dipped a toe in Tinsletown this year. But I am struck by the disparity of their output.
While the Tron: Legacy soundtrack is enthralling and certainly grandiose in scope, it was criticized for not bringing enough of Daft Punk’s signature drive to the table. Some people found it a little heavy on the orchestration and a little light on the booty-shakin’ beats.
I appreciate the Tron: Legacy soundtrack for what it is, but admit I wish that the signature track “Derezzed” was about 15 minutes longer…
By comparison, Reznor’s work is very similar to much of Nine Inch Nails’ instrumental catalog. The atmosphere of the score fits in quiet comfortably with the dark, melodic underpinnings of NIN remix EPs like Still or Ghosts I–IV. In many cases, tracks retain the propulsive beat missing from Daft Punk’s soundtrack work – even if it veers into distorted, bleak territory.
I’m not arguing that either effort is better than the other. But it’s interesting to notice the trajectory of these artist’s work. Reznor stuck with a formula that’s been evolving for over 20 years and converged with director David Fincher’s vision for The Social Network.
Daft Punk, on the other hand, completely re-imagined their sound. A successful effort that fans were not expecting and was met with varying degrees of acceptance.
Just making observations. How about you? Do you own either soundtrack? Do you believe Reznor was deserving of his Golden Globe victory? Leave your comments below.
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