Showing posts with label Golden Globes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golden Globes. Show all posts

Monday, March 1, 2021

Let's Dish About the 2021 Golden Globes!


Last year was not a good year as many of us spent most of it on lockdown due to Covid-19.  But at least there were some good movies and TV shows to keep us company and Tina Fey and last night Tina Fey and Amy Poehler kicked off Awards Season by hosting the Golden Globes, where the Hollywood Foreign Press pays homage to their favorite films and TV shows.

If you have been following me, you will recognize that I have steered you to many of these Golden Globe nominated films and TV shows
(some here and some on my FB page at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer - stay tuned for longer reviews right here)

So this is where I do some dishing about the proceedings as well as some gloating about picking the winners and bitching about who got robbed!

First, the pre-show, which I usually enjoy, was lame.  To me, it's not an awards show without a Red Carpet and, naturally, we can't do a Red Carpet right now, but I so missed seeing everyone show up in their finery so I could weigh in on the gowns and watch them answer vapid questions. I have such happy memories of watching the Red Carpet with my daughter and kvetching about the dresses.  This pre-show was all vapid, no dresses.  

But in the spirit of the occasion, I will weigh in now on the best dressed and who didn't measure up.


And Catherine Zeta-Jones was also stunning.




  • And the second dress that Tina Fey wore looked like my grandmother's bathroom wallpaper.



I know, I'm bad.

Okay, now on to the event itself.

Were Tina Fey and Amy Poeller funny as they did their thing via Zoom on two different coasts?

Yes, they did okay but I missed Ricky Gervais. When Ricky hosted, you would sit on the edge of your seat waiting for him to say something shocking - "Did he really say that?" And it was always funny.

What I liked:

  • The little bit where actors talked to online doctors via Zoom was kind of fun.

  • Jane Fonda's speech when she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award was wonderful.  She talked about the importance of performance art - how it's that kind of storytelling that we all need - and she stressed the importance of diversity. And at 84, boy does she look good!  I need to get the name of her plastic surgeon!

Norman Lear's speech for the Carol Burnett Award was also a stand-out - I mean he is almost 99 and looks good, sounds good and what a legacy he has left us.  



Seeing the clips of the shows he produced reminded me of some highlights of my younger years.  His shows were all controversial but never offensive.

What I didn't like:

Even on Zoom, production tried to cut the speeches short with the "Get off the stage" music, or should I say, "Get off of Zoom" music.  C'mon, let these people bask in their glory.


The winners I called:

Best Actress - TV Drama

Emma Corrin - "The Crown(she embodied Princess Diana)


Best Supporting Actor - Movies, Drama

Daniel Kaluuya - "Judas and the Black Messiah"



The only problem with this one was his being nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category.  I thought of his role as more of a Best Actor role. He gave a really long speech, but it was a good one and were you surprised he was a Brit?


Best Foreign Language Film

"Minari"




Haven't seen this one yet but it has so much buzz I knew it would win and it did.



Best TV Limited Series, Drama

"The Crown"



Duh.


Best Supporting Actress in TV limited series, Drama

Gillian Anderson - "The Crown"

She played a strange take on Margaret Thatcher but a compelling one.


Best Actress in a Limited Series/Drama, etc.

Anya Taylor-Joy for "Queen's Gambit"

Again, duh. 


Best Limited Drama Series, etc.

"Queen's Gambit" - double duh. If you haven't seen "Queen's Gambit," you must have spent lockdown under a rock.  Better get on it because everyone else has already seen it!



Best Actor Movie Drama

Chadwick Boseman - "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"

To think he did this role when he literally had months to live and no one knew he was sick is just astonishing.  His widow gave a heartfelt acceptance speech for him and it's a good thing production did not play that stupid "get off" music or I would have... 

 

Best Director - Movie Drama

Chloe Zhao - "Nomadland"

A woman!  Yay! First time ever that there were three women nominees in this category.


Best Movie Drama

"Nomadland"

Yep.  My favorite movie of the year (you can find my review on my FB page but my longer review will appear here soon)


And here are the people and shows that were robbed:


Best Actress in a TV limited series. comedy, musical, etc:

Kaley Cuoco for "The Flight Attendant" should have won.  This was one of the most talked about series of last year and much of its success was her performance.  The Golden Globes usually rewards popular programming - that's how it differs from the Academy Awards - but instead they went with Catherine O'Hara for "Schitt's Creek."  Sorry, but I not only do not understand why "Schitt's Creek" is so lauded (I think she and it won last year, too), but Catherine O'Hara's performance is one note compared to Kaley Cuoco's.

And then "Schitt's Creek" won Best TV Comedy or Musical again beating out "The Flight Attendant," which was the hit of the season.  What is it with "Schitt's Creek" that I am missing?  I gave it several episodes and just didn't get it.


Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy



"Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" won and I loved that movie but beating out "Hamilton?"  C'mon. But putting comedies and musicals in the same category is dumb anyway.



Best Actress Movie Drama



For her role in "The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Hulu)," Andra Day beat Frances McDormand in "Nomadland" and Viola Davis who starred in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."  Really?

Which leads to a short rant.

I am totally against giving big awards to people in their first acting roles.  I don't care how good they are but a person who is not primarily an actress should not win an award over seasoned actresses like Frances McDormand or Viola Davis. Andra Day is a singer starring in a feature film for the first time.  And she beats Frances McDormand and Viola Davis?  Please. Should Jennifer Hudson have beaten Cate Blanchett her first time out?  Should Marlee Matlin have beaten Jane Fonda, Sigournie Weaver, Sissy Spacek and Kathleen Turner her first time out?  I think not. And don't get me started on child actors who win Oscars.  I didn't like it when Anna Paquin and Tatum O'Neal won either.

AND  "Nomadland" won Best Picture and Frances McDormand didn't win Best Actress? How is that possible?  She was the heart and soul of that movie.


So that's my dish on the 2021 Golden Globes from this theatre seat - well, from my couch.

Oh, btw, there was a mention that because of the virus, the statues would be mailed to the recipients.  Good luck with that.  I sent a birthday card to my daughter from California to Virginia and it took over two weeks.  Worse, I mailed a Christmas card to British Columbia, Canada and somehow it took two months by way of the British Virgin Islands before getting to the people I mailed it to!  So good luck getting your awards, everyone!

But, anyway, I may not agree with everything that happened but it was another good year of movies and TV.  I love my awards shows and it was a good night.  


Thanks for reading!

and as they said in "Nomadland"

"See you down the road!"



If you enjoyed this post, feel free to click on the share buttons to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, email it to your friends and LIKE me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer 


And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll down below the synopsis and the listings for the director, writer and main stars to where it says "Reviews" and click on "Critics" - If I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list.


 

Friday, January 17, 2014

The Golden Globes, the Academy Award Nominations, and the Week in Reviews

[I review the movie "August, Osage County" and DVDs "Thanks for Sharing," "Renoir," "The Awakening" and "Adore."]

But first

It's Awards Season at the movies, and for movie lovers, that's our play-offs leading to our Super Bowl, the Academy Awards.

The Golden Globes were last Sunday and there were a few surprises.


The first surprise was how unfunny Tina Fey and Amy Poeller were compared to last year, other than the joke about George Clooney when describing "Gravity:"

"It's the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age."

Jennifer Lawrence stole "American Hustle," but I was surprised she beat Lupita Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave"). 

Love Jennifer Lawrence, hated her dress. 


But, Lupita Nyong'o had the best dress.




Another upset was Matthew McConaughey beating out Chiwetel Ejiofor for Best Actor in a Drama. I thought Ejiofor was a shoo-in for that.  Now I am wondering what the Academy will do. If he doesn't win, I won't have to learn how to pronounce or spell Chiwetel Ejiofor.

So glad Elizabeth Moss won for the mini-series "Top of the Lake."  She is probably better known for "Mad Men," but here she stars as a complicated New Zealand cop trying to find a missing girl. Her accent is so good I thought she was from New Zealand, but she was born in Los Angeles. I am watching it now on Netflix (streaming).  When it aired on television it was a critical success, but I don't think anyone saw it.  If you liked "Twin Peaks" or "The Killing,"  you will like this.

Highly recommended.




And then there's Jacqueline Bisset. 




Jackie, Jackie, Jackie.  One, I don't feel she didn't deserve that Golden Globe.  Though I loved "Dancing on the Edge,"




her part just wasn't that difficult an acting job.  Hubby said she won because she still looks so good. 


And two, her acceptance speech. What the hell?  Methinks she had been a tippling.

She stood on stage for a full 23 seconds before she said a word and then this is some of what she said:

I mean, does this make sense to you?

"I want to thank the people who've given me joy and there have been many. I say it like my mother ... she used to say 'Go to Hell and don't come back.
I believe, if you want to look good, you have to forgive everybody. You have to forgive everybody. It's the best beauty treatment. Forgiveness for yourself and for the others. I love my friends. I love my family."


Couldn't believe Woody Allen had written and directed 74 films in 48 years.  That is incredible that he not only directed that many, but WROTE that many.  His getting the Cecil B. DeMille award was well-deserved.  Some of my all-time favorite movies are Woody Allen films.

And I have to say, I not only called "12 Years a Slave" as Best Picture and Alfonso Cuaron ("Gravity") for Best Director, I did it BEFORE the nominations. 

And can I just say, why in hell don't people who are nominated and could win, prepare a speech?  There was so much bumbling around with the speeches I thought I was at amateur night at Toastmasters.

As for the Academy Award nominations (which were announced yesterday), few surprises, and I called almost all of them, except I can't believe Tom Hanks did not get nominated for "Captain Phillips," nor did the director, Paul Greengrass. "Captain Phillips" got screwed.  It was a great film.  As I said in my earlier blog "Oscar Predictions," what Tom Hanks did in the last few minutes of that film was acting at its finest. 

And why wasn't Emma Thompson nominated for "Saving Mr. Banks (which I reviewed in last Friday's blog)?"

However, I am glad to see Leonardo DiCaprio getting some props.  I think he is one of Hollywood's most underrated actors.

I had forgotten that up to 10 films can be nominated, so I only called five, but had I remembered, I would have called all of the films with the possible exception of "The Wolf of Wall Street."  But where was "Saving Mr. Banks," "Fruitvale Station," and "Inside Llewyn Davis?"

What did you think of the Golden Globes? 
Did they get it right?

Which Actors or Films were snubbed for Academy Awards?



***In Theatres Now***






A funeral brings a dysfunctional family back to Oklahoma.

The movie poster says it all.

Based on Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize winning play (2008), this film brings together an incredible cast:  Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis (good to see her back again), and more for two hours of dark comedy.  Letts also wrote the screenplay, and he deftly brought the visual aspect to what is basically a family getting together around a table to air their dirty laundry. 

As Tolstoy wrote in "Anna Karenina,"
"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."  And boy is this family unhappy.

I saw the Broadway touring company of the play a few years ago.  It starred Estelle Parsons as the irascible, drug-addicted mother.  She was in her 80's and running up and down the stairs of the set and she was fabulous.   But Meryl Streep is just magnificent in this film.  Glad to see she is nominated for an Oscar.

Rosy the Reviewer says...See this for the acting, especially Streep's performance. 
As Hubby said, "She is a National Treasure."
 


***DVDS***
You Might Have Missed
And Some You Should Be Glad You Did
(I see the bad ones so you don't have to)



Thanks for Sharing (2012)


Three men struggling with sex addiction.

This could be the poster child for AA, it's so earnest.  Not a huge Mark Ruffalo fan.  His acting puts me to sleep.

Rosy the Reviewer says...A formulaic film, but nonetheless entertaining.




Renoir (2012)

 
Set on the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, Jean Renoir -- son of the Impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste -- returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I. Both father and son are enchanted by the artist's muse, Andree.
 
This film depicts the elder Renoir at the end of his life and son Jean, before he became the famous filmmaker.
 
 
Rosy the Reviewer says...See it for the cinematography and the gorgeous French countryside.  As beautiful as Renoir's paintings. (subtitles)
 
  
 
 
 





It's 1921 and ghost-hunter Florence Cathcart travels to a boy's boarding school to debunk ghost sightings there.

Rebecca Hall is a wonderful British actress who is underrated.  She has been in a ton of things, but has yet to break out as a big star ("The Town," "Parade's End"...).  She is rumored to star in the next "Pirate's of the Caribbean."  Perhaps that will bring her stardom.  She deserves it.
 
Rosy the Reviewer says...If you liked "The Sixth Sense," you will like this except this one is scarier.



Adore (2013)

 
Naomi Watts and Robin Wright star as best friends who fall in love with each other's young sons. 
 
Sounds kinky, but this is a really good film.  Filmed in Australia, Watts gets back to her Aussie roots while Wright does a good job with her Aussie accent.
 
Rosy the Reviewer says...gorgeous New South Wales scenery, gorgeous young men, gorgeous acting.  Adored it!
 
 


***Book of the Week***
 

Stitches: A handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair by Anne LaMotte (2013)
 
 
 
Lamott strives to make sense of this crazy world of ours and how we put ourselves back together after devastation and loss.  Her solution?  You do it one stitch at a time.
 
To find meaning, Lamott says it is enough to search for it. 
"The search is the meaning, the search for beauty, love, kindness and restoration in this difficult, wired and often alien modern world."  That's helpful to hear as I search for that meaning in my retirement and the rest of my life.
 
Rosy the Reviewer says...When crap happens, you need books like this.  It is comforting.  Similar to Harold Kushner's "When Bad Things Happen to Good People."
 
 
 
That's it for this week.
 
See you Tuesday!
 
Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it and/or email it to your friends.
 
Check your local library for DVDs and book mentioned.