The Globes

So the Golden Globes were Monday night. I watched them on fast forward thanks to my best friend DVR. Nothing like breezing through 3 hours of awards in just about an hour! Nothing like being able to skip right over Warren Beatty's apparently mindnumbingly long speech. (And seriously . . . why was Tom Hanks presenting that award? Why not Hoffman? Or Nicholson? Or let's make things even more squirmy and get Julie Christie or Diane Keaton out there to really comment on Beatty's "talents"?) Overall, the Globes were pretty dull -- no real surprises other than Beyonce not winning Original Song. (Seriously -- she lost to a penguin song. Granted, it's a penguin song by Prince, but it's still a penguin song!)

Thoughts on the winners:
Dreamgirls/Jennifer Hudson/Eddie Murphy: First off, could Jennifer Hudson have been any cuter? Does she have a career beyond this movie? Who knows? The fact remains, though, that when she is on screen in Dreamgirls, the movie belongs to her. When she's not, the movie suffers unless Eddie Murphy is there in her place. This film would be nothing without those two. Beyonce is vapid, Jamie Foxx is bland, and the rest of the cast is little more than background. The stories of Effie and Jimmy, though, are riveting, compelling storytelling, and Hudson and Murphy deserve all the praise that's being heaped on them for their work. I do have to say, though, I've been a little disappointed that more attention hasn't been paid to the typically fine work turned in by Danny Glover in the film, but it's hard to get attention not singing in a musical.

Streep vs. Mirren: The two have set themselves up as the ones to beat for the Oscar. As delicious as Meryl is in Prada, this is Mirren's year. This woman needs an Oscar now! Hillary Swank has two of those bad boys and Helen Mirren has none? Where's the justice in that? Meryl, though, gets best speech of the night. Yes, Hugh Laurie was funny, but Meryl was Meryl -- gracious, funny, and just a little bit smarter than everyone else in the room. Mirren gets Best Dress, though. Wow. Jane Tennison has the cleavage of a 30 year old!

Whitaker vs. Borat: My prediction is that this is Sasha Baron Cohen's last big moment in the sun for Borat. I have a hard time imagining that the Academy will nominate him. I could be wrong (it's certainly happened before), but even with a nomination, a win is highly unlikely. Is there anyone out there, then, who can stop Forrest Whitaker? I kinda doubt it. Maybe the Academy will finally reward Peter O'Toole for a lifetime of incredible work, amends for all the times they've passed him over. But has anyone seen Venus? Of course, has anyone seen The Last King of Scotland? No, but the buzz is on Whitaker's side. There's always Leonardo DiCaprio, and maybe the Academy will decide his time has finally come. Let's reward Leo rather than a guy who has finally broken out of the character actor world to dominate the screen in a movie no one saw. (If an actor dominates the screen in an empty theatre, does he make a sound?) Leo is probably Whitaker's big competition, but he may be hindered more than helped by the fact that he turned in two solid performances this year -- one in a fabulous film (a film dominated, though, by solid performances) and one in an okay film that is elevated by 2 solid performances -- one from Leo and one from Djimon Hounsou. My money's still on Whitaker to be cradling the bald guy in February.

Dreamgirls vs. Babel vs. The Departed: The fact that Babel only won best picture may be telling. Can you really be the best picture without also having the best director or best screenplay? It will probably be nominated, but a win? It would be a shocker, especially if the Academy gives Scorcese his looooooooooooooooooooong overdue Best Director award and Babel can't score a Screenplay win. Personally, I've grown weary of those loosely connected, sprawling dramas. Please don't let another one win this year, especially when there are so many more deserving films like Dreamgirls and The Departed and United 93 and Little Miss Sunshine. As a theatre lover, I'm pulling for Dreamgirls even though I know deep down that the other 3 I just mentioned are truly better films. But when was the last time that the Best Picture was really and truly the BEST PICTURE of the year? Can you honestly say that Crash was the best film of 2005? Better than Capote or Good Night and Good Luck or even Brokeback Mountain? (And I was probably the only person who saw Brokeback that didn't love it, but I still think it was a better film than Crash) It will surely come down to a battle between these 3, I think, and the fact that none of the 3 has tremendous buzz at this point, that none of them has already been anointed as the obvious winner, is pretty telling and just might make for an interesting night come Oscar Night.