Craig's MovieBlog

Golden Globe Nominations

The Globes have spoken.  Biggest news is that Munich nor King Kong, nor Memoirs of a Geisha got any Best Picture nominations.  George Clooney got 3 nominations himself, and this won't preview the Best Actress race since favorite Reese Witherspoon is in the Comedy/Musical category, not Drama. 

Brokeback Mountain is becoming the clear favorite across all the pre-season awards.

Nomination Leaders: Brokeback Mountain (7), Good Night and Good Luck (4), Match Point (4), The Producers (4).

Also, why in the world are there six nominees for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical?  Was it that important to give Johnny Depp a nomination for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Best Picture Drama
Brokeback Mountain
The Constant Gardener
Good Night, and Good Luck
A History of Violence
Match Point

Best Picture, Musical/Comedy
Mrs. Henderson Presents
Pride & Prejudice
The Producers
The Squid and the Whale
Walk the Line

Best Actor, Drama
Russell Crowe, Cinderella Man
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Terence Howard, Hustle and Flow
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck

Best Actor, Musical/Comedy
Pierce Brosnan, The Matador
Jeff Daniels, The Squid and the Whale
Johnny Depp, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Nathan Lane, The Producers
Cillian Murphy, Breakfast on Pluto
Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line

Best Actress, Drama
Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
Gwyneth Paltrow, Proof
Charlize Theron, North Country
Ziyi Zhang, Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Actress, Musical/Comedy
Judi Dench, Mrs. Henderson Presents
Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice
Laura Linney, Squid and the Whale
Sarah Jessica Parker, The Family Stone
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney, Syriana
Matt Dillon, Crash
Will Farrell, The Producers
Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man
Bob Hoskins, Mrs. Henderson Presents

Best Supporting Actress
Scarlett Johannsson, Match Point
Shirley MacLaine, In Her Shoes
Frances McDormand, North Country
Rachel Weisz, Contant Gardener
Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain

Best Director
Woody Allen, Match Point
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
Peter Jackson, King Kong
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
Fernando Mereilles, The Constant Gardener
Steven Spielberg, Munich

Best Screenplay
Match Point
Good Night, And Good Luck
Crash
Munich
Brokeback Mountain

Hollywood Reporter Posts Reviews for Rent, Syriana, and Memoirs of a Geisha

So sayeth Kirk Honeycutt:

• Rent:  Hugely entertaining and high-spirited adaptation of the hit rock opera.
• Syriana:  Mosaic of Middle East geopolitics is at once too simplistic yet plot-wise too convoluted.
• Memoirs of a Geisha:  A respectable film version of best seller that nevertheless misses the novel's subtleties.

The Oscar Charts Have Launched

The kids over at Movie City News are starting their tracking from Oscar prognosticators.

Right now, the top 5 for Best Picture look like this:

• Walk the Line
• Brokeback Mountain
• Munich
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Good Night, and Good Luck

Oscars 2006

It's November 7th, 2005, and it's very possible that we have not seen a single film that will be nominated for Best Picture.  Sure, there's been Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, A History of Violence, Crash, Jarhead, and Cinderella Man, but there's a good chance that none of those will hit their mark, and all five nominees will come from the remaining pool of movies that haven't yet been released (and there are only 8 weekends left in 2005) to qualify.

Frankly, I think this sucks.  We end up with crappy movies all year long, then the studios cram everything into November and December, but if those films don't get the boost of a nomination, they're gone... dead on the vine.  Good luck seeing them in a theater versus Blockbuster.

Anyway, here's a piece in the New York Daily News from Jack Mathews about the movies to come this year.  Also, I'm including Jack's top 10 hopefuls:

1. Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Eric Bana
2. Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal
3. Memoirs of a Geisha, directed by Rob Marshall, starring Ziyi Zhang and Ken Watanabe
4. The New World, directed by Terrence Malick, starring Colin Farrell
5. The Producers, directed by Susan Stroman, starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, and Will Ferrell
6. Mrs. Henderson Presents, directed by Stephen Frears, starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins
7. Walk the Line, directed by James Mangold, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon
8. King Kong, directed by Peter Jackson, starring Adrien Brody, Jack Black, and Naomi Watts
9. Syriana, directed by Stephen Gaghan, starring George Clooney and Matt Damon
10. Match Point, directed by Woody Allen, starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers

If You Thought Award Shows Were Bad Before...

...then this just takes the cake.

You know how people complain about the Oscars, when movies that they haven't seen yet get nominated (since they just open in NY or LA for a day to qualify)?  Well, the Hollywood Film Festival actually gave awards to films that they had never seen.

The Producers, Memoirs of a Geisha and King Kong were honored, despite the fact that the festival selection committee hadn't viewed the films, which will not be released until December.

When asked how films such as Producers and Geisha were deemed winners, considering they were unfinished at the time of voting, [founder Carlos] de Abreu said his committee had received "intelligence" from people who had seen footage of the films as they were being edited.

What a load of hooey.  For those of you who thought Hollywood was fake before, now you have proof.