Golden Globes Predictions and Favorites

So the televised movie award season basically starts on Sunday with the Golden Globes and there’ll be lots more guild awards after that leading up to the Oscars so it’s fun all around. I will now give you my incredibly informed(I read far too many Oscar blogs) predictions on who will win and who I think will win.

Best Film, Drama:

• Nominees: War Horse, Moneyball, The Descendants, The Ides of March, The Help, Hugo
• Will Win: This one is a bit of a toss-up and will tell us the biggest competition for the current frontrunner(The Artist) but I’m gonna say it will be The Descendants.
• Should Win: I’ve seen all of these except War Horse(really should just see it already) and Hugo is definitely the best.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama:

• Nominees: Glenn Close(Albert Nobbs), Rooney Mara(The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Meryl Streep(The Iron Lady), Viola Davis(The Help), Tilda Swinton(We Need To Talk About Kevin)
• Will Win: It’s either gonna be Viola or Meryl and whoever wins will get a huge boost for the Oscars. I’m gonna say it’ll be Viola.
• Should Win: I haven’t seen Glenn or Meryl’s performances but otherwise, the best is Rooney Mara.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama:

• Nominees: George Clooney(The Descendants), Brad Pitt(Moneyball), Ryan Gosling(The Ides of March), Michael Fassbender(Shame), Leonardo DiCaprio(J. Edgar)
• Will Win: It’s gonna be George. Could be Brad but that’s doubtful.
• Should Win: I’ve seen all of these for some reason and it is clearly Fassy who gives the best performance. If Ryan was nominated for Drive, it might be a different story.

Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical:

• Nominees: 50/50, The Artist, My Week With Marilyn, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris
• Will Win: The Artist. That’s not even a question.
• Should Win: Also, The Artist and I’ve seen all of them.

Best Performance by an Actress - Comedy or Musical:

• Nominees: Kate Winslet(Carnage), Michelle Williams(My Week With Marilyn), Jodie Foster(Carnage), Kristin Wiig(Bridesmaids), Charlize Theron(Young Adult)
• Will Win: Michelle Williams. She’s the only one with real Oscar traction.
• Should Win: I haven’t seen Carnage yet but otherwise, I’m definitely giving it to Charlize.

Best Performance by an Actor - Comedy or Musical:

• Nominees: Jean Dujardin(The Artist), Joseph Gordon Levitt(50/50), Ryan Gosling(Crazy, Stupid, Love), Owen Wilson(Midnight in Paris), Brendan Gleeson(The Guard)
• Will Win: Jean Dujardin, the only one with a possibility of an Oscar nod.
• Should Win: Jean Dujardin but Ryan Gosling was definitely the best part of the mess that was Crazy, Stupid, Love(I know I’m the only one with this opinion)

Best Animated Feature Film:

• Nominees: Rango, The Adventures of Tintin, Arthur Christmas, Puss in Boots, Cars 2
• Will Win: Rango? Could be Tintin but will they go for motion capture?
• Should Win: Winnie The Pooh. Beyond angry it’s not a nominee. Otherwise, I’ve only seen Rango and it was fine.

Best Foreign Language Film: 

• Nominees: A Separation, In The Land of Blood and Honey, The Skin I Live In, The Flowers of War, The Kid With A Bike
• Will Win: It's gonna be A Separation for sure.
• Should Win: I've only seen The Skin I Live In but I loved it so I'm fine with it winning.

Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture:

• Nominees: Berenice Bejo(The Artist), Jessica Chastain(The Help), Octavia Spencer(The Help), Janet McTeer(Albert Nobbs), Shailene Woodley(The Descendants)
• Will Win: It'll probably be Octavia.
• Should Win: I haven't seen McTeer's performance but otherwise, I love Chastain in The Help although this is a super strong category.

Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture:

• Nominees: Jonah Hill(Moneyball), Christopher Plummer(Beginners), Albert Brooks(Drive), Kenneth Branagh(My Week With Marilyn), Viggo Mortensen(A Dangerous Method)
• Will Win: Christopher Plummer with the possibility of a Brooks surprise.
• Should Win: I haven't seen Mortensen but I have to go with Plummer with Brooks a close second.

Best Director - Motion Picture:

• Nominees: Woody Allen(Midnight in Paris), Michael Hazanavicius(The Artist), George Clooney(The Ides of March), Alexander Payne(The Descendants), Martin Scorsese(Hugo)
• Will Win: Michael Hazanavicius for The Artist, possible dissapointments with Payne and Scorsese
• Should Win: Scorsese's movie is gorgeous and works wonderfully as a piece but Hazanavicius has much better pacing and a novel idea. Both are good choices.

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture:

• Nominees: The Artist, Midnight in Paris, The Descendants, Moneyball, The Ides of March
• Will Win: Sadly, it'll probably be The Descendants or Moneyball even though I consider them horrific scripts.
• Should Win: The Artist

Best Original Score - Motion Picture:

• Nominees: The Artist, W.E., The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, War Horse, Hugo
• Will Win: This category could go in many directions but I'll settle for War Horse or Hugo or The Artist if it really sweeps.
• Should Win: I haven't seen W.E. or War Horse so I don't know their scores and while The Artist is gorgeous, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo's score is a highlight of a supremely underrated film.

Best Original Song

Madonna is nominated. Nothing else matters.

I'd do the TV ones too but I don't watch many of the shows nominated. Big hopes for Enlightened, Mildred Pierce, Laura Dern, Madeleine Stowe and Kate Winslet.

Comedy through the Ages

Last week, I watched one of the most acclaimed comedies of all time and some even call it the original romantic comedy. Of course, it comes from the silent film star with the longest legacy, Charlie Chaplin. In City Lights from 1931, Chaplin is in familiar territory as he takes his character of the Tramp through a series of slapstick gags all the while maintaining a romantic storyline with a blind girl. The film ends with a beautiful scene where the romantic leads encounter again after many years and although the girl doesn't believe the man who helped to fix her sight could be the poor, homeless Tramp, she finally sees that he's the one who saved her.

Comedy is one of the most popular genres throughout film history and especially in modern times. The latest release from a favorite comedian can drive audiences to multiplexes in droves. However, comedies rarely receive critical acclaim, or at least that is the perception that mainstream audiences have when they watch the Oscars and popular comedies like The Hangover or Superbad don't sweep the awards. The Golden Globes have always offered a different approach to awards by dividing their categories into drama and musical or comedy. As this honoring of comedy approaches, I've decided to look at a few comedies throughout history that have gained critical acclaim and try and link them and Chaplin's City Lights to the some of the films getting attention in the Comedy or Musical category.

The biggest comedy this year was by far, Bridesmaids. The ensemble comedy about a woman whose best friend is getting married and the reflection this forces her to have on her own life and the relationships around her has brought up the question that somehow still exists, are women funny? The question only seems so ridiculous because it's been proven consistently throughout film history. In the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, women generally played a more dominant role while the man was slightly incompetent. In Bringing Up Baby, one of the most famous screwball comedies, Katharine Hepburn is the character who receives the most laughs and her chemistry with Cary Grant generates all of the film's success. In various teen comedies, especially those satires of youth culture, such as Mean Girls and Heathers, women have also played a key role in creating the comedy and, in the case of Mean Girls, a woman was responsible for writing all the jokes too. Even in the films of Woody Allen, who is receiving significant attention for his nominated film Midnight in Paris, women play an important part and can help lead the comedy even if they are always designated to work off the stand-in for the famously neurotic director. For example, Annie Hall would not be half the movie it was without Diane Keaton's fantastic portrayal of the titular character and although Allen gives himself most of the jokes, her character still brings humor to the film. It is rarer to see women be given the opportunity to be funny in the way that Bridesmaids is through gross out humor, although I would argue it is a much smarter movie than the few gross-out gags imply. The question of women being funny is completely ridiculous and film history demonstrates that women can be funny when they are given the chance.

This year, cinema has been especially nostalgic even in the comedy or musical category. The Artist is the smash hit of the year that audiences were not prepared for. An ode to silent cinema similar to classics, such as Sunset Boulevard and Singin' In The Rain, it is a charming cinematic experience that has slowly spread through audiences to become beloved. My Week With Marilyn similarly takes advantage of a nostalgia for Old Hollywood by detailing the period of Marilyn Monroe's life where she was filming The Prince and the Showgirl. Marilyn was an actress who was heavily associated with both comedies and musicals, such as, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like It Hot, although her career was not limited to these types of roles. These films can be related even to Chaplin's City Lights which arrived during the Great Depression and helped to charm audiences into feeling better about their lives if only for two hours. These nostalgia trips also help to give joy to audiences and are a reminder of a time when life was seemingly better than it is in the rough economic climate of our current day.

Chaplin's comedic influence can also be seen in the final film being considered for the Best Comedy or Musical award at the Golden Globes, 50/50. This last film is a comedy that addresses the serious issue of cancer when the lead, portrayed in a nominated performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, finds out that he has the disease and has to try to live through the treatment. While cancer is not a topic that is usually approached with such a comedic and realistic take, the idea of using comedy to address serious issues is one that features prominently in Chaplin's work and has been used throughout the history of the genre. Chaplin used this technique most famously in The Great Dictator where he plays a dictator who is similar to Adolf Hitler, who was in power at the time. Chaplin uses comedy to address the issues and fears that are within the world and helps the audience to realize that no problem is too big to overcome and that keeping a smile on your face is sometimes the best medicine. 50/50 shares this attitude and portrays cancer in a more realistic and less satirical way than Chaplin does with Hitler in The Great Dictator, however, it still maintains the comedic tone that makes the film much easier to handle than a serious drama about the subject.

It's not currently known to us if any of these films will be talked about in 10 or 50 years like the classic screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s or the fast talking theuroputic approach to comedy that Woody Allen uses in Annie Hall, among others. However, this year's field of comedies, some with a few musical elements, is very strong and offers some wonderful candidates that fit well into the canon of great comedies.

Oscar Contenders: The Artist

The lead up to this film was monumental for me. I intensely followed Cannes coverage in May and saw the overwhelming support for this movie which had previously seemed oddly placed in the competition. It quickly became a crowd favorite at many different festivals and for the next six months, I hear the praises for this film. I got the chance to see it at the European Union Film Festival in Ottawa which is apparently something that happens each year. For a film with so much hype, I was worried if it was going to hold up especially after other hyped films did not(more on those in the future). Luckily, it held up wonderfully.

Before I get ahead of myself, I'll briefly tell you what this movie's all about in case you haven't yet heard. The Artist is the tale of a silent movie star and the trouble he has adapting to the "talkies" and how this affects his sense of self. Sounds a bit like Singin' in the Rain or Sunset Boulevard, right? Well, the reason this film has so much attention is because other than a few lines at the very end of the film, the movie is without dialogue. A silent film about silent films. It's also gaining a lot of attention because it's wonderful. In a year that seems filled with tributes to the magic of Old Hollywood, this one stands out not only for the gimmick but also for the great performances from both Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, both of whom could be heading towards nominations at the Oscars. It's wonderfully directed and lovingly pays tribute to this Hollywood of yesteryear.

The Oscar season gets labelled as a time for pretentious, difficult, boring and serious movies, however, The Artist is none of those which might be the overall downfall of the film. Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful but the plot is simplistic, the pleasures are all shallow and the filmmaking holds nothing particularly groundbreaking aside from it being a silent film released in 2011. So, if you like your Oscar movies to be serious and challenging, this is not the movie for you. However, if you're looking for a fun movie that will remind you or introduce you to the magic of silent cinema, then this is the perfect movie for you. Just because the movie is from France and is silent doesn't make it an art film. It's a fairly mainstream film whose success can only be held back by an audience who refuses to open their mind to a silent film.

Glee or: How Girls Really Don't Run The World

I've been watching Glee since the first season premiered. Not even when it premiered in the fall, but the preview of the pilot they gave in May of 2009 and waited anxiously all summer for this show to start. I've seen every episode(except parts of the Christmas one) and it somehow took me three seasons to realize the complete misogyny that is this show.

There are a ridiculous amount of female characters on this show and each one of them is treated horribly by the show. It doesn't give them any respect and casts them into two categories: invisible, controlled girl or insane and needing to be controlled. The easiest way to do this is to run through the characters.

We've got:

• Rachel, who is overly ambitious, thinks only of herself and needs to be tough the importance of teamwork by her boyfriend and Mr. Shue.
• Quinn, who is rude and bitchy unless she's in a stable relationship. She makes stupid decisions by cheating and becoming pregnant. She must be taken down for trying to be prom queen by the hyper masculine Lauren, controlled by various boyfriends and once she rebels against all these forces against her, she is permanently removed from the glee club and not permitted to see her daughter until she acts like a proper woman.
• Tina is a non-entity on the show except for when she is being claimed an anti-Christ of sorts by the principal due to her slightly Goth nature of dress.
• Mercedes is completely ignored by the club and when she asks for anything, she becomes a demanding diva who is unable to handle anything but 100% attention and needs to be taught that not everything is about her when clearly nothing is about her.
• Santana is a sexually free bisexual of sorts who has an interesting time trying to discover her sexuality. Of course, she's overly feisty and conniving so she must also be kicked out of the glee club to punish her but let back in to allow her bitchy comments since her only use is to make others feel bad about themselves.
• Brittany is seen as completely dumb and while she tries to understand the world around her and gain some sort of empowerment, it only is achieved through unnecessary short skirts and needs to be constantly told of her intellectual inadequacy by males from her boyfriend to her teacher.

Those are just the teenage characters and they do not display any positive images of femininity for the largely female audience. This is clearly an issue with the show and while you may think, oh, it's a show of caricatures, you can't blame that on sexism. Well, why is it then that Artie was not even reprimanded in the slightest for looking down on Kurt for his slightly feminine audition and his second audition was laughed at by Artie for reasons that must only be the awkwardness of seeing an overtly flamboyant and homosexual man being intimate with a woman, which is a completely homophobic reaction. But nobody cares that Artie is portraying this behaviour and he is allowed to assert his masculine dominance over Kurt and any female character he sees fit to judge. The same is seen with Coach Beast who is a completely masculine character and portrays how masculinity is perfectly fine within the Glee universe, and in our society, but any sort of femininity is to be laughed at and mocked. 

For a show that claims to be so completely about including people and showing positive images of homosexuality and opening people's minds, the show might want to show women and femininity in a positive light before it makes statements about being a positive representation of anything.