Globes

Very quickly:
A few weeks ago I was pleased to see the nominations for the Golden Globes. I found the selection to be pretty fitting to what was and was not good in the movies this year. Some of the noms were even halfway inventive, if not brave, such as that for Amy Adams work in "Enchanted" a movie that is far from the normal award show fodder. I was, however, extremely disappointed when I saw the list of winners, particularly in the categories of "Best Picture" and "Best Actress". How Ellen Page did not win for her sarcastically spectacular performance as the title character in "Juno" is beyond me. It was a fairly lackluster year for female performances, but Page's work would hold up against any of the great performances of the past 5 years. Absolute robbery. And by the way, it is worth noting that "Juno" has been a hit across the nation, (winner) Marion Cotillard's turn in "La Vie en Rose" has been seen by exactly 3 people, all of whom are snooty critics.

Even more of an insult is the news that "No Country For Old Men" lost the "Best Picture" award to the "Atonement." Look, I haven't seen "Atonement" and quite frankly, I don't plan to. It will be on my "Did Not See Because I Did Not Care About Subject Matter" end of year list (look for this soon, I know you've all been waiting.) So maybe I'm not qualified to slam this selection. But that's not going to stop me. "Atonement" might be a very fine movie. Many critics, some I generally agree with, have good things to say about it and it appears to be the general British Oscar fodder that makes the rounds every year. But "Country" is one of the twenty best films I have EVER seen. I believe this film could be held up against just about any of the "Best Picture" winning films of the past 15 years. "Atonment" could get 5 stars from me and still not be anywhere close to the level of "Country." It is a singularly brilliant piece of work and it is a sham that it did not take the Globe. I'll even take it a step further: it is a travishamockery. That's right, I said it. Let us hope that the Academy, having built momentum by actually awarding "Best Picture" to the right film for a whopping 2 years in a row will vindicate "Country" a few weeks from now.