Golden Globe and Academy Awards
It's awards season. The Golden Globe Awards cover both film and television whereas Academy Awards focus soley on film. And, since I am a film buff, I will focus on Golden Globe winners for that genre.
Three films I reviewed here have won Golden Globe Awards for 2006. Most noteably, director Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's "Babel" starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, reviewed on this site November 27, 2006, which won for Best Picture. "Letters From Iwo Jima" reviewed on the 17th of January won for Best Foreign Film. Shy, humble Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for his striking portrayal of the mercurial, sadistic, meglomaniacal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland" which I reviewed for this site on October 12. Helen Mirren received a Best Actress Award for her sterling, humanizing portrayal of the current Queen Elizabeth in "The Queen" a film I have just seen but have not reviewed. However, when both "Last King" and "The Queen" first came out months ago, I presciently predicted to friends and family that both Whitaker and Mirren would win Best Actor and Actress Awards - - for the Academy Awards, not giving the Golden Globes a thought. It has been the pattern, though, that films and actors who've won awards for the Golden Globes will win Oscars in the same categories, except for the year that "Crash" won the Oscar for Best Picture. It was ignored in the Globes. Director Martin Scorcese received his second Globe award for "The Departed", a film that hies back to his days as director of the violently eloquent "Mean Streets" and "Goodfellas" after misfires like "Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator" (also starring DiCaprio).
"The Departed" out-gores both the above early films, yet its story is crisp, unpredictable, and complicated. You really must pay attention. (I confess I had to turn away from some scenes. ) I'm not a huge fan of Matt Damon's, maybe one day I can get beyond his corn-fed looks. Still I have to say, he was admirable in his dual roles as a Boston "Statie" (state cop) and an informer for crime boss Jack Nicholson. Nicholson can't help how he looks whether sitting ringside at the Globes or bellying up to a sleazy Boston bar. He does a good job (or Scorsese does), however, of portraying the flop-sweat of a once powerful bad guy on his way out. Leonardo Di Caprio, at this time of his career, can do no wrong. He was stellar in "Blood Diamond" and nails his role in "The Departed" as a wanna-be cop (with connections, no less) who flunked out of training only to be hired as a snitch for head police detective Martin Sheen, who's aiming to bring down the Big Guy. It all works beautifully. Boston accents and all. Shamefully, Martin Whalberg did not even get a nod.
Other winners: Best Supporting Actor Eddie Murphy as the James Brown-like character; American Idol reject, Jennifer Hudson, Best Supporting Actress both in "Dreamgirls"; Meryl Streep for "The Devil Wears Prada", and Sasha Baron Cohen for "Borat" who in his speech gave a surrealistic, comic ode to his co-star Azamat Bagatov, referencing the latter's "globes." Prince won for his theme for the animated film, "Happy Feet". Tom Hanks gave the most embarrassing tribute to Warren Beatty and his life-time of work, mentioning Beatty's balls at least a half-dozen times (as in "moxie"). Then Beatty, in turn, had to get up there and drone on and on. With this, an evening that began with a bang threatened to end in a whimper, was saved by the surprise win for "Babel" as best picture and Iñárritu's gracious acceptance speech, recognizing his stars. and giving glory to his native country, Mexico.
See these films and "Little Children", "Notes on a Scandal", "Pan's Labirynth"; "The Painted Veil", and especially, "Children of Men" before the Academy Awards coming in February.