Golden Globe Predictions

Bolded and * is Projected Winner

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker*
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• Up in the Air

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

• Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station
• Carey Mulligan, An Education*
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart*
• George Clooney, Up in the Air
• Colin Firth, A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman, Invictus
• Tobey Maguire, Brothers

BEST MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• (500) Days of Summer*
• The Hangover
• It's Complicated
• Julie & Julia
• Nine

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
• Marion Cotillard, Nine
• Julia Roberts, Duplicity
• Meryl Streep, It's Complicated
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• Matt Damon, The Informant!
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
• Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
• Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man*

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess and the Frog
• Up*

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Baaria (Italy)
• Broken Embraces (Spain)
• The Maid (Chile)
• A Prophet (France)
• The White Ribbon (Germany)*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

• Penélope Cruz, Nine
• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
• Mo'Nique, Precious*
• Julianne Moore, A Single Man

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

• Matt Damon, Invictus
• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
• Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
• Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds*

BEST DIRECTOR

• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker*
• James Cameron, Avatar
• Clint Eastwood, Invictus
• Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
• Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
• Nancy Meyers, It's Complicated
• Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds*

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• Michael Giacchino, Up
• Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant!
• James Horner, Avatar*
• Abel Korzeniowski, A Single Man
• Karen O and Carter Burwell, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• "Cinema Italiano," Music & Lyrics by Maury Yeston (Nine)
• "I Want to Come Home," Music & Lyrics by Paul McCartney (Everybody's Fine)
• "I Will See You," Music by James Horner, Simon Franglen; Lyrics by James Horner, Simon Franglen and Kuk Harrell (Avatar)
• "The Weary Kind," Music & Lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart)*
• "Winter," Music by U2; Lyrics by Bono (Brothers)

BEST TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA

• Big Love
• Dexter
• House
• Mad Men*
• True Blood

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA

• Glenn Close, Damages
• January Jones, Mad Men
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
• Anna Paquin, True Blood*
• Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA

• Simon Baker, The Mentalist
• Michael C. Hall, Dexter
• Jon Hamm, Mad Men*
• Hugh Laurie, House
• Bill Paxton, Big Love

BEST TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• 30 Rock*
• Entourage
• Glee
• Modern Family
• The Office

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• Toni Collette, United States of Tara
• Courteney Cox, Cougar Town
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock*
• Lea Michele, Glee

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock*
• Steve Carell, The Office
• David Duchovny, Californication
• Thomas Jane, Hung
• Matthew Morrison, Glee

BEST MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

• Georgia O'Keefe
• Grey Gardens*
• Into the Storm
• Little Dorrit
• Taking Chance

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

• Joan Allen, Georgia O'Keefe
• Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
• Jessica Lange, Grey Gardens*
• Anna Paquin, The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
• Sigourney Weaver, Prayers for Bobby

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

• Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance
• Kenneth Branagh, Wallander: One Step Behind
• Chiewetel Ejiofor, Endgame
• Brendan Gleeson, Into the Storm*
• Jeremy Irons, Georgia O'Keefe

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

• Jane Adams, Hung
• Rose Byrne, Damages
• Jane Lynch, Glee*
• Janet McTeer, Into the Storm
• Chloë Sevigny, Big Love

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

• Michael Emerson, Lost
• Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother*
• William Hurt, Damages
• John Lithgow, Dexter
• Jeremy Piven, Entourage


Just as a note, I personally feel True Blood and Glee are the best TV Drama and Comedy respectively. Also, Avatar is my favorite Drama of the year. Unfortunately I do not think the HFPA will agree with me, remember these are who I think will win the award, not my personal favorites.

Avatar

I have to say I am really impressed with the box office performance of Avatar thus far. It's longevity is astounding. Most movies have at least a 50% drop each weekend after the first weekend. Avatar had tiny drops from weekend to weekend. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that much like Titanic, some analysts thought the movie would disappoint at the box office. It certainly was a major risk. Let's not forget such sci-fi CGI disasters like Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, which only grossed $32million domestically and $85 million worldwide on a budget of $137 million. Some people (myself included) believe that Avatar actually has a shot at beating the $600 million domestic record set by Titanic. It has already grossed over $1 billion worldwide, and recently beat Return of the King to be the second highest grossing movie worldwide ever. I find that to be insane that after 12-13 years the only one who could possibly defeat James Cameron at his own game is himself! Titanic's unbelievable domestic/worldwide records have been nearly impossible to match. I would love to see Cameron have the #1 and #2 highest earning movies of all time. He is truly a box office juggernaut. No wonder why he didn't release any major movies (besides for documentaries and producing jobs) in between Titanic and Avatar! He didn't have to. After this they are going to have to start printing dollar bills with his face on it.

Top 10 Actors of the Decade

With the decade coming to a close, I have decided to compile a list of the top 10 actors of the decade. Factors that went into my decisions to include actors were nominations and wins for the major three awards (Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild), how memorable/iconic their roles were, and my personal opinion. Note that for SAG awards I only included nominations and wins for acting, not best cast. Also, nominations are to date, which means there are no Academy Award nominations included for this year. I have also included notable movies these actors were in during the decade.

10. Viggo Mortensen - ( Lord of the Rings Trilogy, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Appaloosa, The Road)
Academy Awards:1 nomination/ 0 wins
Golden Globes: 1 nomination/ 0 wins
Screen Actor Guild:1 nomination/ 0 wins

Hear me out on this one. He was the key player in the most successful trilogy ever, both commercially and critically. He was snubbed of awards for a father and husband hiding his past in A History of Violence, where he gave us a thrill ride. His best and most liberal performance was in Eastern Promises. He was a freakin' badass, nails the accent, and for pete sake he set a benchmark by being naked for 7 consecutive minutes while having a knife fight. His most recent film, The Road, while not that big commercial has won him some precursors and people are saying this could be the most underrated performance of the year.

9. George Clooney -(O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ocean Trilogy, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, Michael Clayton, Up in the Air)
Academy Awards: 2 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 4 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 3 nominations/ 0 wins

The quintessential suave actor, Clooney has had a good decade. That's just it, good. Even though he won an Oscar, I don't really see any his performances as memorable. Most of the time he was just playing himself (Danny Ocean, Michael Clayton, Ryan Bingham). Syriana was a good performance in a weak year for Supporting Actors ( I would have gone Matt Dillon for Crash) However, put all of the good performances together, and it places him 9th on my list.

8. Denzel Washington - (Remember the Titans, Training Day, Man on Fire, Inside Man, America Gangster, The Great Debaters)
Academy Awards: 1 nomination/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 2 nominations/ 0 wins
Screen Actors Guild: 1 nomination/ 0 wins

Perhaps the best actor of the last 25 years (maybe only to Tom Hanks) only places 8th on my list. Any sports fan will always remember Coach Herman Boone and the Titans in perhaps his most family friendly performance. Then, there was Alonzo Harris, the role that made him only the second African American actor to win the Best Actor Oscar. Every guy I know loves Man on Fire, and rightfully so, as Washington shows us what I consider to be one of the most emotionally vulnerable characters of the decade. American Gangster was lackluster for me, but he plays the confident gangster Frank Harris well. The Great Debators was one of the more surprisingly good movies I saw over the past few years, much in part due to his performance.

7. Benicio Del Toro - (Traffic, Snatch, 21 Grams, Sin City, Che)
Academy Awards: 2 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 1 nomination/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 2 nominations/ 1 win

One of the most underrated actors of our time, Del Toro has done a lot albeit quietly in this decade. He started off in 2000 with probably the best role of his career in Traffic as Javier Rodriguez, where he played the last straight cop in Mexico. He was the best part of Sin City ( except for Mickey Rourke) and gave a virtually unknown Cannes winning performance in Che, which if you get a chance you should definitely see.

6. Leonardo DiCaprio - (Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Departed, Revolutionary Road)
Academy Awards: 2 nominations/0 wins
Golden Globes: 5 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 3 nominations/ 0 wins

DiCaprio may not be the best actor of the decade, but he is certainly the "Golden Boy". Every movie he has been in this decade has garnered critical acclaim, and that is no mistake. He also seems to have an affinity for accents, as his best three roles this decade, Gangs of New York, Blood Diamond, and The Departed, all required him to use a different tongue. He has grown tremendously since 1997's Titanic and will most likely continue to grow. Looking forward to Shutter Island in February.

5. Johnny Depp - (Blow, Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Public Enemies)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations/ 0 wins
Golden Globes: 5 nominations/ 0 wins
Screen Actors Guild: 2 nominations/ 1 win

Depp gave us one of the most charismatic characters ever in Jack Sparrow in one of the most successful franchises of all time. The quirks that Depp gave his character was something that only he could provide, and for that we loved him. His frequent collaborations with Tim Burton seem to bring out he best in him, perhaps because like Burton, he is a bit eccentric. Sweeney Todd may have been his best Burton performance to date, and he even did his own singing in that role.

4. Daniel Day-Lewis - (Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood, Nine)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 3 nominations/1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 2 nominations/ 2 wins

Day-Lewis was not very active in this decade, but the work he did more then made up for it. It seems Day-Lewis gets off on playing a badass as Bill the Butcher and Daniel Plainview are two of the scariest non-horror characters in movie history. He is loathsome in his roles, but if you love to hate anyone, it's the characters he plays.

3. Phillip Seymour Hoffman - ( Almost Famous, 25th Hour, Capote, The Savages, Charlie Wilson's War, Doubt)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 4 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 2 nominations/ 1 win

Hoffman is without question one of the most talented actors I have ever seen. The way he played Truman Capote was so vivid and meticulous, simply put I think it is the performance of the decade. It seems that every year he does a film and every year he gets nominated for awards. His Oscar nominations were in 2005,2007, and 2008. Such consistency nowadays only lies with two other actors/actresses, Meryl Streep (her whole career) and Russell Crowe (1999-2001)

2. Sean Penn - ( I Am Sam, Mystic River, 21 Grams, Milk)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations/ 2 wins
Golden Globes: 2 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 3 nominations/ 0 wins

Penn is the only actor this decade to win two Oscars for Best Actor and only 1 of 9 ever. He is very versatile in his portrayals whether it be a mentally handicapped father ( I am Sam) or a real life gay activist (Milk). While he hasn't done many pictures this decade he is memorable and dynamic in what he's done. If he wasn't a household name for being Spicoli, he certainly is one after this decade.

1. Russell Crowe - (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Cinderella Man, 3:10 to Yuma, American Gangster)
Academy Awards: 2 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 4 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 3 nominations/ 1 win

Russell Crowe in my opinion is the best actor of the decade. Crowe started out the decade strong by winning the Academy Award for his work in Gladiator. His portrayal of Maximus Decimus Meridius may be one of the top three performances of the decade (behind Ledger's Joker, and Hoffman's Capote). He would have most likely won the Academy Award the very next year for his depiction of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind (top 5 performance of the decade), but his tirade against television producer Malcolm Gerrie for cutting short his acceptance speech at another award show may have turned voters against him. It's important to note that he won the Golden Globe and the SAG that year. Crowe collected many other big nominations throughout the decade for movies listed above. Recently, I believe he outacted Christian Bale in a very good movie, 3:10 to Yuma. He also outperformed the great Denzel Washington in the solid American Gangster.


Honorable Mention (in no order): Joaquin Phoenix, Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Paul Giamatti, Jamie Foxx, Heath Ledger, Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr.

Body Count in Movies

When you think of death in movies, what movies come to mind? Robocop? Saving Private Ryan? Titanic? Well according to moviebodycounts.com the movie with the highest body count in cinema history is Lord Of The Rings: Return of the King (extended version) with 836. Now, anyone who has seen LOTR: ROTK knows that the final battle scene is epic, and this is where the majority of the body count occurs.

It is interesting to think that a film that won 11 Oscars would have this much death in it, but typically war/battle movies do well with Oscars and have many demises in it. For example Saving Private Ryan won 5 Oscar and has a body count of 255, which ranks 12th all time in movies. Braveheart, which also won 5 Oscars, has a body count of 184. This places 20th all time.

Death in movies helps engage the viewer, it helps them connect with the picture and makes the plot more interesting. This is especially true when a main character dies. An example can be Starship Troopers. One would say this is an average movie, but when 4 of the main characters perish in the war with the Aracnids ( I won't list names for sake of spoilers), it shocks you and makes you really think. I believe this is why Starship Troopers is considered a cult classic and has spawned numerous direct to DVD sequels.

So, my point is you may be surprised when you hear that an amazing movie has an exorbitant body count, but that's what draws many of the viewers in. Movies with crazy battles or movies based on wars will never stop being made because of this and I'm glad that's true.

Oscar Predictions - Best Actress

Best Actress (in rank order)

1. Carey Mulligan, An Education - Breakout performance in a very good film. Keeping up with Streep in precursors.
2. Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia - Remember what I said about biopics? Streep portrays Julia Childs with ease giving one of her best performances over the past five years (much better than Doubt in my opinion). However, she will most likely split votes with It's Complicated.
3. Gabourey Sidbe, Precious - Breakout performance in her first ever film. Will get nominated, but will not win. Very rarely does the Academy reward a first time actor ( Jennifer Hudson won, but this was for Supporting Actress and her role depended heavily on her singing voice. She also had a lot of prior exposure due to American Idol)
4. Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side - A-List actress gives career best performance. Scored major nominations in precursors. However, is the film and the role for that matter really Oscar worthy?
5. Helen Mirren, The Last Station - Former Oscar winner plays Leo Tolstoy's wife well (another biopic role). Films reviews are mixed, and film itself isn't too well known, which could hurt Mirren's chances.

Oscar Predictions - Best Actor

Best Actor ( In rank order)

1. Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart - One of the most unappreciated actors of our time (4 nominations, no wins) finally gets it right in this film about country music. Relatively small film, not well known until late, which could hurt Bridges in the end.
2. George Clooney, Up in the Air - Clooney gives his career best performance. Why don't I have him winning? Well, if he didn't win for Syriana in 2006 I may just have him winning.
3. Colin Firth, A Single Man - Gay cinema does not translate well into Oscars (think Brokeback Mountain), but Firth stands out his performance as a Gay Professor in the 1960s
4. Morgan Freeman, Invictus - Perhaps one of the most "baity" roles of all time. The Academy loves to nominate biopic roles (think Ali and A Beautiful Mind to name a couple). However, he has been rewarded rather recently, and accent might not be quite there.
5. Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker - Breakout performer of the year in potentially best film of the year. Does anyone remember this guy from National Lampoon's Senior Trip?
   

Some box office flops of 2009

Time to discuss one of my favorite movie-related subjects: box office tankers. What is it about these movies that make them flop? Is it a generic/overdone plot line? The timing of the release? Terrible word of mouth? A limited marketing campaign? In my opinion it's a combination of all these reasons. Let's take a look for example at the recent box office bomb The Box. There was practically no advertising for the movie. Some people I talked to had no idea it was actually in theaters! Not to mention it has one of the laziest titles ever. I mean really, they couldn't think of anything better than The Box? It really makes me wonder how certain movies can even be green lit by the major studios.

Case in point, Imagine That starring Eddie Murphy. Did they actually think this was going to be a success? Again this is an example of a very limited marketing campaign and a standard/unoriginal plot (a girl who's imagination comes to life) leading to financial failure (about $16 million worldwide on a $55 million budget). This is another addition to his great track record. Who can forget Adventures of Pluto Nash, widely considered to be one of the biggest box office disasters ever. It was made for a budget of $100 million and earned only about $10 million. More recently, Meet Dave, which only grossed about $11 million and had a budget of $55 million. I mean the plot for Meet Dave did seem pretty weak, a spaceship in the shape of a human. This is really a shame because I think Eddie Murphy is a very talented actor, but he has made some bad decisions. Let's not forget that he probably cost himself an oscar by having Norbit and Dreamgirls released so close to each other!

The final box office bomb of 2009 that I am discussing was the Land of the Lost starring Will Ferrell. The movie had a combination of terrible reviews, commercials that showed virtually no laughs, and bad timing (opened the same weekend as The Hangover). It grossed only aboout $65 million worldwide on a budget of $100 million. The movie was destroyed by critics. For example, the New York Daily News said it was a "high concept disaster." In addition to the bad critical reception, the commercials were completely unfunny. They were relying too much on Will Ferrell's star power and nothing else. This proves that actor popularity does not guarantee financial success.