The Golden Globes totally sucked.
A few notes: Someone needs to tell the Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight ladies that we don’t care about them, their lame self-absorbed jokes. Most of the films and actors/actresses with foreign film backgrounds took home the gold, most times at the expense of better movies. Aside from nods to Daniel Day Lewis, Javier Bardem and Ratatouille, I completely disagreed with most of the winners. I continue to wonder the merits of this particular award show. And did I mention, Juno was totally screwed over?! Please also read Why The Golden Globes Are Wrong.
How could Atonement win best picture of the year over No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood? Is Sweeney Todd really a better movie than Juno? Did Julian Schnabel really deserve to win Best Director over The Coen Brothers? Did Johnny Depp have a better performance than Philip Seymour Hoffman or Ryan Gosling? Was Marion Cotillard a more deserving best actress than Ellen Page? Cate Blanchett over Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone? And why wasn’t Johnny Greenwood’s music for “There Will Be Blood” even nominated?
Here is a full rundown of the winners:
Best Motion Picture
Atonement
American Gangster
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Best Motion Picture (Musical Or Comedy)
Sweeney Todd
Across The Universe
Charlie Wilson’s War
Hairspray
Juno
Best Foreign-Language Film
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The Kite Runner
Lust, Caution
Persepolis
Best Director
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Ridley Scott - American Gangster
Joe Wright - Atonement
Best Animated Feature Film
Ratatouille
Bee Movie
The Simpsons Movie
Best Actor (Drama)
Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
James McAvoy - Atonement
Viggo Mortenson - Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington - American Gangster
Best Actor (Musical or Comedy)
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks - Charlie Wilson’s War
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Savages
John C. Reilly - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson’s War
John Travolta - Hairspray
Tom Wikinson - Michael Clayton
Best Actress (Drama)
Julie Christie - Away from Her
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Jodie Foster - The Brave One
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley - Atonement
Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)
Marion Cotillard - La vie en Rose
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Nikki Blonski - Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd
Ellen Page - Juno
Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I’m Not There
Julia Roberts - Charlie Wilson’s War
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Best Screenplay
Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Diablo Cody - Juno
Christopher Hampton - Atonement
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Aaron Sorkin - Charlie Wilson’s War
Best Original Score
Atonement
Into the Wild
Grace is Gone
Kite Runner
Eastern Promises
Best Original Song
“Guaranteed” - Into the Wild
“Despidida” - Love in the Time of Cholera
“Grace is Gone” - Grace is Gone
“That’s How You Know” - Enchanted
“Walk Hard” - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
January 13th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Wow, this really gets my goat, if that’s how the expression goes.
Sweeney Todd was an excellent movie, and very entertaining, but giving it Best Film (Musical or Comedy) and Johnny Depp Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) is a little ridiculous. Juno should have won Best Film for being a refreshing and contemporary look at an average life lived today.
I also believe that Tom Hanks should have won best actor (perhaps followed by PSH) for Charlie Wilson’s War. Great film, and, despite a few comedic moments, I don’t see how it’s considered a Comedy.
First time commenting here, but I’ve been lurking for quite a while. Keep up the good work guys!
January 13th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Oh, and I hate to add a second comment, but, Atonement for Best Picture?! You have to be kidding me! It was a very nice picture, don’t get me wrong, but I really believe that There Will Be Blood should have taken that one home.
Oh well, I’m supposing the Golden Globes are going to be losing some rep with quite a few people after this whole fiasco.
January 13th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Well those wins are certainly all over the map. It almost looks random.
January 13th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I’d like to note that fellow /film writer Steve Mason got 12 out of his 14 predictions right. It’s very interesting to read the reasons for his choices because most the time he knew what the HFPA was thinking.
Now that I now that the HFPA is so foreign oriented it was probably possible to predict Julian Schnabel as Best Director as well. By the way “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” is a really good movie. In fact all the nominated foreign films are highly recommendable and “Persepolis” is a must-see.
I can’t really tell whether the Golden Globes are right or wrong, because I haven’t seen all of the movies yet. But it’s pretty obvious that they tried to spread their awards between several films:
“Atonement”, “Sweeney Tood”, “No Country for Old Men” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” all got 2 awards. All those four movies can be happy with the result and there is not only one movie that steals all the awards. The only sad thing I noticed so far is that “Juno” got nothing. But “Juno” surely will get its awards from the Academy.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Atonement? Fuck no…
Kiss my man-sized ass.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
The Golden Globes always suck with their wins/nominations, remember last year when Babel and Dreamgirls took home Best Picture awards (yuck).
I’m disappointed that Juno didn’t fare well, but at least a good movie like Sweeney Todd won in it’s place. If something like Charlie Wilson or Hairspray got it, I would have destroyed New York, Cloverfield style.
Which looks like I’m about to, because I can’t get over the fact that Atonement got best picture drama. Sorry, but I just don’t think watching Keira Knightly and Mr. Tumus attempt to act for 2 hours is my kind of movie. The fact that the voters put it higher than No Country, There Will Be Blood, American Gangster, Eastern Promises, etc shows that they have really bad taste.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Marion Cotillard - La vie en Rose
perfect pick. I know you really love Juno, but do u really think that Ellen Page was Globe worthy? Watch La vie en Rose and i’m sure u’ll see merit in that performance.
Juno was very good, not great.
January 13th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Sorry but No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood should be the only nominees FOR best picture this year…compared to those 2 films everything else just falls short.
Sweeney Todd is not worthy of ANY award except for maybe a costume/music/editing one. Sorry Hot topic nation but Mr. Burton deserves nothing more than the praise of his legion of tweens.
Also…the Best Director category should goes as follows: The Coens, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sean Penn, David Fincher, and why honor Tim Burton when hes put out sub par work overall in his career, instead I’m gonna throw a curve ball and say…honor Wes Anderson…the man has never made a bad film, and The Darjeeling Limited was one of his best.
Animated feature, and best Dramatic actor are both 100% right…
Gosling over Depp for best comedy/musical…though that one is close. Because as much as I feel that Burton in the past 10 years (excluding Big Fish which was amazing) is a hack…Depp was actually well played.
Best Supporting Actor - It had to be either one of these 2:
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James
Lastly…Peter, I;ve been reading this site for a long time, and I know that for the past year you have been raving about Juno, and after seeing it recently I can agree with you that it was one of the best as well as one of my favorite movies of the year. However after saying that, you must realize that Diablo Cody’s screenplay was NOT the way of the future. Personally, after the second viewing of Juno, I walked out realizing that if I were to read over a collection of scripts from ‘VH1’s I love the 90’s’ I could probably highlight the majority of Diablo Cody’s screenplay. The characters were amazing, and I did enjoy many of their exchanges…but frankly I felt that the writing was by far the weakest part of Juno…and this is coming from someone who walked out of that theater loving the movie and still feels that way. But…it’s just not perfect man…I’m sorry.
This should be the Coen’s year…minus best actor…Daniel Dan Lewis deserves every award they give for acting for his part in that. If I could i would give him best actress…seriously…he was amazing.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:09 am
okay… this is ridiculous. Sweeney Todd won over Juno? and Atonement was even recognized? i don’t usually fall asleep while watching kiera knightly, but could she pick a more boring uninteresting film to work on. Sweeney Todd was good but it really ruined the musical for me. i have seen it performed on stage a hundred times better than the film version, i like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp but i just think they missed the boat on this one. Juno deserves so much more and Ellen Page deserves an award and so does Diablo Cody. The film was absolutely brilliant in every way, and i can’t believe it got robbed like this, it is sad to see what film has come to these days. As an aspiring film writer, i am severely depressed to see that Juno did not take home the best scrrenplay award.
January 14th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Juno could certainly win overhyped/overrated film of the year. It was good, but it was no cinematic masterpiece or novel art. To those dissing Atonement, sit tight- I’m sure there will be another Transformers movie soon enough.
I would have given best musical/comedy actor to Ryan Gosling though.
January 14th, 2008 at 3:29 am
Juno has been overhyped, and I’ve contributed. I’ll agree with you there. But the fact of the matter is its one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, and its also one of the top rated movies of the year by filmgoers. Fact of the matter is, if you didn’t love juno, you are in the minority. For some reason the few people who have flocked to this site to bash Juno don’t understand that simple fact. I’m not under the impression that my opinion is in any way fact, but instead in line with 99% popular opinion.
On IMDB its currently rated 8.4/10 which puts it at #123 of all time. On David Poland’s compilation of critics top 10 lists, Juno sits at the 6th best movie of the year. You know where Sweeney Todd sits on that list? At #13.
Bash Juno all you want, but I think 99% of you will agree, Juno was/is a better movie than Sweeney Todd.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:05 am
I wish Kiera Knightley will win the Oscars.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Just wanted to point out that the Golden Globes are voted on by the Hollywood Foreign Press. This might explain why they voted for a Broadway adaptation over a comedy about a pregnant American teenager. Personally, I look at the list for best picture and think “Wow, either 2007 sucked for good movies or the Golden Globes have lost it.”
Sadly, it’s probably the first one.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:44 am
I felt bad because everyone was just bashing it, I loved atonement, I’m going to guess if you are really pissed that it won, you probably didn’t see it. Well its fantastic.
January 14th, 2008 at 5:32 am
i love how the hardcore fans come out..i can guess the rest of their paragraph after the first sentence…All I have to read is :No Country for Old Men=worthy” and you can tell that person is gay for the coen’s. while their movies ARE entertaining, they are cult following movies. You think Coen’smovies are like the Holy Bible on screen, other cults think Burton’s movie’s are God-like. Me?? I am down the middle. I appreciate all aspects of most films and do not care to get on my knees for the Coen’s or Burton. If only the cult followers would do the same….or at least keep their mouth’s shut. If it weren’t for your hardcore cult following and hard pressed opinions on how their work is the best, more people would probably go watch their movies and they would make more money. The fact is, when YOU (the cult) promote a movie so hard, it goes in one ear and out the other because we know you are just a cult opinion.
January 14th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Absolutely no real surprises… though, of course, I would have loved to see either the Coen Brothers or P.T. Anderson , or even Joe Wright carry off the win. Their films carry more artistic imagination and skills to offer what it takes to direct a film of such amazing and mind-blowing quality in so many areas of the art of filmmaking. Frankly, I had found Julian Schnabel’s The Driving Bell and Butterfly a torture to watch. It came off really as a new and fascinating ‘Kervokian’ mercy-killing tactic for hastening up the death of a stroke-stricken quadriplegic: I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that Jean-Dominique Bauby just days after the publication of his memoirs. And I was disappointed that Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days was not the winning choice in the Best Foreign Language Film category. This film was so uncanny in its portrayal of harrowing and effectively compelling social realism in such filmmaking skills that really draw the audience into interactions with the characters and into the eventfully emotional situations – just the sort of film-watching experience that genuine lovers of cinema appreciate.
I am also glad that Marion Cotillard won… boy, her character in her film came through as powerful as Daniel Day-Lewis’ character in his film. Both actors portrayed such amazingly mesmerizing and demanding multi-layered characteristics that can only be expected from superbly qualified actors. Like Day-Lewis, Cotillard does deserve her win. By the way, I was jumping with joy when I learned that the Coen Brothers won the Best Screenplay award. This and Atonement are such splendid and adaptations from the novels. I have to say that Ratatouille is the most brilliant original script
January 14th, 2008 at 5:58 am
I’m so happy that “Sweeney Todd” managed to win something cuz I thought “Juno” was gonna sweep everything!!!
January 14th, 2008 at 6:07 am
Man…so disppointed at the best picture category. ATONEMENT? that was the most mildly bland film of the year. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN HANDS DOWN DESERVED IT. I can’t believe Into the wild wasn’t even nominated. What about Fincher’s Zodiac? was the release too early in the year to be included in the 08 globes or oscars? what a shame…because that was a terrific film. I’m glad for Ratatouille of course! I can’t wait to see juno and there will be blood here in Australia…stupid delayed premier times here. wish i lived in the US.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Don’t take the Golden Globes too seriously. The awards are bought by the studios.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:36 am
I think Hunter should take over this site Peter. He’s clearly much smarter than you. The majority of people will say they love McDonalds. Does that mean it is the best food in the country?
January 14th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Sorry Peter, that was a low blow. But I sincerley disagree with your assessment that popularity equals quality. You have to have a better way to defend your love of Juno than that. Just say, F’ it. I love the freakin’ thing and that is my opinion. But don’t try and act like those of us for who this film is like nails an a chalkboard are simply wrong because most people like the thing. I don’t know your criteria and you don’t know mine, but we all certainly project alot of our own self into the things we love for reasons we can hardly understand at times. I can go on forever describing why I don’t like that movie. But it will never change your mind. And that’s fine.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Even if you feel Juno is over hyped, not winning a single award in any category is a crime. Johnny Depp did a great performance in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and he did not win the Golden Globe in his performance that year. He did not play a fantastic role in Sweeny Todd. He was playing the character, he was not the character. Ellen Page was that character.
If you are not sold on that reason alone, the motion picture of Sweeny Todd should have been left in Broadway. There is a huge difference for a musical that is meant to be a Broadway film and a musical that is geared more towards a film. Tim Burton is a great director, respect his work, but his adaptation to film is whimsical at best for Sweeny Todd. There was no effort to show the film as a musical for the movies, instead it is shown as a movie I would rather see done in real life.
Juno, on the other hand, the director properly executed the film and showed the right perspectives of how to sell the movie. It was ‘A Day in the Life’ montage of a young girl in high school who slowly realizes the consequences of life and growing up. The director properly showed her perspective throughout the film of how each individual person interacted with her. Sweeny Todd was lets just stick a camera in and film the sucker. No depth, I am sorry.
I agree Juno’s writing was unoriginal and had a feeling of the movie Saved! in it. The lines used can be typical of a book you would give a teenager to read in middle school to hopefully captivate their attention. Despite this flaw, the actors and actresses actually took their roles and played the characters and showed emotion and depth beyond the words written on the page. I am literally amazed at how well the actors and actresses did with this script because it was written horribly.
Even if you do not agree with my assessment, you have to admit, my point of view should at least make you think.
January 14th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Robert: If the majority of foreign critics say this movie is better than that movie, and the Golden Globe goes to THAT movie instead of This movie, the argument I made is completely valid. It shows there is some other bias in effect.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I agree with a lot of these, although there really is not much (in my opinion) between a lot of these movies - most listed above (esp Best Motion Picture) were excellent.
I’ll be adding these to my blog list of movies to rent / watch / download.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Oh I am sure there are all kinds of biases at play in these Awards. On that I agree with you totally. At Cannes they love to stick it to the Bush folks, and so on. As I have already stated, I personally could not care less for what awards any movie receives. Crash was NOT, by far, the best movie of that year. It was amateurish and ham-fisted. But it won for political reasons. Everybody knows this is how they work. People try and make personal statements with their votes that often have nothing to do with the actual merits of the films. I hardly ever agree with their choices.
@Joshua:
I thought your assessment of Juno was very lucid and refreshing to see, and I agree with your assessment of Sweeny Todd as well. All I kept thinking was I wonder how they did this part, or that part, on stage. Sondheim is no Webber that’s for sure too. I saw it just over a week ago and cannot recall one single melody from it. I personally think Tim’s coasting.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
“Bash Juno all you want, but I think 99% of you will agree, Juno was/is a better movie than Sweeney Todd.”
On that we agree. LOL! Am I the biggest jerk on this thing or what?
January 14th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
atonement was asolutely BoRING!!! No country was one of, if not the best film ive ever seeen. also there will be blood was very good.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Bullcrap…Sweeney Todd isn’t an original story, Juno is…if we just remade ‘critically acclaimed’ stuff all the time, as Sweeney Todd is, there’d be no excitement. Juno deserved to win much more just on straight up freshness and originality, besides being a far better and more real movie.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Juno was not only the best comedy, but also the best film. Never in my memory has a low budget film spread across the nation like a rapid wild fire. It sales are increasing by secondary marketing(word of mouth), and not from the film pushing it all over commerials and newspaper. Ellen Page will make you teary eyed even if you are a mans man. Her not winning best actress will made me to never want to watch the worthless Golden Globes again. I have seen all the movies and none compares to her performance in Juno and not since ‘Remember the Titans’ have I left a film with everyone clapping.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Craig, sorry, but you are deluded, buddy. There is nothing “indie” about Juno. And nothing accidental or grass-roots about it’s ubiquitous ads. You fell for it dude. Merits of the movie not withstanding, when are people going to figure out that if it is in your local theater, there was nothing “indie” about it. That you think that is all part of the marketing strategy for that film. Trust me. I know.
January 19th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Bash All You want, I can care less. Personally, I am VERY glad that Sweeney Todd won for Best Picture and Best Actor. Despite having Never seen the original Broadway, I absolutely loved this movie. I believe you should give some merit to Johnny Depp on the fact that he hadn’t sung before this film, and managed to do it perfectly fine.
I loved that it got best picture, sure, it might be a little same ole’ same ole’, but it was a perfectly fine movie.
There may be other who have seen the others and think they deserved it better, i haven’t seen all these films. They’re might be more deserving candidates, but personally all these movies are starting to run together in plot, writing and characters.
I applaud Sweeney Todd for taking a chance, they won’t be the first people to do, nor will they be the last. They won’t be the best, but there will be far worse to come.
By the way, a movie about a teenage pregnant girl? I personally DON’T Think it should have won, despite how good/bad it was. And even though ST was taken from Broadway, and many people say it was unoriginal, how many movies are? They are all practically the same. So if you take a chance, no matter how great or how horrible your movie may be, I will pay to see it because I believe it will take a chance and be different then everything else that is playing.
Besides, truly tell me, will everyone who has seen this movie have already seen it on Broadway? I doubt all have, I’d absolutely love to, but think about it. Tim might be coasting, but why would you fix something that isn’t broken, and isn’t it smart to recreate something that is so well-acclaimed? Also, a musical to movie will be difficult, and you have to make it ‘movie-like’ otherwise….its not a movie, isn’t it? Others will prefer that it stay more to its musical aspect, but the addition of plot gives it more substance, which you need in order to sit through a movie almost two hours long.
So I think that anyone who is bagging on this movie for winning over some of their own personal favorites should bug off and really think about this.
Sorry to all the ‘non-winners’ but I am glad Sweeney Todd won!
And I resent this ‘Hot Topic nation, and tween comment.’ I can love Sweeney Todd/Tim Burton/Johnny Depp without that type of label, thank you.
Again, this is all purely a matter of personal taste, and you can push for what you prefer. But then again…what appeals to the masses?
February 26th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
…yehey!!!! sweeney todd won a GOLDEN GLOBE!!! It’s a beautiful movie indeed. Even though the ending is not a “happy ending” it just reflects the truth about life…that not everything is perfect and needs a wonderful ending…I greatly appreciate the efforts of Mr. Johnny Depp in doing the movie..he had improve and acted so well…Congratulations Johnny…keep up the good work…You’re the BEST!!! I just hope that those people behind the movie or story are also recognized and awarded… God Bless you all….
March 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Johnny Depp deserved the Best Actor. I am suprised he has never won this award in the past. He is an excellant actor. Ellen Page or any other actor you think is worthy of best actor or actress could never play his diverse roles. He is dedicated to his work and adaptable to any roles. He is one of the best actors of our time and you should not compare his work to some amateur like Ellen Page. The movie Sweeney Todd is perfect. Johnny Depp and Helena Boham Carter never sang before and created the best soundtrack ever. They are both excellent actors who should be more respected for their work. I’m suprised Helena was not nominated. Sweeney Todd did deserve to win and so did Johnny Depp. I think those that disagree are literaly challenged. Juno was good but I mean what can yo make of a movie of a pregnant teen. She got pregnant and had it and gave it up. WOW!!!!(sarcastically) Sweeney Todd in whole is genius the music, the plot, everything just genius.