Daily Awards Buzz & Rumors

Tuesday, January 15, 2007



"'Juno''s shut-out. Nominated for best comedy, best actress in a comedy, and best screenplay, the box office hit went 0 for 3 (the Hollywood Foreign Press went for the more lavish 'Sweeney Todd' instead). It should still have the last laugh in the form of some big-ticket Oscar nominations." – Dave Karger looks for notable trends coming from the Golden Globes at Entertainment Weekly

"PGA is a pretty damned good 4 of 5 marker... like DGA... and unlike DGA, a pretty horrible 5 for 5 marker. Not once in the last decade, even when expanding to six nominees, have they hit all five Oscar nominees… Of course, everyone will assume that 'Diving Bell' is the one that should be nervous. But someone should." – David Poland looks at the Producers Guild nominations at Movie City News

"Here is a 29-year-old screenwriter (Cody) and a 30-year-old director (Reitman) brainstorming with a nearly 21-year-old actress (Page) and deciding that the intentionally primitive and infantile sounds recorded by a 35-year-old musician (Kimya Dawson) epitomize 'the music that the kids today really listen to.' This sort of contrivance hardly smacks of the honesty and humor the filmmakers brag about, and which many critics have hailed." – Jim DeRogatis, music critic, nevertheless takes some shots at "Juno" in the Chicago Sun-Times

"Might not be an Oscar ceremony at all this year, of course, but if there is, it's not at all inconceivable that Kimya could get her vastly uncomfortable Elliott Smith moment, onstage in front of millions with her mushroom-cloud shock of hair, her labret piercing, her enveloping arm tattoos and her striped socks, sweetly mumbling through 'Anyone Else But You,' the pulverizingly twee power ballad from her old band, NYC 'antifolk' heroes the Moldy Peaches, which provides 'Juno''s saccharine closing movement. This is a 'Garden State' situation, with all the fearsome backlash that entails." – Rob Harvilla, music critic, also looks to go after the "Juno" bandwagon (though that song isn't even eligible for an Oscar) at the Village Voice

"'Atonement' is dead again… The winner will be announced during a ceremony that will be somewhat ignored when it happens on February 2nd at the Beverly Hilton. Nobody wants to get too excited about anything to do with producers, i.e., the bad guys who won't give even a little bit in strike negotiations with the WGA." – Jeffrey Wells can't make up his mind about "Atonement"'s Oscar chances at Hollywood Elsewhere

"Hollywood's neverending love affair with itself just keeps on rolling, as now the Producer's Guild of America has announced its list of 2007 film nominees…. No guesses as to which film they'll select this year, but don't count out 'There Will Be Blood.' As a friend of mine recently remarked: 'Producers will definitely relate strongly to the story of a relentless misanthrope who sacrifices everything in his quest for money and power.'" – Patrick Walsh finds a new "Blood" analogy at Cinematical

"'Atonement' and 'Sweeney Todd,' the two big winners at the Golden Globes, are heading into Oscar nominations January 22 without a lot of support from the Guilds. Now the PGA has given 'Atonement' and 'Sweeney Todd' a pass, too." – Anne Thompson notes the odd omissions of the PGA noms on the heels of the Globes at Variety

"There are still six definitive frontrunners in this year's Oscar race. Unless voters finally got around to screening 'Sweeney Todd' over the lat few weeks or they want to get crazy and chalk up a film like 'The Bourne Ultimatum' or 'Ratatouille,' these six look to be in a dog-fight. This isn't like last year, when 'Letters from Iwo Jima' was so late in the game that it had the potential to spoil a guild favorite like 'Dreamgirls.' So pick five and hold your breath." – Kristopher Tapley looks to boil down the competition for Best Picture at Variety

"Will Oscar's love of mimicry and biopics bring Marion Cotillard ('La Vie En Rose') the win or will AMPAS voters stick with the frontrunner, the legendary Julie Christie ('Away From Her'), who also has an Oscar friendly hook (alzheimers) and has been winning the lions share of the precursors. The third scenario, given the rising public popularity of 'Juno' is that the battle of these two heavily dramatic star turns makes room for a surprise win for (fictionally) pregnant Ellen Page. In each case, history will be made." – Nathaniel Rogers notes that any of the top three contenders for Best Actress would make history one way or the other at The Film Experience

"Those of us who have always wondered why award shows have to be so infernally long got our answer on Sunday night at the Golden Globes: they don't, but all meaning is derived in such matters from the script that goes with such ceremonies. The windy speeches, the tears of joy, the fashion miscues, all arrayed over remarkable superbeings in gossamer frocks are what people turn the television on for. Without pomp, there is no circumstance, at least in Hollywood." – David Carr suddenly realizes how much he likes the things he thought he hated about awards shows at the New York Times

"The red carpet plays host to American glamour, commerce, banality, charm and shallowness. The display serves the publicity interests of fashion houses, and apparently a few designers were crying into their bodices over the loss of the Sunday-night dress parade, worried that they wouldn't be able to move warehouses of lip gloss. Isn't that always the rationale for lending an actress a $20,000 beaded dress, to sell a $15 tube of lipstick later?" – Cathy Horyn looks at the bottom line of red carpet fashion at the New York Times

"The biggest surprise for many is the inclusion of 'Diving Bell,' but I suspected that would happen because it (a) is a wonderful and moving film, (b) has shown up everywhere thus far, and (c) has Steven Spielberg's revered producer Kathleen Kennedy as the driving force behind it." – Scott Feinberg isn't surprised by the PGA's big surprise at And The Winner Is

"Anyway, it's a shame the actual awards show didn't happen, because it would have been truly bizarre. Julian Schnabel won for Best Director! Could you imagine the Schnab up there in his purple pajamas, accepting his award from, say, Martin Scorsese ('What was your name again?' he'd ask)? God, it would have been great." – The Vulture wonders what could have been at New York Magazine

-- Compiled by Mark Olsen

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Monday, January 14, 2007



"The evening was a downright weird one and contained it share of competitive surprises. 'Atonement,' which had been considered to be losing luster in the awards race, stormed back to life with a win as best motion picture drama. The audience of journalists and press agents gasped a bit when it was announced. 'Sweeney Todd' bested 'Juno' in the best motion picture musical or comedy, also a surprise to some." – David Carr tries to make some sense of the evening's winners at The New York Times

"The Globes, had these been the picks in a normal year, did the job it usually does… would inspire the conversations with these picks it normally inspires. And as usual, these picks will be fortunate to match 50% of the ultimate Academy winners. But amazingly, the only possibly winners that could fail to even be nominated for Oscar, by this week's likely overstated trend watching, would be both Best Picture winners." – David Poland sets the tone for Golden Globes coverage at Movie City News

"And that led to a bizarre showdown: while E! and the TV Guide Network showed the announcements being read out in the hotel ballroom, NBC snubbed the event and jury-rigged its own version, using Nancy O'Dell and Billy Bush, the anchors of the NBC Universal show 'Access Hollywood,' to announce the winners on a different gold-colored stage, with different film clips. NBC chose its own timing to announce the winners, and was mostly slower, so that viewers watching E! learned that Marion Cotillard won the award for best actress in a musical or comedy for 'La Vie en Rose' long before NBC announced it." – Alessandra Stanley reviews the NBC broadcast of their Globes coverage at the New York Times

"Okay, I made the mistake of watching NBC's 'fake' time-delayed, Stepford Showbiz News presentation of the Golden Globe Award winners. If I had watched CNN or whomever else, the announcements would have been revealed to me earlier. I should have known that NBC would drag things out to make a full-hour show out of it. It was my mistake, but HE is hereby delivering a resounding thumbs-down to NBC's decision to play games." – Jeffrey Wells with his own review of NBC at Hollywood Elsewhere

"This has little impact whatsoever on the Oscar race. The ballots are in. It helps the eventual nominees look like winners and gain momentum, is all. If in fact 'Atonement' gets many nominations, then this strange Globe win (which will be plastered all over ads everywhere) helps them. If it doesn't, then it doesn't. Same with 'Sweeney Todd,' which is more likely to get lots of technical nods and Depp than best picture." – Anne Thompson looks to the bigger picture at Variety

"Julie Christie might want to check the rearview, as Marion Cotillard is hot on her tail after winning over Ellen Page tonight." – Kristopher Tapley notes that the Best Actress Oscar Race looks to be simmering down to the two Golden Globe winners at Variety

"Biggest surprises? Not really. The Hollywood Foreign Press leaned heavily on the foreign nods, and I suppose the words 'home-skillet' didn't hit, well, home with the HFPA. Is 'Atonement' really the best film of the year? I feel like it's tricking a lot of people." – Erik Davis wonders about the HFPA's Oscar-abilities at Cinematical

"I'll tell you: I can't do this again. If anything else gets cancelled I'm going to f-r-e-a-k. This show was a travesty. So, so, so tacky and inappropriate. Discussing the winners and losers right after they've been announced and who should have won? I never thought I'd say that but this particular development of the mutated version of the Golden Globes was even more embarrassing than the BFCA's 'prediction' bragging. I felt like I need a shower after watching it. Bitching about the winners is the game we play at home. That's what parties and editorials and, um, blogging are for. It's not for the telecast you simpletons. That's rude." – Nathaniel Rogers finds the Globes telecast downright offensive at The Film Experience

"It's also important to note how pro-foreigners the Golden Globes are, most of its membership is made of European journalists so 'Atonement''s victory shouldn't really be a shocker (same goes for Cotillard's and Schnabel's triumphs)." – Johnny Alba has his own theory of why the Globes go the way they do at The Oscar Igloo

"9:20 PM: Julian Schnabel wins Best Director for 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.' We actually agree with Larry on this one: 'Makes no sense!'" – Karina Longworth liveblogs along to Larry King on CNN at Spout

-- Compiled by Mark Olsen

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