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Ricky Gervais Golden Globes 2011

January 27, 2012 by · Comments Off on Ricky Gervais Golden Globes 2011 

Ricky Gervais Golden Globes 2011, “The Globes are just like the Oscars, except without all that…esteem,” Ricky Gervais quipped while hosting the Globes with typical-Gervais dryness. No matter its prestige, the Golden Globes kick-off each year’s award season, bring insight into Oscar speculation and are significantly easier to sit through than the stilted Academy Awards.

Where else will censors scramble against Meryl Streep or George Clooney thanking Michael Fassbender for his full-frontal nudity?

The list of the 2012 Academy Award nominees, announced Tuesday, did little to shake the premise that the Golden Globes are accurate predictors of Oscar contenders. True, neither of the past two years’ Best Picture Oscars (“The King’s Speech” and “The Hurt Locker”) won their Golden Globe counterpart, but Best Actor and Best Actress winners have lined up over the last five years, and the Golden Globes generally narrow the field.

Barring a major upset, then, it’s safe to say that the “winner” and conversational centerpiece of the Feb. 26 ceremony will be either “The Artist,” “The Decendants” or “Hugo.”

“The Artist” won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy and received 10 Oscar nominations, and “The Descendants” won the Golden Globe for Best Drama and garnered a respectable five Oscar nominations. Martin Scorsese won the Golden Globe Best Director for “Hugo,” which swept the Oscar nominations with 11 nods.

Compared to the uncertainty of the last few years, this is a win-win-win situation for movie lovers: Two artistic and ambitious tributes to cinema and a skillfully eloquent film from Nebraska native Alexander Payne (with a stunning Hawaiian soundtrack unfortunately unqualified for any awards). Those still bitter that the spectacle-laden “Avatar” was even a contender two years ago should take note that it’s a black-and-white, silent French film that appears to lead the pack this year. Co-star Berenice Bejo has said that she and writer-director, Michel Hazanavicius, were so convinced “The Artist” wouldn’t even see a United States release that they planned to send DVDs to the American cast and crew so they’d have a chance to see it.

Gripers need not fear, however, because there were a surprising number of snubs and perplexing decisions. “Melancholia,” a beautiful film that won The National Society of Film Critic’s Best Film prize and Best Actress for Kristen Dunst, was completely overlooked. Elizabeth Olsen, with a pitch-perfect debut in the creepy “Martha Marcy May Marlene” is missing as well, leaving us with a frustratingly out-of-touch Best Actress list. “Drive,” deservingly one of the most talked about films of 2011, only received a nod for “Best Sound Editing.” Its Best Picture prospects were shaky at best, but Ryan Gosling no doubt earned a place on the Best Actor list for his role as the quietest psychopath in cinema.

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