Golden Globe Nominees a Mixed Bag, Cable Dominates TV Dramas

Image credit: Focus Features

Of the films nominated for Golden Globes, I’ve seen a grand total of one of them in both the comedy and drama categories: The Kids are All Right. (Drama noms: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The King's Speech and The Social Network, two of which are on my "must see" list. Comedy noms: Alice in Wonderland, Burlesque, The Kids are All Right, Red and The Tourist.)

What does THAT say about me, or, conversely, about the nominations?

Maybe it means – HELLO?! – I should somehow find the time to go see more movies . . . or, perhaps, it's an indication that the movies I have seen in theaters aren't ones the Golden Globe voters find worthy, such as The Town. (Though Jeremy Hurt Locker Renner received a nod for supporting dramatic actor for The Town.) Then again, a lot of the acting and best picture nominations went mostly to people and films which have not yet been released or in limited release smack dab in the middle of the Christmas season, when I don't have a heck of a lot of time to go see them because of all that Christmas stuff I've got to do.

Overall, in addition to Renner's nomination, I was very happy to see that both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore were nominated for lead actresses in a comedy for The Kids are All Right; they were believable and relatable as a middle couple whose family of four was upended after their son tracked down the man who had donated his sperm to the couple. (I reviewed it here.)

When it came to the animated feature films, however, I've seen three of the five nominees – Despicable Me, How to Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 – which is an indication that yeah, I’ve got kids, and I take them to see kid movies more often than I go to see flicks of my choosing.

Image credit: Michael Yarish/AMC

On the TV side, it was somewhat shocking to see that of the best TV drama nominees, only ONE is a network show. Mad Men was, of course, on the list alongside the really solid, though not nearly as nuanced, The Good Wife. The other three nominees are shows I don’t watch: Boardwalk Empire (though I think I SHOULD be watching this one, anyone care to make that argument to me?), Dexter and The Walking Dead.

Best dramatic actress and actor nominations mirrored the TV drama trend, as the sole network nomination went to Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife. Margulies is up against Elisabeth Moss, who really deserves this award after her great fourth season as Peggy Olson, was nominated for Mad Men. The other dramatic actress nominees are: Piper Perabo from Covert Affairs, Katey Sagal from Sons of Anarchy and Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer.

The only network best dramatic actor nominee went to Hugh Laurie for House, but if Jon Hamm doesn’t get it, particularly for that episode of “The Suitcase,” then the Golden Globe voters are seriously off their rockers. Their competitors are: Steve Buscemi from Boardwalk Empire, Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad and Michael C. Hall, Dexter.

Image credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

Comedy-wise, the networks fared better, fielding four out of the six nominees for 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, Glee and Modern Family. (Showtime’s Nurse Jackie and The Big C were also nominated.) Modern Family -- specifically the “Manny Get Your Gun” episode – should walk away with this, without question. Of the female members of the Modern Family cast, only Sofia Vergara received a nomination, while Eric Stonestreet was the only male cast member nominated. What about Ty Burrell? Rico Rodriguez? What, are they blind to their comic genius?

What did you think about the Golden Globe nominations?
Image credits: Focus Features, Michael Yarish/AMC and Eric McCandless/ABC.

'The Kids are All Right:' Parents are Parents

The Spouse kindly agreed to accompany me to the movies last week where I dragged him to see The Kids are All Right, the new Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo flick.

By the time we left the theater, we were convinced that the whole point of the film was this: Regardless of the fact that the main couple was comprised of two women who had raised two children, ages 15 and 18 (they each got pregnant with donor sperm from the same guy), their gender didn’t really matter all that much. What DID matter most was the fact that raising children changed their relationship, challenged it and sometimes obscured the romantic partners’ ability to see one another as they really are, not simply a collection of assorted weaknesses and flaws that can prove irritating.

In my pop culture column this week I wrote about the commonalities I felt I had with the film’s characters, saying, “. . . I felt as though I was observing some of the similar challenges facing my marriage to my husband being played out on the silver screen, witnessing the inevitable scars child-rearing, and life in general, can cause to a relationship.”

On My Must-See List: 'The Kids are All Right' and 'Eat Pray Love'

As soon as it arrives in Boston area theaters, I'm planning on heading out to see the new Annette Bening/Julianne Moore/Mark Ruffalo film, The Kids are All Right. The family-of-four-with-two-moms-who-got-pregnant-via-donor-sperm-and-get-visited-by-said-sperm-donor-18-years-later movie is getting great buzz, plus I really like Annette Bening.



Another flick about which I'm curious to see is the forthcoming Julia Roberts movie, Eat Pray Love. Wonder if I should read the book first before seeing the movie? (No, I haven't read the book yet, even though it seems like every book club in America has already tackled it. I somehow managed to miss it when it first came out four years ago.) However some people say that reading the book first ruins the movie because the movie can nevr live up to the book. Hmm . . .