Golden Globes

Lets take a moment to examine the Golden Globe nominations, shall we?
For starters, 2006 has been a rather weak year for American cinema in general. Nothing (thus far- my hopes are high for Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, however) has really stood out in my mind the way Woody Allen's Match Point, or Michael Haneke's Cache did last year. Both of those are exceptionally well-made films that dove deep into the various themes they took on.

Nothing this year has really succeeded, in my mind, the way those and a few other films did last year. The Departed is a great movie. Brick is pretty awesome. The Proposition and The Prestige were both very interesting. Babel, though a little disappointing, was more-or-less sound.

Anyway - here are some of the nominees and my opinion about the particular category

Best Picture - drama:

BABEL
BOBBY
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
THE QUEEN
I'd like The Departed to win, personally, but I've only seen that and Babel so far. The reviews for Bobby have been a little lackluster, so I'm not really sure what's going on there.

Best Picture - comedy:

BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DREAMGIRLS
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING

I've seen all except Dreamgirls and The Devil Wears Prada in this category. Borat is a definite surprise here. It's a pretty funny movie, but not really the kind of stuff awards are made from. I'd like Little Miss Sunshine to win, I think. It is one of the few notable comedies this year. Missing from this category, I think, is Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep. It is quite the exceptional film and deserves some recognition. Gondry's career has made him kind of a wunderkind, so I'm sure at least one of his future efforts will make the award show cut.

There's another strange nomination further down the list; Running With Scissors is one of the worst reviewed movies of this year, but pulled a "Best Actress- Comedy" nomination for Annette Bening. I suppose acting can be good despite a bad flick, but it's a little surprising.

Leonardo DiCapprio and Clint Eastwood are both competing against themselves, which is kind of different as well.

Other then that, everythings more or less normal. I'm a little sad about the whole thing, but with a year like this has been, I guess the nominations can't be helped.