Golden Globes

Okay, when Clint Eastwood wins the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Film (a category in which Mel Gibson was also nominated, along with actual foreign directors like Guillermo del Toro and Pedro Almodóvar), it might be time to rethink the purpose and effectiveness of the category. The Foreign Language category has always been a sort of afterthought, an “oh yeah, other countries make pictures too” sort of thing. At the Oscars, anyway, they’re rarely considered for the Best Picture award, since they have a whole category of their own! But doesn’t that highlight an undercurrent of feeling that a non-English Language film isn’t really worthy of a Best Picture award? Which is so silly. SO SILLY. I’m the first to admit that there’s a difference in sensibility between American films and foreign films, but that doesn’t mean one is better than the other. They should be judged equally against each other. Especially when both Letters from Iwo Jima and Apocalypto are AMERICAN films, and they’re only getting put in the Foreign Language category because Eastwood and Gibson chose to use Japanese and Mayan rather than English. Independent, limited release films are finally starting to get their due (all five Oscar-nominated films last year were limited releases), and it’s time foreign films do as well.

BTW, Meryl Streep is awesome. She pointed out that everybody had seen her film (The Devil Wears Prada) because it was a wide release, playing everywhere, and encouraged everyone who didn’t have the chance to see the other nominated actresses’ films (Sherrybaby, Volver, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, The Queen, Running With Scissors, Little Miss Sunshine, Miss Potter, Dreamgirls, all limited releases, though some more limited than others) because it wasn’t playing near them to go speak up about it to their theatre managers. I’m sure this wouldn’t have any immediate effect, because a lot of the release schedules are determined by the studios, but if enough people made a fuss about not being able to see independent, foreign, and limited release films, maybe it would filter up.

Warren Beatty, dude, your wife is a way better actor than you are. But she’s not a director, so I guess you still have an edge.

Wow, this year Helen Mirren was the first person to ever play both Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II, and last night she won Best Actress awards for both of them. Incredible. I haven’t seen Elizabeth I, but she totally deserved it for The Queen (Even if I was chanting “Maggie…Maggie…Maggie” at the screen, just because I love Maggie Gyllenhaal that much.)

Guess I’m going to have to start watching “Ugly Betty,” huh. Can you imagine being America Ferrera and winning a Golden Globe over all those other people? Especially Felicity Huffman. My gosh. I watched half of the first episode on ABC’s website, but then the site choked on me. ABC, you might want to have that looked after. NBC’s site works better, I was able to watch the last several episodes of “30 Rock” with noooo problems. Except that at Christmastime they had the whole series up, and this week, they only had the past five or six eps. I wanted to watch them all! Networks are so annoying sometimes. But that’s by the by. Also, Hugh Laurie’s real voice sounds totally different from House’s voice. Not only the accent, I knew about that, but it’s deeper. Threw me a loop, because I don’t remember his voice being that deep on Blackadder.

A little surprised by Babel‘s win. I haven’t seen it, so I can’t honestly say whether it was appropriate or not, but I figured The Departed had a lock on it. Guess I should’ve seen Babel in St. Louis when I had the chance, instead of talking myself out of it.