Hats Off to Mr. Jackson

Michael C here to sound some trumpets for a fine actor's return from the wilderness. There are many pleasures to be found in Django Unchained, but for me the most satisfying was being able to unambiguously love a Samuel L. Jackson performance for the first time in what feels like forever. 

Let's be frank, Jackson has always been a guy who would cheerfully say yes to just about any script that was correctly formatted. But at least back in the 90’s he would throw in an Eve’s Bayou or a Jackie Brown every once in a while. Over the last decade, however, his time has been divided between coasting on his star presence in blockbusters or squandering his considerable talent in straight up dreck like The Man or The Spirit. What attempts he has made at meaningful work have largely been dumped directly in the straight-to-video bin. (Home of the Brave anyone?) The last performance of his that left any impression on me was 2000’s Unbreakable, although your mileage may vary. Black Snake Moan had its fans, as did The Caveman’s Valentine. Whatever the case, there’s no denying the internal compass he possesses for choosing projects is severely miscalibrated.

But now there is his work in Django and damn does it feels good to seem him nail it in a big way. Jackson gave what is basically one of my favorite performances ever in Pulp Fiction and Tarantino has handed him another winner. He plays Stephen, the most trusted slave of Leo’s malevolent plantation owner and the two of them share a terrific, twisted chemistry. In terms of thematic weight Stephen's importance to the story is second only to Foxx's Django, and Jackson makes a meal out of every second of screen time. It’s a devious, deceptively simple performance. A late in the film monologue in particular should have Oscar voters second guessing whether DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz, who were both Golden Globe nominated, are really the Django performances to unite behind in the awards game.

Jackson may very well turn around and follow this up with another decade of crapola (the XXX sequel listed on his IMDb page doesn’t bode well) but for now I’m pleased to see he has another performance that can stand proudly alongside Jules Winfield, Gator Purify and Sean Nelson’s alcoholic, chess playing father from Fresh (Rent it!)

The Annual GG + SAG ≠ Oscar Conundrum

We've learned time and time again that precursor awards are not infallible barometers of what is to come with Oscar. Each year some actor or two manages the magic combo of a Globe and SAG Nomination but doesn't quite make it to Oscar's shortlisting. Previous examples include Leonardo DiCaprio in J Edgar, Tilda Swinton in We Need To Talk About Kevin, Maria Bello in The Cooler, Russell Crowe in Cinderella Man, Mila Kunis in Black Swan and so on...

Who do you think will meet the same finish-line stumble fate this year? 

poll by twiigs.com

Globe Nomination Announcement

The Globe Nominations were announced bright and early... I followed on CNN the only live stream that seemed to be working. They began with the credits for their 70th anniversary and a weird applause break (without initial applause) for Cecil B DeMille Tribute winner Jodie Foster. After that the first Mr Golden Globe was revealed (Sam Fox, son of the Michael J Foxes) along with our usual Miss Golden Globe (this time that's Francesca Eastwood, daughter of Clint & Francesca)

Megan Fox started us the announcements but Jessica Alba also joined in.

BEST SONG
For You -Act of Valor (Keith Urban)
Not Running Anymore - Stand Up Guys (Jon Bon Jovi)
Safe and Sound - The Hunger Games (Taylor Swift) *not eligible for Oscar consideration*
Skyfall - Skyfall (Adele)
Suddenly -Les Misérables (performed by Hugh Jackman)

Best Song is a tough category to predict for Oscar but Globes always go for the stars so they obviously want Adele, Taylor Swift and the rest to attend. They're tripling down to make sure Nicole Kidman and her man are there with 2 nominations for Nicki and one for Keith.

BEST SCORE
Life of Pi
Argo
Anna Karenina
Cloud Atlas
Lincoln 

Mychael Danna has never had any luck with Oscar but will Life of Pi change that? The music is pretty noticeable and that usually helps. I've noticed a lot of online fandom for the Cloud Atlas score. Is that merely a case of the score being such a central part of the plot and the main theme being repeated like crazy? And is it just me or is Alexandre Desplat's score for Argo actually the weakest of his 18 scores this year? I'd much prefer to have seen him nominated for Moonrise Kingdom , Zero Dark Thirty or Rust & Bone or one of the 13 others. Of this batch of nominees, I think it's safe to say that I'm all about Anna Karenina. 

SCREENPLAY
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Django Unchained
Argo 

The Globes don't differentiate between adapted and original and so their nominee list usually swings prestige which means adapted (for reasons I've never quite fathomed because original screenplays are where it's at baby, year in and year out... well maybe not this year but whatever). Only DJANGO from their nominee pool here is the usual type of original, while Zero Dark Thirty (which feels like an adapted because of the true story and research factor) can also qualify.

FOREIGN FILM
Amour - Austria
A Royal Affair - Denmark
Intouchables - France
Kon Tiki - Norway
Rust & Bone - France *not eligible for Oscar consideration in their correlative category*

Three French language films and two Scandinavian films for the Globes this year. They kept it regional. 

ANIMATED FILM
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise of Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

LOTS MORE AFTER THE JUMP

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SAG Nominations: Bless Them For 'Charlotte Bless'

The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, now in their 19th year, are often a bipolar experience to read through. I'm annually enraged by the rules dictacting who receives a nomination when an ensemble nomination happens, but generally speaking there tends to one thing worth being super-thrilled about in the mix beyond all the sleep-inducing reiterations of every Oscar pundit's list.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
BRADLEY COOPER / Pat - “SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK” (The Weinstein Company)
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS / Abraham Lincoln - "LINCOLN” (Touchstone Pictures)
JOHN HAWKES / Mark - "THE SESSIONS" (Fox Searchlight)
HUGH JACKMAN / Jean Valjean - "LES MISÉRABLES" (Universal Pictures)
DENZEL WASHINGTON / Whip Whitaker - "FLIGHT" (Paramount Pictures)

In with Bradley Cooper. Out with Joaquin Phoenix? The Master enters the Oscar nomination period looking shakier than ever. We could see a complete shut out or 4 or 5 nominations for the handsome, well acted but ultimately not too accessible film. It might just be the year's biggest wild card at this point.

It's worth noting that people often emphatically exaggerate the meaning of "snubs". For all we know Phoenix's no show here was a matter of one vote, rather than anything to do with the movie (though it probably isn't well enough loved) or his feelings about awards campaigns. MORE...

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Original Song Eligibility List = Lots of Opportunities For Oscar Night Celebrity Live-Singing!

Now that Skyfall has been declared eligible can Adele finally break the unofficial NO NOMS FOR BOND thing that's been going on forever?As you may have heard, 75 songs have qualified for consideration for Oscar's Best Original Song Category...and not just from animated films. I love this category in my more imaginary moments neither because of what's been nominated over the years (ewww) nor any belief that songwriting is a particularly valid "filmmaking achievement". I only love it for its potential to provide my favorite night of the year with some entertaining interludes -- I love acceptance speeches but you gotta break the night up for variety's sake. Sadly, Oscar has been mucking with this category for so long that it almost never reaches its potential of providing 5 awesome short breaks from people standing at podiums, preferrably while also letting various celebrities sing live to us. In the year of Les Miz it will be a great shame if there isn't live singing on Hollywood's High Holy Night.

But I keep the dream alive and pray that one day some Academy executive will realize that the only thing the category is good for is putting celebrities on stage in a different context than acceptance speeches or merely to introduce yet another mind-numbing montage of something that has nothing to do with the films we happen to be celebrating this annum. So with that in mind, I'm placing in ALL CAPS the performer of the song if it's somebody who it would immediately enrage if they chose not to invite them to sing it to us so that they could shove all the songs into one medley for, like, Miley Cyrus to sing or something (remember how obsessed the Oscars were with having Miley Cyrus present there for awhile?! Yeah, that was... well, let's not dwell.)

LIST AND MORE AFTER THE JUMP

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