The Golden Globes aired last night and I posted a quick reaction to it on GIANT this morning.  Check it out here.

Short version: Glad for Kate Winslet, even though I’m not a fan of either of film she won for and actually think the Supporting Actress win for The Reader is a farce.  She’s the freakin’ lead in the movie!  If that’s a supporting performance than Mickey Rourke should be running in the supporting category for The Wrestler as well.  Also can’t generate much enthusiasm over Slumdog Millionaire‘s success.  I know critics and audiences love it, but I still don’t quite understand why and none of the hyperbolic reviews have mounted a convincing defense for me.  At this point, a Best Picture win seems like a foregone conclusion, but part of me still thinks the movie is still too small to take home the big prize.  In fact, with the recent box-office success of Gran Torino (another film I simply don’t understand the appeal of), part of me wonders if we shouldn’t be looking for ol’ Clint to beat out the young lovers from Mumbai.

Also emerging out of last night’s festivities is word that Matthew Weiner and AMC are still locked in a battle over Weiner’s contract to continue with Mad Men.  Personally, I don’t understand why AMC would even consider trying to continue the series without him.  Of course, if some of the rumored reports of Weiner’s demands are true ($10 million a season?) I hope he’s willing to put the show first and take a modest salary hit.  A third season of Mad Men sans Weiner would be akin to cancellation and I’m not ready to let go of this series just yet.  Anyone remember the Palladino-free final season of Gilmore Girls?  Please, please, please don’t let the same thing happen here.

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Looking for a good horror film to see this weekend?  Well, don’t go see The Unborn in that case.  I explain why in my Friday movie column over at Giantmag.com.

The Unborn

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Looking for a DVD to rent this weekend?  Well…sorry to say there’s not much out there.  Take a peek at my weekly DVD column for a full roundup.  I also fill you in on nine movies and shows to look forward to this coming year.

DVD Round-Up: January 6, 2009
Top 9 of ’09

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Greetings one and all. It’s a pleasure to be back at last.

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The Dark Knight

And in case you wanted to see something else this weekend…
Mama Mia!
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Meet Dave

Wanted and Wall*E

And if you can’t get enough of Pixar’s adorable robot, here’s my feature story about the director, Andrew Stanton: Robot Romance

Sex and the City
And the ongoing series chronicling my Sex education:
Diary of a Sex and the City Virgin: Season One
Season Two
Season Three

My take on this summer’s Big Blockbuster Kahuna:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

And in case you missed it:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

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Hollywood got dolled up in its finest for the annual Academy Awards party last night, but the American public yawned and changed the channel.  According to early reports, the three-hour seventeen-minute telecast ranks as one of the lowest rated shows in Oscar history.  Ironically, hardcore film buffs would probably agree that Sunday’s show featured the best line-up of winners in ages.  Sure I was personally hoping that There Will Be Blood would be named Best Picture, but No Country for Old Men is a less embarrassing choice than, say, Crash or Gladiator.  In fact, I wasn’t enraged with any of the winning films.  Diablo Cody winning for Juno?  Not my first choice, but that screenplay definitely shows promise.  Elizabeth: The Golden Age nabbing the Oscar for costumes?  The fashions were the only memorable things about that movie.  The Bourne Ultimatum sweeping its three technical nods?  Very cool–the editing and sound work on that movie was top-notch.  And boy, did I cheer when The Golden Compass beat out Transformers for Best Visual Effects.  Yes, Optimus Prime looked cool, but I’m thrilled that the Academy continues to deny Michael Bay an Oscar.

So it was a good night for the winners, but a mediocre show overall.  Lowlights included Jon Stewart’s messy opening monologue, the time-consuming montages, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill’s flat “I’m Halle Berry” routine, the last musical number from Enchanted and playing Marketa Irglova, one-half of the Oscar-winning Once duo, off-stage before she had a chance to say anything.  Highlights included every post-monologue Stewart appearance (he got looser as the show went on), Javier Bardem’s heartfelt acceptance speech, the fake “Salute to Binocular Vision” montage and Stewart inviting Irglova back onstage after a commercial break.  There were no grand “I’m the King of the World!” boasts a la James Cameron, but also no truly memorable bits like Adrien Brody planting one on Halle Berry or Jack Palance doing one-handed push-ups.  In other words, it was a very low-key, business-as-usual show, which is probably why it attracted such a small viewing audience.  For me, the saddest part of the night was how badly I did in my predictions.  I went 11 for 24, a truly horrid score for which I have little excuse.  Hopefully you didn’t listen to me when filling out your own ballot.  If you did, sorry I cost you the $100 jackpot in your office pool.  But just so we’re clear, I’m not sorry enough to pay you out of my own pocket.

For the record, hear are all of last night’s 24 winners.  The bolded titles are the ones I predicted correctly.

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