Requisite Post on the Golden Globes.

I love awards season.

Of course, the Academy Awards are the big ones. But I'm also a fan of the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes. The SAG Awards are the only awards for both film and television actors chosen solely by their fellow actors, and the award itself is for "Outstanding Performance." The Golden Globes are awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for both film and television as well.

Sure, there are other awards. There are the other guild awards, major American critics' association awards, other awards from abroad like the BAFTA's, the National Board of Review's Top 10 films of the year list, and ones like the Independent Spirit Awards, which I personally enjoy, even though they're commercialized like Sundance is now. But anyway. To me, the Globes, SAG's, and Oscars are the big 3. Yeah, there's the red carpet, where some of the glamour and class (except for, ya know, people like J. Lo) of Old Hollywood come back for a while, and the men (and Diane Keaton) don perfect suits (except for Johnny Depp), and the women pull out the (mostly) gorgeous designer gowns and jewels. (This year...two thumbs DOWN to Cameron Diaz, Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Blake Lively, Laura Dern, Eva Mendes, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. YIKES.) But more than anything, it's about the recognition of great work done in the film and television industry, and it's a celebration of the mediums.

That's one of the great things about the Globes: it's like one big party. The ceremony isn't in a big theater, like the Oscars are--it's like a big banquet, with everyone at round tables throughout the room. There's no host, like at the Academy Awards, or the Tonys or Emmys, and there are no performances of the musical numbers or stupid montages. Just clips from the nominees for the Best Drama and Best Comedy/Musical categories, and whatever silly banter/jokes the presenters force upon us. During commercial breaks, the honorees get up and mingle, visiting each others' tables and catching up. This year there was a shot of Anne Hathaway literally skipping across the room to see someone in a long, blue, Armani gown, and a lot of shots of Drew Barrymore looking like a drunken fool who forgot big hair went out in the '60s.

I'm often not pleased with the HFPA's choices. I always have to remind myself that they are the Hollywood FOREIGN Press Association, so they (all what, 90 of them?) probably tend to pick films with more international appeal. This year, though, I was happy with pretty much everything.

Kate Winslet finally won a Golden Globe, at the beginning of the ceremony...and then won her second at the end. She'd been 0 for 5--same with the Oscars--and god, if anyone deserves a Golden Globe and an Academy Award, it's Kate Winslet. I'm ecstatic that she won--I really thought she had no chance at the Best Actress in a Drama one, I thought it was going to be Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married. I'm dying to see Revolutionary Road.

I was also surprised that Colin Farrell won Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical, but happy. I'm not really a Colin Farrell fan, but I saw him in Cassandra's Dream last winter--a dark and depressing Woody Allen flick--and the film he won for, In Bruges, was excellent. Just hysterical, first of all, but it was a very dark comedy--very British in its dry humor. The story was good, and both Farrell and his fellow nominee Brendan Gleeson played their parts to perfection. Seems like he's on the up and up and it's good--he can definitely be great with the right roles.

Heath Ledger won for Best Supporting Actor, which I expected, but this is where I hate the HFPA, for having stupid, stupid categories: there's Best Actor/Actress in a Drama, Best Actor/Actress in a Comedy/Musical, and then Best Supporting Actor/Actress in a Film. Only one supporting category. So Heath Ledger was up against...TOM CRUISE and Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder, Ralph Fiennes for The Duchess, and Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt. Okay. So you have the biggest action flick/drama of the year with the most notoriety surrounding it. You have the biggest comedy/action flick of the year. You have a period piece. And you have a drama adapted from a Tony-award-winning play about an Catholic priest accused of abusing a student. Those films don't belong in one category at all.

Same thing with television. "Best Performance by an Actor/Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television. " This year in the Supporting Actor category it was Neil Patrick Harris for "How I Met Your Mother," and then 4 from HBO programs: Denis Leary for the movie Recount, Jeremy Piven for the series "Entourage," Blair Underwood for the series "In Treatment," and Tom Wilkinson for the mini-series "John Adams." I would have liked Neil Patrick Harris to win because he is excellent on that show, but of course Tom Wilkinson was going to win for playing Ben freakin Franklin on an epic mini-series.

I really am glad for him, though, haha, and for "John Adams" in general. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney both also won, and I love them--I think they're great and severly underrated by most people. The only person who might be better than Laura Linney at playing nutcases is Annette Bening, haha. I'm also glad for Tina Fey (who told all her internet haters to "suck it") and "Mad Men" and Slumdog Millionaire, but especially for Mickey Rourke. (Never thought I'd say that.)

Slumdog is amazing. I saw it tonight, and it's utterly, devastatingly heartbreaking, but beautiful in every way. The young actors were excellent, the cinematography was gorgeous, the music was perfect, and the story was compelling. Some lovingly beautiful shots of India, in this, but god--I have a friend who is studying abroad there for a semester, and even though I know she's in the southern countryside, this still made me nervous for her. So much pain and suffering there. It was a great film overall, and I'd definitely say it deserved its four wins for Best Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Score.

Even so, The Wrestler has probably been my favorite movie this season. I'm not kidding when I say Mickey Rourke is brilliant in it. He deserved that Best Actor award, and I sincerely hope he gets the Oscar, because really, who cares about his dark personal life? If anything, the film is that much more powerful for the parallels you can draw between Mickey on screen and off. It's such a loving portrait of a guy who's rough all around, and who doesn't have much in his life to love. Darren Aronofsky's direction is great, but I attended a conversation with the producer, screenwriter, editor, art director, and one of the main cameramen, and from them I know--a large part of Rourke's performance was ad libbed. They would do a few takes the way Aronofsky wanted to, and then they'd let him play around. He fought pitched battles in defense of his character, Randy "The Ram", when he and Aronofsky disagreed about something. It pays off. There are a few plot holes and some shallowness in the other characters, but it's easy to overlook that. And the song that plays over the credits, which Bruce Springsteen wrote as a favor to Mickey at his request, is the perfect coda for the film. Bruce won the Golden Globe for Best Song for it, and every time I hear it, I still tear up--it was that powerful.

Okay, I don't want to build it up too much and have people disappointed. But really, it's worth seeing. Definitely. Slumdog and Benjamin Button, too--if there's anything that disappointed me with the Globes, it's that Benjamin Button got shut out completely. I would have liked to see David Fincher get a little credit, because he did a fabulous job.

That's more than enough for now. Academy Award nominations are announced January 22nd. January 25th is the SAG Awards (go "Boston Legal"!), and then the Academy Awards themselves are February 22nd. I can't wait.

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