Golden Globe Nominees: Overall Reactions

There were no huge, awesome surprises, but rather some inexplicable ("Across the Universe") and inexcusable ("Walk Hard", the exclusion of "Once") mishaps. This list is great news for "American Gangster" and "Michael Clayton", both of which I thought (and hoped) were starting to fade from people's minds and might elude Oscar attention. "Sweeney Todd" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" should both benefit enormously from directorial nominations, and a screenplay nod in the latter case. "The Great Debaters" just shoved in there makes no sense, and I will remind everyone that it looks so bad! "Eastern Promises" should hopefully capitalize on Viggo and the film's nominations and maybe even make it to Oscar! "Atonement" and "No Country for Old Men" remain the only locks for the Oscar Best Picture, but "Sweeney Todd" and "Juno" are nipping at their tails. These nominations are dismal news for "The Assassination of Jesse James", "In the Valley of Elah", and "Once". No Brad Pitt or Tommy Lee Jones is a bad thing because they will both simply fall off the radar. "Once" missing out on Best Picture is not terrible, but its snub in Best Original Song is harsh. I am hoping that its omission will lead Oscar voters to give it even more love. If only it worked that way. My overall prediction percentage was 44/70, or 63%.

About the announcement of the nominations: Wow, it sucked. I mentioned the fallibity of the supposed TV experts on my TV blog. As far as the announcent went, I guess E! cannot afford to get prompters and they have to have their presenters read off printed sheets of paper for a far less exciting announcement. Plus, the most bizarre threesome was chosen to announce. Hayden Panettiere, the first of the presenters, was completely unenthusiastic in her reading. For someone who puts so much unneeded emphasis on her dramatic "Heroes" speeches, you would think she would try being a bit into this. Second up was Ryan Reynolds, looking completely unfettered and literally unbuttoned (his shirt). Helpful of him to remark how early it was. He clearly wanted to do this badly. Third up was my favorite, Quentin Tarantino, who creepily and overenthusiastically welcomed every one and actually cheered for two of his favorite nominees (Diablo Cody and Daniel Day-Lewis). What a ridiculous ride. Let's hope for a greater deal of professionalism at upcoming nomination announcements. SAG nominees are released one week from today. In the meantime, I will be here provided updates and predictions.

For the record: out of all the nominated films today, I still need to see:
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS
THE GREAT DEBATERS
THE KITE RUNNER
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (song only)
PERSEPOLIS
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
SWEENEY TODD
THERE WILL BE BLOOD

"4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days" does not come out until the end of January, but I hope to see the rest before the Golden Globe Awards air on January 13th.