I personally was not expecting Avatar to win Best Picture at the Golden Globes, but seeing how it has been a behemoth at the Box Office it wasn't too surprising. I fully expected Best Picture to go to either The Hurt Locker or Up in the Air, both of which are deeper, more emotional, and more substantial films. However, the Golden Globes tend to reward films that do well in the box office, and are more popular amongst filmgoers, than the Academy Awards do (see wins by Robert Downey Jr. and The Hangover, neither of which will be nominated for an Oscar.)

Behemoth or not,
I really don't think Avatar deserved to be named Best Picture Drama.
Your reasoning on The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air was my exact reasoning. Either of those two films should have won. I think the Critics got it right, while Globes were dead wrong. Hope the Oscars correct this.

As soon as the win was announced I made the comment above to my brother,
he told me that Avatar shouldn't really be compared to the others. I said, if they're nominated against each other then the comparison is valid.

Precious, which in my opinion is an overrated movie though it has some good performances... Even Precious would have been a better win here, simply on the fact that it deals with a serious issue and has meaning behind it. (although I am happy it didn't win either).

Supporting Actress Monique,
she did a good job, and her final scene was amazing. But I also don't think she should be winning, her edge is that she stepped out of her comfort circle and did a good job at it. My personal win for this is Anna Kendrick for Up In the Air.

I'd go on, but let me not.

I completely agree with everything you said, narnian1.

Precious is Oscar bait at its finest, and although you said, does feature some great performances, especially from Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe, it isn't, in my opinion, an Oscar caliber film.

When actors or actresses go out of their comfort zone to play a role, the end result is usually buzzed about; in this case Mo'Nique, a comedian, playing such a dark and disturbing role. I'm pretty she's a lock for the award in every awards show from here through the Oscars. Anna Kendrick definitely deserves it though, and while I have yet to see the film, Julianne Moore is supposed to be superb in A Single Man as well.

I don't even know why I'm posting in this thread. I stopped watching awards shows a long time ago. I liked USA Today's thoughts on the Golden Globes in connection with Haiti: "On a night typically aimed at celebrating its own self-importance, Hollywood shined a bit of the spotlight on victims in Haiti." Isn't that what all awards shows do ... including the Dove Awards? However, I was glad Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side. I wanted the movie to get some spotlight. I was actually shocked she won, since the movie tells the story of a Christian family in Memphis helping a homeless black teenager who goes on to the NFL.

Just a quick update. The BAFTAS nominations were announced this morning.

Best Picture:
Avatar
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Up in the Air

Best Director:
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Neill Blomkamp, District 9
James Cameron, Avatar
Lone Scherfig, An Education
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actor:
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Andy Serkis- Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Best Actress:
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Audrey Tautou, Coco Before Chanel

The full list can be found here: http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/01/21/the ... minations/

I'm glad to see that this list has some differences from the others, especially happy to see Neill Blomkamp get a nod.

Hmmm, the Globes wins are pretty bizarre. I know they aren't usually as highbrow as the Oscars, but still ... Avatar for best drama? And Bullock for best dramatic performance? Granted, I've not seen The Blind Side, but I can't believe she won a Globe, especially considering that she was up against Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan, and Emily Blunt, all of whom are far superior actresses. Ah well, at least Meryl Streep won for Julie & Julia - now there was a brilliant performance. I also really liked Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes, but again, not sure if it was awards material.

Bullock for best dramatic performance? Granted, I've not seen The Blind Side, but I can't believe she won a Globe, especially considering that she was up against Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan, and Emily Blunt, all of whom are far superior actresses.

Haven't seen Mirren or Blunt in those respective roles.
Mulligan did a terrific job in An Education I must say. But I did enjoy Bullock more.
Overall The Blind Side was a terrific movie, I saw it after weeks of its release, I saw it because I saw the legs it was having at the boxoffice and the word of mouth it was receiving. I wasn't let down. I enjoyed every moment.

I can't say she deserved the win because I haven't seen all the nominated performances, but I do say she deserved some honor. And I hope she can go on and at least get nominated at the Oscars.

The problem is I don't feel that I deserve to give my opinion of most of these movies, considering I haven't seen most of these movies. I can make quite a lot of educated guesses as to how these performances and movies would go though.

First of all, I must say that I never had much respect for the Golden Globes. They usually go for what is the most popular in the box office and the critics rather than the actual quality of the nominees. I mean Avatar? What were they thinking? Yes, I admit that it took computer animation to a level that has not been reached since LotR, but the plot was just an over-glorified and embellished Pocahontas, with lots of fighting, and a social commentary shoved in. It was kind of strange with a whole race of blue-skinned humaniods with USB cords coming out of the back of their heads.

Next is that I have to heartily agree with their choice of Meryl Streep. Anyone who has seen Julia Child has to agree that Streep was born to play her. (Of course the argument could be made that she is born to play almost any role under the sun )

Also, Up has to be one of the most beautiful and artfully done pictures of the year. Not every movie can get away with ten full minutes of score and no dialogue whatsoever.

And that is all I can say from personal experience. I will not risk going into such uncharted territory.

-But just a general and unrelated question: How in the world did they make Sherlock Holmes a slap-bang action/comedy?-

I was hoping for Inglourious Basterds to take some more awards (at least Christoph Waltz is getting Best Supporting Actor accolades for his incredible performance), but I'm glad that if anything else won, it was Avatar. I haven't seen Hurt Locker or Up in the Air yet, and while the former looks like an emotional, involving storyline, the latter just looks like a romantic comedy thrown up against the recession to make it seem "real".

The Blind Side was an excellent movie, and Sandra Bullock's best role to date. She's not a horrible actress, but she takes a lot of horrible roles, predictable rom-coms when I've seen her capable of doing a lot better (and I can say the same thing about Reese Witherspoon at times).

Wandering Samuri: Well the thing about Sandra Bullock and Reese Witherspoon is that they are wonderful in a lot of roles, but the famous movies they have always made are those fun movies. (Anyway, one of Reese Witherspoon's most famous roles is Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and that is not a romantic comedy, it is what one would call a "girl power" movie)
And what's wrong with romantic comedies? Just because it's funny and has a love story in it doesn't make it less respectable and well done. In actuality it is a much more difficult task to make an enjoyable comedy because it is a lot harder to make people laugh than it is to make people cry. All I have to say is that I would much rather watch "While You Were Sleeping" than "Avatar" any day.

Having seen Up in the Air, I feel like it is horribly mis-marketing as a rom-com, when in actually it is more of a "dramedy." It's a heart wrenching story about the importance of relationships, not only romantic, and is definitely not a "feel good" movie.

I would agree with aravis_tarkina that if a romantic comedy is done right, it can be an excellent movie. One of the best movies of 2009 in my opinion, and now one of my all time favorites, (500) Days of Summer, is a romantic comedy. I'm glad to see it getting some due credit it deserves, with two Golden Globe nominations (Best Picture- Comedy/Musical; Best Actor- Comedy/Musical for Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Unfortunately it lost out in both categories. I think it was a much superior film than The Hangover, which ended up winning.

bkey: I just recently saw "500 Days of Summer" and I found it an extremely creative and fun movie (even if there were some not so family friendly parts, which can only be expected nowadays I guess). The style of jumping back and forth and all that sardonic humor could really give it a chance at best original screenplay at the Oscars. I'm definitely hoping it gets nominated for one of those Oscars.

The SAGs (Screen Actors Guild Awards) were last night, nothing surprising there. The SAG awards only have awards for acting catagories, and the awards went to Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Christoph Waltz, and Mo'Nique for the catagories and films they have previously won for.

I finally saw The Blind Side last night, and while Bullock was good, I don't necessarily believe it is an award winning performance. Granted I haven't seen any of the other best actress performances, so it may be the best of the year.

Just a quick edit: the Producer's Guild Awards were tonight; The Hurt Locker won Best Picture, and Up won Best Animated Picture

My problem with the romantic comedy is they all follow the same predictable formula:

-Boy meets girl.

-Boy and girl initially dislike each other.

-Boy and girl gradually start to warm up to each other, between trading snarky remarks and occasional silly situations.

-Boy and girl believe they love each other, and provide the audience with a kiss to drive that home.

-Some situation between boy and girl drives them apart, both become depressed, giving the audience the "suspense" that the relationship might not make it.

-Boy and girl reunite through a ridiculous deus ex machina (see: Sweet Home Alabama), realize they are soulmates, boy becomes more refined, girl becomes less uptight, they live happily ever after.

Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director at the Directors Guild Awards last night, further establishing The Hurt Locker as the front runner to win Best Picture come Oscar night.

Some exciting news coming this week, as the Oscar nominations will be announced early Tuesday morning.