He Won!

Awesome! I was rooting for him from the beginning, and I was rooting for him even more after I saw the movie. And now Colin won best actor in a musical/comedy at the Golden Globes! Sure, they're voted on by a group as random as the National Board Review, but recognition--especially for an awesome film--is always a good thing.

In Bruges.

I rectified the little issue I had of not having seen In Bruges, for which Colin Farrell was nominated by the Hollywood Foreign Celebrity-Stalkers Association. Here's the sweet and lowdown: it's awesome.

Sometimes these little movies don't seem very movie-ish. I don't know if it's the low budget, or the self-indulgence of the writer-director, or what, but I definitely watch these film festivalish movies with a healthy dose of patience. But In Bruges transcends its small screen trappings, skips right on past the "intertwined lives" crap that Hollywood thinks is so clever post-Pulp Fiction, and manages to mix irony and earnestness in just the right way.

Colin and Brendan need no exposition to catch us up to the moral crossroads that they, as hitmen on the down-low in Bruges (get it?), have come to. That the movie respects us the audience to be able to patch together their backstory, and that the movie has a coherent enough backstory for us the audience to patch together is just the bees-nees. This little snapshot in time is more than a snapshot -- it has a true beginning, middle, and end. With that, and letting us laugh at the most un-PC of jokes (what a relief!), this fable ends up feeling so much bigger than a little movie.

Golden Globes: The Nominations.

So first of all, you all realize that the Golden Globes traces its roots back to completely bogus beginnings, and that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association sounds fancy because it named itself such without being really legitimate. That said, they are some of the smartest sycophants ever by creating an award that attracts celebs from all over to party with them. Come on, that's genius.

So in the past few years, I've gotten more and more "into" the movie awards season... and it sort of culminated in an anti-climactic way last year. I watched the Oscar Awards--which is usually my favorite TV special of the year--and was completely bored. It has nothing to do with the terribleness of the show--it's ALWAYS been terrible. It was more that there was absolutely no surprise. I had read so many prognostications about the chances of various people winning that there was no longer an element of wonder about it. And yeah, I get that it's all one big publicity stunt, but I'm a nut, so there.

Anyway, this year, due in no small part to me having an actual, you know, job, but also because I am consciously trying to do so, I'm going to try and ignore all the pre-Oscar "chatter" that goes on, and just go for the ride. That means no daily awardsdaily.com for me. That means I didn't even realize that the New York Film Critics nor the Los Angeles Film Critics gave out their awards. And you know what? It's sort of nice. Like, I looked at the GG noms this morning and was actually surprised.

• I have no desire to see Happy-Go-Lucky. It seems like Topsy-Turvy reborn. For some reason, that movie won a bunch of crap, when it was just a bunch of crap.
• I love Colin Farrell. I have yet to see In Bruges, but this was a huge surprise. I love that he got recognized for one of his littler films, because that's actually where he got his start.
• I still don't understand why Musicals and Comedies get bunched together.
• What the hell is Last Chance Harvey?
• I think it's great that Marisa Tomei keeps getting nominated for stuff everyone so often. She was such a joke after winning for My Cousin Vinny, and I heard she's intolerable in person, but there's something sweetly poetic about the fact that she can actually, you know, act. (Compare Mira Sorvino.)
• I want Kate Winslet to win an Oscar so badly. I think she is everything right about a movie star.
• I don't understand the whole "Foreign Language Film" category. Why doesn't Slumdog Millionaire qualify?
• I can't wait for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

And for TV stuff, because I heart TV more than my toes:

• Fox... FOX... is the only network to get a drama nominated. Fox. Really? Really?
• I remember when I would fill blank VHS tapes with nothing but Thursday night Must-See TV NBC shows. While I love 30 Rock and The Office, the sad state of NBC these days breaks my heart.
• I don't get it... what happened to the Cable Ace Awards? Aren't they supposed to "honor" what is essentially being honored here?
• I swear. It's like each of the 100 or so members of the HFPA has Monk, and nothing but Monk, on their TiVo.
• I don't get why the GG puts supporting actors in both drama and comedy series together with supporting actors in movies and miniseries. That's just nuts.
  

Colin > Joe.

Yesterday, I recorded the Ellen show because both Colin Farrell, my favorite actor, and Joe Biden were scheduled to be on the show. Now, I love me my Hollywood actors and stuff, but Colin was scheduled to go on before Joe. Really? Really? I mean sure, *I* get it, but I'm fairly certain that whatever Joe's got going on right now is maybe a bit bigger than Colin's new movie.