Tag Archives: Inception movie

2011 Golden Eggs

Posted on January 16, 2011 | 6 Comments

The Golden Globes are here!  The Golden Globes are here!

Before the ceremony sloshes drunkenly into your living room, The Egg is making its annual sticky predictions.

Who will be clutching their awards and tearfully thanking God (and their agents and managers)? The Egg has all kinds of predictions.

But no promises.  We’re just making these up like the rest of the critics.

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

* Black Swan
* The Fighter
* Inception
* The King’s Speech
* The Social Network

Although “The Black Swan” was an amazing psychological thriller, I have to give the edge to “The Social Network” — thanks to Aaron Sorkin’s beautifully crafted script and the amazing ensemble cast.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

* Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice
* Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
* Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
* Natalie Portman, Black Swan
* Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Her performance was a career maker (and freaky scary!).

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

* Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
* Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
* James Franco, 127 Hours
* Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
* Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Second nomination’s a charm!   You’ve got this one, Colin.

BEST MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

* Alice in Wonderland
* Burlesque
* The Kids are All Right
* Red
* The Tourist

If there is any justice, quality will win this category.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

* Annette Bening, The Kids are All Right
* Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
* Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
* Julianne Moore, The Kids are All Right
* Emma Stone, Easy A

Although I loved the ever funny Emma Stone in “Easy A,” Annette’s turn in “Kids” will win the Globe.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

* Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
* Johnny Depp, The Tourist
* Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
* Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
* Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

I doubt anyone can beat a double Johnny.  Hopefully his turn in “Alice” will beat his bloated “Tourist.”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

* Despicable Me
* How to Train Your Dragon
* The Illusionist
* Tangled
* Toy Story 3

The most competitive category at the Globes…but I have to give the edge to “Dragon” — loved it!

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

* Biutiful
* The Concert
* The Edge
* I am Love
* In a Better World

Truth?  Haven’t seen any of them, so I’m going purely on here say.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

* Amy Adams, The Fighter
* Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
* Mila Kunis, Black Swan
* Melissa Leo, The Fighter
* Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

I went back and forth between Mila and Helena, but Helena’s quiet strength won me over.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

* Christian Bale, The Fighter
* Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
* Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
* Jeremy Renner, The Town
* Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

I haven’t seen “The Fighter” yet, so I’m going on industry buzz and Bale’s reputation.  (Would love to see Andrew Garfield pull an upset, though.)

BEST DIRECTOR

* Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
* David Fincher, The Social Network
* Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
* Christopher Nolan, Inception
* David O. Russell, The Fighter

I don’t normally like to split the movie/director wins, but I think Aronofsky deserves a nod for directing this amazing thriller.

BEST SCREENPLAY

* Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours
* Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids are All Right
* Christopher Nolan, Inception
* David Seidler, The King’s Speech
* Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

A celebration of writing as a craft.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

* Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech
* Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland
* A.R. Rahmann, 127 Hours
* Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
* Hans Zimmer, Inception

They’ve been winning all the awards so far….

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

* “Bound to You” from Burlesque
* “Coming Home” from Country Strong
* “I See the Light” from Tangled
* “There’s a Place for Us” from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
* “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” from Burlesque

Would love to see “Tangled” bring something home.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA

* “Boardwalk Empire”
* “Dexter”
* “The Good Wife”
* “Mad Men”
* “The Walking Dead”

The Hollywood Foreign Press usually likes new and freaky.  This one fits the bill.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA

* Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”
* Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”
* Piper Perabo, “Covert Affairs”
* Katey Sagal, “Sons of Anarchy”
* Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer”

Julia will nab another award.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA

* Steve Buscemi, “Boardwalk Empire”
* Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”
* Michael C. Hall, “Dexter”
* Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
* Hugh Laurie, “House”

Bryan will nab another one as well.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

* “30 Rock”
* “The Big Bang Theory”
* “The Big C”
* “Glee”
* “Modern Family”
* “Nurse Jackie”

Continue your domination, oh wondrous sitcom.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

* Toni Collette, “United States of Tara”
* Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
* Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
* Laura Linney, “The Big C”
* Lea Michele, “Glee”

Edie’s back.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

* Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”
* Steve Carell, “The Office”
* Thomas Jane, “Hung”
* Matthew Morrison, “Glee”
* Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”

Continue your domination, Sheldon.

BEST MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

* “Carlos”
* “The Pacific”
* “Pillars of the Earth”
* “Temple Grandin”
* “You Don’t Know Jack”

It’s won everything else — why not a Globe?

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

* Hayley Atwell, “Pillars of the Earth”
* Claire Danes, “Temple Grandin”
* Judi Dench, “Return to Cranford”
* Romola Garai, “Emma”
* Jennifer Love Hewitt, “The Client List”

She’s won everything else — why not a Globe?

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

* Idris Elba, “Luther”
* Ian McShane, “Pillars of the Earth”
* Al Pacino, “You Don’t Know Jack”
* Dennis Quaid, “The Special Relationship”
* Edgar Ramirez, “Carlos”

He’s won everything else — sorry, it just seems to work here.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

* Hope Davis, “The Special Relationship”
* Jane Lynch, “Glee”
* Kelly MacDonald, “Boardwalk Empire”
* Julia Stiles, “Dexter”
* Sofia Vergara, “Modern Family”

The HFP is bound to like Sofia a lot.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

* Scott Caan, “Hawaii Five-O”
* Chris Colfer, “Glee”
* Chris Noth, “The Good Wife”
* Eric Stonestreet, “Modern Family”
* David Strathairn, “Temple Grandin”

What a crazy category.  I hope Eric takes it home.

Enjoy the Globes everyone!

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Incognito

Posted on July 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

I hope the people who make movie trailers actually go to the theater and watch the audience reaction.

It can be a real eye opener.

Case in point:  I went to “Inception” last night — what a wild ride that was — and saw two new trailers before the show:  one for “The Town,” one for “Devil.”

“The Town” stars Ben Affleck, Blake Lively, Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner.  Set in Boston, it tells the story of a group of bank robbers, a bank manager they get involved with and the FBI agent who tries to take them down.  The trailer said it was from “the director of ‘Gone Baby Gone.’”

“Devil” puts a group of apparently random people in a high-rise elevator and stalls it.  Then all hell breaks loose.  There are no real name stars in the film; the trailer just touts it as being “from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan.”

Two interesting choices.

The first trailer did not specifically name Affleck as its director.  Did they suspect there might be negative connotations?  Some holdover from his earlier work in “Gigli” or “Jersey Girls?”

The second — which I think had the audience until this point — elicited groans and laughter when they threw M. Night Shyamalan’s name into the mix.  The movie appeared to lose all credibility with those three little words.

So, if anyone is listening — I think a teeny edit to the “Devil” trailer could make a big difference at the box office.

And M. Night — the slogan for “Devil” is “bad things happen for a reason.”

Try to keep that in mind…okay?

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Play it again

Posted on July 19, 2010 | 1 Comment

When my group of very good friends — now scattered across the country — has the opportunity to get together, it’s not uncommon to hear, “Tell the one about…”

We each have our “greatest hits,” stories that we’ve told again and again, and we all love to hear them.  It’s one of the things that bonds us together.

For me, this habit started in childhood.  If I liked a book, I read it over and over…to savor the ‘best’ parts of the plot, my favorite lines.

If a movie captured my imagination, I went back to see it.  (Of course, they were a lot cheaper then.)  I can remember seeing “Witness” seven times at the theater and “Princess Bride” so many times, my friends almost scheduled an intervention.

But according to the reviews for “Inception” — which opened this weekend (and I haven’t seen yet, so don’t ruin it for me) — repeated viewings are necessary to grasp what’s going on….and even then, you probably won’t ever get it.

Well, that’s just annoying.

I want to watch a movie again and again to appreciate the finer details.  To marvel at how they visually accomplished a scene.  To enjoy dialogue that I might have missed the first time around.

Not to sit with a note pad — or with my iPad, to be trendy and 2010 — and try to figure out the parts of the plot that made no sense the first four times I watched it.

I appreciate director Christopher Nolan making an intelligent film  — “The Dark Knight” was also amazing — but if he really went this far off the charts to just play with our brains for the fun of it, well, that wasn’t very nice.

I had to work this weekend, so “Inception” wasn’t in the cards.  I’ll be there this week though, Mr. Nolan, to check your work.

And if I end up going back…

…it better just be for the fun of it.

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