(Cue into me singing) “It’s the most wonderful time of the yyeeeaarrr…”
Yep..in case you haven’t guessed it already.. it’s Awards season. And the first big event is the Golden Globes this Sunday. It’s truly my favourite of all Awards shows with the best of both worlds, Film & TV, being there – and it’s a lot of categories so I just picked most of the major ones to choose from. I will just give a rundown of top categories – who I think the winner will be and what would be my pick – because they don’t always necessarily coincide with each other!! 😀
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Always a tough category – 2 films here that I am having trouble choosing over.. and what will actually win as last year they picked ‘Boyhood’ (ZZZzzzzzzz) so truly anything is possible.
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Ohhh how I love this movie. It’s fast, entertaining, and just an all around thrill ride..
The Revenant ~ MY PICK
When I saw this film I was completely and utterly blown away as I didn’t think Inarritu could outdo ‘Birdman’.. he did.
Room
Why this movie is even here on not under a Law & Order:SVU episode on TV, just still boggles my mind.
Spotlight
Very good and VERY gutsy movie to bring this subject literally back into the spotlight. Just not a winner for me, but it could very well do so here.
Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
The Big Short ~ MY PICK
This film is dark comedy at it’s best. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry and the acting is just spectacular all the way around.
Joy
Great cast, though it’s basically a story about a mop.
The Martian ~ WINNER
Fun fun movie here.. Completely entertaining and definitely a good watch.
Spy
One of those comedies that you just don’t think can work, but it does and it was pretty funny.
Trainwreck – yes I did like this movie a lot and it made me laugh ..a lot..maybe because you see a bit of yourself in something, I’m not sure, but with just the right amount of funny & sappy, which is hard to do.. It was a hit for me.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
The fact that Charlize Theron isn’t nominated is a pisser for me – but I regress..into trying to pick a winner here.
Cate Blanchett, Carol ~ MY PICK
I liked her in ‘Truth’ and haven’t been able to catch this yet but the fact that she can give 2 really good performances like this a year.. enough said.
Brie Larson, Room ~ WINNER
Love Brie, don’t think this is anywhere close to being a performance or film that should be here..but hey..maybe she will share the award with Mariska Hargitay from L & O:SVU if she wins.
Rooney Mara, Carol
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
While the film might’ve had it’s cheesy moment factors, Saoirse was the standout. Definitely a likable performance.
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
The film was sweet, but very slow. Didn’t stop both lead performances from being very good.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant ~ MY PICK/WINNER
There is not even a question in my mind here that this is Leo’s year. Hands down the best performance out there.
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Fassbender’s performance saved this from being a very bland film, but that doesn’t make it a winner.
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Again, 2 great lead performances, but Eddie will not repeat this year.
Will Smith, Concussion
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Decent enough performance, but not enough to garner an award.
Melissa McCarthy, Spy
This is a comedy category, and she is one of the funniest out there. With a few misses under her belt, this was a fantastic reminder to us all how funny she really is.
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck ~ MY PICK
I loved this movie and her in it. She is after all, comedy’s ‘it girl’ right now.
Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van
Wasn’t able to catch this one as it was in and out of theatres in the blink of an eye.
Lily Tomlin, Grandma ~ WINNER
This was a very middle of the road, sweet film. Was it a fantastic performance that will go down in history..no, but it was fun enough for this.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Christian Bale, The Big Short ~ MY PICK
Absolutely Bale at his best. While it was a complete ensemble cast, he stood out and while he has competition, he should win this.
Steve Carell, The Big Short ~ WINNER
Because Carell has really stretched himself in his last few roles, I gotta give it to him, he was good here – and yes has a big chance at winning. I just give Bale the slightest edge in performances.
Matt Damon, The Martian
This was a highly entertaining film and Damon carries it well.
Al Pacino, Danny Collins
Clearly just filling in the blanks here of needing someone to fill out the category.
Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear
Same with this one.. ZZZzzzzzzz
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Jane Fonda, Youth
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
There were times I just thought ‘wow, JJL is knocking it out of the park here’ then there were more times when I thought ‘oh, no no she’s not, she’s kinda annoying me’ so this is a give & take for me.
Helen Mirren, Trumbo
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Why everyone loves this ‘performance’ so much I do not know.. except that I have noticed it’s pretty much based on guys under the age of say 35 that make up the bulk of the crowd..It was a mostly CGI-based character who..well.. never mind.
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs ~ MY PICK/WINNER
Another great job by Kate, though I wasn’t to fond of her trying on the accent.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
This is by far the toughest category for me as truly every single one of these performances is worthy of the award.. Truly, they are.
Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
Being such a huge Beach Boys fan, and knowing that Brian Wilson is truly a musical genius of his time, I found Paul Dano to once again, just be extraordinary here.
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Does it go without saying how fantastic Idris was playing such a horrible character.. if it doesn’t, he just was.
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
While I like the film, there was only one person that truly stood out for me performance-wise in it and that person was Mark Rylance. Many don’t know who he is as he’s mostly done a lot of theatre in England, but I’ve been lucky enough to have spied his talents before. He’s got a fantastic chance here.
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes ~ MY PICK
I was treated to a screening of this film where Michael Shannon did the Q & A afterwards. If I hadn’t loved him so much already, I might have just gone head over heels. At that moment, I thought he had it in the bag for sure.
Sylvester Stallone, Creed ~ WINNER
Oh Sly.. How I’ve pretty much seen all your stuff, whether good or bad. But I remember how no one thought you could act.. I kept telling them you could, and then came ‘Copland’ where you showed them that. Has there been more misses than hits…sure there has, but damn you were so good here. He could pull at everyone’s heartstrings like he did mine and take this.
Best Director – Motion Picture
Todd Haynes, Carol
Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant ~ MY PICK
What can I say here.. Did I think ‘Birdman’ could be outdone..no I didn’t think so. But yet here with The Revenant it was. Can Alejandro make it 2 in a row is yet to be seen. But it would be well deserved.
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Good movie, though not a winner for me.
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road ~ WINNER
Just truly an incredible film. We were brought back to a Mad Max of old, the kind where you really didn’t even have time to breathe for the first 15 minutes of the film. This film was just epic. It’s such a close one here for me.
Ridley Scott, The Martian
Again, really fun, entertaining picture – but not on the same level as Mad Max & The Revenant. It’s just not.
Best Television Series – Drama
Empire (Fox) ~ WINNER
While I get the appeal of this show to some, after about 5 episodes I was done.
Game of Thrones (HBO)
A not-so-great season of one of my favourite shows has me not picking it this year.
Mr. Robot (USA) ~ MY PICK
As I told everyone about this show, I realized something. Worse name for possibly one of the best new shows to come up on TV in the past year.
Narcos (Netflix)
Only was able to watch one episode and it was a fantastic one. But I can’t truly judge off of that.
Outlander (Starz)
I’ve only bee able to see a few episodes of this as I don’t have Starz. It’s appeal is clear to me though!
Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical
This category is simple for me.. I can’t pick one as I’ve only watched a few of them and the only one I truly liked is Mozart. ah well..
Casual (Hulu)
Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon) ~ WINNER
Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)
Silicon Valley (HBO)
Transparent (Amazon)
Veep (HBO)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo
While the show is odd, but oddly captivating, I still find that I can miss a few episodes here and there and not lose the storyline. I would’ve have probably picked Jean Smart’s performance for the show though.
Lady Gaga, America Horror Story: Hotel
Why she is nominated here I’m not quite sure..again category filler maybe because while I like Gaga a ton, she is just herself in this show, of which I could only handle a few eps.
Sarah Hay, Flesh and Bone
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
I couldn’t get that into this show, but the acting was not the reason why.. Felicity was fantastic.
Queen Latifah, Bessie ~ WINNER
I will confess to having this on my DVR and having only watched 1/2 of it so far.. #badme but I’m loving what I’ve seen!
Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Is this a trick category/question of who should win??!! Hellloooooo
Idris Elba, Luther ~ WINNER/MY PICK
Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
Love Oscar Isaac, and while he was of course good here, the mini-series as a whole was sorely lacking.
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
I’m not Davie Oyelowo’s biggest fan, but this was definitely a pretty darn good creepy performance..but definitely not enough for a win.
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
Mr. Rylance was really good in this, but again, sadly the series itself was soooo bloody slow – even with Damian Lewis added it, it was a slow watch.
Patrick Wilson, Fargo
This year’s Fargo, I loved the cast more than the first one (except for Allison Tolman whom I sorely missed), but there was definitely something amiss with the story itself.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Will just pick who I think will win here..I have no ‘My Pick’ in this category.
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Eva Green, Penny Dreadful
The show lives up to it’s name – and I’ve just not understood the ‘Eva Green good actress’ fascination.
Taraji P. Henson, Empire ~ WINNER
While I’ve loved Taraji in so many things, this just misses the mark for me somewhat. yeah..I know, she’s so over-the-top you’re supposed to love it. (shrugs)
Robin Wright, House of Cards
Having only seen 2 eps. of this show.. hard for me to judge this.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Jon Hamm, Mad Men ~ MY PICK/WINNER
Hands down – no questions asked.
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Love Rami Malek, and he truly encapsulated this role so well. If it wasn’t the year of Jon Hamm. I’ve a feeling we’ll be seeing Rami’s name in this category again.
Wagner Moura, Narcos
Good show, good performance of the little bit I’ve seen of it.
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
This is a definite no for me. While I loved the character on Breaking Bad, here he does nothing for me. Didn’t even care enough to finish out the 1st season..and I tried. I really tried.
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Liev is amazing in this show. Never had a character as messed up as this make me pretty much wanna cheer him and yes, even hang out with him for a bit. If only Jon Hamm wasn’t here..riiiggghtt!!
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical
Again, will pick a winner, but no ‘My Pick’ as I just don’t watch enough of any of these shows.
Rachel Bloom, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Jamie Lee Curtis, Scream Queens
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie ~ WINNER
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical
Even though I also don’t watch all of these enough..I’m going to do picks without comment because of how funny I think Rob Lowe is in his new show.
Aziz Ansari, Master of None
Gael Garcia Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Rob Lowe, The Grinder ~ MY PICK
Patrick Stewart, Blunt Talk
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent ~ WINNER
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Regina King, American Crime
Judith Light, Transparent
Maura Tierney, The Affair ~ MY PICK/WINNER
After the second episode of the new season, I said she deserved an award for where she took this character.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife ~ MY PICK
Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall ~ WINNER
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Tobias Menzies, Outlander
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
Peggy at the Movies 