OK.
We all know awards shows are inherently stupid. Giving movie stars awards for doing their jobs really well is just silly. They are so huge now that they have become a part of the business. They get people to pay attention to movies that offer something more than a slight distraction while you’re eating popcorn. Accepting his statue for best actor in a TV mini-series or movie at the Golden Globe Awards last night, “Gideon’s Daughter” star Bill Nighy said, “I used to think that prizes were damaging and divisive, until I got one. And now they seem sort of meaningful and real.”
What I like about movie awards shows is that they champion certain movies that may have gotten little attention in the theater and run the risk of being seen by nobody. I love the fact that, for two months out of every year, people are talking about interesting pictures and not another no-brained behemoth that just broke box office again (I’m looking at you, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”).
But as this season becomes more of a business, interesting pictures inevitably end up taking a backseat to hype and starpower. Take last night’s multiple wins for the hollow, showboating, cliche-ridden musical “Dreamgirls.” Three big Golden Globe wins (Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Jennifer Hudson for Supporting Actress, Eddie Murphy for Supporting Actor) now place it as number one among the films to beat at the Oscar ceremony come February 25.
“Dreamgirls” is the very definition of ‘too much’ in a movie– too much buildup, too much triteness, too much self-importance, too much screeching, too much banality, too much inanity, too much insanity.
Well, “the people” have spoken. The Golden Globes have been handed out, and this will undoubtedly influence the members of the Academy who will vote next month in the Oscars.
Just who are “the people,” anyway?
Well, unlike the Oscars, who are voted on by actual members of the filmmaking industry, the Globes are a small, mysterious group of less than 100 people. From their website:
“The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is a non-profit organization, the members of which are international journalists based in Southern California. The HFPA has about 90 members who disseminate information about movies and television to the world through their various publications throughout the world. HFPA members attend more than 300 press conference-style interviews and countless movie and television screenings throughout each year.”
“Disseminate” information? Is Henry Kissinger a member? They sound like some secret evil global communications group that does California’s bidding–spreading the Word of Hollywood all over the globe like it were the Gospel. Even after reading the explanation, I was still bi-curious. I wanted names, dammit, and I got them.
This is a list of the people who thought that “Dreamgirls” was better than the groundbreaking “Borat,” the darkly comic “Little Miss Sunshine,” the pointed satire “Thank You for Smoking,” and the Meryl Streep tour de force “The Devil Wears Prada.”
HFPA Active Members
Paoula Abou-Jaoude, Brazil
Vera Anderson Bulgaria, Mexico
Ray Arco, Canada
Rocio Ayuso, Spain
Anita Baum, Argentina
Gilda Baum-Lappe, Mexico
Yani Begakis, Greece, Japan
Philip Berk, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong
Elmar Biebl, Germany
Silvia Bizio, Italy
Jorge Camara, Dominican Republic
Isabelle Caron, France
Jean-Paul Chaillet, France
Myung Chan Choi, South Korea
Rui Henriques Coimbra, Portugal
Jenny Cooney Carrillo, Australia, New Zealand
Jean E. Cummings, Japan
Yola Czaderska-Hayek, Poland
Ersi Danou, Greece
Noel de Souza, India
Gabrielle Donnelly, United Kingdom
George Doss, Egypt
Mahfouz Doss, Egypt
Maureen Dragone, Thailand
Dagmar Dunlevy, Canada
Armando Gallo, Italy
Margaret Gardiner, South Africa
Avik Gilboa, United Kingdom
Mike Goodridge, United Kingdom
Andre Guimond, Canada
John Hiscock, United Kingdom
Helen Hoehne, Germany
Anke Hofmann, Germany
Nellee A. Holmes, Russia
Munawar Hosain, Germany
Yoram Kahana, Estonia
Erkki “Erik” Kanto, Finland
Theo Kingma, The Netherlands
Ahmed Lateef, Hong Kong
Kleo Lee Greece, Japan
Elisa Leonelli Italy, Spain
Gabriel Lerman, Costa Rica
Emanuel Levy, Israel
Lisa Lu China, Taiwan
Howard Lucraft, United Kingdom
Lilly Lui, Hong Kong
Ramzi Malouki, Tahiti, Tunisia
Helena Mar-Elia, Lebanon
Lawrie Masterson, Australia, New Zealand
Paz Mata, Spain
Juliette Michaud, France
Max B. Miller, United Kingdom
Aud Berggren Morisse, Norway
Yukiko Nakajima, Japan
Yoko Narita, Japan
Aniko Navai, Hungary
Ruben V. Nepales, Philippines
Alexander Nevsky, Russia
Yenny Nun-Katz, Chile, Peru
Scott Orlin, Germany
Mira Panajotovic, Serbia
Alena Prime, Tahiti
Serge Rakhlin, Latvia, Russia
Patrick Roth, Germany
Mohammed Rouda, United Arab Emirates
Frank Rousseau, Belgium, France
Marianne Ruuth, France, Sweden
Ali Sar, Russia
Frances Schoenberger, Germany
Elisabeth Sereda, Austria
Maria Snoeys-Lagler, Belgium
Judy Solomon, Israel
Lorenzo Soria, Italy
Hans J. Spurkel Austria, Switzerland
Aida Takla-O’Reilly, Egypt
Meher Tatna, Malaysia, Singapore
Jack Tewksbury, Argentina, Thailand, Russia
Lynn M. Tso, Taiwan
Alessandra Venezia, Italy
Marlene von Arx, Switzerland
Jerry Watson, United Kingdom
Anita Weber Japan, South Africa, United Kingdom
Noemia Young, Canada
Mario Amaya, Colombia
H. J. Park, Korea
Lifetime Members
Edmund Brettschneider
BJ Franklin
Helmut Voss
Affiliate Members
Vivi Anderson
Frances Jeane Appel
Kiki Brettschneider
Karen Martin
They are also the same people who awarded the Best Actress- Musical or Comedy award in 1997 to Madonna for “Evita,” over Frances McDormand’s unforgettable pregnant police chief in “Fargo.”
McDormand eventually got her justice as Best Actress winner at the Oscars a month later, for which Madonna was not even nominated. Let’s just hope that the “Dreamgirls” hype machine dies down soon enough that Oscar voters come to their senses and realized they’ve been blinded by glitz.
“Well, Eddie Murphy is not talking to animals or talking down to kids, so give him a Golden Globe!”
“We love Jennifer Hudson’s underdog post-“American Idol” success story and she didn’t embarrass herself in a already sympathetic role, so give her a Golden Globe!”
Why not?
“We’ve heard since June last year that “Dreamgirls” was the front runner for Best Picture, and we wouldn’t want to disappoint Hollywood, so let’s give it a Golden Globe!”
Let’s hope Oscar voters (thousands of them, not mere double digits like the HFPA) take a breath and realize the publicity-driven snowball effect when they see it. Maybe they’ll watch “Children of Men” or “United 93” in the coming weeks and remember why we go to the movies in the first place. After all, popcorn tastes good while you’re eating it, but ‘too much’ will make you sick to your stomach.
As Public Enemy once said, “Don’t believe the hype.”
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of Scene-Stealers.com, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and contributor for The Pitch. He’s former President of the KCFCC, and drummer for The Dead Girls, Ultimate Fakebook, and Truck Stop Love . He is also the 2013 Air Guitar World Champion Mean Melin, ranked 4th best of all-time. Eric goes to 11. Follow him at:
{ 1 comment }
Thankkks for the showboating kkkomment regarding Dreamgirls. You probably creamed your pants for The Social Network. Douches!
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