If you have not already had the pleasure of reading the mouth-frothingly psychotic Delta Gamma sorority letter that made the rounds last week, tie yourself down to whatever chair you're sitting in and give it a fucking look. Marvel at the epistolary poetry, think to yourself, Gosh, this seems almost eerily destined to be read in dramatic lighting by any one of our Serious Male Thespians; I sure would like to see something like that, then click back to this tab and bask in the glory of Boardwalk Empire's Michael Shannon spitting boozy bile all over Rebecca Martinson's now immortal words. The whole thing is obviously mandatory viewing, but you knew going in it was going to be pass/fail based on Shannon's delivery of the phrase "c--- punt," and, well, rest assured, the man delivers.
Just before today’s 5:30 a.m. press event announcing the Golden Globe nominations, a Hollywood Foreign Press Association arranger wearily droned into the microphone, “We’re three minutes away. Can we get talent back in the room, please?” Dude, it’s the Globes: Talent was never in the room. And talent, taste, even the movies themselves seemed to have little to do with the relentless blare of nomination announcements — the Broadcast Film Critics Association Critic’s Choice nominations on Tuesday, the Screen Actors Guild nominations on Wednesday, the Globes this morning — that made every day feel like Christmas. That is, if what was under the tree included several empty boxes and a couple of immaculately wrapped turds.
There are many ways of looking at a Best Actor Oscar race. You can ask yourself who gave the year’s strongest performances. You can think about who’s overdue, who’s surprising, who works the circuit effectively, who exceeds expectations, who elevates his movie the most by his presence in it. But ultimately, the question that decides the nominations is always this one: Who do actors want to vote for?
This year, that may be tough to answer, since Best Actor is shaping up to be an extremely unusual race. In Column A, we have three Goliaths: George Clooney for The Descendants, Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar, and Brad Pitt for Moneyball. And in Column B, we have a whole bunch of Davids. The problem for the Davids is that they’re not Goliaths. The problem for the Goliaths is that voting for Davids is usually a lot more fun.
Brian Grazer has replaced the scandal-plagued Brett Ratner as the producer of the Oscars telecast. The prolific movie producer’s first job will be to find a replacement for Eddie Murphy, who quit his hosting gig following Ratner’s departure. Seeing as Grazer happens to also be a producer on Tower Heist, here’s one totally sensible solution for host: Brett Ratner. Grade: A [Deadline]
