AWARD SEASON IS HERE!

The Golden Globes have past and now we eagerly await Oscar Nomination announcements, which happen on January 24th.  The award season is meant to be a time of celebrating the best films of the year. Of course, most years my favorite films get very little recognition and, still, I enjoy the process.  I love the dresses, I love the spectacle, I love the predictions and how invested I get.
This is an exciting year mainly because many of Hollywood's Elite are getting nominations. Leonardo Dicaprio, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney are shoe-ins for noms, and THE ARTIST star Jean Dujardin is too.  The fifth slot could go to sexy Michael Fassbender, or sexy Ryan Gosling. I think Fassbender in SHAME deserves it, but I love me some Gosling as well.
In the Best Actress category we could have Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, and Tilda Swinton, all amazing talents, and Michelle Williams is a big threat to win.  I really hope Charlize Theron gets a nod for YOUNG ADULT but I think Rooney Mara might beat her out for her role in GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.

This year the top runners are THE ARTIST and THE DESCENDANTS. Both will get nominated, and I am guessing one of them will win.  The third top contender is HUGO, my favorite of the three. Martin Scorcese won best director, so look for him in that category.

As for my list of ten favorite films of 2011, I am busy busy trying to see as much as possible (which is hard work) and will post my top ten list the week before the Oscars.

Below, just for fun, are my favorite Golden Globe red carpet looks this year.

Emma Stone had a great year.  I am ready to see her in a movie I like, but am still a fan.  She killed it on the carpet, I WANT THAT BELT!

Always nice to see a curvy women on the carpet, holding her own.  I was happy she won, there is a terrible lack of good roles for black women, and I think she was gorgeous in this gown.  

Clooney is a handsome man, and Stacy Keibler looked fantastic!  I am not a huge fan of red dresses, but she looks hot. I love the hair, the simplicity.  This couple should have babies!

I wanted Charlize to win for YOUNG ADULT, because she was amazing.  As for her dress, not many ladies can pull this off, but her height and breathtaking beauty allows her to wear the dress and not be overwhelmed.  (Unlike Natalie Portman, whom I thought looked like a toddler in her dress)

I love Tilda!  She is an amazing actress who consistently stars in films I love.  I have yet to see this years WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, which she was nominated for, but I am eagerly awaiting it.  Tilda has a unique personal style that gets put down often, but this year she pulled it off, looking lovely and original. 

At first I wasn't sure what I thought about this dress, but after seeing it several times I fell in love. This women is always stunning and has breasts to die for, and this is one of her best looks.  She is like a hot latin robot lady. 

YOUNG ADULT: this years darkest comedy.

YOUNG ADULT 

From the the writer and director of JUNO, comes a second movie, also starring a strong female character.  This time, however, the leading lady is strong in a vulgar, self destructive, hard-to-watch, kind of way.

Charlize Theron stars as Mavis Gary, a ghost writer for a shallow young adult series that is coming to an end.  Mavis lives in Minneapolis, is recently divoraced, has a drinking problem, and an icky nervous habit of pulling her hair out, leaving her with a bald spot, covered by removable fake hair. Mavis is the definition of Hot Mess, and Theron plays the part perfectly, avoiding cliches and caricatures an giving Mavis the believability that makes her such an uncomfortable heroin to follow for 90 minuets. I say that in the best way, because YOUNG ADULT is a movie about pathetic, unlikable people.  Similar to 1999's hilarious ELECTION, ADULT presents the mid-west in a less then flattering light. The best people in the movie are bland, boring, and settled. But healthy and happy, which is more then can be said for the majority of the characters. 

The story goes like this: Mavis, nearing rock bottom, decided to return to her small town to win back her high school sweetheart, who is married and the father of a newborn baby. Mavis shrugs off these facts by explaining that she has baggage too. She returns home feeling confident that her "big city" lifestyle and long legs will win him back no problem. After all, she was prom queen, and has maintained her looks well, although it is clear she will go down hill one day, since her self destructive habits seem to increase as the movie continues. Her delusions last several days, as she throws herself at her ex, insults his wife (and nearly everyone else she encounters) and drinks herself to sleep every night, waking up morning after morning looking like she was hit by a car, and aimlessly wanders the town, trying to seem important, despite being clearly lost. 

YOUNG ADULT is a comedy, but a very dark one.  Many of the scenes are simply hard to watch, because of how embarrassing Mavis is, and how clueless she is at how inappropriate she is. The best laughs come from her, like when she has trouble remembering a former classmate until she see's his crutches and realizes he is "that hate crime guy! Why didn't you just say that!" referring to the time he got beat up by a bunch of jocks for being gay (which he is not) and is now crippled. The fact that Mavis see's no reason to be sensative to his situation is an example of her delusional, self involved self, and this is who we spend the entire movie with. Considering how unlikable our heroin is, it is not surprising many people find YOUNG ADULT off-putting, especially since the movie offers no indication of Mavis seeing the error of her ways, or becoming a better person. 

So, what is the point of this movie?  I took it as an analysis of a large part of our culture.  When alone, Mavis always has the television on and she is always watching reality shows. To be specific she is watching The Kardashions and Hank and Kendra.  Both times the clips are of rich, beautiful women complaining about superficial problems, similar in shallowness to Mavis.  As a person Mavis has very few things going for her other then being beautiful and "cool", and drinking herself into a blackout every night is her coping mechanism for everything that is going wrong in her life. She lives in a delusional state that what she wants, she should have, and will have. It's the desire to live like a rich socialite that has run through so much of our pop culture in the last decade. Paris Hilton might be old news, but the Desperate Housewives are popular as ever, and I think writer Diablo Cody is basing Mavis around this mind set, that being rich and beautiful is more important than being conscientious of the people around you. Mavis wants to be pretty, desired, get everything she wants when she wants it, and not to worry about complicated issues. Just like she throws fake hair over her creepy bald spot without giving it another thought, she shrugs off any real responsibility with a shot and a cigarette.  She has the lap dog, but it lives forgotten in her hotel room with a pee pad and bowl of water. She spends more time fake texting to look busy, then she does making any type of real human connection.  Mavis is fake and beautiful, but her setting is small town Minneapolis,  and she is a very hot mess.