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Which Entertainment Awards Do You Respect the Most?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 05:00:00 -0700

As I'm preparing my coverage of the 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards, I'm wondering if you think one of the big four awards organizations tends to get it right more often than the others.

TV Tonight: The Golden Globe Awards, Again

BuzzSugar — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 13:45:13 -0800

Sure, you already know who won the Golden Globe Awards. But if you missed the chance to see America Ferrera's adorable breakdown, or Sacha Baron Cohen's ode to his co-star's butt, or the "Grey's Anatomy" cast when they still got along, you've got another chance tonight. Bravo is rebroadcasting the awards twice, so you can analyze every dress and every shot of tipsy celebs. To watch Hugh Laurie give one of my favorite acceptance speeches of the evening, read more

Movie Night: Going For the Golden Globes

BuzzSugar — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:58:15 -0800

So many movies, so little time. Thankfully, BuzzSugar is here to help you sort through them all! Each week, I'll choose a theme for a Movie Night and feature three must-see movies in keeping with that theme. This week's theme: Golden Globe Best Picture winners.

This year's Golden Globe winner for Best Picture Drama was Babel, a movie that reinforces the idea that emotion has no language. When I started looking back at the Best Drama winners over the past 10 years, I noticed that many of the Globe winners seem to address this universality of emotions, and three of my favorites really stood out. For the best Best Picture, Drama, winners over the past decade, the winners are...

American Beauty
This 2000 Golden Globe winner brings us a tale of the seemingly perfect, suburban Burnham family. Beneath the surface, however, all-American dad Lester (Kevin Spacey) is bored to the point of hopeless depression. While his wife (the incredible Annette Benning) comes rapidly unhinged, Lester begins to obsess over his teenage daughter's friend. Meanwhile, the daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), starts a friendship with the quiet, artsy boy next door who lives with his homophobic father. Not only is the screenplay extremely well-written, but the cinematography is also so gorgeously moving it lends a timelessness to this sad yet compelling portrait of "the good life" in American suburbia.

To see the other two, read more

The Hours
The 2003 Best Drama winner, The Hours, is an adaptation of a superbly written novel by Michael Cunningham, which weaves together the lives of three women from three different time periods. Nicole Kidman deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf, a gifted writer battling depression in the 1920s. Julianne Moore plays Laura Brown, a 1950s housewife struggling with the weight of being a mother and wife first, an individual second. In yet another moving performance, Meryl Streep plays Clarissa Vaughn, a modern-day Mrs. Dalloway living in Manhattan and caring for her terminally ill ex-lover. As the characters attempt to figure out what it means to be a 20th century woman, each actress delivers a remarkable performance, using sensitivity, intelligence, and strength to buffer the self-pity that might have diminished the characters in the hands of less skillful actresses.

Brokeback Mountain
Last year's winner, Brokeback Mountain, has been fodder for seemingly endless parody, and at times it borders on overly sentimental. Yet it is still a stunning movie about a love that withstands time, conventional values, and even language, since the film depicts a relationship for which its participants are afraid to assign a name. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are cowboys working on Brokeback Mountain in 1963. Living and camping together every day and night, their friendship progresses into something deeper, and over the next 20 years, their efforts to hide the truth of themselves from their families and peers complicates their lives and their relationship.

Golden Globe Awards: The TV Acting Winners

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:51:37 -0800

The Golden Globes get a lot of press for which movies they honor, but I'm always glad they invite TV folks to the party, too (and not just because I like seeing big- and small-screen stars getting tipsy together). The Emmys are a long way off, and this way, some of the great shows of the fall season can get some early recognition. Besides picking "Ugly Betty" and "Grey's Anatomy" as the best series, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association also made interesting picks - some obvious, some less so - in the acting categories.

So far, you're saying that Alec Baldwin was the biggest surprise winner at the Globes. I haven't been shy about telling you my feelings about Alec, and I was thrilled to see him win (even though it meant two of my other boyfriends, Steve Carrell and Zach Braff, had to go home empty-handed). While "Scrubs" and "The Office" are established ensemble comedies, "30 Rock" is funny mainly because of Baldwin, whether he's secretly dating Condoleeza Rice or professing his love for Phil Collins. Yes, this is coming from someone who believes her life would be better if she had a talking Alec Baldwin doll on her desk, but I believe his win was well-deserved.

Speaking of people who make their shows work, Hugh Laurie almost had to win for "House." He is "House," and the show wouldn't be the same if anyone else played the grouchy doctor. He won last year, though, so I was a little surprised to see him repeat. My money would have been on Michael C. Hall for "Dexter" or Kiefer Sutherland for "24" (though the show's late start this season might have hurt his chances).

I've never seen "The Closer," so I really can't say much about Kyra Sedgwick's win for best actress in a drama. That category seemed a little strange, though - on the whole, I thought the best actor nominees were stronger. Are there really just not that many great female-led dramas right now?

A few more thoughts, so read more

The supporting actor and actress categories at the Globes always frustrate me, because I so rarely watch TV movies. It seems odd to me that movies, miniseries, and series get smushed together. Wouldn't it be different to evaluate someone's work in a two-hour movie and in a 23-episode series? Maybe I'm just bummed because Masi Oka didn't get to give a speech.

I'm still a little weirded out to see America Ferrera outside her Betty costume, which just proves how fully she's become that character. She's taken a caricature and made her someone I'd like to have as a friend. Much as I do love Mary-Louise Parker in "Weeds," it's nice to see a newcomer rewarded.

Anyone know the deal with the blue puzzle pieces Alec Baldwin and Steve Carrell were wearing? Just wondering.

Golden Globe Awards: Dreamgirls Wins Big

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:02:51 -0800

I was at once shocked and totally unsurprised that Dreamgirls took home the award for Best Picture Musical or Comedy at last night's Golden Globe Awards. On the one hand, there aren't many movie musicals these days, so I can see how voters might get giddy over the rare opportunity to honor one. But really, I think that Little Miss Sunshine was a better movie, while Dreamgirls was a good musical but not necessarily a good film.

I was, however, elated to see the very humble and lovable Jennifer Hudson honored for her supporting role. Plus, she looked fabulous, and her acceptance speech cracked me up. Check out this footage, complete with a bonus appearance by George Clooney:

To see a gallery of great stills from Dreamgirls, read more

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Golden Globe Awards: "Ugly Betty" Wins Best TV Comedy

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:29:43 -0800

"Ugly Betty" is cute and campy, sweet but not syrupy, occasionally mean, but always willing to reward the underdog in the end. Basically, it's the kind of show not often seen in primetime in the U.S., and maybe that's just why the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honored it as the best comedy on TV at the Golden Globe Awards last night.

Based on a Colombian telenovela, the general story of "Ugly Betty" has been translated for almost a dozen countries. After all, who doesn't like a story of an ugly duckling with a big heart who proves time and again that being wise is better than being beautiful? ABC's Betty is played perfectly by America Ferrera, who also nabbed the Globe for best actress in a TV comedy. The show's win was a bit of a surprise: Though the Globes like to honor new shows, I thought "The Office" would be rewarded for its two and a half seasons of stellar work. But "Ugly Betty" is one of my new favorites - yours, too - and I'm glad the show already has a big-time award to its name.

For more on the show and snapshots of some of the show's best moments so far, read more

"Ugly Betty" mixes the silly mystery of early "Desperate Housewives" with the kinds of relationship dramas usually associated with, say, "Days of Our Lives." The ensemble cast is filled with scene stealers like Mark Indelicato as Betty's stylish nephew and Vanessa Williams as Mode Magazine's power-grabbing creative director. But what really makes "Ugly Betty" soar is its snappy dialogue, the witty putdowns and comebacks (most often flying from the mouths of Williams' Wilhelmina and Becki Newton's Amanda) that move the show beyond an cheesy soap and into the realm of spit-take-worthy TV.

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Golden Globe Awards: "Grey's Anatomy" Wins Best TV Drama

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:32:50 -0800

It's easy to write off "Grey's Anatomy" as lots of eye candy and little substance. Similarly, it's easy to assume that a show so hugely popular can't possibly be good. But "Grey's," which took home its first major ensemble award by winning the Best Television Drama Series category at last night's Golden Globe Awards, delivers some of the most consistently well-written television out there.

I've been a fan from the beginning; just thinking about the scene at the end of the pilot where Meredith visits her mother in the nursing home still gets me a little teary. The amazing thing, in a year that's seen so many serial dramas falter after a few episodes, is that "Grey's" has only gotten stronger since its debut. The show's creator, Shonda Rhimes, has said the characters have lived in her head for years, and it shows. They're fully drawn, painfully flawed people, brought to life each week by an outstanding cast.

For more on "Grey's" and pics of my favorite moments from the season so far, read more

Last year's post-Super Bowl episode vaulted "Grey's" into the spotlight, and it managed to keep the tension high all the way until the season finale, which wrapped an ethical lapse, an engagement, a fiance's death, a shooting, and an ill-fated tryst in an exam room into three of the best hours of television I've ever seen.

This season was a little uneven at first, with a lot of new writers on board. But the last couple of episodes have felt like the good old "Grey's" again, and I have a feeling some big things are afoot at Seattle Grace. Here are some shots of my favorite moments from this season so far.

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Golden Globes: Babel Wins Best Picture Drama

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 10:06:00 -0800

One minute, director Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel was a somewhat difficult and low-profile artsy film getting merely good reviews. But after its Best Picture Drama win at last night's Golden Globe Awards, it seems Babel may be the prime frontrunner for Best Picture at the Oscars. (For more on the movie, check out my Babel review.)

Once I saw that the Globes directing award was going to the much-deserved Martin Scorcese, I figured Babel would score the Best Picture win, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens at the Oscars. If last year's puzzling win for Crash taught us anything, it's that actors love to reward their peers, and there's no better way to do that than by honoring an ensemble movie that's built on the strength of its performances - particularly by Cate Blanchett and little-knowns Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

What do you guys think: Will Babel win Best Picture at the Oscars? To see a gallery of stunning stills from the film, read more

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What Golden Globe Winner Was the Biggest Surprise?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 06:33:12 -0800

The Big Winners: Backstage at the Golden Globes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 05:54:03 -0800

Congratulations to all of the winners at last night's Golden Globe Awards! I'm especially excited for the cast of "Ugly Betty" and for Martin Scorcese, whose award for directing The Departed was well-deserved. It was also fun to see Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin win, and they both gave great acceptance speeches. To see tons of great pics of the winners behind the scenes, read more

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