67th Golden Globe® Awards Gala Tonight

The 67th Annual Golden Globe® Awards Gala is tonight, and will be broadcast live on NBC at 8:00 p.m., ET, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA. If you click the title of this post you will go to the Globes' Official Website on which you can see a live feed outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Mouse over the inset and you will find direct links to Twitter, Facebook and chat.

Guess what? You can not only watch live what is happening outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel in real time, you can access your Wall on Facebook through the site as well, and instantly share with all your friends while the awards are in progress. If you are so inclined, you can access Twitter there, too, and bombard your friends. However, I will not be tweeting my friends because I want to enjoy the show, and they do, too.

Also, you can go directly to live chat about the awards through Dick Clark Productions.

Getting ready to watch the awards, and reap the most enjoyment out of the experience, is simple:

• (1) Go to the phone and invite a few friends over to your place;
• (2) Get your party necessities;
• (3) Go to this webpage and print ballots for each person who will be watching with you (pdf);
• (4) The Globes' resource page is excellent - - providing links to the same page for previous years available on upper right, link to printable ballot, videos, and much more;
• (5) If you want to familiarize yourself with the nominated movies and TV shows, you might like to go to this IMDb webpage, and consider leaving it open during the show for quick reference as there are links to the IMDb page for each movie, TV show, and more.

If you need information, which will remain accessible months later, you can access previous posts and links on this blog's right sidebar relating to the Golden Globes® and the Academy Awards®. For instance, there is a link ("Golden Globes 2010") with a list of Golden Globe movie nominations. It will remain, with winners in red, until this time next year. There will also be a link for a similar Oscar® nominations / winners page. A link for AMPAS® is always there. Take a look at the links list, for much more.

There are two previous posts on this blog about this years 67th Golden Globe movie awards and the Academy Awards that you may want to read, or re-read, and posts from previous years:

• Over-all Information about the telecast
• Impact of Golden Globes on the Oscars®

Look at the bottom of this, and every post, and you will find "tags" which you can simply click to find related posts. Otherwise, use the search box at the top left of the page.

The Golden Globe Awards Gala is definitely a party, the most glamorous awards show second only to the Academy Awards. It is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable of the major award shows. Enjoy!

Golden Globes® Gala Tonight

The second annual biggest party in the electronic Universe, the Golden Globes Gala, sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), is back tonight after a horrible makeshift televised awards program last year. More than 50 Hollywood stars are confirmed as presenters.

Steven Spielberg will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field." He was scheduled to receive it last year, but the HFPA postponed it due to the scaled down event.

The HFPA Golden Globes honor their choices for both the film and television professionals at the same gala. So, welcome back HFPA. I, among many others, missed the glitz and glam last year.

There is no doubt that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association suffered financial loss and the honorees lost valuable "buzz" because the gala was canceled due to the Writers Guild strike. The HFPA promises that the 66th annual gala tonight, broadcast on NBC (8-11 EST), will be bigger and better. The Globe nominations are a roster of the hot and new films, actors, technical achievements, etc.

Because the members represent the foreign press there is a much greater emphasis on who and what is hot at the very moment they fill out their nomination, or final, ballots. Their choices are often based on the feedback the members get from residents of their native countries. After all, they want as many of their fellow country persons to watch as possible.

One advantage of the Globe broadcast is that it is leaner, cleaner, tighter, and not as long, as the top awards show, the Academy Awards®, a.k.a., The Oscars. In the past, one disadvantage was the members seemed to nominate and vote for their favorite "eye candy," not necessarily upon the film or nominee's professional achievements and skills.

The Golden Globes broadcast has been increasing the number of countries and cities where it is broadcast, undoubtedly helped by Internet broadcast. In other words, what fifteen years ago was a little step child of the Oscars is no longer.

It's a big self-sufficient grownup player. One thing evident is that the members of the foreign press are becoming more knowledgeable about cinematic arts and less into voting for that "eye candy".

However, I'm sure there will be lots of hot new eye candy, and they venerate those older actors, actresses, directors, cinematographers and writers, honoring them whenever they can. They don't wait until the film professionals are 80 years old, or almost on their deathbed to do it.

Check the Links Relevant at the bottom of this post to quickly find some information that will increase your viewing pleasure.

For quick access to posts on this blog you can sign up for an Atom instant notice when Mimi makes a post. Look at the top of the right sidebar under "Profile" for Atom.

LINKS RELEVANT:

Yahoo article about Globes Gala tonight.

Mimi's Quick Links to helpful info about tonight at the Golden Globes' Gala.

Link to Mimi's previous post about the 66th Golden Globes on "Mimi at the Movies" blog.

Private Golden Globes Web Site with archive of previous winners.

HFPA Site.

China's Olympic Opening Directed by Zhang Yimou

Zhang Yimou at press conference the day after the opening.

Okay. You read the title of this post and asked, Zhang Yimou, who? He was the chief director for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, China, yesterday. Zhang Yimou (pronounced Yee-Mo), is one of China's best filmmakers in the so-called "fifth generation." He is my favorite, and he does not make films in English, only in Mandarin, unlike Taiwan's Ang Lee (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN), my second favorite Chinese director.

Hint: In China the last names are first. So, Zhang Yimou's given name, Yimou, is written last while his sir name, Zhang, is first. Articles in Chinese newspapers write it that way, and the IMDb often does too, but the name is generally reversed for English speakers, e.g. Yimou Zhang. In China, Ang Lee's name is written Lee Ang. So check both ways when searching on the Web.

Did you see the Olympic opening ceremony yesterday? If you didn't you will have to wait for the DVD to enjoy the synchronized performances of hundreds of people in the high tech extravaganza, that was an amazing live performance. In every Olympiad the opening ceremony grows more spectacular.

I wish to salute Zhang for his own conceived and fantastically directed production. Unfortunately, no one did at the opening. Perhaps, someone will at the closing. He will be directing that also, as he will the ceremonies for the Paralympics that follow these games, also in Beijing. As he said at a press conference today, "Yesterday was only the beginning."

Have you seen any of Zhang Yimou's movies? The first one I saw was RED SORGHUM with his favorite leading lady - - in his movies as she used to be in his real life, gorgeous Gong Li. Then, I saw RAISE THE RED LANTERN, and I was hooked.

Yesterday, in the opening ceremony Zhang included a giant yellow ball that morphed into a red Chinese lantern and, in turn, into the globe of the world. The red lantern = China, the globe = one world, only two of the symbols in the ceremony that represented the slogan for this year's Olympiad: One World, One Dream.

On top of that revolving globe Sarah Brightman, and China's current favorite male pop singer Liu Huan, sang "You and Me," the official song of this year's Olympics. Theirs was only one of many beautiful musical moments accompanied by the Beijing Ceremony Symphony. I hear the CD is in stores now.

Three of Zhang's movies have received Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominations, JU DOU, RAISE THE RED LANTERN, and HERO, but he has never taken home the statuette. I think it is because his movies are iconic Chinese, and Americans just don't know enough about China to understand them as well as they do the movies of "westernized" Taiwanese director Ang Lee.

Don't get me wrong. I like Ang Lee's movies, too. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is spectacular and won the Best Foreign Language Oscar, but it isn't as folk-centered as Zhang's HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS. Ang Lee's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN won a best picture Oscar and one for Lee's directing.

On the other hand, when Lee tried sex as a subject in LUST, CAUTION, he failed. His approach was a bit too raw for most Americans. Zang's earlier movie, SHANGHAI TRIAD, is less raw with more subtlety, and is sexier, but he doesn't have the "name recognition" in the U.S. that Lee has.

Lee is Taiwanese and Zhang is mainland China. The latter's geographic location doesn't cut as much favor in Hollywood as Taiwan. Lee is definitely a more commercial (box office-favored) director than Zhang, but if you, like me, fell in love with the China of Pearl Buck in her book The Good Earth, get that sensation again each time you view a Zang Yimou movie.

I have seen all the movies mentioned above, plus Zhang's THE STORY OF QIU JU, and CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER. My favorite Ang Lee Chinese movie is CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. I simply can't pick a favorite Zhang movie. They are that good! Zhang's filmography on Fandango.

The numbers are in and the Olympic opening night ceremony on NBC averaged 34.2 million households in the U.S., the biggest audience ever for an Olympic opening ceremony not held in the U.S., Nielsen Media Research reported. It eclipsed this year's Academy Awards, and the finale of "American Idol," making it the biggest television event since this year's Super Bowl. The summer Olympics in Athens four years ago averaged 25.4 million households for its first night. Sydney in 2000 had 27.3 million.

The Web site NBCOlympics.com registered 70 million page views on Friday, its heaviest traffic ever. The site did not post videos, but did post still pictures. The estimated statistics for world-wide television (Internet) viewership of the opening have not yet been announced, but the count is expected to approach one billion viewers.

WGA Agreement and Awards

The Writers Guild Boards, East and West, today tentatively approved the agreement discussed in the previous post. It is still a nail biter, because the cut-off date to proceed with the full Oscar® telecast, which will include the presence of the host (Jon Stewart), celebrity presenters and recipients, etc., is this Thursday, Valentine's Day.

As of the moment of this post, according to a recent "breaking news" notification, membership meetings will be held Tuesday to allow writers to decide whether the three-month strike should be brought to an immediate end. This according to Patric Verrone, president of the guild's West Coast branch.

The Guild also announced their annual screenwriting awards. Diablo Cody won for her original feature script, JUNO. The adapted script award went to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, which is based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. Both are Oscar-nominated for best motion picture.

The best documentary award went to Alex Gibney for TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, which looks at U.S. torture practices in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is nominated in the best oscar documentary category.

In TV, HBO's "The Wire" won for the best writing of a TV drama, and NBC's "30 Rock" won for comedy.

Disastrous 65th Golden Globes®

I do not know about others, but I was sincerely pulling for the Golden Globes to make it through impending disaster due to the Writers Guild strike. There are 10,500 members of the Writers Guild of America on strike, and it is now in its 11th week. Unfortunately, the entire evening was an unmitigated failure on all fronts, proving that without the movie and television star players, along with the bling and glam they bring to the party, there is no party.

Unbeknown to me was the fact that there were two simultaneous "press conferences." The Official one was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, attended only by journalists, media executives and publicists. Then, there was that disastrous NBC-helmed "Press Conference." I only viewed the latter, and I have no idea where it was held, but I did once see a marquee for the Roosevelt Hotel.

However, press reports today pretty much supported my criticisms. According to Reuters, NBC's " . . . broadcast . . . averaged 5.8 million viewers against competition from CBS' Western miniseries 'Comanche Moon' and ABC's 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition', which averaged 16.6 million and 13.9 million viewers, respectively."

Reuters reports that the People's Choice Awards last week drew 6 million viewers and, last year, the Globes had 20 million. I assume that was in the U.S. alone.

Money earned in TV is tied to viewers. As a result of the low ratings, NBC lost $10 to $15 million in advertising revenue compared to what it had planned to receive for the usual Globes telecast.

I did cheer for some winners. First, for Tina Fey (30 Rock) to win actress in a leading role - musical or comedy series. She's one of the most talented young women, if not the most, working in the entertainment industry today, and she's so much more than an excellent actress.

Second, for Javier Bardem (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) to win actor in a supporting role. I am considered somewhat of an expert in Spanish cinema, and am familiar with the life-time work of his mother and late uncle. The Bardem theatrical family (stage and film) in Spain is as admired there as the Barrymore family is in America.

Third, for the best foreign film win for THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, and the best director win for its director, Julian Schnabel.

One word of criticism about film selection. If THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY was eligible for submission to AMPAS® in the best foreign-language category, France should have submitted it instead of PERSEPOLIS. I think the latter has a excellent chance in the animated film category, and I think DIVING BELL could have won the best foreign-language category for France. In other words, they could have gotten a nomination in two categories had they played their cards correctly. Of course, I could be wrong. We shall see.

I seldom mention Globes given for television because this blog is mainly for motion pictures, but this is an exception. Something quite nice happened with the Globes this year, but it wasn't part of the "announcements."

The record for the oldest person receiving a Globe nomination was set last night by Ernest Borgnine (Oscar and Globe for MARTY, 1955) who, at age 90, received a Globe nomination for actor in a leading role - mini-series or television movie. The nod was for "A Grandpa for Christmas" (Hallmark). Borgnine's cast mates in the TV movie are Jamie Farr, Katherine Helmond, and Juliette Goglia. Look for it on DVD soon.

He didn't win. The award went to Jim Broadbent for LONGFORD (AMC), which won the best mini-series or TV movie category, and Samantha Morton was tapped as the best actress in a supporting role for LONGFORD.

We are only a week away from the announcement of the Academy Award® nominations. From all indications, the Academy is preparing with all haste for the presentation gala Sunday, 24 February. What else can they do?

I did read something today that the Directors Guild (DGA) is exploring possible talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), which is in dispute the the Writers Guild (WGA). However, it's the WGA and AMPTP that need to be talking, and searching for a compromise.

We shall see.

Golden Globes® "Press Conference" Tonight

Instead of the 65th star-studded award celebration hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA)® that would generate about 60 million dollars for the Los Angeles area economy, including about 8 million for charitable organizations helped annually by HFPS, there will be a one-hour "press conference," hosted by the puffed-up Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell of the NBC entertainment show Access Hollywood.

That's a slap-in-the face to not only the HFPA but millions of television viewers around the world. Of course, NBC couldn't get any bona fide actor, news anchor, film critic, or studio executive who would bend their mores to host the show.

It will be live on the NBC network, beginning at 6:00 p.m., PT, but there will be no red carpet, no glitz, no glamour, no glitter, no lavish banquet for invited guests following, and hundreds of smaller, slightly lavish private parties around the world, enjoying communal viewing and great booze into the wee hours of the morning.

This has never happened since the first movie-awards dinner was held in Hollywood 80 years ago. A group of movie producers, stars, and studio heads held a small, private dinner. They gave out a statue called "Oscar®" to some of their fellow actors, and others working in the movie industry in order to add status to their profession and, hopefully, some extra dollars. It was not even broadcast on radio, just a cozy little dinner party.

They incorporated as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)® and I think, with the possible exception of France, it may be the first such Academy. It has been a resounding success benefiting the U.S. movie industry, those who work in it, and hundreds of satellite industries in Southern California.

The gala broadcast generates millions of dollars in three digits for charities, scholarships, artistic education, film restoration and preservation, the Academy's operating expenses, and participating service industries that rely upon it to meet their annual payroll.

The cancellation of the Golden Globes is sad for everyone involved, and will impact the economy of Southern California so much so that it may take years to undo the monetary damage. But, folks, if the Academy Awards do not happen, you "ain't seen nothin' yet!"

Links relevant:

Globes News Release - 11 January 2008 // Article - Los Angeles Times, "Globes TV special now an '"Access" PR stunt'?" // Mimi's Awards Page 2008, link on right sidebar, and awards listed alphabetically by hosting organizations.

Globes Gala a No Go

The Golden Globes® Gala has been canceled. At the moment, it is reported that NBC plans a news-type show sans celebrities on Sunday the 13th where winners will be announced but there will be no celebrity recipients present. It is still unknown whether the pickets will be at the Beverly Hilton, if the site remains the same, or if the Guild will pull them for this event.

NBC will produce the "news conference" through their news department. That way, they can use their archived video and sound clips and not pay license fees, plus circumvent other issues of the striking writers. The exact format has not been announced. The original producers, Dick Clark Productions will, according to the Los Angeles Times, covertly coordinate with NBC.

The Globes banquet will not happen, and private parties all over the Westside of Los Angeles are being canceled. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association issued a statement that they were disappointed, ". . . that millions of viewers worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite stars celebrating 2007's outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television."

Meanwhile, it is reported that the organizers of the 80th Academy Awards® are still optimistic that they can produce a show as good as any of the preceding Oscars®" for Sunday, 24 February. Both the Globe and the Oscar shows bring in millions for the organizations and the networks, NBC and ABC.