Jessica Lange, left, stars in ‘American Horror Story: Coven’ on FX with Emma Roberts, Jamie Brewer, Taissa Farmiga and Gabourey Sidibe.The show was nominated for Best TV Movie or Mini-Series for the 71st annual Golden Globes, which is set to air Jan. 12.
Credit: Courtesy of MCT
There are two things we can count on when the 71st annual Golden Globes air Jan. 12: The choice for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to host the award show for a second year will be right, and all my predictions will be wrong.
Nominations for the 2014 Globes were released Thursday, and here are novice expectations of winners in four major categories from someone who lives about 2,000 miles away from Hollywood:
Best Motion Picture — Drama: “Philomena”
A letter removed from the title of my favorite of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” Judi Dench plays the feisty and fiery title character that, ironically enough, holds true to the spirit of the tongueless princess of Athens. The movie is told through the eyes of a modern storyteller, BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), as his news forte makes an exception for the human interest story of Philomena, who conceived her son out of wedlock and was consequently forced by the Irish-Catholic community to lose contact and memory of her child. Thus begins the search for her long-lost boy.
Aside from Dench’s remarkable performance in the film, as an actress whose smile exudes a youthful glow competitive to “young Philomena” actress Sophie Kennedy Clark, “Philomena” is joyous despite its quite dramatic (and rather depressing) subject matter. The delivery of punchlines is soft and subtle, not taking away from the seriousness of the story, but enhancing the realness of the narrative and emotion. And really, besides all the beautiful, poetic reasoning why this film is Golden Globe-worthy, it’s just so good. So, so, so, so, so good.
Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy: “American Hustle”
Full disclosure: I really don’t have much base to my declaration of this David O’ Russell movie winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture for Comedy besides its trailer. However, I watched the trailer at least eight times now, so call me an expert and trust my argument for its greatness.
First of all, the cast is kickin’. We have Batman, “The Hangover’s” Phil, Katniss, Hawkeye and Princess Giselle collaborating in a shady, con-man run operation as complicated and intricate as Bradley Cooper’s Jheri curl. Jennifer Lawrence goes back to blonde, her natural hair color, in a role that perhaps isn’t too far of a stretch from her everyday, outspoken persona. With a single puff of a cigarette, she’ll take you back to a hazy ‘70s era from before she was even born.
Second, a Led Zeppelin blessing through “Good Times, Bad Times” and Amy Adams, Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper walking down the street to “10538 Overture” holds enough momentum to keep the Earth spinning on its axis, nevermind a Golden Globe.
Best TV Drama Series: “Breaking Bad”
At its end, it just began. Never has a show been able to breathe new life once the main character lost his, but the series finale of “Breaking Bad,” aired in late September, simply gave new insight into the character of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) rather than confirming what many already knew. One could have religiously watched “Breaking Bad” from beginning to end, but experience a new story, see a new side if first watching the finale and then starting season one once again.
My hands grasp my scalp with eyes bugged out at the thought that I even need to convince somebody “Breaking Bad” is worthy of any award. I envy my friends who are just starting the series or caught in the middle — they get to experience the dark comedic goodness that is a man taking a turn for the bad. And Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) getting hotter by the episode.
Best TV Movie or Mini-Series: “American Horror Story: Coven”
The women of the coven are drop-dead gorgeous. Their beauty will bewitch you, and their spells will kill you.
The black wardrobe of the actresses portraying leftover witches in New Orleans doesn’t hold a candle to the darkness seen in the third installment of the “American Horror Story” series. When it feels impossible to watch events more disturbing than those displayed in prior episodes, you become witness to a young girl discovering her sexual encounters leave her partners dead and a college-aged boy being reconstructed post-death with recycled body parts borrowed from the morgue.
Ghost stories intertwined with modern issues are given gorgeous cinematic life in “Coven.” After all, the opening theme of the show holds enough intricacies to keep viewers tuning in to discover, let alone the actual content and storyline of the show.
