2013 Golden Globe Nominees

Seeing as I was already up working, I figured I’d stay up a few minutes more to hear this year’s list of Golden Globe Nominees. Despite some really great movies in contention this year, I haven’t been exactly thrilled (or, more accurately, surprised) by any of the movies being nominated by critics groups and such so far.

The Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) announced their nominations yesterday and it was a total snooze, nothing new on the TV front (Glee for Best Comedy Ensemble?! Have you watched that show lately? Yikes!) and nothing too totally unexpected on the movie front either. Although, it was nice to see Naomi Watts score a SAG Lead Actress nomination for her superb work in The Impossible, even if they left poor Ewan McGregor off their list (again!). I swear to God, if McGregor goes totally empty-handed again this award season after his career-best (which is saying a lot!) work in The Impossible, I’m gonna be really pissed. He has been overlooked for too long, man, give the Jedi his due!

Ooo…hot damn! Someone’s ears must have been burning. Megan Fox (!) just announced that Ewan McGregor snagged a Golden Globe nomination, not for The Impossible, but, for Salmon Fishing In The Yemen. Haven’t seen it yet, but, hey, I’ll take it. Good on you, Ewan! Also congrats to Emily Blunt for her nomination for the same film. I love her in anything, so, even if the movie sucks, glad to see her getting some award season love!

Also happy to see Argo score a bunch of major nods (although I wish there was room for both Alan Arkin and John Goodman on the Best Supporting Actor list) but was a little surprised that they completely snubbed The Hobbit and that Matthew McConaughey was overlooked for his sleazy perfection in Magic Mike. That dude made the movie and he seemed like a lock for some Hollywood Foreign Press love, but, hey, there’s always the Oscars!

Anyway, the entertainment reporter on NBC just called Kathryn Bigelow “Karen” like, three times and the L.A. Times website misprinted Rachel Weisz’s name as “Richard Weisz”. So, either I’m really sleepy or these people are all total morons. Either way, I need some sleep.

To see the complete list of this year’s Golden Globe Nominees, click here.

Date Night Movie: “The Impossible”

As I’ve mentioned a few times, Mrs. Yeti and I don’t get out much these days, but, when we do, we see movies. And this past weekend, we saw an amazing one. The Impossible is the true story of one family’s struggle to survive the devastating tsunami that swept through Southeast Asia back in 2004. Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts turn in truly Oscar-caliber performances (there is one scene with Ewan on a cell phone that will literally rip your heart out!) but the boy who plays their eldest son, Tom Holland, is also incredibly good in a star-making turn.

That said, The Impossible is extremely graphic and very disturbing and is most definitely not for kids. Three people at our screening actually left the theatre in the first half hour, and these are supposedly jaded Hollywood types. Ha, losers! What’d they think they were coming to see? Wreck It Ralph?

Anyway, the movie is beautifully written by Sergio G. Sánchez and is directed by Juan Antonia Bayona, the same mad Spanish geniuses who teamed up to scare the hell out of us a few years back with The Orphanage. And just as he did in that movie, Bayona uses sound like no one else in the business. Seriously, sometimes the sounds are more harrowing and horrific than anything you’re seeing onscreen in this film. It’s pretty amazing. And the visuals are just as stunning, despite the gruesome events they’re often focusing on.

I won’t kid you and say this is an easy movie to sit through, Mrs. Yeti said she loved it, but that it was so real and troubling for her to watch, especially as a mother to a young child, that she could never watch it again. But, she said the exact same thing about Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue and we watch that all the time, so, you never know.

So, if you’re on the market for a truly inspiring, deeply-moving film this holiday season, then this is the date night movie for you. But, bring lots of Kleenex. Like, a whole box. Trust me, you’ll need it.

The Impossible opens in limited release on December 21st.