Awards Season: Avatar Has a Golden Night

January 17, 2010

Some might debate the predictive value of The Golden Globes. After all, they don't have all of the same categories as the Oscars, and the results for Best Picture in particular have varied from the Oscar result many times over the years. However, it is hard to argue with the free publicity a film gets from winning, and the big winner tonight was Avatar.

The categories and winners are...

BEST FEATURE - DRAMA

BEST FEATURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

BEST DIRECTOR

BEST SCREENPLAY

ACTRESS - DRAMA

ACTOR - DRAMA

ACTOR - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

ACTRESS - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

SUPPORTING ACTOR

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

BEST SCORE

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Notes and Reactions...

  • Avatar won for Best Director and Best Picture, which should boost its chances to at least pick up Oscar nominations. Normally this would also boost its box office chances, but at this point, I'm not sure they can go any higher. I'm being a bit facetious, but in all honesty, it's hard to imagine the film performing any better at the box office than it already is.
  • Up and Crazy Heart also took home two awards, but they were for less prestigious categories.
  • Up in the Air was very nearly shut out, going one for six (Best Screenplay was the only win). This will likely still be enough to help promote the film, but its chances for $100 million took a hit. I was expecting it to perform better tonight.
  • On the other hand, Nine was shut out and with good reason.
  • Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep both won one of the two awards they were nominated for, while Matt Damon had to say, "It's an honor just to be nominated" twice.
  • While Up's win for Best Feature-Length Animated Film was arguably the least shocking win of the night, The Hangover's win for Best Comedy or Musical was arguably the biggest shock. It did earn good reviews, but (500) Days of Summer earned better.
  • Biggest disappointment for me was Kathryn Bigelow missing out, particularly since female directors in general do not get the accolades they deserve.

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Filed under: Awards Season, Up, The Hangover, Inglourious Basterds, Julie & Julia, Up in the Air, Das Weisse Band: Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte, The Blind Side, Precious (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire), Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Crazy Heart