SAG Nominations ≠ Oscar Nominations

We've done it with Emmy.  We've done it with the Golden Globes.  And we've done it with BAFTA.  Sometimes a nomination at a precursor just doesn't equal with Oscar.  However, for the SAG Awards, it really does.  I had been holding off a bit on an article about the actors who have been nominated for film awards at the SAG Awards but never at the Oscars partially because the list is relatively small (SAG generally really does equal Oscar), and I wasn't sure how to do it.  However, I like the format I went with below, so let's take a dive into the unlucky few who have been nominated for SAG but not with Oscar.  As a reminder, there are some actors (such as Tilda Swinton and Forest Whitaker) who have been nominated for performances at the SAG Awards but not at the Oscars, but they are still Oscar nominees so they aren't on the below list, just those at the SAG Awards who have yet to dance with AMPAS.

Best Actress
Number of SAG Nominees without an Oscar Nod: 6 (Meg Ryan, Pam Grier, Jane Horrocks, Evan Rachel Wood, Ziyi Zhang, Jennifer Aniston)
Came the Closest with Oscar: The latter three were all in heavy contention for the nomination, with Aniston considered something of a lock.  All three got thrown out for surprises (Keisha Castle-Hughes moving to lead for Wood, Laura Linney and Marion Cotillard randomly landing a nod after being denied for most of the season for the latter).  If I had to go with one specifically, I would go with Aniston.
You Crazy SAG!: Meg Ryan's nomination for When a Man Loves a Woman is vintage SAG, the era when they would not only nominate The Birdcage for Best Cast, but give it the trophy.  Ryan also happened to land that nod in 1994, which was one of those "let's throw pasta at the wall and see what sticks" kind of years.
Who Has the Best Shot to Break the Cycle?: Ryan, Grier, and Horrocks have all seen their time pass and Zhang probably is firmly in the "international star" category, the kind thats get a screening during a Summer arthouse slot, but never actually gains awards traction again.  Aniston and Wood, however, have pretty vibrant careers going-Aniston clearly has a taste for the Oscar after her near miss with Cake (Peter Bogdonavich, anyone?) and probably has the slight edge for the next couple of years, though Wood is more consistently in Oscar-bait supporting roles.  I'll go with Wood, but if Aniston announces a bait-y project before 2017, I'm switching pretty quickly.

Best Actor
Number of SAG Nominees without an Oscar Nod: 5 (Joseph Fiennes, Jamie Bell, Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage, Emile Hirsch)
Came the Closest with Oscar: Richard Gere.  He'd won the Globe, was SAG-nominated, and was headlining a Best Picture winner.  The thing people forget about Gere is that he wasn't a frontrunner at the beginning of the cycle for the fifth slot, Michael Caine was.  It wasn't until he won the Globe and got a shock nod at the SAG Awards that he suddenly became invincible, but at that point some of the balloting had started and lead actors in musicals usually have a tough time getting nominated.  Still, this had to have been a close sixth place.
You Crazy SAG!: Peter Dinklage, the future Tyrion Lannister, managed a nomination for a miniscule film in 2003 knocking out far heavier hitters like Jude Law (Cold Mountain) and Russell Crowe (Master and Commander).  This was also the year that SAG threw a major monkey wrench in the winner predictions-after Bill Murray and Sean Penn won at the Globes, the SAG Awards decided randomly to give the trophy to Johnny Depp, giving us one of the most nail-biting races for the Oscar in a while.
Who Has the Best Shot to Break the Cycle?: Hmm, I kind of want to say none of them.  Gere probably makes the most sense in the Hollywood hierarchy, but they've passed him by a few times now and maybe he's just not their cup of tea.  Still, a stellar supporting turn would be hard to turn down in the right Best Picture nominee, so I'll go with that, as Fiennes/Hirsch have watched their time fade, Dinklage is too into TV now, and Jamie Bell has the curse of being nominated as a child actor.

Best Supporting Actress
Number of SAG Nominees without an Oscar Nod: 9 (Jamie Lee Curtis, Robin Wright, Gwen Verdon, Alison Elliott, Cameron Diaz, Dakota Fanning, Maria Bello, Diane Kruger, Mila Kunis)
Came the Closest with Oscar: Another tough call.  Wright, Diaz, Bello, and Kunis all also scored with the Globes, making them de facto predictions (so did Curtis, but in lead, and that performance's awards trajectory has always baffled me, though I can't wait to eventually see it).  I think I'm going to go with Robin Wright in Forrest Gump over the other three though.  She got snubbed in a MAJOR surprise with Jennifer Tilly randomly scoring for Bullets Over Broadway and her competition that year (Curtis, Jessica Tandy in Nobody's Fool, Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire, and her costar Sally Field (who probably cost her the nomination with vote-splitting) all sort of pale to the baitiness of her role in a shallow year).
You Crazy SAG!: I actually don't find any of these truly egregious-Verdon and Elliott were both a little odd, but they were both riding coattails which isn't unusual.  Instead, I'm going to go with someone that made me shout "really?" even though she's an Oscar winner: Cloris Leachman in Spanglish!  An Adam Sandler movie?  And one that somehow flopped during his peak Box Office years?  I mean, it is James L. Brooks but when Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, and Kate Winslet are all there with prestige dramas, it's kind of hard to believe they randomly decided to honor Phyllis Lindstrom.
Who Has the Best Shot to Break the Cycle?: It should be noted that Diaz is the only person EVER to be nominated for two SAG Awards for film performances and not be an Oscar nominee (she was cited for both Being John Malkovich and Vanilla Sky), so she probably should be selected here but she never seems interested in such work anymore.  Still, if she were to find her Blind Side, she could be in the conversation again considering her celebrity.  Subtracting her from the conversation, I'm guessing that Robin Wright's new lease on life after House of Cards could give her a plum role ala Felicity Huffman in Transamerica.

Best Supporting Actor
Number of SAG Nominees without an Oscar Nod: 15 (John Turturro, Kevin Bacon, Nathan Lane, Hank Azaria, Noah Taylor, Billy Connolly, David Kelly, Hayden Christensen, Dennis Quaid, Alfred Molina, Freddie Highmore, Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Daniel Bruhl, James Gandolfini)
Came the Closest with Oscar: This is actually a pretty long list-SAG has a knack for nominating the sixth place finishers in the Oscar race.  I'm still beyond flummoxed by Dennis Quaid's lack of a nomination when it looked like he might win the Oscar at the time.  As weird as it is to say, though, I'd probably go with Hayden Christensen.  At the time, Life as a House was a top contender in both lead and supporting (Kevin Kline was on my prediction list) and Christensen was poised to be "the next big star."  In the end Jon Voight's work in Ali got in (Jon Voight always finds a way), and Christensen became something of a pop culture joke.  It's weird to think how different his career might have been if he'd made it with Oscar-could he have recovered?
You Crazy SAG!: Not one, but two of the Birdcage stars made it into the SAG Award category, and while it's awesome to see Hank Azaria's hilarious cook in the category, what exactly about Nathan Lane's performance is supporting? (raised eyebrow)
Who Has the Best Shot to Break the Cycle?: This is a long list, but none of them really pop as "Oscar must go to there!"  Alfred Molina works the most in prestige, but he can never seem to gain traction with Oscar.  Armie Hammer still gets cast in major movies (admittedly in side roles now) so he's a possibility but I continue to have trouble seeing him actually popping considering all of the opportunities he's had, so I'll go with either Kevin Bacon or Dennis Quaid.  Both of them are big enough stars that a key supporting turn would gain attention, and while I think a win might be out of the question, they've both worked with everyone so who knows if the right movie comes along.

And there you have it-the SAG actors who just can't win with AMPAS.  What are your thoughts?  Who do you think will be the next off this list?  Who are you surprised is still on it?  And whose nomination did you completely blank happened?  Share in the comments!

A Look at Women and the Box Office

Jennifer Lawrence's Catching Fire is poised to cross the $350 million domestic mark this weekend, becoming only the third film to do so this year, and putting it within shouting distance of Iron Man 3, which gathered $409 million this past summer.  This year has been a robust one for women at the Box Office.  In addition to Lawrence's success, Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy both headlined a pair of $100 million+ grossers at the box office, and Jennifer Aniston/Kristen Bell also were the leads in films of similar grosses.

That being said, being the Number One film of the year continues to be a "man's world."  Since 1980, only one film had a woman get equal/top billing and was also the highest-grossing picture domestically: Titanic's Kate Winslet (who is technically second-billed, but only due to the alphabet).  Otherwise literally every other film had a man as the definitive lead.  

This wasn't always the case.  While Box Office Mojo (the only site I trust explicitly in these sorts of matters) only goes back to 1980 in their grosses, films of the 1950's through the 1970's regularly had women such as Mitzi Gaynor, Natalie Wood, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn, Barbra Streisand, and Ali McGraw starring in the top-grossing film of the year.

So as a bit of fun today (and because it's cold out and I don't want to venture into the iciness), I thought I would track the past 25 years of cinema, and look to see what the biggest role for a woman in the top-grossing film is, as well as the highest-grossing film where an actress gets top billing.  Let's take a look (we'll skip 2013 since we've already gone there)!

1988

Top Grossing Film: Rain Man

Main Female Star: Valeria Golino, who is Tom Cruise's girlfriend and gets third billing

Highest-Grossing Film With a Top-Billed Actress: So, for those who are curious, I'm going with top-billed star or someone who gets a tie for top-billed, so even though, say, Winona Ryder might have the biggest part in Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton is still the champ there.  I'm also skipping Working Girl here, because in the posters I can find, Melanie Griffith is below Harrison Ford and Weaver gets second billing, proving that the billing isn't alphabetical.  Therefore, I’m going with Jamie Lee Curtis and A Fish Called Wanda, who gets alphabetical top-billing (shared with John Cleese, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin), and was the twelfth highest-grossing film of the year.

1989

Top Grossing Film: Batman

Main Female Star: Kim Basinger as Michael Keaton’s girlfriend, and she gets third billing

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: I probably should have looked at how difficult it would be to pick out “top-billed” before I started this project.  One could argue that Kirstie Alley is the lead in Look Who’s Talking, but she gets second billing to John Travolta.  Morgan Freeman is before Jessica Tandy alphabetically for Driving Miss Daisy, but the way the poster is structured they don’t share top-billing.  Therefore, the crown goes to Meg Ryan who shares top-billing with Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally… in the eleventh highest-grossing film of the year.

1990

Top Grossing Film: Home Alone

Main Female Star: Christopher Guest favorite Catherine O’Hara plays Kevin McAllister’s mother, and gets sixth-billing.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Patrick Swayze outranks Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg on the Ghost poster, so that’s a no.  Therefore, thanks to our now patent-pending alphabetical clause, the award goes to Julia Roberts who shared top-billing in the fourth-highest grossing film of the year in Pretty Woman.

1991

Top Grossing Film: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Main Female Star: This is one of the only films on this list that I haven’t seen, and it’s bumming me out because it has a female star in second billing (our first) and also one that kicks some ass-Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: In our first case of an actress not sharing the top billing (though she does share the title), Paige O’Hara, the voice of Belle in Beauty and the Beast takes the prize with the third highest-ranking film of the year.

1992

Top Grossing Film: Aladdin

Main Female Star: As the voice of Aladdin’s girlfriend Princess Jasmine (what does it say that we’re only five films in and the description “girlfriend of the main character” has been used thrice), voiced by Linda Larkin, lands third billing.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Everyone only remembers Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns, but she gets third billing to Keaton and DeVito.  Demi Moore gets above-the-line billing on A Few Good Men, but the ranking isn’t alphabetical so she loses to Tom Cruise.  That leaves us with the seventh-highest grossing film of the year, Sister Act, and its star Whoopi Goldberg as our victors.

1993

Top Grossing Film: Jurassic Park

Main Female Star: Though really the stars are the effects and Steven Spielberg, Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler lands in the number two spot behind Sam Neill.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Our first actress to repeat is Meg Ryan, who shares top-billing with Tom Hanks in the number five grosser Sleepless in Seattle.

1994

Top Grossing Film: Forrest Gump

Main Female Star: As Forrest’s girlfriend Jenny, we have Robin Wright with second billing.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: It’s hard to imagine now, but Sandra Bullock wasn’t a big enough star in 1994 to outrank Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper for billing.  Jodie Foster was above-the-line for Maverick, but Mel Gibson still gets higher billing than her (and the above-the-line isn’t alphabetical).  That means we hit our lowest-ranking yet with 13^th place.  The victor is Susan Sarandon, who was Oscar-nominated for her work in The Client.

1995

Top Grossing Film: Toy Story

Main Female Star: Oof-all the way down in seventh place is cowboy Woody’s girlfriend Bo Peep, voiced by Annie Potts.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Whew-I thought for a second that Mel Gibson was going to get top-billing on Pocahontas, but thankfully that went to the title character, voiced by Irene Bedard, for the fourth highest-grossing film of the year.

1996

Top Grossing Film: Independence Day

Main Female Star: I was a little worried when I remembered this very male-dominated film at how far we’d have to go for a woman, but it was only fourth billing, with Mary McDonnell (playing the First Lady and wife of a main character) being the main female lead.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Oh so close-were it not for Independence Day, we would have had a female-led top-grosser, as Helen Hunt gets first-billing for the number two film of the year, Twister.

1997

Top Grossing Film: Titanic

Main Female Star and Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: In the only year that we’re going to cover where this happens, Kate Winslet shares top-billing with Leonardo DiCaprio for this romantic epic.

1998

Top Grossing Film: Saving Private Ryan

Main Female Star: This is probably the only time I’ve ever hoped for Armageddon over Saving Private Ryan, as women would have done much better there.  While there are bit parts played by female actors in this film, you have to go through dozens of men to get to them, so I’m not even going to bother finding out what the ranking was.  We’ll just say does not apply and move onward.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Thankfully Cameron Diaz was a big enough star to land a top-billed slot for (Number Three) There’s Something About Mary.  Otherwise we would have had to go well outside the Top 10 to land a female-led film.  Clearly 1998 was not a great “Year of the Woman” at the movies.

1999

Top Grossing Film: Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace

Main Female Star: Here is where franchises really and truly start to take over the tops of the box office, and so we’ll see more repeats on these names.  Here we find third-billed Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala (she isn’t the “girlfriend” role until episode two, so we’re good for now).

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Our second actress to appear twice on this list, Julia Roberts doesn’t even need an alphabetical clause to get her top-billing for Runaway Bride, the ninth highest-grossing film of the year.

2000

Top Grossing Film: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Main Female Star: So apparently for a while there films no one liked became the highest-grossing films of the year.  Jim Carrey’s gaudy misadventures had a young Taylor Momsen in second billing for her work as Cindy Lou Who.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Continuing the trend of films no one really likes anymore, we have the fifth highest-grossing film (and our third film to star a repeat actress on the list), What Women Want with Helen Hunt sharing top-billing with Mel Gibson.

2001

Top Grossing Film: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Main Female Star: This is genuinely hard to tell, because the credits don’t go in order of screen-time, per say.  I’m going to just go with conventional wisdom, then, and say that Emma Watson was in third billing, though it may well have been Maggie Smith for this particular installment.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: The romantic epic doesn’t have split billing, so Kate Beckinsale in Pearl Harbor is out-of-luck to Ben Affleck.  Therefore, we have to go to the twelfth-place film Hannibal, where our alphabetical clause probably gets Julianne Moore in on a technicality (Hopkins was clearly top-billed here), but they’re both above the line and even on the poster, so it counts.

2002

Top Grossing Film: Spider-Man

Main Female Star: Playing, once again, Spider-Man’s girlfriend is Kirsten Dunst.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: It’s arguable whether Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman share top-billing on Attack of the Clones, but I’m erring on the side of no without a poster to back-me-up.  Therefore, the winner is the surprise hit of 2002, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and its star Nia Vardalos, who landed the Number 5 spot (can you imagine something like that happening even just ten years later?).

2003

Top Grossing Film: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Main Female Star: Oddly enough, this is the only time the Tolkien series has made it to the top of the heap.  Like Harry Potter, the billing here is very off in relation to actual screen time, so the winner is either Miranda Otto, Cate Blanchett, or Liv Tyler, though only Otto gets a robust role in the film.  At least if it’s Otto it’s not the main character’s girlfriend (though she’s still in love with him).

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: The alphabetical rule blocks our second woman of color getting in here, as Queen Latifah is second-billed to Steve Martin in Bringing Down the House.  The same is true for Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give.  Therefore we have to do our fourth double-appearance and our first ever tie with the 21^st (yes, that’s not a typo) highest-grossing film of the year Freaky Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in the dual top-billing.

2004

Top Grossing Film: Shrek 2

Main Female Star: Cameron Diaz plays Shrek’s wife in this film, and lands third billing for her efforts.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Drew Barrymore suffers from the alphabetical billing clause in 50 First Dates, which leads oddly to another 21^st place finish with another actress (similar to Lohan) who had a very brief period of box office success: Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Grudge.

2005

Top Grossing Film: Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith

Main Female Star: Natalie Portman, now decidedly in the girlfriend mode, gets second billing.  Also, in a side note-how odd is it that this film did SO much better ($90 million) than that year’s Harry Potter?  This is not something commonly thought of because of Harry’s spellbinding international grosses, but the Star Wars films perform much better domestically than the boy wizard.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Our second film on this list so far to get a woman into the second-highest grossing film, Tilda Swinton lead the field with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe but could only manage the silver.

2006

Top Grossing Film: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Main Female Star: Pulling in third billing is Keira Knightley as, you guessed it, Orlando Bloom’s girlfriend (and the third leg of the Jack/Will/Elizabeth love triangle).

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Probably our eldest actress so far to get cited, in 17^th place (a mild improvement, though nowhere near where we were a decade ago), we have Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, which won her a massive comeback and an Oscar nomination.

2007

Top Grossing Film: Spider-Man 3

Main Female Star: Again, this is one of the only top grossers I never got around to (which is odd, because I was seeing a lot of movies during this period).  Either way, we have Kirsten Dunst once more as Peter Parker’s girlfriend.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: The alphabetical clause discounts Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up as well as Jessica Alba in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (a film so little looked up, its video game pops up before it does in IMDB).  Instead, we have Amy Adams taking the prize for her Princess Giselle in Enchanted, coming in at twentieth place.

2008

Top Grossing Film: The Dark Knight

Main Female Star: Oh, it’s a comic book film so you just know that it’s a girlfriend role: Maggie Gyllenhaal playing Rachel with fifth place billing.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: And for the first time ever, we have a female-led film series.  Say what you want about Kristen Stewart and this cinematic series, but few other women in the past ten years can compete with her box office pulls.  Twilight gets us seventh place.  It’s also worth noting that 2008 was a surprisingly robust year for women at the Box Office: Sarah Jessica Parker’s Sex and the City, Meryl Streep’s Mamma Mia, and Angelina Jolie’s Wanted were all in the Top 20.

2009

Top Grossing Film: Avatar

Main Female Star: I was genuinely curious considering her lack of star power and the fact that Sigourney Weaver was a bigger name at the time, but Zoe Saldana (in second) did indeed get the top spot here.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: In fourth place, we have our second appearance by Kristen Stewart, though it’s worth noting that Sandra Bullock’s The Blind Side got in eighth place this year, meaning that after roughly a decade where women could barely scrape into the Top 20, here we had two films in the Top 10 that were female-led.

2010

Top Grossing Film: Toy Story 3

Main Female Star: Unlike fifteen years earlier, we didn’t have Annie Potts, but instead Joan Cusack as our top actress, and Cusack comes in as third with the rootenest, tootenest Jessie.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Despite being the title character, Mia Wasikowska was outranked by the movie star that is Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland.  That means for the third year in a row we have Kristen Stewart in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (and another female-led film in Tangled, which rounded out the Top 10).  Eclipse ranked fourth.

2011

Top Grossing Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Main Female Star: Ten years after the question mark, this is still a bit up in the air, but it does appear that Emma Watson managed to slide into second billing for the final installment of the series.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Kristen Stewart continued her trend, with Breaking Dawn Part 1 being the third highest-grossing film of the year.  The next highest-ranking was The Help’s Emma Stone at thirteenth place.

2012

Top Grossing Film: The Avengers

Main Female Star: Well, at least she isn’t a girlfriend role.  In fifth place is Scarlett Johansson, playing one of the six avengers, the Black Widow.

Highest-Grossing Film with a Top-Billed Actress: Jennifer Lawrence supplants Kristen Stewart for the first time in four years, with The Hunger Games coming in third to Breaking Dawn Part II’s sixth place.  The highest-ranking woman not in a franchise (at least it didn’t seem intended to be a franchise at the time) was Kristen Stewart once more in Snow White and the Huntsman.

And there you have it, my friends-an exhaustive look at the box office and women’s roles in it.  It isn’t difficult to see the sexism on display-more than half of the principle roles in the highest-grossing films were women playing the main character’s love interest or girlfriend, and were it not for Bella Swan and Katniss Everdeen, female-led motion pictures would have almost no position in the Top 10’s of the past decade.  What about this list most surprised you?  What would it take for Hollywood to fix what is clearly a problem?  Why don’t people see more female-led motion pictures?  Share in the comments!

The Counselor (2013)

Film: The Counselor (2013)
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Rosie Perez
Director: Ridley Scott
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: Who the hell knows-I could make an argument of anywhere between 1-4 stars, but unlike other reviewers I think that you should catch it, though in a Netflix rental so you can't say I just took your $10.

That cast-it kept haunting me.  Seriously-I saw Fassy, Cruz, Bardem, Pitt, Diaz on the list of actors that were in this movie, and I thought "it can't be that bad, can it?"  I mean, Ridley Scott doesn't usually make terrible pictures.  And while the credits rolled, aside from of course the brilliant Cormac McCarthy, I saw Oscar winners Pietro Scalia and Janty Yates amongst the behind-the-scenes talent.  It couldn't be that bad, right?  I kept thinking the film would end up being another Killing Them Softly where I adore it while the world hates it.

(Spoilers Ahead) And now that I'm done with the film, I'm left with a "huh" in response.  If ever I were to put a question mark in the snap judgment ranking (I always fill that in at the end, as the writing shifts my perspective on a film), it would be for this film.  The movie, from what plot there is, is about a man who never gets a real name, but just goes as the Counselor (Fassbender) who has gotten in over his head.  For years he's flirted with the criminal underworld, and now, out of sheer greed or necessity (money troubles are hinted at throughout the film), he has decided to help execute a major drug shipment for his friend Reiner (Bardem) and in conjunction with another associate, Westray (Pitt).  For the first twenty minutes he thinks things will go well, as he's also engaged to a beautiful woman named Laura (Cruz), but anyone worth his salt can see that he's signed a contract with the devil, and surely is about to lose his soul.

The question is in the how, and while I knew that the Counselor's fate was sealed the moment he entered the world, the question remained, "who was the true puppet master and who could come out on the other end with the $20 million worth of drugs."  The interesting thing about the Counselor is that there's little interest toward him.  He spends his days with colorful men like Westray, Reiner, and Reiner's girlfriend Malkina (Diaz, in a performance that takes the femme fatale stereotype and injects it with heroin), but he seems so foolish.  That may have been the thing that made people dislike the movie upon first review-it's hard to believe that someone could be so dumb, but let's be honest-we meet idiotic people in real life all the time.  Money blinds us all, or so someone probably said in the film.

Because the other thing that makes this film treacherous is that McCarthy doesn't know how to translate his words from the brilliant, verse-laden prose of a novel into believable speak for the silver screen.  It's worth noting that the perfect No Country for Old Men was not adapted by McCarthy, but instead by the Coen Brothers.  Particularly at the beginning of the film, you can feel the dialogue looking so good in text on your Kindle, but clearly not spelling out properly on-the-screen (I noticed it particularly when people refused to use contractions).

The film, though, is fascinating to watch, even if it's in a bad movie sort of way.  While the symbolism is broad (the fates of Pitt's and Cruz's characters being spelled out far earlier in the film, though in the latter's case it still feels like one of the cruelest scenes put to screen this year), it doesn't stop it from being occasionally entertaining.  Aside from the sheer wickedness of Cruz's fate, every scene with Pitt and Diaz is bubbling with overacting charm and in this reviewer's opinion, fun.  I didn't get what the hell was going on with Bardem, but I fell for Diaz's mysterious woman even though it's pretty darn anti-feminist (or pro-feminist in that she ends up the champion at the end of the movie, depending on your reading).  And Pitt's character, the voice of reason even if he makes one fatal mistake he should have seen coming (though he does of course admit his weakness earlier in the movie-again, broad strokes), invites us in with a level of charm and actual intelligence.  Pitt is so good so often these days this is likely just taken for granted, but could someone please give Diaz something that critics can latch onto-she can play the villain again, but that woman has star power to the max and deserves a bit more respect (or at least an Oscar nomination after coming so close before).

Those were my thoughts-what were yours (for those who saw it)?  Did anyone enjoy Diaz or Pitt (or any of the other characters)?  Which death scene was the grossest?  Who else thought that DVD scene with Fassy was so cruel?  Share in the comments!

Fall Movies: The Ten I'm Most Looking Forward To!

I think the most annoying thing about me as a moviegoer (and considering all of the rants I get in about my theater-going, it’s worth pointing out that I can see faults in my movie practices as well) is that I rarely know a lot about a movie before I see it.  Granted, I know the stars of the film and the director, but as far as plot of a film, I know next to nothing-in fact, the more I want to see a film, the less I typically know.

This is a weird thing to confess both because I see 100-150 movies a year and because I love learning about movies-I thrive off of the IMDB Trivia page.  After I see a film, I have a routine of writing my review, then hitting Wikipedia, IMDB, and Rotten Tomatoes to see how the rest of the world has reacted and what nuggets I may have missed.  But I don’t learn about the movie beforehand, and this is because I consider everything to be a spoiler.  People frequently will say "this won’t ruin the movie for you,” but I want everything to be a surprise.  I will occasionally go to a movie late because I’m positive the trailer to a movie I’ve been avoiding is going to play, or I’ll put my fingers to my ears and close my eyes through one to avoid the seeing anything (though I don’t hum, so it’s only distracting if you’re looking at me-you can’t hear me).

This aversion to spoilers and learning the plot to a film makes writing a “Movies I’m Most Looking Forward To” a bit curious and also rather odd.  I cannot pretend I didn’t watch the first trailers of most of these films (it’s usually the subsequent trailers that get you-the teasers or first trailers typically don’t have too many spoilers), but I also know very little about most of these films.  Because of this, I’m going to keep the explanation of why I’m looking forward to these films fairly brief, and hardly plot-based at all (so you should feel free to read without too much of a spoiler reveal).  These are in descending order of how much I want to see them, but don’t take that as lack of enthusiasm for the lower ranked ones-I’m definitely looking forward to all ten!

10. Foxcatcher

Steve Carell continues to be a bit of a puzzle to me.  He’s a very talented actor, and he’s oddly well-attuned to dramatic acting for someone who has clearly been most successful in comedy.  I have this sneaking suspicion that this role may be his George Clooney moment-the film that marks him as a serious film actor, and not just as someone whose most successful cinematic moment involves “Kelly Clarkson!”  Throw in Channing Tatum (who couldn’t possibly be higher on my personal list of actors to be enthused about) and Mark Ruffalo (always high on said list), and I’m there.

9. The Wolf of Wall Street

I rarely find myself disliking a Leo DiCaprio movie (J. Edgar being a large exception), and the trailer looks most interesting-Leo is better when he’s having fun, and this seems to be that sort of film.  The supporting cast is intriguing too-I think we’re all a little bit more interested in Matthew McConaughey after his terrific turn in Magic Mike, and Cristin Milioti/Margot Robbie both have that glow of an actress about to become a “big deal.”  Plus, you put Scorsese’s name on a movie, and it goes on my Top 10, end of story.

8. American Hustle

I didn’t want to put this film on my list-David O. Russell and I are on strained terms at the moment (you all read the OVP’s with my deteriorating relationship with Silver Linings Playbook), but this trailer looks damned good, doesn’t it?  Jennifer Lawrence is someone I’m loving more and more (I feel like her range is continuing to grow, which is exciting), and Amy Adams, who I thought was great in The Master, seems like bombshell fun here (has she ever looked better?).  The men I’m undecided on (I run hot-and-cold with Cooper, Bale, and Renner), but the actresses I’m generally in their camp, and I cannot wait to see them duke it out.

7. Inside Llewyn Davis

That Scorsese rule-it applies whenever the Coen Brothers go for an original story, which is what this is.  Carey Mulligan is someone I’m wildly enamored with (even though the rest of the world seems to have forgotten that she’s been consistently good since An Education), and the overall story behind this film looks divine.  I’m really into the whole Beat renaissance that’s been happening at the movies recently (Howl, On the Road, and later this fall, Kill Your Darlings), and think this could marry up well with that renewed interest.

6. Twelve Years a Slave

I haven’t seen Hunger yet (I know, I should have my Cineaste card revoked on that one-it’s somewhere on the Netflix list, I swear), but Steve McQueen made magic with Michael Fassbender two years ago in Shame (how did he miss that Oscar nomination?!?), and this film, his largest and most sprawling, will show if McQueen can work with a different medium and a period piece.  I have confidence in both, and think this will be the film that finally lands Fassy his first Oscar nomination.

5. Short-Term 12

This is cheating a bit, but it hasn’t come out in Minnesota yet, and so it’s part of my fall schedule, even if you people on the coasts have already obsessed over the movie.  Brie Larson is a fascinating actress, and John Gallagher Jr. (whom I’ve only seen on stage) is both a talent crush and an actual crush lately.  This should be superb, and I suspect it will be one of those movies that shows up on my year-end shortlists.

4. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

I am one of those rare people who thoroughly enjoyed Peter Jackson’s first installment in the latest Tolkien saga, so I’m really looking forward to this movie.  I suspect, though, that of the three it will be my least favorite (oddly enough, I regularly find myself loving The Two Towers the best of the other three, though, so who knows).  Either way, more back story could be strong if they keep the movie moving, and the fight scene will be epic if it’s in this film.  How he handles the third installment is still anyone’s guess.

3. The Counselor

Cormac McCarthy’s stories are the stuff of my cinematic dreams-complicated, bitter noir with vivid, hell-bound characters.  No Country for Old Men is still my favorite film of 2007 (my favorite year for film in that decade), and despite some worries that this film would be generic, the trailers have set me at ease.  Add to that that I’m in love with at least four of the actors in this film (Fassy, Penelope Cruz, Brad Pitt, and Javier Bardem), and that Cameron Diaz’s work here is perhaps the performance I’m most looking forward to this fall (she looks deliciously wicked in those trailers, and haven’t we all been begging for a chance for her to act again?).  This is going to be special-I can just feel it.

2. Her

This was not high on my list until the trailer.  In fact, I wasn’t 100% certain what this movie was until I saw the trailer (I kept thinking it was part of that Ned Benson Eleanor Rigby project with Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy).  But the trailer has me more than sold-Phoenix, who entered the pantheon last year with The Master, looks superb here as a lonely man falling in love with a machine, and Jonze’s movies are usually quite insightful.  This is a must.

1. Gravity

I cannot even impress upon you how delighted I am by this upcoming movie-every rave coming out of various film festivals just fuels my desire for it.  Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men is probably the film I most regularly recommend to people (if you haven’t seen it for some reason, do it now).  I am in love with the fact that he went with Bullock instead of Angelina Jolie here-Bullock is such an identifiable actor for audiences (we relate to her), and having someone that we connect to in what looks to be a terrifying movie is going to amp-up the horror.  Plus, I feel like she has the acting chops to pull this off, and is anyone else hoping for a Sandra/Julia moment on the Oscar red carpet?  Meg Ryan-call your agent, STAT!

Those are my most-anticipated films of 2013, but what are yours?  Which movie are you most looking forward to (and keep the comments spoiler free!)

Golden Globe Nominations ≠ Oscar Nominations, Part 1

The above statement should be obvious to anyone who follows the awards season with even a hint of regularity.  After all, there are ten lead performances nominated each year at the Golden Globes while there are only five at the Oscars, and at least one supporting performance almost always gets skipped in favor of a different performer at the Oscars.

However, I recently undertook a project (ie I was bored while watching Big Bang Theory reruns) and decided to list out all of the cinematic performances that the Golden Globes have honored through the years that didn't get a subsequent Oscar nomination (for the sake of my sanity, I stuck to the six modern film acting categories, and not to the "Best New Star" awards of yesteryear).

What I found was really interesting.  While it is a frequent occurrence where a performer is favored by the Globes, sometimes getting 6-7 more nominations from the HFPA than the Oscars, it is extremely rare for someone to rack up multiple Golden Globe nominations without also getting at least one Oscar nomination.  In fact, only eight performers have been nominated for four or more Golden Globe awards without winning at least one Oscar citation.

This smelled like a list to me, and so I'll be listing out the ten performers that have received the most film Golden Globe nods without also getting an Oscar nomination.  In order to break ties, I gave three points to a lead-drama, two to a supporting performance, and one for a comedic lead performance (and winning a trophy broke the tie after that).  Later this week, we'll investigate the far more frequent list of performers who have received at least one Oscar nod, but considerably more Globe nominations.

Honorable Mentions: Thanks to my tie-breaking, some three-time nominees got left out, ranging from classic movie stars like Tony Randall and Glenn Ford to modern stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Hugh Grant.

10. Emily Blunt (Tie)
Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Supporting Actress-2006 (The Devil Wears Prada)
• Best Actress (Drama)-2009 (The Young Victoria)
• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-2012 (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen)

Got the Closest On: This is arguable between Prada and Victoria, but I have to assume considering its awards haul in 2009 that it was The Young Victoria, when her best shot was taking out Helen Mirren.
Reasons She Missed: Yes, this is a good illustrator of how rare this is for a performer to miss on multiple Globe nominations.  Emily Blunt, with only three quick nominations before she turned thirty, is now in the top ten.  While Salmon appears to be a throwaway nomination in a rather weak year for comedies, the other two were at least part of the conversation.  I wasn't super-impressed with Blunt in The Young Victoria, but considering Oscar's preference for younger actresses, it's a bit odd that Helen Mirren got so much traction in 2009 (especially considering her recent win).  Blunt also had a shot with Devil, but she was not well-known then and it was going to be tough to throw out the scene-stealing Abigail Breslin (the performer who missed with the HFPA).

10. Donald Sutherland (Tie)
Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1970 (MASH)
• Best Actor (Drama)-1980 (Ordinary People)
• Best Supporting Actor-1998 (Without Limits)

Got the Closest On: For certain it was Ordinary People, a truly bizarre on-paper snub.
Reasons He Missed: I can explain the Without Limits miss (the Globes have always liked Sutherland, and occasionally throw a star a bone even if their film tanked), and MASH (comedy always has a tough time, even with a film as iconic as Altman's), but the Ordinary People snub is weird.  Yes, he's overshadowed by Hutton and Moore, but this film was universally adored by the Academy, and he's the only major cast member to not pick up a nomination.  Instead, the Oscars went with one of the actors they consistently like better than the Globes, Robert Duvall (in The Great Santini).

9. Raul Julia
Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Supporting Actor-1982 (Tempest)
• Best Actor (Drama)-1985 (Kiss of the Spider Woman)
• Best Supporting Actor-1988 (Moon Over Parador)

Got the Closest On: My gut is telling me that Tempest might have been the closest.
Reasons He Missed: Julia is now a largely forgotten actor, cut down in his prime, and is known to most movie audiences as Gomez Addams in the big screen versions of The Addams Family series.  Julia, however, had a strong run in the 1980's in cinema.  His 1982 snub was due to a combination of Oscar's love of men in drag (John Lithgow) and Robert Preston moving from lead to supporting from the Golden Globes to the Oscars, therefore securing a nomination for Victor/Victoria.  Kiss of the Spider Woman would have almost certainly marketed Julia as supporting nowadways (category fraud is more prevalent now), and he probably could have taken out William Hickey or Robert Loggia.  His final nomination came in a weird year for the Supporting Actor race, and since I know little of this race, I cannot tell if he was near a nomination or whether this was a Globe-honoring-a-favorite sort of citation.  If one of our awards show aficionados would like to shed some light on that race, I'd appreciate it.

8. Danny Kaye
Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1951 (On the Riviera)-Won the Golden Globe
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1952 (Hans Christian Andersen)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1956 (The Court Jester)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1958 (Me and the Colonel)-Won the Golden Globe

Got the Closest On: Not sure...probably none of them.
Reasons He Missed: Kaye is cheating a bit to include, as he did pick up a pair of Honorary Academy Awards, but I did want to acknowledge him, as he's one of the rare performers to have gotten four nominations in the Comedy category without ever getting cited for Drama.  The Court Jester is by far his best-known of these four films, but part of me thinks that he wasn't close for any of these.  Again, I'd love some discussion on this post, so share away in the comments if you have thoughts.

7. Carol Burnett
Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-1972 (Pete n Tillie)
• Best Supporting Actress-1978 (A Wedding)
• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-1981 (The Four Seasons)
• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-1982 (Annie)

Got the Closest On: I'm going with Pete 'n' Tillie over A Wedding.  I'll get to why below.
Reasons She Missed: I kind of wish it was the 1970's again so I could get a gage of how big of a star Carol Burnett was at the time.  She could sell out Broadway, Carnegie Hall, had a top-rated TV series, and was regularly working in motion pictures.  She landed a couple of late-in-the-game nominations at the Globes (including for the ill-fated big-screen version of Annie), but her best shots were her first two nominations.  1972 was a strong and wild year for Best Actress (I love that Joanne Woodward got nominated for a film called The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds), and Burnett, along with Goldie Hawn in Butterflies are Free were probably on the hunt for a nomination against Maggie Smith in Travels with My Aunt.  Smith also potentially cost her a nomination in 1978, when she and Penelope Milford both managed nominations without being first cited by the Globes, but it's hard to feel bad for Burnett that year when you compare her to Mona Washbourne, a woman who has probably more precursors than anyone ever to not also win an Oscar nomination.  Washbourne's performance in Stevie won the NYFCC, LAFCA, National Board of Review, and Boston critics prizes, as well as Globe and BAFTA nominations, but due to a weird release schedule managed to miss at the Oscars.

6. Cameron Diaz

Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-1998 (There's Something About Mary)
• Best Supporting Actress-1999 (Being John Malkovich)
• Best Supporting Actress-2001 (Vanilla Sky)
• Best Supporting Actress-2002 (Gangs of New York)

Got the Closest On: My guess is that it was Being John Malkovich, where she was basically guaranteed as the sixth place position.

Reasons She Missed: Some people just have bad luck.  Diaz was surprisingly close in 1998, but the Academy was still smitten with Emily Watson (and felt the need to skip Susan Sarandon after honoring her three years earlier).  1999 was a year with six names in the mix, and hers was the one that got cut (though she did score SAG and BAFTA nominations, so you have to know she was damn close).  In 2001, the field was thrown asunder after the SAG Awards threw names like Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, and Dakota Fanning into the mix, and then the Oscars went with the Globe nominees almost verbatim (except that they nominated six people, and Diaz was once again cut).  Finally, there was Gangs of New York, which was a throwaway star-loving nomination by the Globes, and it was likely Michelle Pfeiffer who was tousling with Queen Latifah for the final nomination, not Diaz.

5. Richard Gere

Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actor (Drama)-1982 (An Officer and a Gentleman)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1990 (Pretty Woman)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-2002 (Chicago)-Won the Golden Globe
• Best Actor (Drama)-2012 (Arbitrage)

Got the Closest On: Most certainly Chicago, where he was definitely the sixth place, and kind of stunningly not the fifth place.

Reasons He Missed: With the exception of Chicago, he likely never had a shot.  Officer was a hit with the Oscars, but the Academy doesn't seem to favor romantic male leads.  Pretty Woman was the sort of easy nomination that happens when you're in a hit romantic comedy.  And Arbitrage is the sort of nomination that happens in the rare year where one of the Comedy/Musical nominees (in this case, two) is certain to be nominated for the Oscar.  Chicago, however, was at first a rather odd fit for Oscar, but after the Globe win and the surprise SAG nomination, it looked like Gere would be able to make it and get the fifth slot, but the Oscars love them some Michael Caine, and so Gere just missed his shot (perhaps his only shot-he seems like the sort of actor who never makes it, doesn't he?).

4. Scarlett Johansson

Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-2003 (Lost in Translation)
• Best Actress (Drama)-2003 (Girl with a Pearl Earring)
• Best Actress (Drama)-2004 (A Love Song for Bobby Long)
• Best Supporting Actress-2005 (Match Point)

Got the Closest On: Lost in Translation, though 2003 in general seemed like her best shot.

Reasons She Missed: Yes, ScarJo is technically the fourth most snubbed Globe nominee of all time, which seems weird because she picked up these four nominations over the course of three years.  It's hard to believe that she didn't get a nomination in 2003, and it was mostly because someone (the studio, her publicist, or perhaps ScarJo herself) decided to get greedy and campaign her for both films, and then tried to have it all by committing category fraud that the Academy just couldn't back by going supporting with Lost in Translation.  Considering the randomness of the Best Actress category that year, I suspect a unified front would have gotten her over Samantha Morton or Keisha Castle-Hughes.

3. Steve Martin

Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1981 (Pennies From Heaven)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1984 (All of Me)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1987 (Roxanne)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1989 (Parenthood)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1995 (Father of the Bride, Part II)

Got the Closest On: All of Me, where he managed to also win the NYFCC Best Actor trophy, but was one one of only two men in the past thirty years to not win an Oscar nomination after taking the top prize at the NYFCC honors.

Reasons He Missed: Father of the Bride Part II aside, one could make the argument that any of these was within the reach of Oscar, but just couldn't quite make it.  Martin was the rage in the 1980's, hailed as a comedic genius, but unlike some of his high-flying contemporaries (Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg), he didn't go dramatic to grab his Oscar nomination.  At this point, I think there's still room for him to do it if he wanted to (he's still well-liked in the film community), but he's lost that edge that his films in the 1980's had, and I doubt he'll be able to make it without going with a sentimental, dramatic supporting turn.  His best shot was besting Albert Finney in Under the Volcano in 1984, but the loss at the Golden Globes coupled with Finney's continued losing streak probably kept him out of the competition.

2. Mia Farrow

Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actress (Drama)-1968 (Rosemary's Baby)
• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-1969 (John and Mary)
• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-1984 (Broadway Danny Rose)
• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-1985 (The Purple Rose of Cairo)
• Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)-1990 (Alice)

Got the Closest On: Oddly enough, her first shot was probably the best, and had the Oscars known the legendary Farrow was going to have the career she would have, they probably would have picked her over Vanessa Redgrave in Isadora.

Reasons She Missed: I don't have a clue.  It's hard to believe that Rosemary's Baby, one of the great horror films and one of the few to gain the Academy's favor, didn't garner her a nomination (perhaps she was too known as a tabloid fixture at the time, considering she divorced Frank Sinatra that year).  The weirder thing is that, considering she made thirteen films with Woody Allen through the years, she somehow missed out on being one of the sixteen actors who received nominations for Allen films.  At this point, she rarely acts and doesn't have Woody to push her to a nomination, and so probably will never get nominated, but she had quite a run.

1. Jim Carrey

Golden Globe Nominations:

• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1994 (The Mask)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1997 (Liar Liar)
• Best Actor (Drama)-1998 (The Truman Show)-Won the Golden Globe
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-1999 (Man on the Moon)-Won the Golden Globe
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-2000 (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
• Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)-2004 (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)

Got the Closest On: The Truman Show, for sure.  Carrey's miss at the Oscars was the first time in 33 years that the winner in the Drama race couldn't parlay that into a nomination (and fifteen years later, it hasn't happened since).

Reasons He Missed: One could make the argument that Farrow deserves the top slot, since she arguably had a shot for all five of her films, but based on sheer numbers, Carrey earns this.  While three of his nominations (The Mask, Liar Liar, and The Grinch) were the sort that randomly show up at the Globes, the other three all garnered Oscar's notice, but not a nomination.  Man on the Moon had to have been darn close, but Matt Damon's Tom Ripley was probably the sixth place trying to take out Sean Penn, not Carrey.  In 2004, there wasn't actually a strong shot that Carrey would win for his Joel Barish, even though he was better than anyone that actually got nominated.  However, 1998 is unforgivable for the Academy.  Somehow The Truman Show managed to score nominations for Director, Screenplay, and Supporting Actor, but Carrey couldn't get in over Edward Norton (I know Carrey blamed Benigni, but it was Norton that was in fifth place).

And those are the Top 10.  Julia and Kaye are obviously never going to have this rectified, but what are your thoughts on which of the remaining nine could actually pull off a nomination (my bet's on Blunt and possibly Johansson, but what's your guess)?