2008 Golden Globe Nominees

This morning in Beverly Hills, the unholy trio of “Heroes” cheerleader Hayden Panettiere, Ryan Reynolds and Quentin Tarantino (huh?) announced the nominees for this years Golden Globes. Don’t know how they picked that group of presenters, but either way, the awards season has officially begun! Yeah!

I should be glad that so many of our favorites made the cut this year — “There Will Be Blood”, “No Country For Old Men”, “Eastern Promises”, “Persepolis” and “Michael Clayton” — but I can’t help wondering how the Hollywood Foreign Press overlooked what was probably one of the freshest, most original movie musicals ever, “Once”, in favor of the guady, overcooked “Hairspray”.

I mean, did they see the same movie I did? Yikes. I haven’t seen a John Travolta picture this bad since…oh, wait, they usually suck don’t they? He is so over-the-top hammy in this role that I’m sure the original Edna Turnblat, the late, great Divine, could smell the burning bacon from beyond the grave. Really, I just hated him in this movie. Yikes…

And to totally ignore “Into The Wild” (save for a song nomination for Eddie Vedder’s rocking “Guaranteed”) and the truly amazing performances of Emile Hirsch and an Oscar-worthy Hal Holbrook really is just madness. The raw power of this movie is really something to behold, and though it was overlooked here, I guarantee it will make a huge impact on Oscar voters next year.

OK, so what about the nominees I’m rooting for? Loved Ellen Page in “Juno”, Viggo Mortensen rocked in “Eastern Promises” as a conflicted Russian mobster, Tilda Swinton dazzled in “Michael Clayton”, Amy Adams was luminous and downright magical in “Enchanted”, Cate Blanchett was fantastic in both her nominated roles “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” and “I’m Not There” and as you know, loved “No Country For Old Men” big time. But where’s the Globe love for Kelly MacDonald and Tommy Lee Jones? Jeez, man…

Also, while “Atonement” swept all the major categories, I can’t tell you how bored we were by this empty jewelry box of a movie. Beautiful cast at the top of their games? Check. Great period clothes? Check. Lush music and cinematography? Check. Any trace of real, earned emotion? Uncheck. I’m not saying the movie totally sucked, but, snooze…

Also overlooked by Globe voters was the hilarious Israeli film “The Band’s Visit”, the Spanish-language fright fest “The Orphanage” and Wes Anderson’s masterful “The Darjeeling Limited”.

On the TV front, I was really jazzed to see ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” snag a few nods. We added this show to our Season Pass list late in the season and have been hooked ever since. A really great little show that can only be helped by the awards heat. So, congrats!

Anyway, could go on forever, but if you wanna check out the complete list of nominees for yourself, please visit the Euro-tastic homesite of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at: http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/