Live Blog Golden Globe Arrivals

6:09 Hi everyone! Another day in January, another punishing celebratory live blog. So far we've seen three dresses and I've already forgotten the names of the women who wore them. But for Olivia Wilde in a frankly enormous sparkly princess ball gown. E! Used their 360˚ Glam Cam on her and I swear she almost started singing a Disney "I Want" song as the camera spun round. Ryan Seacrest, whilst asking about the dresses, already felt the need to remind us that he was a man. If you need to remind us...

6:13 I hate the term "Baby Bump." It's not like these women are snorting teeny lines of cocaine or need their roads repaved.

6:16 They're showing Natalie Portman commercials mere minutes after showing flashbacks of her on other red carpets and after saying her name 31 times. This program is sponsored by Natalie Portman. (Aside: Um, there's an UP joke in No Strings Attached?!? Weird)

6:20 Inauspicious beginnings. Jennifer Love Hewitt as the first major interview?  Ryan Seacrest is talking about stepping on someones dress "Get Off My Dress" he says replaying the scene. I'm glad he didn't slip and say "Get Out Of My Dress."

6:36 Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) is doing The Children's Hour with Kiera Knightley!? How is this the first I'm hearing of this? Which one plays the lesbian?

6:40 Seacrest just talked to Diana Agron which IMMEDIATELY made me flash back to Glenn's highlarious review of Burlesque in which he writes

Kristen Bell pops up occasionally, too, whenever the plot demands someone to scoff and scowl. And then Diana Agron of Glee appears momentary in a role so brief I can’t believe Andre Braugher wasn’t cast.

LOL. I'm still giggling about that one days later.

6:43 I wrote a drinking game for Towleroad Friday and if you are already playing it, God help you, but also: you've had to drink thrice (Three closeted gays already!)

6:44 "From this vantage point Natalie Portman looks stunning" That may be the most redundant sentence of all time.

6:49 Wait FOUR closet-cases already tonight? They're out in force.

6:53 Behold HELENA BONHAM-CARTER's shoes.

Helena Bonham-Carter's shoes

To quote PopWrap

Helena Bonham Carter's dress is 100% Helena Bonham Carter... #IGotYourCrazy

6:57 They are showing Lea Michele what she wore last year. Wouldn't you be horrified if someone showed you what you were wearing last year? I'm pretty sure I was clothed... at least. But I don't want a flashback.

7:02 I got lost in a PortmanHole.

Where am I. It's like all I can hear is her name. Her name is becoming ambient noise. Or like a droning suggestive trance. I love Natalie but if she suddenly starts talking about being a girl from a trailer park with a dream it'll be me having a psychotic break

7:11 I got so trapped in the Portmania that I forgot to mention that Ryan Seacrest just couldn't stop talking about asking Jake Gyllenhaal about  nudity in Love and Other Drugs. Naked Jake is to Love and Other Drugs was  Natalie Portman is to awards season. It's all anyone can talk about.

7:12 NICOLE KIDMAN on Rabbit Hole and reminding us that we're glad she married Keith Urban.

Nicole: He was the one that nudged me out of the nest.
Keith: It's important for Nicole to tell certain stories.

That it is.

7:13 I am so horrified that every MOVIE awards show is obsessed with teenage MUSIC stars that have nothing to do with movies.

7:18 Oh, I feel terrible for good filmmakers (Hi, Derek Cianfrance of Blue Valentine) when they try to discuss the fine points of their film on the red carpet. It just never works. Ryan Seacrest is not Charlie Rose.

<--- Speaking of roses... Natalie's

THE HORROR THE HORROR

That's going to give me appliqué nightmares. It's a special subsection of nightmares that one sometimes has, doesn't one?

7:26 This is moving so quickly that I have already missed talking about the two Janes. And Catherine Zeta Jones and the Movie Star She Sleeps With.

7:28 Angelina Jolie arrives in GREEN and suddenly every other star wearing green (and there are a lot of them) is probably mortified because, really, who can compete with Angelina. I mean besides Margaret Hamilton and her beautiful wickedness. I didn't get a photo, damnit.

7:33 Sandra Bullock's bangs.

Remember that scene in Edward Scissorhands where Edward sits with the dogs and performs one little snip for the sake of the dog's vision? ...That.

7:42 Halle Berry is wearing something that I think Demi Moore may have designed for her. (Sorry 80s joke. You are all too young for that joke).

And Michelle Williams was running late so she just wrapped her shower curtain around herself. Short hair is so easy. You can just shower and go!

7:45 Anne Hathaway's copper sequins -- she just called them CDs are as large as her vavavoom.

7:47 Megan Fox. Please do not wear a center slit while wearing pink. It's just... I just...it's...

Now might be the time to tell you that I hate when they ask people "WHO ARE YOU WEARING" Because it always makes me think of Buffalo Bill.

Q: Who are you wearing Jamie?

Silence of the Lamb's Jamie Gumm

A: "Uh.... a great big fat person."

I don't know how to follow that up. I am so sorry.

7:55 January Jones. Ryan Seacrest calls Matthew Weiner January's "creator" ... that didn't come out right. Maybe January does.not.exist.

7: 57 Olivia Wilde has now been on the red carpet for 2 HOURS. That's some dedication to your own camera whoredom!

7:58 Okay the show is about to start. We need to start a new post. This is so long but how cute that Tilda Swinton and Helen Mirren were hugging.

GROUP HUG!!!
okay, we're going to start a new post for the show itself.

Susannah York (RIP)

Sad news to report. The lovely, talented 60s star Susannah York, aka Superman's Mom (the biological one back on Krypton) has died at the age of 72. Here's why she'll live on though... They Shoot Horses Don't They? (1969)

They Shoot Horses Don't They (1969)

They Shoot Horses is my personal favorite film of 1969 and an all-time Oscar record holder (most nominations without a corresponding Best Picture citation, a grand total of Nine!) but it's sadly underdiscussed these days. Susannah was nominated for playing Jane Fonda's main dancing rival in the marathon contest at the film's center, a neat metaphorical object, human suffering as entertainment. Susannah's psychotic break in the shower rivals any femme unravelling in Black Swan.

York also holds the distinction of being the only female cast member of Best Picture winner Tom Jones (1963) to not be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. I'm exaggerating but since an incredible three women were nominated from the film (the most ever -- though that 60% of the category trick has happened twice in Best Supporting Actor) it felt like it.

Other highlights include Freud (1962) with Montgomery Clift and Robert Altman's Images (1972) for which she won Best Actress at Cannes. She was so beautiful she could play an adult version of Michelle Pfeiffer in Falling in Love Again (1980, Michelle's first large film role after a few tv series and an itty bitty movie role)

Further Reading: Moving Pictures Blog and MUBI

9 Days 'til Nominations (Globe Predictions)

The countdown is progressing. Today's Topic: Golden Globe Predictions. (We'll be live-blogging starting with the arrivals 'round about 6:30 PMish.

So without further ado. Some predictions. We're predicting them in the order with which they appear on the Golden Globe site so as to save typing time!

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Should Win: The Social Network
Will Win: I think it's going to be The Social Network but the Globes are hard to predict since they aren't that worried about what Oscar might pick (yay! -- I hate predictions as votes). So I suppose we could see an upset from The King's Speech or even The Fighter?

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Halle Berry – Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Click to read more ...

Red Carpet BFCA

Tonight the Golden Globes come and wash all memories of previous precursors away leaving basically only Oscar butterflies and mounting campaigns in their wake. So before they arrive, one last look back at the BFCA "Critics Choice" by way of the red carpet. I was wrong about the fuchsia being the color story -- the NBR threw me off -- as it seems like this year is going to be sedate with creams, whites and blackzzzz. But perhaps someone will go all bold red or crazy rainbow or something tonight at the Globes. 

Mystique, Lily, Sister of Dakota, Category Fraud

Comment Questions for y'all

1. Do you think Jennifer Lawrence is pissed that Mila Kunis and Hailee Steinfeld stole all her Hot New Must Have Actress buzz as precursor season revved up? I'd still be surprised if she was snubbed in Best Actress but not as surprised as I would have been.
2. Don't you think Mila is just biding her time till the Oscars. Obviously she has it in her to steal the show so why not steal the red carpet? We're waiting...
3. Elle Fanning's look: 70s Granny Ice Skater? I'm confused.
4. Best Dressed Here: Jennifer, Mila, Elle Fanning or Hailee?

God, Amazon, Freakshow, Belle of the BallMore blacks and whites.  More questions!

1. Does anyone look better in a plunging neckline than Julianne Moore? She's been favoring that look (on occassion) since the 90s and it still looks sensational on her.
2. Is Tilda Swinton's look an homage to Mildred Pierce or just plain ol' 'it's the Critics Choice I can't be bothered. Here, this unironic 80s look will do' (?)
3. Helena's purse: Hilarious, Obnoxious or 'The Rest of My Look Is Fairly Sedate For Me (For Me) And I Want You To Remember That This is Helena Bonham Carter You're Looking At!'?
4. How far along is Natalie Portman? We assumed it was earlybut she's already wearing flowing no-waist gowns and plump cheeks .

Her Majesty, Best of His Generation, Julia & Amy

We end with a random assortment about which we have no questions other than this: Isn't it disappointing that nobody has time to talk about how amazing Ryan Gosling is in Blue Valentine? There's only so many celebrities that can get omgtheirperformancechangedmylifeiwanttohavetheirbabieswhooooooo type praise each year, but he definitely should have been one of them, don't you think?

Recommended Reading "They're Off! Let the Second Guessing Begin"
The New York Times guesses what the stars will wear to the Globes tonight.

Overheard: "Black Swan / Donnie Darko"

Three twentysomething friends eating lunch at new hot restaurant uptown, discussing Facebook. Conversation shifts to The Social Network and an argument over whether or not Mark Zuckerberg saw the movie / stole the idea / is an asshole. They are divided. Youngest girl (who didn't like The Social Network) blurts out:

Did you see 'Black Swan'? That made no sense. She just kept talking to herself. [Pause]. You know how some people like 'Donnie Darko' because it's artsy and crap? It's like that!"

Ha. Uh, yes. Black Swan is exactly like Donnie Darko. (?)

Although now I can't stop picturing Nina haunted by Frank instead of her usual demons! She's already so scared she's like Black Chicken. Frank only makes it worse. "She's He's after me!"

Pssst. Nathaniel is experimenting with his barely used wacom drawing tablet (for Illustration Friday) which shall gather dust no more! He shall improve.