Pop Culture Princess

Pop Culture Princess
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Friday, December 11, 2015

Getting a glimpse of future award show glory via the Golden Globes

The nominations for the upcoming Golden Globe awards(due to be presented on January 10, 2016) were announced this week and while most people will be going over the meaning of who was chosen and why, I'd like to see further ahead into where this early honor will take some of these contenders.

While it's no surprise that movies like The Martian,Joy or even Trainwreck were given big nominations, for a small film such as Room, this could truly be the start of something big.

Based on Emma Donaghue's novel, this very true to life story is told from the point of view of Jack, a five year old boy who knows only the limits of the small space he and his Ma have been held captive in by a man they call Old Nick. When Ma senses that their prison is about to become an even deadlier trap than it already is, Jack is called upon to help them escape into the wider world.

How they deal with life after their time in Room is a huge part of story and told in a sincere manner that elevates the plot from becoming a cheesy ripped-from-the-headlines potboiler that it could all too easily have been. I haven't seen the film yet but I did find the book to be amazing and thrilled to see that the adaptation is up for Best Drama, Best Screenplay(by Donaghue) and Best Actress in a Drama for Brie Larson, who I hope will be seated among her sister nominees on Oscar night as well:



On a much lighter note, The Peanuts Movie was included in the Best Animated category and I fervently hope that it has a real shot at the Oscars for a win.

I know the big front runner at the Globes and no doubt with the Academy will be Inside Out, which earned plenty of critical acclaim along with a tidy profit at the box office. I'm sure it is a worthy nominee but it's also the predictable one.

  Another big boost for Inside Out will be that it is an original screenplay and not based upon an existing multimedia franchise like Peanuts. Plus, it's a Pixar movie and they have had a nice track record when it comes to earning the major awards.

 However, what The Peanuts Movie does have in it's favor is that it stayed authentic to it's source material, both in visual and in story telling, something that gets quickly taken for granted when it comes to this genre.

Yes, The Peanuts Movie is a nostalgia trip but it also shows that you don't need to pointlessly update material with flashy gimmicks and celebrity voices in order to capture the simple charms of the original format. This film is a love letter to fans of Charlie Brown and friends for more than one generation and it deserves some Academy Award winning love in return:




 On the small screen front, the Starz series Outlander is up for three Golden Globes, including Best Drama and Best Actress for Caitronia Balfe as Claire, a twentieth century woman who steps into a circle of stones in Scotland and finds herself trapped over a hundred years in the past.

The show, based on the abundance of Diana Gabaldon novels, caught on with audiences rather well and a good part of the reason for that is Caitronia's performance as a woman quite out of time in more than one realm of reality who nevertheless stays true to herself and those she loves.

 As much as I appreciate the other nominees in this category, the leading lady of Outlander deserves a win or at very least a spot at the Emmys next year. She's a real talent that we have yet begun to see blossom onscreen:


What has been making headlines is Lady Gaga taking one of the two nominations for American Horror Story: Hotel. Granted, she's working with a role that was more than likely written to suit her strengths as an actress but Gaga is truly slaying as The Countess here.

While she's not about to make anyone forget the work that Jessica Lange has done in this dark anthology series, Gaga uses her natural charisma and visual presence to make this character come alive, so to speak.

AHS:Hotel does drag a bit at times(especially with the Ten Commandments Killer plotline) yet whenever the focus shifts to The Countess and those she deals with, the tension is hard to bear but you want it to last as long as possible like a sticky sweet treat. That alone should get her an Emmy when the time comes:


We'll know soon enough how all of the nominations that I mentioned and the ones that I haven't turn out but there is one in the latter category that I pray doesn't lead to anything better and that would be 50 Shades of Gray being up for Best Song. Nothing against Ellie Goulding but the only pop culture honoring that I want this flaccid flick to receive is a through roasting at the Razzies:


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