The Usual Suspects

I watched the Bafta’s red carpet last night. Mostly out of curiosity. If you thought American red carpets are boring (which I do), wait until you see British ones where there are literally NO celebrities to interview. I’m not joking. They had to pad the first hour with small talk about other award shows before finally asking Tim Burton if parent classes have tamed him.

Mark Ruffalo’s wife, however, looked amazing. I thought for a minute he might have been married to Patricia Arquette, before remembering she always looks like her boobs are about to pop out of her dress. I googled and found out in fact it is French-American actress Sunrise Coigney. Much more fun than any of the actual nominees.

It must be hard to turn up and consistently loose. I wish Mark, who was up against Geoffrey Rush and Christian Bale, would have had a shot at winning (in fact he hilariously joked on the evening that the award was his). And not just because I loved Kids so much but because it would have brought some fun back to what is always a very predictable race. As New York noted: 'In an era in which a dozen bloggers chronicle every who’s-up-who’s-down microtwitch, the Oscar race has become a year-round phenomenon.' With so much attention paid to so many minor awards and with the voters usually overlaping you have a good idea walking in who will win.

Which is what makes Melissa Leo's tacky Oscar campaign so fantastic. If you hadn't heard, the respected actress was clearing up the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance in The Fighter and was a shoe-in for the Oscar until she got greedy and took out ads for herself asking the industry to "consider" her. Wtf? No one likes desperate (except Jackie Weaver and Helena Bonham Carter).

Award Season always reminds me how wrong people always get it.

Look at I Am Love which not only consistently missed out on Best Actress nominations but also nominations for also Art Direction, Costume and Make Up. Unbelievable. Is it just us Sarah?

A shout out to Sade who deservedly won a Grammy last night. Soldier might have just overtaken Here Lies Love as my favorite album of 2010. 

Sarah: I so hear you! I watched a bit of the Grammy red carpet "Live" online yesterday and was so bored I actually elected to get back to work! What the?! I was so dissappointed by the outfits - how bland.

And I can't believe this Melissa Leo scoop - the height of tacky because she is not even slightly joking!

Bleugh, Celebrities are so uncool. Imagine what they would be doing if they didn't have a team of Managers, Publicists and Stylists preparing their every move... I'd rather get back to my data entry thanks!

Peter: Globes

Sarah, the Golden Globe nominations were announced today and it feels like Award season has finally arrived! (although, with all the early speculation, predictions, critics awards and lead up, award season technically never ends).

While we can't take the Hollyood Foreign Press nominations too seriously, it did make me smile today when I read that Nicole Kidman's name was announced, by no less than Kate Katie Holmes!

I love Nicole. The Hours, Dogville, Margot at the Wedding, Birth -Nicole has always been a serious actress. And ever since she escaped from Tom Cruise, I've been on board. I don't care what she does to her face. Poor Katie Holmes. How can she compete with that?

But as much as I was rooting for Nicole to secure a nomination, I wasn't planning to back her in an Oscar race this year, what with all the worthy competition this year (and the fact she already has one). But after seeing the lack lustre nominations today, I can safely say she's my pick for a Golden Globe win. I haven't even seen the film yet, but I'm sure it and Nicole are amazing.

Sure, there a some respectable name in there – Michelle Williams, Halle Berry and Natalie Portman, but they're all a bit boring. I still want to see Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone. Ordinarily all the buzz around her performance would lead me think she would won, but not so much for the Globes.

Disappointingly (or expectedly) many names were missing – including Tilda for I Am Love!! How can we possibly take this seriously? I also was holding out hope for Kristen Scott Thomas after seeing the amazing French film Sarah's Key (I caught an advanced screening tonight and it was very compelling) but no. Also, amazing performances from Annette Bening and Julianne Moore were unfairly relegated to the (less serious) Comedy category with Emma Stone (Easy A) and ... Angelina Jolie (The Tourist). Um, ok.

See full nominations here.