Month: March 2021

On one hand it must be nice not to have to shlep all the way to an awards ceremony — to dress up, to fight Los Angeles traffic, to spend hours in an uncomfortable chair only to leave with nothing. On the other, it’s probably far more boring to do it all from home. Some made the best of the Golden Globes’ semi-virtual year: Amanda Seyfried invited family and friends to a hotel suite, while Anya Taylor-Joy and Kaley Cuoco got dressed to the nines even though they weren’t going out in public. Others, like a flannel-clad Jeff Daniels, barely put up with it.

Al Pacino was very much in the latter camp. Nominated for the Nazi hunting show Hunters, the legendary thespian made his obligatory appearance on what was essentially a group Zoom call, forced to virtually hang out with the likes of Matthew Rhys, Bob Odenkirk, and Jason Bateman. The award went to Josh O’Connor, who played Prince Charles on The Crown. But Pacino was the one who got the most attention, partly because his appearance began with what looked like him awakening from a nap.

Perhaps he was just resting his eyes! When his award came up it had already been a long night! But people loved it, comparing him to no less than his Irishman director Martin Scorsese, who went viral by seeming to close his eyes in pain at having to listen to Eminem at last year’s Oscars.

There were plenty of other jokes as well. Some couldn’t fathom the idea of Michael Corleone having to log onto a Zoom call.

And there were other jokes.

(Spoilers for ‘Home Sweet Home,’ the 17th Episode of the 10th season of The Walking Dead, will be found below.)

“Pope marked you,” a nearly unkillable super soldier with an arrow through his chest says to Maggie on The Walking Dead before pulling the pin on a grenade and blowing himself up. Who is Pope? What does he want? And why has he marked Maggie?

Those are some of the questions that The Walking Dead will confront over the remaining five bonus episodes in Season 10. The six bonus episodes are meant to act as a sort of bridge, setting the stage between the tenth season and the long-running series’ final season. Pope is likely the leader of The Reapers, a new threat introduced in “Home Sweet Home.”

It’s not clear who they are, what they represent, why they are after Maggie, or what their motivations are, but they’re not happy with Maggie. Cole and Maggie describe the Reapers as people who attacked their home, came out of nowhere, and “wiped out anything in their way.” Maggie also attributes the kidnapping of Hershel to The Reapers, although it’s not entirely clear that the super-soldier in this episode is one of the Reapers, although it is likely. (Pope, likewise, is likely the leader of The Reapers.) Maggie accused the soldier of “being one of them,” which is to say, one of the people who “attacked our home, killed my friends, our family” for no apparent reason.

The Reapers do not exist in Robert Kirkman’s source material, so it’s likely they were created in order to give the bonus episodes a main antagonist group, although the way they are described, they are similar to The Wolves, in that their motivations are vague and that they just like to destroy indiscriminately. The Reapers may serve a number of functions. Besides giving these six episodes someone to shoot at, run from, and fight with, they will probably also help to fill in Maggie’s backstory, since it is clear that her group ran from The Reapers and toward Alexandria. Maggie wasn’t ready to talk about what happened, so that’s likely to be explored in subsequent episodes. It’s possible, too, that The Reapers may give Negan an opportunity to earn Maggie’s trust. They might also will bleed into the final season, should Maggie, Daryl, Negan and Company not be able to eradicate them.

I would not be surprised, either, to learn that the Reapers are tied to Georgie, with whom Maggie separated under circumstances that are, at best, unclear.

This year’s Golden Globes ceremony is steadily ticking off award categories with very little else happening. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are doing their best while hosting from separate coasts, and Jeff Daniels is rocking his spare room, but otherwise, the ceremony is far too polished and really should have embraced the chaos like the most recent (and pretty darn successful) Emmys ceremony.

Fortunately, Jared Leto was on hand to bring a little excitement with his outfit. Granted, this was not of the caliber of John Oliver’s award-winning hoodie from the Emmys, but it was still really something to behold. Who was Leto’s outfit designed by? He’s a Gucci guy, although there’s no real confirmation on whether he was truly wearing Gucci on Sunday night. And really, that detail doesn’t matter because Leto’s actual attire was upstaged by one key accessory: that flower.

The flower was everything, and it didn’t even matter that Leto (who was nominated for The Little Things) last his Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture category (Daniel Kaluuya won for Judas and the Black Messiah) because everyone was staring at that broachy, Carrie Bradshaw-esque, possibly inspired by Phoebe Buffay’s hummus spill-type flower. People were a little horrified by it, but they also loved it.

No confetti? The flower even upstaged that attempted stunt.

See the full list of Golden Globes winners here as the rest of the ceremony continues.

We’re still relatively new to the pandemic-era awards show, which for safety reasons have to be done with most nominees sitting at home, looking into some high-end camera. Some go all out, renting a hotel room and inviting friends and family. Others give few, if any, f*cks. One such person was Jeff Daniels, who for his stint at this year’s Golden Globes appeared to have simply nipped off to some spare room in his house, making his appearance not in some fancy tux but in a flannel shirt he randomly pulled from the closet.

Daniels was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, which feted his role as James Comey in the Trump docudrama The Comey Rule. He lost to Mark Ruffalo, who played two roles in HBO’s I Know This Much is True. He didn’t have to give a speech, but he did have to sit there for several minutes on end, looking about as done with it as fellow nominee Hugh Grant.

But Daniels did win something: He became a viral sensation, with everyone making the same joke about where he decided to put his camera for the night.

While most people focused on the room, some fixated on his attire.

Daniels caught wind that he had gone viral, and he was quick to drop a self-effacing response.

The Golden Globe Awards are decided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a shady organization that consists of 87 members, none of whom are Black. “With the power you have HFPA, you simultaneously hold a responsibility to ensure your constituency is fully reflective of the world in which we live. When you know better, you must do better. And having a multitude of Black presenters does not absolve you of your lack of diversity,” Golden Globe winner Sterling K. Brown wrote in response to a recent Los Angeles Times report. “This is your moment to do the right thing. It is my hope that you will. #timesupglobes.” The HFPA’s lack of diversity also came up during Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Globes monologue.

Fey said the organization is made up of “90 international no-Black journalists who attend movie junkets each year in search of a better life.” Later, Poehler added, “This is something we probably should have told you earlier, everyone is understandably upset at the HFPA and their choices. A lot of flashy garbage got nominated. But that happens, that’s like their thing.” After the Parks and Recreation star noted that “a number of Black actors and Black-led projects were overlooked,” including Da 5 Bloods and Judas and the Black Messiah for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Fey added, “Inclusivity is important and there are no Black members of the HFPA. I realize you didn’t get the memo, HFPA, because your workplace is the back booth of a French McDonald’s, but you gotta change that. So here’s to changing it.”

For the full list of Golden Globes winners, click here.

The Golden Globes usually signify (in any given year) that awards season is in full swing, but everything has been thrown off schedule over the past year, so we’re all rolling with it. That includes hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who will do their duties from separate coasts (they’re seen hosting in 2013, obviously in the same room, above) in what’s sure to be a Globes like we’ve never seen. We won’t see a sit-down dinner, but we might see some champagne speeches. Will there be hazmat suits or a fire? No one can predict those occurrences, but the full list of nominees is stacked and range far and wide to represent what’s supposed to be the best that TV and movies have to offer. Naturally, we’re seeing plenty of representation from undoubtedly worthy projects like The Flight Attendant, Ted Lasso, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Ozark, and Promising Young Woman, but who really knows whether Emily In Paris could walk away with the gold? Let’s just say that it’s a strange year, and no one can argue that point.

Here’s how to stream the event if you’re not near a TV, and now, we bring you all of the Golden Globe awards below (with the winner listed first in bold).

Carol Burnett Award
Norman Lear

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, The Father
Jack Fincher, Mank
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True
Bryan Cranston, Your Honor
Jeff Daniels, The Comey Rule
Hugh Grant, The Undoing
Ethan Hawke, The Good Lord Bird

Best Motion Picture — Animated
Soul
The Croods 2
Onward
Over the Moon
Wolfwalkers

Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series — Musical or Comedy
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Lily Collins, Emily in Paris
Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
Elle Fanning, The Great
Jane Levy, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Jared Leto, The Little Things
Bill Murray, On the Rocks
Leslie Odom Jr, One Night in Miami

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
John Boyega, Small Axe
Brendan Gleeson, The Comey Rule
Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Jim Parsons, Hollywood
Donald Sutherland, The Undoing

—–

Best Director, Motion Picture
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
David Fincher, Mank
Regina King, One Night in Miami
Aaron Sorkin, Trial of Chicago Seven
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Emily in Paris
The Flight Attendant
The Great
Schitt’s Creek
Ted Lasso

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Josh O’Connor, The Crown
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Al Pacino, Hunters
Matthew Rhys, Perry Maso

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Emma Corrin, The Crown
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sarah Paulson, Ratched

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Maria Bakalova, Borat 2
Kate Hudson, Music
Michelle Pfeiffer, French Exit
Rosamund Pike, I Care A Lot
Anya Taylor Joy, Emma

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Nicholas Hoult, The Great
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Ramy Youssef, Ramy

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
James Corden, The Prom
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Dev Patel, Personal History Of David Copperfield
Andy Samberg, Palm Springs

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Gary Oldman, Mank
Tahar Rahim, The Mauritanian

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Daisy Edgar Jones, Normal People
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Nicole Kidman, The Undoing
Anya-Taylor Joy, The Queen’s Gambit

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States vs Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDorman, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Helana Zengel, News of the World

Best Motion Picture – Drama
The Father
Mank
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Television Series – Drama
The Crown
Lovecraft Country
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Ratched

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Hamilton
Music
“Palm Springs
The Prom

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
The Midnight Sky
Tenet
News of the World
Mank
Soul

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Fight for You,” Judas and the Black Messia
“Here My Voice,” The Trial of the Chicago 7
“IO SI (Seen),” The Life Ahead
“Speak Now,” One Night in Miami
“Tigress & Tweed,” The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
Another Round, Denmark
La Llorona, Guatamela/France
The Life Ahead, Italy
Minari, USA
Two of Us, France/USA

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Normal People
The Queen’s Gambit
Small Axe
The Undoing
Unorthodox

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Gillian Anderson, The Crown
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Julia Garner, Ozark
Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek
Cynthia Nixon, Ratched

Cecil B. deMille Award
Jane Fonda

It’s been over a month since Donald Trump made a public appearance, though he hasn’t been entirely AWOL: He called in to some conservative TV shows and dashed off a blog-like screed in which he mostly tore into Mitch McConnell. But on Sunday he made his triumphant IRL comeback, appearing as the keynote speaker at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. Did he show off a new tone? Did he show off a new respect for the truth? Was he at least humbled by the failed MAGA coup that resulted in five deaths? Of course not! If anything all he did was give a Greatest Hits performance.

There was a lot of lies and fabrications and embellishments, enough to keep CNN fact checker Daniel Dale busier than he’s been in over a month. But his biggest lie was what has been dubbed “The Big Lie”: that the 2020 election was stolen from him, or at least “illegal,” or something.

The Big Lie came up a number of times, at fairly regular intervals, including when he repeatedly teased a run in 2024. He first brought it up in the first 15 minutes of what turned into a 90-minute epic, telling the crowd, “Who knows? I may even decide to beat [Democrats] for a third time.”

No one was shocked that Trump is still pushing the Big Lie, despite spending two months filling courts with frivolous lawsuits. But some still tried to remind him that he lost it by over seven million votes.

Others thought he was simply bad at math.

Others pointed out that number of times he won the popular vote.

People were not shocked that the bloody Capitol riot didn’t faze Trump one bit.

Maybe what he meant is that he’ll simply lose again.

But hey, Trump — who was acquitted by the Senate, meaning he can still run for public office, and can still flood the GOP with Marjorie Taylor Green clones — is the Republican Party’s problem now.

The NBA’s All-Star festivities will all take place on one day this year, as the league condensed the Saturday night events and Sunday’s game into a one-day affair. The Skills Competition and Three-Point Shootout will be before the game, with the Dunk Contest taking place at halftime, in lieu of the typical musical performance.

Some of the participants will be All-Stars, but the league will also bring in players specifically for the events. Among those is Knicks rookie Obi Toppin, who was the first player to be reported as confirmed for the Dunk Contest, and a pair of other youngsters will be joining him in Atlanta as well, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports Anfernee Simons and Cassius Stanley will fill out two of the three remaining spots.

Stanley, a rookie for the Pacers, has tons of bounce and while NBA fans might not be familiar with him, college hoops fans will be and know he’ll be stiff competition.

Simons put his hat in the ring for the Dunk Contest last year and will get his chance to show what he can do this year, while the NBA and everyone else wait hopefully for word that Zion Williamson will round out the participants list. Zion was coy when asked about the Dunk Contest last week, but he would add the star value the NBA would be looking for to give the halftime contest some extra juice.