Holtzbrinck Online

And the nominees are ...

The big motion picture awards season kicks off tonight with the 64th Annual Gloden Globe Awards. We’re keeping a close eye on the Golden Globe nominations for Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, and Running with Scissors, all films based on books published by Holtzbrinck imprints.

Little Children, a film based on the novel Little Children by Tom Perrotta published by St. Martin's Press and St. Martin’s Griffin, has earned nominations for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Performance by an Actress (Kate Winslet), and Best Screenplay (Todd Field and Tom Perrotta).

Notes on a Scandal, a film based on the novel What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal] by Zoe Heller published by Henry Holt and Picador, has earned nominations for Best Performance by an Actress (Judi Dench), Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Cate Blanchett), and Best Screenplay (Patrick Marber).

Running with Scissors, a film based on the memoir Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs published by St. Martin’s Press and Picador, has earned a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress – Musical or Comedy (Annette Bening).

Running With Scissors

I went to go see Running With Scissors the other day, and having read the book already I expected to dislike the movie, as I am one of those people who perennially find the book to be superior to the film. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie adaptation, although the focus definitely shifted a bit from the book.   

Part of the problem here, if problem it can be called, is that Annette Bening's performance was simply fantastic. As a result of this I think the mother played an even more prominent role in the movie than she did in the book.   

In addition, the musical choices were strikingly well chosen and implemented, which went a long way towards setting the tone of the film - pairing depressing event with well known, fairly upbeat songs went a long way towards generating the sense of emotional confusion that would have affected anyone forced to grow up in those situations.

Oscar Roundup

From: Jeff
“Hmmm...last night's Oscars; were okay, I thought. Jon Stewart did a good job, but not a great one. I kept feeling like he was trying to get the audience going by waving his arms and raising his voice, rather than by delivering great material. I liked his parody of political attack ads the best; I thought they were funny, as well as a good mixture of what he's known for (political satire) along with what the Oscars are known for (people vying for awards). The thing that I thought most distasteful was the overall defensive tone of the broadcast, numerous speeches and segments repeatedly telling us that going to the movies is a great thing (as opposed to watching them at home, which is ironic since we were at home watching them at the time). Of course, they fail to mention--when waxing rhapsodic on the virtues of theatergoing--that ticket prices keep going up, sodas and popcorn cost an arm and a leg, and every film must be prefaced with a dozen trailers and half a dozen car and credit card commercials (not to mention that it's hard to get that "big screen" experience that the Oscars were touting when more and more movie theaters are multiplex chains which are not much bigger than a living room to begin with). Anyway, in terms of the awards, I was super glad Hoffman won, thought Witherspoon gave a great speech, and Clooney seems like such a totally nice guy I can't be jealous that he's that good looking or talented. Disappointments included that rap song winning an award, that penguin movie winning Best Documentary, and those always-stilted exchanges between the presenters. Best overall moment: Robert Altman's honorary Oscar, and I thought Ben Stiller was pretty funny.”

From Matt:
“Watching the Oscars last night confirmed my recent nagging suspicion that I've missed a lot of movies that I really wanted to see. I missed, Good Night and Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain, Syriana, Joyeux Noel (I didn't even know that one was out already, although as it was foreign language it might not be out in the US yet), or Crash (although in my defense I looked at the posters for that about twenty times and could not figure out anything about the movie. I concluded that it must have been some strange mathematical thriller like Pi, go figure). I did finally get to see Capote and was happy to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman win best actor for his work on that film. I was unable to watch the beginning of the show, but I read that Wallace & Grommit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit won Best Animated Film over Corpse Bride and Howl's Moving Castle. I didn't watch Wallace & Grommit, but I'm a bit surprised given the caliber of the other contenders. March of the Penguins won best documentary, I don't think anybody is surprised by that - watching animals so cute that it hurts to look at them coupled with the soothing sound of Morgan Freeman's voice for an hour and a half is probably unbeatable. And congratulations to Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar - the book industry got a heartfelt thanks from Larry McMurty when they gave their acceptance speech and I think that was very kind of him.”

Movies we dug in 2005

Jeff

1. Capote

2. Me, You and Everyone We Know
3. Murderball

Matt

1. The Squid & The Whale
2. Batman Begins
3. March of the Penguins

Sam

1. Grizzly Man

2. We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen
3. Fade to Black