Tag Archives: The Descendants

Another Award for “The Descendants”

  By Juliet E. | February 2, 2012 - 01:10 | Movies Leave a comment

Movie theater seatsThis awards season, The Descendants has hardly done badly, and now it has another award to add to the pile, having been named Best Movie by AARP in the magazine’s 11th annual Movies for Grown Ups Awards.

During the February 6 ceremony, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Glenn Close will be awarded Best Actress for Albert Nobbs, while Oliver Litondo picks up Best Actor honor for The First Grader.

Christopher Plummer takes Best Supporting Actor honor for Beginners, while Vanessa Redgrave has been named Best Supporting Actress for Coriolanus and Stephen Daldry Best Director for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

A Lifetime Achievement Award is also in the cards for Sharon Stone.

This awards scheme is a little different, in that it recognizes directing, acting and writing in film for those aged 50 or older.  

While the editor of the magazine, Nancy Perry Graham, chose the winners, readers were asked to make their selection for Best Movie for Grown Ups, and chose The Help, the story of a young white woman, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids during the Civil Rights era in America in the early 1960s.

Perry Graham said, “We are proud to celebrate movies which engage grown-up audiences with challenging topics, thoughtful new approaches, and sterling work by all concerned. We champion writers, editors, actors, and directors at the top of their game.”

The Descendants scooped Best Actor in a Motion Picture and Best Drama awards in the recent Golden Globes, and is widely tipped as a front-runner for this year’s Oscars, alongside The Artist.

 Photo © Ferenc Szelepcsenyi – Fotolia.com

Tagged , , ,

Gervais to Step Down as Golden Globes Host

  By Juliet E. | January 27, 2012 - 01:10 | Movies Leave a comment

Theater ceiling British comic Ricky Gervais has said he will not be back to host next year’s Golden Globe awards, after spending three years ruffling more than a few Hollywood feathers and making jibes about some of its biggest stars.

The number of viewers of this year’s recent ceremony is down slightly compared to the number for 2010, with many viewers noting that the comedian seemed to have toned down his jokes from previous years.

Now he has posted on his website: “I’ve told my agent never to let me be persuaded to do it again.”

But, at this year’s ceremony he still managed to slip in a few near-the-knuckle gags about the British actor Colin Firth, star of The King’s Speech. He also introduced Robert Downey Jr. by saying his most well-known roles were at the LA county jail and the Betty Ford clinic, and poked fun at the movie I Love You, Philip Morris.

Last year, many felt Gervais would not be allowed back to the awards, with some critics saying they reckoned he had “crossed lines of taste and civility.”

But organizers heralded the ceremony with an ad campaign hinting that the funnyman would go further than before with his humor at the 2012 gig.

However, reviewers described his performance as “subdued” and “a let-down.”

Still, the show was the most-watched in the US on the night it took place, with 16.8 million viewers, a slight decrease from the 17 million who tuned in in 2011.

Gervais told David Letterman that he would definitely be stepping down but said the 2012 event had been his favorite to date.

At the ceremony, The Artist and The Descendants took the best motion picture awards, and Jean Dujardin and George Clooney, stars of each one respectively, the best actor awards. Meryl Streep won best actress in a drama for The Iron Lady, and best director went to Martin Scorsese for Hugo.

Photo © John Polo – Fotolia.com

Tagged , , , , ,