By Charlie Kiggs

We all knew it was going to be a hard time to choose. This is probably the CMP’s Season with more movies full of potential to become award winners. There was no room enough to recognize the wonderful work made by so many actors, actresses, screenwriters and directors so any choice was condemned to become an unfair one.

As could be predictable – besides the ‘American Tabloid’ phenomenon -, nominations have split into a high number of movies. The oustanding number of 18 movies out of the 30 releases have picked up at least one nomination. And still it is not going to be easy to choose the winners…

Let’s take the traditional look at what the list of nominations has brought us…

THE HIGHLIGHTS

This GMA Edition can make history. In fact, it already has. ‘American Tabloid’ reaches the amazing number of 9 nominations! The brilliant adaptation of James Ellroy’s novel becomes the most nominated movie ever in GMA’s History. It has pulverized the record of 7 nominations shared by ‘Pompeii’, ‘Lyra’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes’. And it has a very big chance of finally beating the most awarded movie ever, the musical ‘Carousel’. ‘Carousel’ has been holding the record of the most awarded CMP’s movie ever with 5 statues since Season 4. Eight Seasons later, it is the first time that I see that Carousel’s record in serious danger.

Tom Hanks reaches the 5 nominations. And he has also made the peculiar achivement of being nominated in four different categories: Starring Couple (with Julia Roberts, for ‘Court Room’), Director (he won with ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’), Actor (‘September’s Gone’ and now) and Villain. He could win this time two different acting awards for his work in ‘American Tabloid’, something that only Bill Murray did before (if we don’t count the ‘Starring Couple’ category here) winning ‘Best Villain’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ with ‘Life And Facts Of A Dirty Mind’.

Evan Rachel Wood joins Angelina Jolie, Kirsten Dunst and Merryl Streep as the only actresses to have been nominated at the Best Villain category. Maybe it could be the first time than an actress wins in this sexist category.

According to what I’ve got to know from the people at CMP, the tightest and biggest duel of the Gala – considering the votes for nominations – will be the one between Keira Knightley and Michelle Pfeiffer at the Best Actress category. Almost every voter has supported one or the other or both so the big question is who will be the final chosen one.

If I am not wrong, not only ‘American Tabloid’ but also ‘Karate Kat’ has made history in this GMA’s edition, although at a more modest level. With its nomination at the ‘Best Original Concept’ category, I think that it is the first animated feature ever to pick up a nod at the Golden Moon Awards.

Will ‘The Beatles’ suffer the famous ‘Curse Of The 5 Nominations’? In case you wonder what curse is that, I will remind you that there have been quite a few movies that reached the 5 nominations and then went back home with empty hands: ‘The Great War Series: Darkening Skies’, ‘Hollyweird’, ‘The Chinese Bride’ and ‘Robots Of The Dawn’ are members of that painful club.

And CMP’s world has proven again to be a men’s world. There’s only one actress among the six talents nominated for Best Starring Couple. CMP’s authors dismiss so much female characters that not even at the couples’ category women reach a strong presence.

A curiosity: it is new for CMP that many of the nominees have played real life characters. This GMA Edition, we can see together Queen Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), her sister Princess Margaret (Rachel Weisz), John Lennon (Daniel Radcliff), Bob Kennedy (Matt Damon) and John and Tommie (McKie and Luke)

I end up the highlights remarking the first nomination got by two CMP’s screenwriters. Chad Taylor and Trent Nielsen make their debut at the GMA as nominees. And not one but two movies written by Chad Taylor will compete at the main category, the Best Picture award! Welcome both to the thrill and suffering of the Gala!

THE RETURNS

As usual, some talents have been here before…

TOM HANKS: As I already mentioned, Tom Hanks jumps to the top of the most nominated talents’ list reaching his 5 nods. He already won the Best Director award back in Season 3 for ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’.

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: She was the favorite to win the Best Supporting Actress award back in Season 7 for her work in the satiric musical ‘Only In America’. But she finally didn’t. Will it happen the same to her this time?

ROSARIO DAWSON: Third nomination for her and third time at the Best Supporting Actress category. The previous ones were for ‘Chevrolet’ (Season 2) and ‘The Funeral Drum’ (Season 8). Will the third one be the good one for her?

MATT DAMON: Also third time around for him. He already won the Best Starring Couple award (together with Samuel L. Jackson) back in Season 10 for ‘Foul Karma’. And, before, he had been nominated as Best Actor for his work in Season 3’s war drama ‘Home’.

DANIEL RADCLIFF: He was – and still is - the youngest talent to win the Best Actor award back in Season 4 with ‘South East’, his impressive debut in CMP.

HARRISON FORD: Also in Season 4, Ford fought for the Best Starring Couple award together with Rene Russo for his work in the tv series classic adaptation ‘McMillan & Wife’.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: A veteran at the GMA. Keira joins Tom Hanks in the selected club of the talents with 5 nominations in their CMP’s sheet of services. She won the Best Starring Couple award together with Leonardo DiCaprio back in Season 6 for ‘Pompeii’. Her other nominations were: Starring Couple (with Pierce Brosnan, Season 2, ‘Uncommon Valour: The Frigate Captain’), Actress (Season 3, ‘Hitman: Two Ways To Die’) and again Actress (Season 6, ‘Pompeii’). She is the only star to have been nominated three times at the Best Actress category.

MARTIN SCORSESE: He was the first winner of the Best Director award with ‘The Heirs’. Eleven CMP’s Seasons later, he is back. He has the chance to become the first director to win this award twice.

CLINT EASTWOOD: Eastwood took two statues home back in Season 5 as director and producer of ‘Nagasaki Daydreams’, one of those rare productions that were both a box office’s disaster and a multi-awarded film.

MATT KUBRICK: The very active Matt Kubrick is not a regular at the GMA. But he has become the first CMP’s writer to be nominated twice for Best Director. The previous occasion was back in Season 2 for ‘Wild Cards’. He also has two nominations for Best Screenplay: ‘Home’ (Season 3) and ‘Suspicions and Dishonors’ (Season 11). Still waiting for his first win.

JAMES BRADLEY: Bradley confirms himself as the King of the GMA with this 9th nomination for Best Screenplay. He has four previous wins: ‘Fools Game’ (Season 2), ‘The Toymaker’ (Season 3), ‘The Funeral Drum’ (with Joey Stark, Season 8) and past Season’s ‘The Miracle Men’. Also, he holds a peculiar record at the GMA: back in Season 8, the three movies nominated for Best Picture (‘The Chinese Bride’, ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’ and ‘The Funeral Drum’) had been written by him.

THE IGNORED

I was going to write just a single name in this ‘ignored’ section: ALAN ARKIN.

How in hell GMA’s voters could ignore the magnificent acting work he made in ‘The Pitiful Plight Of Tom Collins’? I prefer not to comment this further as I don’t want to insult those ….. voters.

Ok, once I hardly get to hold my anger, I’ll fulfill this section with other ignored talents…

Two wonderful directional jobs didn’t make it at the final trio. Will Smith’s debut as director with the epic human spirit drama ‘John and Tommie’ and Sam Mendes’ creative approach to the history of The Beatles could have perfectly been nominated. No complaints about the three directors chosen here, but both Smith and Mendes could have deservedly been there.

It does not make me as indignant as Alan Arkin’s absence, but Freddie Highmore – playing also a dysfunctional character – was completely ignored by voters. For once, the tradition in movie industry of winning awards with sick, dysfunctional or disabled characters has not been respected at this GMA edition.

I personally found that the starring couple formed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman had a wonderful chemistry at ‘Running On Empty’. No complaints neither about the three couples finally chosen, but I missed them at the final trio.

And yes, I know there is no room for all, but I also missed a bigger recognition to some movies that could have easily reached four, five or even six nods. And I will include here movies like ‘John and Tommie’, ‘Teenage Wasteland’, ‘Running On Empty’ and what I consider one of the most brilliant movies of the Season: ‘Storm At Home’.

THE PREDICTIONS

Will it finally be the big night for ‘American Tabloid’? Or will it happen again at the GMA that the most nominated movie finally does not become the most awarded one? Well, I have the feeling that it will be the night of ‘American Tabloid’ but you never know at the GMA…

I know I always say this, but this is probably the most difficult GMA’s edition for predictions… I’ll do my best. But remember that these predictions are always written as soon as nominations are announced and before the voting for the winners begins so don’t look for any trustable hint in them as they are just my very personal opinion.

BEST VILLAIN

TOM HANKS
In Favour: He played a great character full of shades and as deep, disturbing and solid as the whole movie.
Against: It is a bit difficult to visualize ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ as a villain.
All in All: Big chances.

EVAN RACHEL WOOD
In Favour: Her wonderful ‘double work’ playing both the love interest and the villain of the story should have even deserved a Best Actress nomination.
Against: Hanks is such a heavy-weight.
All in All: Maybe the time for an actress to win at this category has finally come.

KEN WATANABE
In Favour: There’s no more classic concept of ‘villain’ than the traditional ‘wanna-rule-the-world’ villain of any superhero movie.
Against: Critics hated unanimously ‘Daughters Of The Dragon’.
All in All: No way.

STARRING COUPLE

ANTHONY MCKIE & DEREK LUKE
In Favour: The epic dimension of their characters. This will be the best chance for ‘John and Tommie’ to win at least one award.
Against: A slight lack of charisma compared with their rivals.
All in All: I would not bet strongly for them.

MICHELLE PFEIFFER & EMILE HIRSH
In Favour: The intense sexual and romantic chemistry they created on screen.
Against: Conservative minds.
All in All: They made such a hot couple hard to forget.

WILL PATTON & MICKEY ROURKE
In Favour: Suddenly, everybody seems to love the once hated Rourke now that he has resurrected for the movie industry.
Against: ‘Riders On The Storm’ left a weaker impression in moviegoers’ memory than expected.
All in All: They look as a cool couple to vote for.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

MATT DAMON
In Favour: He built up a disturbing Bobby Kennedy, both big defender of law and justice and a devious politician involved in dirty business.
Against: Can’t think of anything.
All in All: My undisputable choice for this category.

DANIEL RADCLIFF
In Favour: It wasn’t easy at all playing a believable John Lennon. He passed the test with a high grade
Against: Damon. Without him, this would be his award.
All in All: Winner or not, Radcliff keeps growing up as an actor in CMP in a wonderful way.

HARRISON FORD
In Favour: His incomparable screen presence and charisma. Ford always fulfills the screen.
Against: His character is way much more stereotyped than Radcliff’s or Damon’s.
All in All: Glad to see you around, Harrison. But not this time…

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

CATE BLANCHETT
In Favour: Her personal prestige makes her a safe bet.
Against: As I said about ‘Riders On The Storm’, ‘The Curious Incident…’ left a weaker impression than expected.
All in All: Might be. But I am not completely sure about it.

RACHEL WEISZ
In Favour: Recreating a real life character is always a hard challenge. Recreating a young Queen Elizabeth after the wonderful work of a mature Queen Hellen Mirren made before was even harder. But Rachel passed the test with her great work.
Against: The shadow of Helen Mirren?
All in All: She is the favorite in this category and should win.

ROSARIO DAWSON
In Favour: Voting for her would be a way of recognizing the wonderful movie ‘Storm At Home’ is.
Against: Rosario is making a discrete but solid career in CMP. After all, this is her third nomination. But her rank as star has never been recognized enough.
All in All: I am afraid it will be her third defeat.

BEST ACTRESS

JUDY DAVIS
In Favour: She is always a trustable and solid actress.
Against: Isn’t her character a bit ‘too supporting’ to be in this category?
All in All: No chance. Judy will only be a witness of the deadly duel between Keira and Michelle.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
In Favour: Season after Season, she has proven to be one of the favorite female stars for the GMA’s voters.
Against: Michelle deserves the award.
All in All: Don’t make me choose, please…

MICHELLE PFEIFFER
In Favour: Talented, beautiful, sweet, sexy… She – and her character – has it all.
Against: Keira deserves the award.
All in All: Don’t make me choose, please…

BEST ACTOR

ANTHONY MCKIE
In Favour: He played an iconic real life character. Political correction is on his side. Obama too.
Against: He is less popular than Hanks or Lerman in CMP’s world.
All in All: I am sure Dawson Edwards will give him another chance in the future. But I don’t think he is going to win this time.

LOGAN LERMAN
In Favour: GMA’s voters love to support young stars.
Against: A troubled teenager cannot be compared to the disturbing grandeur of Hanks’ character.
All in All: Do not undervalue his chances.

TOM HANKS
In Favour: Nominated at two categories. His movie got 9 nominations. It’s Tom Hanks. He just cannot go home empty handed.
Against: It seems too easy and predictable to just vote for the big name.
All in All: Be very careful. Logan can ruin your night.

BEST SCREENPLAY

CHAD TAYLOR
In Favour: He is proving to be not only a talented but also a most versatile author. His prestige keeps growing movie after movie.
Against: At some moments, his screenplay looked more like a documentary than a movie.
All in All: Yes, you can.

JAMES BRADLEY
In Favour: He got to adapt in a wise way a highly complex and difficult novel.
Against: Voters just might say: ‘oh, no, him again?’
All in All: No matter it may become monotonous. He deserves the award.

TRENT NIELSEN
In Favour: Everybody feels enthusiastic about this new screenwriter.
Against: ‘Running On Empty’ is a much lighter story than its two rivals.
All in All: A nomination can be considered reward enough for a debutante.

BEST DIRECTOR

CLINT EASTWOOD
In Favour: Clint is like Jodie Foster, Merryl Streep or Johnny Depp. Every time he shows up at CMP you just feel obliged to vote for him.
Against: He didn’t really have to show particular directional skills to shoot his movie.
All in All: Everybody loves Clint so don’t undervalue his chances.

MARTIN SCORSESE
In Favour: The perfect pace, tension and narrative tone he put into ‘American Tabloid’.
Against: Only Clint’s sympathy.
All in All: He will take his second statue home. The GMA are not the Oscars, where he was mistreated for decades.

MATT KUBRICK
In Favour: He made a honest and moving big little movie.
Against: Have you seen who his rivals are?
All in All: It must make Matt dizzy to see who is he competing with. He should consider honor enough to see his name as part of this trio cause I’m afraid that’s all he’ll get.

PICTURE

AMERICAN TABLOID
In Favour: As somebody wrote, this movie has it all.
Against: Voters have fun with surprises.
All in All: It will be its night. I don’t expect surprises this time.

JOHN AND TOMMIE
In Favour: It’s a beautiful real story and it’s a great movie. Without ‘American Tabloid’ around, it could have easily – and deservedly – been a winner.
Against: I strongly feel it will be the night of ‘American Tabloid’.
All in All: This great movie will occupy a honorary place in my DVDs library right beside ‘Dream Of A King’.

THE BEATLES
In Favour: It was hard to make a movie about something so many times told like the story of The Beatles. Taylor and Mendes made an innovative and interesting approach to it.
Against: Believe it or not, not everyone loves The Beatles.
All in All: Awarded or not, musical biopics are always interesting. Next stop for the genre: Elvis and Josh Collins’ ‘Graceland’.