| Chiswick Couple Up for Two Golden Globes | |||||
| Downton Abbey and film on Marilyn Monroe might bring double glory to W4  Elizabeth McGovern and Simon Curtis are hoping to bring at least one, if not two Golden Globes home from Hollywood for their W4 mantelpiece this weekend (January 14th). Elizabeth, who plays Lady Cora in the popular ITV drama series ‘Downton Abbey’ is nominated for a Best Actress award for the television series while her husband Simon Curtis who directed ‘My Week with Marilyn’ is hoping the film will win the award for Best Picture. The glittering ceremony will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, with Ricky Gervais hosting for the third time. Downton Abbey leads the way in the television categories at the Hollywood awards, with four nominations: best mini-series, best actor for Hugh Bonneville, best actress for Elizabeth McGovern and best supporting actress for Dame Maggie Smith. The series became the most-watched television programme on Christmas Day in the UK, beating Eastenders. The couple live in Chiswick with their two daughters. The film leading the nominations is The Artist, which has so charmed the critics that it is being talked of as a serious Oscar contender despite being silent and in black-and-white. The other nominations in the Best Picture category are Bridesmaids, 50/50 and Midnight in Paris. Downton Abbey faces opposition from Against the Hour, Mildred Pierce, Too Big to Fail and Cinema Verite. Meryl Streep is nominated for Best Actress for her performance in The Iron Lady. In her category of Best Performance as an Actress in a Mini-Series, Elizabeth McGovern faces opposition from Kate Winslet ( Mildred Pierce), Romola Garai (The Hour), Emily Watson (Appropriate Adult) and Diane Lane (Cinema Verite). The ceremony, which will take place on Saturday, January 14th, is the result of six months planning. Magnums of Moet and Chandon Grand Vintage 2002 have been specially created for the show and more than 9,000 glasses of champagne will be served throughout the evening. A team of forty chefs and 110 kitchen staff will serve a ‘ global menu’ of ravioli and arugula, seabass, prime short rib and a trio of desserts. Presenters lined up to present the coveted awards include Nicole Kidman, Frieda Pinto, Antonio Banderas and Clive Owen. And should Ms McGovern still be deciding what dress to wear for the occasion, the Daily Telegraph fashion page has advised that a black, embellished Berardi gown, would be the ideal choice for the actress. January 5, 2012 http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=conceleb303.htm |
George Hatza's top TV 2011: The best programming responded to the times | ||||
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They are terrified, angry, empowered, grieving, victimized but not complacent. They fight back, some more quickly than others. This metaphor, if you will, speaks with shrewd insight to the age in which we live. Life in this country today is a fearful thing. Despair runs rampant. The nation is divided perhaps more than at any time since the Civil War. Yes, these shows are about terrorists, impending war, hurricanes, crime, disease, mental illness, specters, dirty politics, greed and betrayal. But they also are about building a life in a time when two steps forward always are followed by one step back. In order of preference, the following are the best in television for 2011: 1. "Homeland" - This Showtime series starring the magnificent Claire Danes as bipolar CIA agent Carrie Mathison is riddled with paranoia. A Marine POW, Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), returns heroically from Iraq years after being given up for dead, followed by rumors that he was "turned" by terrorists. Byzantine twists lead to enigmatic dead ends. Is Carrie just nuts, or is Brody about to trigger doomsday? This cable thriller boasts the perfect mix of unpredictable action and rich character psychology. It is never anything less than riveting. 2. "Downton Abbey" - Masterpiece Classic on PBS does what no one else can do, which is to re-create impeccably another time and place. In this dazzling miniseries, returning this month as a regular series, a wealthy British family on the eve of World War I clings to traditions despite crumbling class distinctions that lead to sometimes subtle, sometimes explosive class warfare. Sound familiar? The acting is brilliant (e.g., Maggie Smith), but it's the writing and direction that carry this addictive melodrama to something approaching perfection. 3. "Treme" - Set in the cultural jambalaya of New Orleans, this HBO series about Hurricane Katrina's aftermath continues to startle with its spicy blend of jazz and liquor, violation and corruption, pride and prejudice. The police and public officials betray the population while couples betray one another. The sharp schism between those unaffected by the flood and those still trying to put roofs over their heads proves as heartbreaking as it is infuriating. Location and plot merge seamlessly. 4. "The Big C" - The shocking conclusion of this Showtime comedy's second season still resonates. We watched in awe when Cathy Jamison (the amazing Laura Linney), in the fourth stage of melanoma, finished a marathon. What she found at the end of the race was not what fans of this quirky, intelligent, funny and affecting series would have expected. And that is what makes the series so special. The wit is all in the language, how the characters cloak their anguish in biting humor. 5. "Boardwalk Empire" - It's the roaring '20s, and boy, are they howling in Atlantic City in this epic HBO drama series. Prohibition is in full force, and thus so is crime, as gangsters in fancy suits with names like Capone and Rothstein and Darmody and Luciano and Horvitz battle for control of the booze black market. Blacks want in on the action as well, which leads to all sorts of violence. This Jersey melting pot is run by the wealthy Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (a terrific Steve Buscemi), politician and crook, who has met his match this past season in the deceptively demure Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald), his mistress, whom he married in the season finale. If this series has taught us anything, it's that the women don't need guns and fists to get what they want. Their methods are much more sinister and surreptitious. 6. "Dexter" - Now in its sixth season, this ingenious crime series about a Miami police forensics expert and serial killer (the insanely underrated Michael C. Hall) - who ritually murders horrific criminals he believes have escaped justice - keeps getting better. This season it's all about religion and the End of Days as a fanatical Christian artist and killer re-creates biblical tableaux from Revelation leading up to the apocalypse - using his corpses. The plot works on a literal level, but what it suggests is what keeps the series powerfully fascinating. 7. "American Horror Story" - Leave it to FX to come up with something as genuinely terrifying as this. What's so surprising is that it was created by the team who fashioned "Glee." It's gruesome, sexy, disturbing and ultra-violent. A haunted house in Los Angeles is filled with ghosts; just who is dead and who is alive is often a mystery. But one thing is certain: Whoever moves in is changed forever, and there's no escape. Jessica Lange plays the matron of the proceedings, pathologically seeking revenge and power in a world gone mad. She and her cohorts all seem right at home. 8. "The Good Wife" - With the best acting on network TV, this CBS legal/political series is all about who is in control. It takes place in Chicago, of course, where a mother-in-law can wield as much power as a state's attorney. Personal lives spill into the professional realm and vice versa, with the result that no one has any secrets. Julianna Margulies, in her best role yet as lawyer Alicia Florrick, vacillates with heartbreaking yet chilling ease between the courtroom and the bedroom, the office and the home. And Archie Panjabi, as the law firm's mysterious investigator, may just be the most intriguing character on the tube. 9. "Justified" - Once again, FX inhabits territory no one else would dare to touch: the backwoods of Kentucky where meth and perverse sex are a way of life. Timothy Olyphant, as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, gets his strength from his white cowboy hat, not to mention his guns. In the second season, all hell broke loose in a battle with a clan of dealers led by the devious Mags Bennett (a great Margo Martindale). The final two episodes proved a spectacle to behold. Ah, that heady mix of poverty and greed, with a splash of bloody violence, has made America what it is today. 10. "Mildred Pierce" - Kate Winslet's towering performance in this daringly reconceived miniseries (based on the 1945 Joan Crawford melodrama) provided just the right amount of can-do Yankee ambition to wring the sentimentality out of the original sob story. The irony is Winslet's British. You'd never know it, though, as she pulls herself out of Depression-era poverty into postwar wealth only to be deceived by her handsome lover (Guy Pearce) and her devious daughter (Evan Rachel Wood). "Mildred Pierce" is about the hypocrisy of the American Dream. However, as much of the country knows all too well these days, dreams can be shattered. The trick is to find the right one, and in this version, Mildred does. Five runners-up worth honorable mention: ABC's riotous "Modern Family," Showtime's outrageous "Shameless," Fox's inventive "So You Think You Can Dance," Showtime's edgy "Nurse Jackie" and Comedy Central's hilarious, audacious and smart "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." Contact George Hatza: 610-371-5075 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 610-371-5075 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or ghatza@readingeagle.com. | ||||
Actress Kate Winslet is set to fete her Mildred Pierce co-star Guy Pearce with a special award for his career achievements at an event recognising notable Australians. Pearce will be one of three guests of honour, alongside basketball player Luc Longley and musical duo Air Supply, at the ninth annual G'Day USA Los Angeles Black Tie Gala on 14 January.
G'Day USA Organising Committee Chairman Wally Mariani says, "We are thrilled to have Kate Winslet present her Mildred Pierce co-star Guy Pearce with the Excellence in Film & Television Award at this year's G'Day USA Los Angeles Black Tie Gala, especially the night before the Golden Globes, when they are both nominees."
The prizegiving is part of the three-week G'Day USA Australia Week programme.
Previous honourees include Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Naomi Watts.
The cast arrives on the red carpet for the New York premiere of 'The Ides of March' at The Ziegfeld Theatre in NYC. - Thunder Kick Photos/Splash
