2009 Golden Globes Fashion Round-Up

OK, more “Nerdies” to hand out, this time for fashion.

Best Dressed (Female): Three-way tie for me between House‘s Olivia Wilde, lovely in a lavender gown that looked like cotton candy…Drew Barrymore, whose dress looked as ethereal as a cloud (though the hair made her look a little old)…
and Mad Men‘s January Jones, who looked very Grace-Kelly-winning-an-Oscar-for-The-Country-Girl in her ice-blue, backless gown.

Best Dressed (Male): Tie between Simon Baker and Tom Cruise. Their tuxes were beautifully cut and everything was in its place. Cruise looked like he’d had a facial, his pores were so tight.

Appearance that Scared Me Most (Male): Sting. With the full brown beard and brown hair, the usually sexy rock star looked like he’d been living in the woods and wrestling with bears. I’d say, “Don’t stand so close to me,” ’cause he might try to gnaw off my left arm.

Appearance that Scared Me Most (Female): Renee Zellweger. I love Renee and she usually looks great in Carolina Herrera but I don’t know what to make of this. I’ve heard of backless dresses but not frontless ones. I can see her granny bra.

Best Dressed, Under 20 Years Old: Rumer Willis, who actually looked great in red hair and a burgundy gown. (While she was interviewed by Ryan Seacrest on E!, the channel ID’d her as “Rumor.”)

Least Successful Attempt by an Over-20-Year-Old to Look Under 20: Cameron Diaz in this cutesy pink dress. She looks like she’s trying to be Dakota Fanning.

Most Confusing Animal Print: Maggie Gyllenhaal. I don’t know about you but I’ve never seen a blue leopard.

Most Eco-Friendly: Rachel Griffiths. She recycled a brown paper bag by wearing it as a dress.

Most Likely to Glow in the Dark: Amy Adams. Her skin is so luminous she seemed to radiate light.

Most Likely to See Her Business Go Through the Roof: Lorraine Schwartz. It seemed like every other star was wearing her beautiful, unique jewelry—Beyonce, Christina Applegate, Elizabeth Banks. My faves were the pink earrings designed especially for Jennifer Morrison’s dress and Amy Adams’s green earrings, which were striking against her red hair.

Most Likely to be a Donor for Beaver Tail Transplants: Debra Messing. She has gorgeous hair but this ponytail is a little too big for me.

Who did you think look the best? Which outfits made you wonder if the celebs got dressed in the dark? Which stars surprised you most with their fashion choices? Leave a comment and discuss!

Review of VALKYRIE

My pal Eric went to a screening of Valkyrie last night and turned in this review.

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Valkyrie is a tight, very well-acted thriller with a passionate performance from Tom Cruise as Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg. I couldn’t help, though, but wonder if maybe the film would have been better served by a different actor in this role, with Cruise staying on the sidelines as a producer. It’s not entirely his fault; he’s just not a talented enough actor to lose his innate All-American vibe. It made me feel as though Col. Stauffenberg was an American who had infiltrated Nazi ranks, which would be an entirely different movie.

Bryan Singer’s latest directorial effort is based on the true story of the 15^th and final attempt by Adolf Hitler’s regime to assassinate him. Since most of us know how Hitler died, it’s not a spoiler to tell you that this attempt failed. With this in mind, it is surprising how much the script ratchets up the tension throughout the film to keep us on the edge of our seats while we watch the inevitable play out in front of us.

I say the script is compelling and not the filmmaker because, for me, one flaw keeps this movie from achieving the level of entertainment it deserves: the accents.

According to writer/producer Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects), who did Q & A at the screening I attended, Cruise showed up on set with a flawless German accent and a vocal coach to help him stay on track. Cruise opens the movie narrating in German with English subtitles, but after a few lines of hesitant-sounding German, he drops it abruptly and starts speaking English in his familiar, very American accent. Did the filmmakers, recalling their star’s accent trouble in Far and Away, decide to play it safe?

McQuarrie says the filmmakers had complete confidence in Cruise’s ability, but felt having the entire cast adopt German accents would be asking for trouble, since it would invariably sound uneven and the audience might focus on how much it resembles a Mel Brooks comedy. So, the actors were told to speak in their normal accents. But if we are to believe McQuarrie, then why didn’t David Bamber—a consummate British actor who portrayed Hitler with a focused, intimidating stillness and perfect German intonations—speak with an English accent? It’s also hard to believe that the other very talented British actors—Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Terrence Stamp, Eddie Izzard, Kenneth Branagh, Bernard Hill—wouldn’t have been capable of pulling off a convincing German accent. Their British-ness, in addition to Cruise’s Yank persona, forced me to constantly remind myself that the group trying to assassinate Hitler wasn’t part of an American-British coalition, but Germans desperately trying to wrest control of their beloved Germany from the hands of a monster.

Newton Thomas Sigel’s cinematography is top-notch; the costumes by Joanna Johnston are inventive, specifically the military uniforms, which are unique yet cohesive.

Rating: Okay