Hollywood Foreign Press sued for $2 million, accused of 'payola schemes'

So it’s like a regular job just being nominated, not an honour…that figures.

Can HFPA explain why they think “The Tourist” is a comedy?

This has taken 17 YEARS to come to light. Did the lead publicist finally have an epiphany. This smells rotten to me.

Remember the Pia Zadora incient? Maybe there is some truth to what he’s saying.

One of my MAJOR complaints about the Globes is this: If they are going to honor musicals, they had better decide if the “Musical” (or movie with music) is, in fact, a DRAMATIC film or a MUSICAL comedy. The idea that both Jamie Foxx (for “Ray”) and Joaquin Phoenix “Walk the Line” won in the “comedy” category, which is meant to honor films containing exceptional comedic performances that by their very nature, are often ignored as “light” by the Academy thereby unworthy of a nod. There was nothing “light” or comedic about either of those films or the amazing performances of Jamie & Joaquin. There was nothing comedic about “Ray” or “Walk the Line” and were, if common sense were used as a deciding factor, nominated in the wrong category, as both performances were highly dramatic, regardless of the fact that the lead characters happened to be singers. (Joaquin even said in his acceptance speech “I can’t believe I just won this for best performance in a comedy…and still no one’s picked up on this (IMHO) travesty. (At least for the comedic actors and actresses nominated, who think “Hey…I may finally get some regognition for this comedy for which I received RAVES!” And in doing this, the HFPA (all 85 of them!) totally disregards their intent to honor both comedic and dramatic performances and films. “Chigago” and “The Producers” are musical comedies. “Ray” and “Walk the Line” are musical dramas. (This is not a particulary difficult to deal with. In most films where music plays a major role, it’s usually quite obvious, as seen by these examples. More recently, Johnny Depp was honored for “Best Comedy Actor” for “Sweeney Todd” (Wasn’t that performance a laugh a minute!) and Marion Cotillard for “La Vie en Rose.” Their work was great, and they deserved nominations, but Depp against John C. Reilly in “The Dewey Cox Story” and Cotillard against Nikki Blonksy in “Hairspray?” How ridiculous. It laughs in the faces of the worthy comedic performances. FYI-Joaquin as Johnny Cash beat out Nathan Lane in “The Producers.” (And Depp in “Charlie & the Chocolate factory.) Foxx beat out Jim Carrey’s excellent work in “Eternal Sunshine…” and Kevin Spacey’s Bobby Darin, which was again…a dramatic performance of a troubled singer who dies in the end. Comedic? (The only comedic element was Spacey’s attempt to look like Darin in his 20s and 30s.) If they are going to continue to recognize musical films (which of course they should) they need to decide if the film’s action is motivated by drama or by comedy, and nominate it accordingly. And having a category for “Musicals” or “Films with Music” leaves the same margin for ridiculously inappropriate nominations. This would just lead to more completely opposite films (“Walk the Line” and “The Producers” for example) competing against each other, when the whole idea is to recognize and reward films and performances of BOTH genres. OK – that was my Golden Blobes rant for the day. Peace out.

I always assumed that the red carpet coverage rights for any award show were up for sale to the highest bidder. I mean… why wouldn’t they be? It’s not like it’s a news event, it’s just an entertainment awards show so it’s not necessary or a matter of ethics that ABC and E! have the same rights to the red carpet.