Unorthodox Christmas: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)

Director: Mark Waters (also did Mean Girls and Just Like Heaven- two of my favorite movies)
Writers: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (co-wrote "The Hangover")

Cast:
Connor Mead- Matthew McConaughey
Paul Mead- Breckin Meyer
Jenny- Jennifer Garner
Sandra- Lacey Chabert
Sgt Volkom [Sandra's father]- Robert Forster
Brad- Daniel Sanjuta
Ghosts
Uncle Wayne- Michael Douglas
Past- Allison Vandermeersh- Emma Stone
Present- Melanie, Connor's assistant- Noureen DeWulf
Ghost of Future Girlfriends- Olga Maliouk

Write-up:

Some spoilers...
unless of course you've never seen/read any version of "A Christmas Carol"

Every year, you kinda need at least one adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."
But instead being a miser who needs to change in order to escape eternal damnation, our protagonist who gets visited by three spirits is a chauvinistic playboy photographer... and if he doesn't change, the results are practically the same as the original story. Except the significant death that takes place in the future is something more abstract...

We start with Connor Mead (vintage McConaughey) at work-- photographing hot models in lingerie in various settings. Also get to know a bit about how he interacts with the ladies, which includes hot make-out sessions and breaking up over conference call. (And you thought a break-up over a text or voicemail was bad...)
But he has to do this break-up "in bulk" because he needs to get to his brother's wedding rehearsal. Despite the fact he does not believe in the institution of love and marriage, his brother is the only person in his life willing to stand by him despite all his personality flaws. Kinda like Fred in the original "Christmas Carol"-- but the relationship is hashed out more and a lot of drama accompanies it.

On top of that, Sandra/Sandy (Lacey Chabert from "Mean Girls"/"Wild Thornberries" fame) is a highstrung bridezilla that has her moments...
Her first episode is over lack of figs, which she asked for, in the salad- hilarious stuff. Especially when Connor off-handedly adds as he leaves the room "some figs would have been nice..."

Also among the guests are "The Sergeant"- father of the bride and Korean War veteran ("we didn't get a wall... we got a TV series starring Alan Alda"), a MILF of a future mother-in-law, nerdy groomsmen and bridesmaids that cover the three basic hair colors (blonde/brunette/redhead).
The hilarity practically writes itself.

Then of course there's the maid of honor/wedding planner who happens to be Connor's childhood sweetheart Jenny... although their relationship is a little more complicated than that and is the very reason Connor turned how he did.
Although his Uncle Wayne (who took over guardianship when his parents died in a car accident) had a lot to do with that as well.
Which explains why he's the activating incident of this main plot-- our Jacob Marley, but without all the chains.

There's plenty of drama, but this is meant to be a very goofy fun movie.
Particularly goofy is the notion of Brad- the sex that Sandra brought for Jenny. Nobody is that freaking perfect!
At the same time, though, my one nitpick is the mechanics of the ghosts. I guess "Scrooged" some of them were very violent (ok, just Carol Kane), so it makes sense that Connor gets smacked around by a couple of the ghosts. But he first meets the ghost of his Uncle Wayne in the bathroom taking a piss... how the hell do they explain that?!

The one thing that separates this from all the other "Christmas Carol" adaptations I've seen is the fact that this doesn't happen in the wee hours of the night. It's early evening and Connor is able to return to the pre-wedding party after each ghostly visit. This opens up some interesting possibilities as well as chances to fix things little by little. But being a bit of an idiot (as well as a pathological liar), he's unable to take full advantage of this and actually makes things worse the more he tries to fix them.

It's interesting to see Emma Stone as the first ghost namely because this was before she hit it big in "Easy A"- the same sense of humor is still there. We start in the 80's with lots of great music playing in the background as well as crazy outfits. Also explored is Connor's past with Jenny and how he screwed things up with her (personal note: not a fan of his hairstyle in the latter flashbacks- that long hair isn't attractive).
Also interesting is that the ghost of Present is actually still living and very present in Connor's life as his assistant, Mel. This is where he's able to go freely through the parties (both the wedding and one Mel concocted to appease the three conference call girls) undetected and hear what other people think about him behind his back. True to his character, his brother is the only one fully supportive of him.

Like all the Future ghosts, the final "girlfriend" is mute- when I first saw the trailers, I thought it was Amanda Seyfried (doppelganger alert!), but she's actually a Ukrainian actress with very few credits to her name. She's also the only Future ghost dressed in white (opposed to black or gray).

Considering it's a chick flick, everything predictably works out in the end. There's an incident in the 3rd act that almost derails the entire wedding involving one of the bridesmaids. Connor learns the error of his ways with the third ghost and he patches up all the core relationships of the story. [As for the "death" in the future I previewed-- watch the movie and find out. It's kinda sad, but it isn't nearly as heartwrenching as all those Tiny Tim deaths throughout the adaptations-- don't know why, but it always kills me despite knowing he'll be all right in the end]

This was one of those movies my dad saw in-flight and recommended we see. Beside the line about the figs, his favorite came towards the end after the final ghostly escapade-

"You there, boy, what day is it? Is it Christmas?"
"No, it's Saturday, you moron!"

Another funny tidbit that came around by the time I saw the movie this year:
Quentin Tarantino confessed to getting choked up in the flashback when it's revealed Jenny gave Connor his first camera :P and he wound up becoming a photographer

2014 Golden Golden Awards

My first Golden Globes was in 2010. I'm not sure what made me did it. I'd seen the Oscars a couple of times, but wasn't serious about movies and actors back then. But something unexpected happened that night and is the very reason why I come back year after year.

It's not every day that Robert Downey Jr. wins something at these things, yet the first time I ever tuned in, he won Best Actor in a comedy/musical for "Sherlock Holmes."
Mind you, this was before I became the huge fangirl I am now. I'd seen "Tropic Thunder" a few years before and just recently, I saw him in "Sherlock Holmes." I gotta say, the dude knows how to give a speech :-P
and I love revisiting that moment on YouTube every year as well as the press conference afterwards and a hilarious "victory lap" he did with his wife, Susan, on ET.

Everyone jokes about this awards show being a relaxed Oscars where everyone is drunk and such. I enjoy the show because there's a lot of room for unpredictability. You never know who's going to win sometimes.
I like to partake of the moments where people not used to winning get that chance, either because the Hollywood Foreign Press is composed of a looser group of people or because the split between drama and comedy/musical give some less prestigious actors to shine.

This year's examples of that were Matthew McConaughey winning best actor for "Dallas Buyer's Club" and the cop comedy-spoof "Brooklyn 99" coming away with two wins, one for the show and the other for Andy Samberg as best actor.
Granted, it's not the greatest show in the world. I didn't think it'd last more than a couple shows, but I took a chance on it and I can't get enough of it. The characters are a unique bunch and I always have a good time watching.

One thing I noticed this year was how much I really wanted to go out to see some of these movies. Like I'm itching more than ever to see "American Hustle" because it won best comedy/musical and two of its actresses were honored.
Jennifer Lawrence won the first award of the night for supporting actress. If anything, her speech made her more relatable and human because she confessed the nerves were playing a big role. I also liked how she said in her speech how she looked up the director of "I heart Huckabees" cuz she loved the movie and how she wanted to work with David O. Russell for that very reason. :-P that's my process with some of my movies. I look out for certain actors and directors when I learn they did something I really enjoyed.

Then I was super happy for Amy Adams because I knew she'd been nominated several times in recent years and this time, she actually won. Good for her!
Robert was the one giving out the award for best actress in a comedy/musical. His shtick was running through the nominees and saying what he'd get out of it depending on the winner. His consolation with Amy Adams would be that if they take a racy selfie backstage, he gets to keep that sharp Gucci tuxedo. :-P

"Dallas Buyer's Club" ran the dramatic actor categories. Jared Leto, who Ellen DeGeneres has been championing since she saw the movie, won for playing a transgender male. As for McConaughey, the props were deserved of course, but I liked how informal his speech. Being true to himself the only way McConaughey knows how.

Then for the comedy/musical category, Leonardo DiCaprio won for "Wolf of Wolf Street"... firstly, how the hell is that not in the drama category? I just don't get that. Secondly, omg, Leo actually won an award! That's something I never thought I'd get to see.
Yeah, he and Martin Scoreses will be one of the most memorable actor/director combinations in Hollywood history. They've done so many movies together that they understand how one another works. Apparently, Leo was the one lobbying for this movie to get mad.
After reading stuff about it, I'm not sure if I want to go to see in theaters. It's supposed to be hard-core R-rated, setting a new cinematic f-bomb record, with all kinds of nastiness in between. I don't know if I could stand that for three hours straight, certainly not in a big closed-off room.

I'd like to get around to "American Hustle" in theaters and "Dallas Buyer's Club" some other time... I get the feeling I'll have a hard time finding someone to see that with me.
"Her" also intrigues me quite a bit. It won for best original screenplay by Spike Jonze.

With all the talk about Sandra Bullock's performance in "Gravity," I thought she'd be a lock for Best Actress in a drama... yet it went to Cate Blanchett in "Blue Jasmine"... I guess it goes in line with the fact Woody Allen received the Cecil B. DeMille award this year.
But even then when he actually gets something, Woody Allen didn't bother to show up. I'm guessing it's a neurosis type of thing. So after the montage of his filmography (which made me feel bad I'd only seen two so far, both were great), Diane Keaton gave the acceptance speech and proved she was the perfect person to do it.

I've noticed that "Inside Llewyn Davis" has also been showing on Showtime as well as in theaters. Something about that movie intrigues me too, although I think it's just Oscar Isaac. After seeing him (well, being introduced to him) in "Sucker Punch," seeing him makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, yet there's this lure to him in that new movie that's hard to explain.

The only award "Gravity" won (something I don't imagine myself seeing, maybe ever) was Alfonso Cuaron as best Director. To think, it was only 10 years ago where he directed a Harry Potter movie :-P never mind one of my favorites.

Frozen did win for best animated film, which was great, but I was a little miffed that amazing song of theirs didn't win.
Instead it went to freaking Bono and U2 who wrote a song for a Nelson Mandela film... then they had to turn around and give such a compelling backstory that I had to stop being mad at them... it just doesn't seem fair to me that it had to go to a humanitarian effect that's guaranteed to win on that alone.

Let's see... other film stuff...
Alex Ebert, who is a new name to me (and looks like a guy Tim Burton could get along with, lol) won for best original score for that Redford film "All is Lost" He beat out John Williams ("The Book Thief") and Hans Zimmer ("12 years a slave"), my two favorite composers.

Best foreign film went to this Italian film I never heard of called "The Great Beauty"...
I'd heard of "Blue is the Warmest Color" and after seeing a clip, I recognized "The Wind Rises" as Miyazaki's last film... it shoulda gone to either of them :-P that's my bias talking.

The biggest award of the night went to 12 years a slave... considering its company, it deserved it the most of any of them... still isn't something I'd consider seeing because I don't go to theaters to see big dramatic movies. Certainly not one where I don't recognize any of the people working on it. Very much deserved, though, considering they'd been nominated a couple times and it was the only award they won all night.

As for the TV and made-for-TV perspective, "Behind the Candelabra" was a huge winner for best mini-series or made-for-TV movie and Michael Douglas winning best actor. That was a really well done movie and I thought it was a very compelling portrayal of Liberace (who I saw a biography of YEARS ago that had an impact on me)... I just hated how the last hour ran... so slow and so depressing that took away a little from what made it good to begin with... Steven Soderbergh did that to me in "Magic Mike" too, which I saw just before that.

The winning actress in that category was Elizabeth Moss for a Sundance channel film "Top of the Lake"... never heard of it before tonight, same with "Dancing on the edge" (it's on Starz, apparently, not all of us are lucky to have that channel). According to my mom and dad, the actress Jacqueline Bissist who won for best supporting actress had been around for a LONG time and it was her first ever win.
It took a long time for her to get going with her speech (as was the case with a lot of winners who didn't expect to win), but once she did, she was kinda funny to listen to, especially with that accent.

Supporting actor went to Jon Voight for his work on "Ray Donovan"... the way he was dressed reminded me of his cameo in "Tropic Thunder" where he was expecting to win an Oscar and instead was annoyed that it went to Tugg Speedman (seriously, who gets nominated AND wins for playing a part in a documentary... I always found that kinda odd, no matter how much I love that movie).

One win proved that times really are a changin'... Robin Wright won for best actress in a drama... and that drama was the Netflix series, "House of Cards."
Yet part of me kept thinking how annoyed a lot of "Scandal" fans probably are that, once again, Kerry Washington got passed over. A couple of my friends on Facebook love her in that show... I've yet to see it.

After the first two awards, (J-Law and Bissett), they made a quick shift to TV.
The category was best actor in a drama... I half-expected it to be Bryan Cranston and was beyond ecstatic that he did get the honor... considering how much people have been raving about "Breaking Bad" and how much they already miss it (again, I have yet to see it, but after this, I'm starting to consider reruns).
But then, part of that enthusiasm was that James Spader DIDN'T win for "The Blacklist"... I'm guessing he's too busy filming that or the next "Avengers" movie to even show up, but I've got my own personal bone to pick with him that needs its own entry to fully go into.

Then the awesomeness continued when "Breaking Bad," which had been nominated every year since its inception, finally won for best TV drama.
I just felt this itch coming from all the fans of the series (they're everywhere, supposedly) and how much they'd explode if the show got that last bit of respect after it was over.
I remember them bringing up the category and thinking that Bryan Cranston should wait a moment cuz he might be going back up. And the cherry on top, I'm sure for a lot of people, was that Aaron Paul had the last word: "yeah, bitch!"... that's gotta be his catch phrase on the show or something.

There was maybe one other award that I felt didn't go to the right person...
just doesn't seem fair that Amy Poehler is co-hosting this thing and she won best actress in a comedy... not just cuz she and Tina Fey were giving Julia-Louis Dreyfus grief all night for going back and forth between the movie and TV tables, but also cuz my girl Zooey Deschanel got passed over again.
C'mon, now!

That little bit aside, and possibly the awkward "Mr. Golden Globe" bit, Tina and Amy were true-to-form great hosts. Their monologue poked fun in a playful way, just inches away from crossing any lines. The most memorable had to be the Matt Damon comment (which he continued on with when he took the stage to present later on, lol) and the George Clooney comment about him not wanting to date someone the same age.

I don't remember seeing him or Brad Pitt or even Angelina Jolie (who I was kinda pleased not to see, don't care for her much) there at all. Yet at the end of the night, the "12 years a slave" crew gave props to Brad Pitt for helping them get their picture made...
Clooney supposedly had a lot of influence on "Argo" the year before, so that has to be the latest big thing in Hollywood.
Get A-list toppers Clooney and Brad Pitt involved in your picture and it's bound to go far.

So ends that awards show... phew... I'm debating about whether to do an entry on the Oscar nominees later this week, but there's really no hurry with that one. The show doesn't come until March.

...one last night.
Lea Thompson was my other favorite moment of the night. She was presenting with her heels in one hand and a martini in the other. When it came to opening the envelope, she decided to toss the shoes behind her and trade the martini glass for the envelope :-P
still think she shoulda won for "Saving Mr. Banks"... another movie I'd like to see as well.

Like I said, there'll be plenty of time to see everything before the big night.