2012 Golden Globe Awards: Winners List

My Kid Could Paint That was the last film I saw at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and is a fascinating look at the story of four year old Marla Olmstead, who a couple of years ago took the art world by storm by rocketing from lower middle class obscurity to international fame through the sale of her paintings. This documentary by director Amir Bar-Lev is extremely well done and is about as close to neutral as I think one could


The viewer is left to draw their own conclusion and although I liked that the film did that, another part of me would have liked a definitive conclusion. Having said that, it's probably better that it was left open-ended because too many documentaries have an obvious agenda meant to convince the viewer of some particular point of v


In the aftermath of the 2012 Golden Globes ceremony , Hollywood "in-crowd" types like George Clooney and Meryl Streep are favored to take home the gold for acting, while multiple Globe-winning films such a good point as The Artist and The Descendants are considered heavyweight contenders for the coveted Best Picture Os



My Kid Could Paint That is a documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev, exploring the story of Marla Olmstead, a 4-year-old abstract painter whose work garnered international attention and considerable market value. The film examines the ensuing media frenzy, accusations of fraud, and the ethics of exploiting a child prodigy for commercial gain, while questioning the authenticity and value of modern


We meet the family, consisting of Marla, a younger brother and her parents. The first half of the documentary tells the story of what led up to the discovery of Marla's paintings (first displayed at a local coffee shop just for fun) and the ensuing fame and eventual media blitz. The Olmstead's introduction to the world came through a local newspaper reporter who comes across as extremely ethical on both the journalism side of things as well as the human side. Before writing her initial story about Marla and her paintings, she asked the Olmsteads very clearly whether they really wanted her to write the story, because although there was a positive side to the publicity there could also be some negative consequences down the r


Martin Scorsese's Hugo led the way with eleven nominations, stacking up many a nod in the technical categories, while Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist was close behind with ten total. Academy members clearly love a good homage to the magic of old-fashioned cinema - be it a Hollywood flick set in Paris or a French production set in Hollywood. Moving o


The director interjects himself into his own documentary to express his suddenly conflicted feelings on the entire project due to the extreme turn of events. I think this really adds to the sense of neutrality of the film as you see that this was very unexpected. He's known the family for quite a while now, and although they seem very honest and forthright he is plagued with doubts... in particular because throughout the months he's spent with them he has not managed to capture her creating one of her paintings on f


In the end the family manages to at least partially gain back the trust of the art world by finally documenting on film themselves Marla creating a painting called "Ocean" from start to finish. Although that particular painting does share similarities to prior paintings, it actually seems less sophisticated than those that have come before. Since then they have documented another painting from start to finish called "Rain", which does seem to be closer to the style of the earlier painti


Amir Bar-Lev, the director of the film, spent an entire year with the Olmsteads shooting this documentary. He became aware of them by reading a story about Marla and her paintings in the New York Times. His initial approach to the documentary was to take a look at the world of modern art, but as things progressed he saw that the real story was what was going on with Marla and her fam


For much of the evening, Michael Hazanavicius’ black-and-white silent film homage, The Artist , swept the Golden Globes in the comedy category, coming out on top overall with three wins for Best Original Score, Best Actor and Best Picture. Over on the drama side, Alexander Payne's The Descendants t ook home the most awards in the drama category with a Best Actor win for George Clooney and Best Pict



Hounddog is a drama film directed by Deborah Kampmeier, starring Dakota Fanning as a young girl named Lewellen who finds solace in Elvis Presley's music while growing up in the rural South. The film delves into themes of trauma, resilience, and the transformative power of music. David Morse and Robin Wright Penn play pivotal supporting roles, contributing to the film's exploration of complicated family dynamics and personal stren


The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has officially announced its nominations for the 2012 Golden Globes show - and, just like any year, there are many obvious selections, a few surprises, and more than a handful of choices that are bound to rub moviegoers of all shades the wrong (or, in some cases, the right)