User Reviews

The title summarizes pretty nicely what we got here, namely "The 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards", the most recent edition of Hollywood's actors distributing their big prizes among each other for small screen projects and theatrical releases. They went hostless, which was probably not the worst choice looking at how even the Golden Globes were fairly forgettable this time despite a legend like Gervais hosting. There is no point really if they cut the material to family-friendly. Then it is better to go without a host completely like they did her and also like they are doing it at the 2020 Oscars. But we are not far enough for that yet. As for the winners, I think it has been a while since last time that the 4 acting winners for the Oscars were really as safe as they are this year and if anybody still has doubts that Phoenix, Zellweger, Pitt and Dern could lose, then these are probably off the table now again as all four succeeded. Phhoenix winning is definitely my favorite from the bunch, even if I do not really mind most of the others. But it is funny how everybody talked about Jared Leto's take ont he Joker back then, which turned out really nothing special (already through the minimal screen time alone), but Phoenix is dominating everywhere. He has 4 or 5 performances that I like more than this one here, but that is just because I find him so awesome, not because he is weak or anythign here. On the contrary, his performance was good enough to even get director Todd Phillips a coattail nomination for Best Directing for a film that really except for Phoenix was nothing special at all. Anyway, what I actually wanted to say was also how much I liked Phoenix' speech last night. The tribute to DiCaprio was truly funny, which shows how much talent Phoenix also has as a comedic actor and the words he said about the other nominees were really nice too. And finally, his brief tribute to Heath Ledger (who also won big for his Joker portrayal before dying) was truly touching. As for the others, Pitt was fine, Zellweger looked better this time than last time and Dern I am mostly only cheering for because of her dad. What were the biggest surprises of the night? Certainly how Mrs. Maisel succeeded so considerably instead of Fleabag. The best example is how when the former won Best Ensemble, the recipient was even embarrassed that they won and not Fleabag that "only" won Best Actress. Or at least she wanted us to believe that. But hey, even if I like Andrew Scott, being a big Monk fan I take Tony Shalhoub over him any day. Parasite won best ensemble, not a big upset, but maybe also not the most likely outcome. I am not too happy about it and I think the film is a bit overrated.

Michelle Williams managed to win a category with Patricia Arquette in it, which is always a challenger, but I like it. I have not seen Fosse/Verdon (yet), but her clip looked really good and I think she is deserving. Also nice that we could do without another political speech by Arquette this way like we saw it at the Golden Globes, here Arquette won a category going against Streep even. Then again, Williams has been sweeping this awards season. Good for her. What was definitely more surprising than her win was Sam Rockwell's triumph because I think it was the first major award he won for his Fosse portrayal. I like him, so I thought it was a positive surprise that he won and not either Jerome or Harris, who were bigger favorites to win I think. Maybe Russell Crowe was even more likely. As for other wins, well I don't care much about Game of Thrones or Dinklage, but I find it a bit strange that he is the only one from the cast who basically won any acting awards for the show. It's over now and I am ginda glad. always found it overrated. Jennifer Aniston won too, not a big surprise, but as Colman has a really good record with awards bodies, things definitely could have gone differently. Maybe HBC really took away too many votes from her for the same project. Comer and Moss weren't without a chance either I'd say. I just cannot take Aniston seriously as an actress anyway I must admit, especially not as a dramatic actress. I like Witherspoon and maybe that was the key that the latter could not take any votes away from Aniston unlike HBC from Colman. Now I said already there were no hosts, but the show started with Eugene Levy, who was hilarious and could also make for a great host, and his rather unfunny son. Eugene's face expressions when he constantly hears he is not nominated and how great everybody else is were perhaps the best moment of the night. What else can I say? Oh yeah, this ran for 100 minutes.

Robert De Niro received a lifetime achievement award and he was introduced by DiCaprio. I mean I know they have the utmost repect for each other, bit all the things he said it was just too much in my opinion and reallly felt like sucking up. As for De Niro, he is a brilliant actor and has always been among the best from his age group (perhaps only inferior to Pacino), but I was not too impressed by his speech and even less impressed by how one really has to take the lifetime achievement stage to make anti-presidential propaganda. You don't like Trump. We all got it by now. Also that it is not just you. How about keep it until next year when anti-Trump statement will appear everywhere again, especially in liberal Hollywood, with the re-election coming closer. Speaks for their greatness that the likes of Phoenix etc. did not comment on this subject. Gervais hit the nail on the head when he said that they should do without statements like these, not just at the Globes, but everywhere. Okay, let's not drift away now. Back to the 2020 SAG Award edition. I thought it was very essential and I liked that, not longer than needed. This is also a positive side effect from the absence of a host. By the way, I still find it really really strange that they say "than you for the actor". Come on, it is an awards, not an actor. The Eddie winners also do not say "Thank you for the Editor" as far as I know. And in addition, I want to get off my chest that there is nothing discriminatory about being called an actress, girls. Okay, to sum it all up, "The Crown" won Best Drama Ensemble, so the love was shared there too with the two actresses coming short. One final thing: I really liked the introduction to cancelled TV shows and that the include a collection of shots and scenes from these for a farewell. As for this specific introduction, it was so charming that I thought it would have worked even better to introduce the deceased this way. Maybe just my opinion, but I really liked how they expressed that even if they are gone (the shows), they are still really close to us. By the way, I amm somebody who really does not care about either special effects or spectacular action sequences, but it is very disrespectful to exclude nothing but stunt ensembles. Come on give them their moment in the spotlight too, it is just an additional 6 minutes or so for both. And you don't need to make introductions like they are included for theatrical release casts. Actually, I like them, but I do not like that they don't do these for television shows. It does make sense because this way the show would maybe be too packed and we would have as many presentations as awards (I don't mean awards presentations), so maybe just exclude those for the movies too and yeah get in stunt ensembles instead in 2021 and afterwards. It was an okay awards show. I love these most of the time, so I give it a thumbs-up. Maybe people who like them less than myself will not really be as enthusiastic (okay that is an exaggeration), but then again you don't really need me to tell you if this is worth seeing because I am pretty sure you know very well about movie awards shows and have seen others before this edition here, so go decide for yourself and maybe also take into consideration which actors are holding speeches here (some winners were really safe before that already) and how much you have seen from and like the nominees. And now that they are known, it's probably less interesting anyway. unless you care about the dresses and outfits haha, now that is one are where I can really say nothing about, to perfect moment to end my review now.