Pick Your Poison: Monday 1-13-14

Happy Monday! If you’re an avid follower of my Twitter feed, or just read everything this site has to offer, you might know that in addition to my crippling obsession over music, I have a similar addiction to movies. A few days ago I sat down and did a count, and realized that in the past year I saw over 150 films that were released in 2013. In other words, that’s not even counting movies I watched that came out in any previous years meaning my quarterly viewings of The Big Lebowski don’t count as part of that list. So yes, I think I saw more movies last year than any other in my life so far. There was a lot of crap, and some really incredible, life-changing films that made the previous crap worthwhile. In my own way, I loved every second spent in the dark of a movie theater, shut off from the rest of the world. The reason why I bring this up is because the Golden Globes happened over the weekend, and outside of live tweeting the whole thing with snarky commentary, I want to briefly offer up some thoughts about the ceremony as a whole outside of the 140 character restriction. It’s fascinating to me that while the Golden Globes are intended to be a looser and more fun movie awards show than the Oscars, this year they really tried to up the ante and push for more sincerity and prestige. The main evidence of this comes in the Best Picture – Comedy or Musical category, which featured such luminaries as American Hustle and Her, both of which might easily be considered more drama with a couple of laughs thrown in for good measure. These are not the sorts of films that would have wound up in this category at the Globes previously, but they bent the rules just a bit for the sake of snatching some Oscar-like prestige. Not that the awards ceremony itself was anything less than the goofy and charming “let’s watch celebrities get drunk and ramble on stage” fest that it has been in the past. Then again, very few people (less than normal) appeared inebriated this year, though kudos to Emma Thompson for actually bringing a drink with her on stage. That, plus many of the people and films that took home Globes might soon find themselves left out in the cold when Oscar comes calling. Do you really think that Amy Adams, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey really stand that much of a chance against performances from Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor and veteran Bruce Dern? The Hollywood Foreign Press, which only has around 100 members, is a bit more flighty in who they give awards to compared to the gigantic voting body for the Academy Awards. But then again, I suppose those differences are what makes both shows worth watching. I’ve got a whole lot more to say on this topic as well as the year in film that was 2013, but I’ll spare you from it so I can get today’s Pick Your Poison out of the way. Enjoy tracks today from The Co, Daniel Rossen (of Grizzly Bear), Jack Name, Jettison Tape, Passenger Peru (covering Roxy Music) and Chicago MC Tree. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream tracks from Angel Olsen, Owls, Saint Pepsi, Snowbird, Tomas Barfod and Woods, among others.