Last night’s Golden Globes were made more exciting by a power outage in my neighborhood; not a lot of surprises and no one film dominated.
“12 Years a Slave” took best motion picture drama and “American Hustle” took best motion picture comedy or musical. “American Hustle” also nabbed acting awards for Amy Adams (best actress) and Jennifer Lawrence (best supporting actress) giving it the most wins but not a terribly decisive victory. Its win also highlighted the odd collection of best comedy/musical nominees. In addition to “American Hustle” there were "Her," "Inside Llewyn Davis," "Nebraska," and "The Wolf of Wall Street." There can be an argument made for “Inside Llewyn Davis” being a musical but really? Are those others comedies? They might have had comic moments and a sense of humor but really none were what anyone would initially label comedies. This seems to point out two things. One, there were no break out Hollywood comedy hits, and two, the Golden Globes wanted to spread out the honors among the Hollywood films.
The Hollywood Foreign Press is an odd little group, something winner Robin Wright alluded to in her acceptance speech. But they seem to be okay with that and have allowed their hosts and presenters to tease them about offering bribes in exchange for awards. For some they will never overcome the scandal of giving Pia Zadora the New Star of the Year Award in 1981 for “Butterfly” (a film that had not even opened in the U.S. at that time). Critics who had seen the film had cited hers as one of the worst performances, and she won over Elizabeth McGovern (“Ragtime”) and Kathleen Turner (“Body Heat”). How did this happen? Some suggest it was because her producer husband had invited members of the Hollywood Foreign Press to Vegas to see his wife perform.
Ricky Gervais teased the organization mercilessly when he hosted the show in 2010 and joked that he wouldn’t likely be back. But he was in 2011 and 2012. But apparently it got too painful so Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have taken over. Last year the ladies struggled with horrible material but this year they seem to have found a comfortable style of jabs at celebrities mixed with self-deprecating humor. Tina Fey got in the best celebrity jab might have been at Michael Bay who walked off the stage at the CES convention unable to ad lib without a teleprompter. All in all they were agreeable and entertaining hosts.
The awards themselves are often entertaining because alcohol is served continuously during the evening, hence the joke of Emma Thompson coming onstage as a presenter with her high heels slung over her shoulder and a drink in hand. But there were no real embarrassing moments on stage. The teleprompter failed for Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie, and someone walked out and handed them a printed script.
One highlight was when Jacqueline Bisset (looking great at 69) won best supporting actress in a series, miniseries or TV movie for "Dancing on the Edge." She came to the stage speechless and then got bleeped and then had the orchestra play to try and get her off stage but the always classy Bisset stayed and said her piece in one of the night’s most sincere speeches. Unlike so many of the winners, she did not simply rattle off a list of names and end with a nod to her agent. Robin Wright was similarly elegant in her acceptance of the best actress in TV series drama for “House of Cards.” Jon Voight’s attempt to dominate the stage to run long for his acceptance speech for best supporting actor in a series, miniseries or TV movie for “Ray Donovan” did not go over as well nor did Spike Jonze’s rambling for winning best screenplay for “Her.” There was also a moment when The Edge (of U2) was accepting the award for best song for "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," where he sounded almost like he was crediting the band with bringing an end to Apartheid.
The night’s most deserved awards went to Bryan Cranston for best actor in a TV series drama for his role of Walter White in “Breaking Bad” and the show for best TV series drama. “House of Cards” was equally deserving but it has another season to come and “Breaking Bad” had just delivered its final season. Kudos to “Breaking Bad” for being one of the best shows to ever grace the TV screen. Sadly Aaron Paul was overlooked for best supporting actor.
Among the most deserving winners in the motion picture categories included Cate Blanchett’s best actress drama award for her flawless performance as the very flawed title character in “Blue Jasmine;” and Matthew McConaughey (best actor drama) and Jared Leto (best supporting actor) for their exquisite work in “Dallas Buyers Club.” But Leonardo DiCaprio (“Wolf of Wall Street”) winning over Bruce Dern (“Nebraska”) in the best actor comedy/musical was simply wrong. Although it was nice to see Dern’s daughter Laura Dern introduce the clip to “Nebraska” and pay homage to her talented dad. The most undeserving award went to Alex Ebert for his score for "All Is Lost." That score so grated on my nerves that I almost left the film. His acceptance speech had the same effect on me.
The Golden Globes, along with the upcoming Critic Choice Awards (given out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association) on January 16, are often seen as good gauges of what to expect at the Oscars (nominations come out January 16 and the awards will be given out on March 2). This year both organizations had very similar nominees, which suggests no surprises at the Oscars.
Below is a complete list of nominees and winners.
Motion picture, drama
WINNER: "12 Years a Slave"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"Philomena"
"Rush"
Motion picture, musical or comedy
WINNER: "American Hustle"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"
Actress in a motion picture, drama
WINNER: Cate Blanchett - "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock - "Gravity"
Judi Dench - "Philomena
Emma Thompson - "Saving Mr. Banks"
Kate Winslet - "Labor Day"
Actor in a motion picture, drama
WINNER: Matthew McConaughey - "Dallas Buyers Club"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "12 Years a Slave"
Idris Elba - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
Tom Hanks - "Captain Phillips"
Robert Redford - "All Is Lost"
Actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy
WINNER: Amy Adams - "American Hustle" | More
Julie Delpy - "Before Midnight"
Greta Gerwig - "Frances Ha"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - "Enough Said"
Meryl Streep - "August: Osage County"
Actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy
WINNER: Leonardo DiCaprio - "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Christian Bale - "American Hustle"
Bruce Dern - "Nebraska"
Oscar Isaac - "Inside Llewyn Davis"
Joaquin Phoenix - "Her"
Supporting actress in a motion picture
WINNER: Jennifer Lawrence - "American Hustle"
Sally Hawkins - "Blue Jasmine"
Lupita Nyong'o - "12 Years a Slave"
Julia Roberts - "August: Osage County"
June Squibb - "Nebraska"
Supporting actor in a motion picture
WINNER: Jared Leto - "Dallas Buyers Club"
Barkhad Abdi - "Captain Phillips"
Daniel Brühl - "Rush"
Bradley Cooper - "American Hustle"
Michael Fassbender - "12 Years a Slave"
Director
WINNER: Alfonso Cuarón - "Gravity"
Paul Greengrass - "Captain Phillips"
Steve McQueen - "12 Years a Slave"
Alexander Payne - "Nebraska"
David O. Russell - "American Hustle"
Screenplay
WINNER: Spike Jonze - "Her"
Bob Nelson - "Nebraska"
Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan - "Philomena"
John Ridley - "12 Years a Slave"
Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell - "American Hustle"
Foreign-language film
WINNER: "The Great Beauty"
"Blue Is the Warmest Color"
"The Hunt"
"The Past"
"The Wind Rises"
Animated feature film
WINNER: "Frozen"
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
Original song
WINNER: "Ordinary Love" - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
"Atlas" - "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
"Let It Go" - "Frozen"
"Please Mr. Kennedy" - "Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Sweeter Than Fiction" - "One Chance"
Original score
WINNER: Alex Ebert - "All Is Lost"
Alex Heffes - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
Steven Price - "Gravity"
John Williams - "The Book Thief"
Hans Zimmer - "12 Years a Slave"
TV series, drama
WINNER: "Breaking Bad"
"Downton Abbey"
"The Good Wife"
"House of Cards"
"Masters of Sex"
TV series, comedy
WINNER: "Brooklyn Nine-Nine"
"The Big Bang Theory"
"Girls"
"Modern Family"
"Parks and Recreation"
TV movie or miniseries
WINNER: "Behind the Candelabra"
"American Horror Story: Coven"
"Dancing on the Edge"
"Top of the Lake"
"The White Queen"
Actress in a TV series, drama
WINNER: Robin Wright - "House of Cards"
Julianna Margulies - "The Good Wife"
Tatiana Maslany - "Orphan Black"
Taylor Schilling - "Orange Is the New Black"
Kerry Washington - "Scandal"
Actor in a TV series, drama
WINNER: Bryan Cranston - "Breaking Bad"
Liev Schreiber - "Ray Donovan"
Michael Sheen - "Masters of Sex"
Kevin Spacey - "House of Cards"
James Spader - "The Blacklist"
Actress in a TV series, comedy
WINNER: Amy Poehler - "Parks and Recreation"
Zooey Deschanel - "New Girl"
Lena Dunham - "Girls"
Edie Falco - "Nurse Jackie"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - "Veep"
Actor, TV series, comedy
WINNER: Andy Samberg - "Brooklyn Nine-Nine"
Jason Bateman - "Arrested Development"
Don Cheadle - "House of Lies"
Michael J. Fox - "The Michael J. Fox Show"
Jim Parsons - "The Big Bang Theory"
Actress in a miniseries or TV movie
WINNER: Elisabeth Moss - "Top of the Lake"
Helena Bonham Carter - "Burton and Taylor"
Rebecca Ferguson - "White Queen"
Jessica Lange - "American Horror Story: Coven"
Helen Mirren - "Phil Spector"
Actor in a miniseries or TV movie
WINNER: Michael Douglas - "Behind the Candelabra"
Matt Damon - "Behind the Candelabra"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "Dancing on the Edge"
Idris Elba - "Luther"
Al Pacino - "Phil Spector"
Supporting actress in a series, miniseries or TV movie
WINNER: Jacqueline Bisset - "Dancing on the Edge"
Janet McTeer - "White Queen"
Hayden Panettiere - "Nashville"
Monica Potter - "Parenthood"
Sofia Vergara - "Modern Family"
Supporting actor in a series, miniseries or TV movie
WINNER: Jon Voight - "Ray Donovan"
Josh Charles - "The Good Wife"
Rob Lowe - "Behind the Candelabra"
Aaron Paul - "Breaking Bad"
Corey Stoll - "House of Cards"
