Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The 2016 Golden Globes Winners

Hosted this past Sunday by the very funny and delightfully inappropriate Ricky Gervais, the Globes did not do themselves any favor if they were hoping to clean up their reputation for being easily bought, something several people joked about on stage that very same night. More on this later.

The ceremony was actually quite funny and entertaining. I liked that several of the winners didn't care much about the 30-seconds-per-speech limit (after all, it's their night isn't it?), just as many of the presenters themselves carved out generous amounts of time for their little gigs.

I liked it because, as I've said in the past, I enjoy these ceremonies and don't really care if they go overtime. They come once a year. If you don't enjoy them, don't tune in. There's countless other channels to watch.

There was plenty of glitz, beautiful dresses, funny gigs, and witty jokes (and muted swears) and people really seemed to be having a good time, thanks no doubt in part to the freely flowing champagne and what not.

Following, are a series of personal comments on the night:

  • The Revenant, a movie I'm looking forward to see for the theme and the lead actors, as well as the direction, took home 3 key prizes, Picture, Director, and Actor, which will undoubtedly boost its chances for the upcoming Academy Awards.
  • Spotlight, the early favorite was completely shut out.
  • The Martian, another movie I can't wait to see for theme, actor, and director, took home Picture and Actor, as a, ahem, comedy...

    This oddity, by the way, was noted by Gervais as well as Matt Damon and Ridley Scott themselves. And how could they not? I mean, clearly the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) wanted to reward The Martian, Damon, and Scott, but they also didn't want to award them the (more important) drama prizes, so they just singlehandedly pretended it was a comedy. I mean, maybe Damon makes a lot of jokes in the movie, but from what I know of the script, it's hardly a funny story. Then again, the HFPA is known to thumb its nose at Hollywood and make its own rules when it wants to.

    The sad (infuriating?) thing here, and something that I think is well worth noting, is that the Golden Globes are the rare award that splits dramas and comedies, crowning one in each category. Since dramas are widely considered heftier, they generally prevail over comedies (the perennial Cinderellas), so having separate categories allows comedies to shine and be rewarded as well. It's what makes the Golden Globes special in my view, and what gives them an importance or advantage that other awards don't have. Perhaps the only thing... The HFPA had the unique opportunity (duty?) to crown a real comedy as the best of the year, and instead bent itself backward to avoid doing so. Why?!

    Also, can you imagine being the producer, director, or actor of one of the nominated comedies and seeing the award set aside for your category go to a movie that doesn't even belong there? The Big Short got very good reviews, Spy must be very funny, Trainwreck is likely hysterical, and Joy might have been a misstep for Mr. Russell, but they all were unarguably robbed for futile (and wrong) reasons.
  • Could this be the year Leonardo DiCaprio finally takes home an acting Oscar? I've heard he gave an outstanding performance.
  • Cate Blanchett always looks divine.
  • Jennifer Lawrence is beautiful and talented, and apparently the industry is completely smitten with her. How else to explain her win? After all, the movie got very poor reviews and she was once again considered too young for the part (read, miscast). I mean, given her talent she's likely very good, but none of the other 4 actresses were on a par? We're talking about two of comedy's current leading ladies, Melissa McCarthy and Amy Schumer, and two legendary actresses, Maggie Smith and Lily Tomlin!!

    This same reasoning applies to Christian Bale (!!), Steve Carell, Al-fucking-Pacino, and Mark Ruffalo in the Lead Actor Comedy category by the way... They were probably thinking to themselves, Why did I decide to stretch my acting muscles with comedy when it's not ever taken seriously?

    Again, I think it's well worth noting that given that the HFPA was already sacrificing the top comedy prize and that for Lead Actor to the altar of opportunism, did they really have to hand the Lead Actress award to someone they really, really, really like, even though her movie really, really, really isn't that good? Just saying... After all, since the Golden Globes really do seem handpicked rather than secretly voted on, the HFPA ought to have deliberated on this one a bit longer...
  • After almost 40 years since first playing Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone won Best Supporting Actor for resuming the role that made him a star in the latest sequel in the series. Both the movie and his performance got rave reviews, so I have nothing to complain about recognizing him, but what does this do to his chances at an Oscar? His is precisely the kind of triumphant comeback story that Hollywood likes to recognize, so it might be an uphill battle for any other nominee in that category...
  • Kate Winslet looked really surprised to have won Best Supporting Actress, and to be honest the competition was fierce (2015 really was a great year for women roles). She looked amazing!
  • Happy to see the Best Score prize go to the great Italian composer Ennio Morricone, even though Quentin Tarantino, who accepted the Globe on his behalf, unless I misunderstood, said that Morricone had never previously won an award for a score he had composed, which isn't true. He actually won 2 Golden Globes for Best Score previously, one for La Leggenda del Pianista sull'Oceano and the other for The Mission.
  • Is Mr. Robot that good of a show? I guess I'll never know since it's not on my radar, but to take the top drama series prize from heavyweights like Empire and Game of Thrones it better be fucking great.
  • Which brings me to Best Supporting Actor winner Christian Slater, a good actor who apparently finally found his comeback vehicle.
  • The always gorgeous Jon Hamm took his final victory lap for the part that brought him fame and fortune.
  • So, am I to understand that after the excellent Transparent Amazon Prime struck gold again with Mozart in the Jungle, since it took the Best TV Comedy title from the former? I still haven't watched the second season of Transparent (can't wait!!!), but I now wonder if I should take a look at MITJ? Although I'm still quite shocked that it beat not only Transparent but also series like Orange Is the New Black and Veep!!
  • Very surprising (and surprised) was also Gael Garcia Bernal's Best Comedy Actor win, especially with the terrific Jeffrey Tambor in the same category. Oh well, I've always liked him and he's definitely easy on the eyes...
  • And as I had forecast in my previous post, Lady Gaga is now a Golden Globe winner for Best Actress. And this was the other HUGE misstep the HFPA made this year that I had hoped against hope it wouldn't make.

    I've fallen behind with AHS: Hotel so hopefully when I see the new episodes I'll be proven wrong, but I doubt it. As I said, I think the HFPA just wanted to ingratiate itself with Ryan Murphy and they were likely smitten with Lady Gaga and didn't want to pass up the chance to have her listed among their winners (and snap a few more selfies with her...).

    And so another miscarriage of entertainment justice was carried out. I've only seen Queen Latifah's performance in Bessie, but boy oh boy does she give Gaga a run for her money in it!! And Felicity Huffman and Kirsten Dunst are both very good actresses.

    Gaga, to her credit, really did seem genuinely surprised, even shocked, to have won. Evidently, she hadn't read my predictions...
  • On this note, I'm very happy that American Horror Story: Hotel didn't win Best Mini-Series.
  • Unlike Tom Hanks, who did a great job of introducing him for the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award, Denzel Washington looked quite unprepared, if not unprofessional, especially considering that he was the only one who was told beforehand that he was going to receive an award that night.

    Also, I don't really care how much you love you family, no one really cares to see them up there on stage with you. We know and like and respect you, but we don't know them and don't really care to. Frankly, they were just a distraction and his wife ended up stealing his thunder to make up for him just bumbling his way through one of the most prestigious nights of his life. Sad.

    Furthermore, his oldest son couldn't even set his books aside for like 4 hours to be present on the night that the industry is honoring his dad? What, they couldn't afford to fly him first class to and fro for the day? Double sad. And bringing the family onstage only made this one absence more glaring.
  • Finally, the double-takers: Michael Fassbender, Eddie Redmayne, Christian Slater (I've always had a thing for him...), gorgeous redhead Damian Lewis, Patrick Wilson, James Napier (co-writer of the Best Song winner), Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom (gods that accent...), Gael Garcia Bernal (short but yummy...), Rob Lowe (who ages like good wine), Christian Bale, Jon Hamm, and Liev Schreiber, although I'm sure I'm forgetting a few others.

Ok, it's a wrap for me, here's the list of the winners. See you Thursday for the Oscar nominations...

Best Motion Picture, Drama
The Revenant
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Room
Spotlight

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
The Martian
The Big Short
Joy
Spy
Trainwreck

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Brie Larson, Room
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Rooney Mara, Carol
Saiorse Ronin, Brooklyn
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Melissa McCarthy, Spy
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck
Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van
Lily Tomlin, Grandma

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Will Smith, Concussion

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Paul Dano, Love
Idris Elba, Beast of No Nation
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Jane Fonda, Youth
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hateful Eight
Helen Mirren, Trumbo
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

Best Director, Motion Picture
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Todd Haynes, Carol
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott, The Martian

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Matt Damon, The Martian
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Steve Carell, The Big Short
Al Pacino, Danny Collins
Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
Emma Donoghue, Room
Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight
Charles Randolph & Adam McKay, The Big Short
Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Original Score, Motion Picture
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Carter Burwell, Carol
Alexander Desplat, The Danish Girl
Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs
Ryuchi Sakamoto, The Revanant

Best Motion Picture, Animated
Inside Out
Anomalisa
The Good Dinosaur
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Original Song, Motion Picture
“Writing’s on the Wall,” Spectre
“Love Me Like You Do,” Fifty Shades of Grey
“One Kind of Love,” Love & Mercy
“See You Again,” Furious 7
“Simple Song #3,” Youth

Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language
Son of Saul
The Brand New Testament
The Club
The Fencer
Mustang

Best Television Series, Drama
Mr. Robot, USA
Empire, Fox
Game of Thrones, HBO
Narcos, Netflix
Outlander, Starz

Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy
Mozart in the Jungle, Amazon Video
Casual, Hulu
Orange Is the New Black, Netflix
Silicon Valley, HBO
Transparent, Amazon Video
Veep, HBO

Best Television Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Wolf Hall, PBS
American Crime, ABC
American Horror Story: Hotel, FX
Fargo, FX
Flesh and Bone, Starz

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Wagner Moura, Narcos
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical, or Comedy
Gael García Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Aziz Ansari, Master of None
Rob Lowe, The Grinder
Patrick Stewart, Blunt Talk
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
Idris Elba, Luther
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
Patrick Wilson, Fargo

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Damien Lewis, Wolf Hall
Ben Mendelson, Bloodline
Tobias Menzies, Outlander

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Eva Green, Penny Dreadful
Robin Wright, House of Cards

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Maura Tierney, The Affair
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Joanna Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Regina King, American Crime
Judith Light, Transparent

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Lady Gaga, American Horror Story: Hotel
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo
Sarah Hay, Flesh and Bone
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Queen Latifah, Bessie

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Jamie Lee Curtis, Scream Queens
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie 

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