January 12, 2014

GOLDEN GLOBES 2014 – A MIXED BAG

The 71st Golden Globe Awards offered several hilarious moments, and a few very surprising results. Let’s recall what went down…


MOTION PICTURES
Having not yet watched many of the awards hopeful films this year, I didn’t have any strong opinions on which movies should win or will win this year. Except for Leonardo DiCaprio. He was outstanding in The Wolf Of Wall Street and he absolutely deserved to win for it. I hope this means that the Academy will also go with a similar decision of their Best Actor at the Oscars. It came as no surprise that Cate Blanchett won for Blue Jasmine. What was surprising was seeing Matthew McConaughey winning an award. He’s really evolved as an actor and his win, along with Jared Leto’s, for Best Supporting Actor makes me want to watch Dallas Buyers Club even more. However, the biggest winner among motion pictures at the Golden Globes was American Hustle, winning three, including Best Picture Comedy, Actress Comedy and Supporting Actress. It’s become quite clear that American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave are the frontrunners for the Oscars later in March.

TELEVISION
The television results were an equal mix of satisfactory, surprising and unexpected. BREAKING BAD finally winning a Globe for Best Series Drama was probably the highlight of the TV results, along with Bryan Cranston finally winning for his consistent and stellar performance on the show. Robin Wright’s performance on HOUSE OF CARDS rightfully earned her the win for Best Actress Drama. In the supporting acting categories, it was unfortunate that Aaron Paul didn’t win for his portrayal of Jesse Pinkman. In the comedy categories, it was quite nice to see Amy Poehler win for PARKS AND RECREATION. I don’t remember ever seeing the host at an award show actually winning an award. But the biggest shocker of the evening was BROOKLYN NINE-NINE winning not one, but two Golden Globes, including Andy Samberg taking away the prize for Best Actor Comedy, and the win for Best Series Comedy. The latter was robbed from THE BIG BANG THEORY, I feel. The show has never won and deserves to win more than any other comedy series out there, according to me. I haven’t seen all that much of BROOKLYN NINE-NINE, so I might later just feel that these results were justified, but for now, I’m not all that thrilled. I was happy that Kerry Washington didn’t win for SCANDAL, or Lena Dunham for GIRLS, or that GIRLS didn’t win Best Series Comedy, an award that was wasted on that show last year.

THE SHOW
The first six minutes of the telecast were being spoken of on the red carpet before the show began, and that opening act by hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey were definitely worth talking about. They did an outstanding job, a second time around. Their jokes were fresh and entertaining, while being edgy, yet not offensive to anyone. The bits about Julia Louis-Dreyfus having graduated to film from TV and having airs about it was absolutely hilarious, especially with Louis-Dreyfus’ participation, and Reese Witherspoon sitting beside her. Also, the dig at George Clooney, mentioning how he’d rather float into space and die than be around women his own age, was another really funny moment. Among their later moments on stage, Tina Fey’s introduction of presenter Leonardo DiCaprio was a hoot. “Like a supermodel’s vagina!” she said! 
     
The acceptance speeches were also rather entertaining. The most endearing was probably the very first one—Jennifer Lawrence’s—but the best, in my opinion was Matthew McConaughey’s, complete with a relevant anecdote, and a personal touch, keeping it simple and effective. Alfonso Cuaron’s mention of ‘herpes’ was quite funny. Leonardo DiCaprio’s speech was also nice, with his kind words for Martin Scorsese, and the clever guy took some more time when he came back to present the next award. One speech that dragged on was Jacqueline Bisset’s. It was probably the first time when someone completely ignored the ‘time-up’ track during an acceptance speech. While the tribute to Woody Allen was nice and Diane Keaton’s speech wasn’t boring, I thought it was all just a waste, considering that Allen didn’t even show. While I missed seeing a few awards regulars like Anne Hathaway and Kate Winslet among the attendees, it was nice to see faces that we haven’t in a while, including Jim Carrey, Colin Farrell, and Johnny Depp, even though he seemed high on something and completely disinterested. However, the positives of the show outweighed the negatives. The Golden Globes turned out to be a good start to the Award Season 2014. Here’s looking forward to the next one—the SAG Awards on Saturday.

Click here for a complete list of winners: http://www.goldenglobes.com/golden_globe_winners

What did you think of the Globes this year? Did your favorites win? Did you like the hosts as much as I did? Do share your views below. 

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