HITS AND MISSES OF THE 2016 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

As usual, some presentations fell flat, and the hosting wasn’t entertaining throughout, but this year’s show had quite a few surprises in store for us.

They call it the drunken Oscars, and when Ricky Gervais takes the stage with a glass of beer, you can see exactly why. The crux of his opening was that the Golden Globes aren’t a big deal, which he found many ways to reiterate and go on about throughout the show. It was funny initially, as it reflected his ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude, and as someone who’s essentially a representative of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, there was a kind of self-deprecating quality that made it particularly amusing, but the theme got old and fast. For a moment after his opening, I felt that this might make the first recipient a little conscious about making a big deal about winning, which might make them hold back a little, but Kate Winslet is too classy and professional to carry forward or even acknowledge any disrespect towards the HFPA when she’s being honored by them. So she went on to give an acceptance speech that reflected how she felt about winning, regardless of the tone Gervais had set.

There were other things though that Gervais tackled well. His mention of Jennifer Lawrence voicing her thoughts on equal pay led to some politically incorrect humor about him getting paid as much as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler collectively got paid for the same job the previous year. That might have ticked off many, but I thought it was funny, and need not have been taken too seriously. His jokes about Mel Gibson, however, weren’t all that funny and seemed quite unnecessary, even if his deliberately taking away the glass of beer from in front of Gibson did make me smile a little. His introduction of Eddie Redmayne as a presenter was mildly amusing, but only if you perceived it as complimenting Redmayne’s performance as a transgender woman in The Danish Girl.  

The presentations weren’t very indulgent this time, and largely stuck to the point, but a few of them did shine. I particularly enjoyed Eva Longoria and America Ferrara’s, which poked fun at racism and seemed spot-on. I also thought Jamie Foxx referencing Steve Harvey’s blunder when announcing this year’s Miss Universe was hilarious. He even quoted Harvey. “It’s on the card. I take full responsibility,” he said. There were a few presentations that were quite off, such as Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell’s, with them trying too hard to be funny, wearing those dumb ‘2016’ party prop sunglasses. Almost as silly was Andy Samberg pretending to have prepared to present the final award of the evening. Jim Carrey talking about being a two-time Golden Globe winner wasn’t as bad, but it was stretched too long.

Among the acceptance speeches, I genuinely thought that Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Lawrence had the finest of the lot. It was quite admirable how Leo found a way to talk about issues close to his heart in the context of the film he’d won for. And Lawrence’s gratitude towards David O. Russell was nicely expressed,

The results in general were quite surprising. I managed to predict only nine out of the twenty-five categories correctly, but I also stated that the Globes had become quite unpredictable lately. The biggest surprises for me were:

1. The Revenant winning best picture, drama, was quite unexpected. I must admit I haven’t seen the film yet, but I didn’t consider it a frontrunner. I really thought that it would be between Mad Max: Fury Road and Spotlight this year.

2. Jon Hamm’s win for MAD MEN. I thought especially since he’d won before, they wouldn’t bother giving it to him again, since MAD MEN was completely left out of the race for best drama series.

3. Maura Tierney’s win for THE AFFAIR was well deserved, but surprising, since the HFPA largely forgot about their last year’s best drama series when shortlisting down to the rest of the nominations this year.

4. MOZART IN THE JUNGLE winning two big awards. It essentially became the BROOKLYN NINE-NINE or TRANSPARENT of 2016. It was not even among the top three frontrunners for best comedy series.

5. The Martian winning best picture, comedy, was surprising indeed. Not because it hardly seemed like a comedy. Remember when The Kids Are All Right won in the same category? That was quite an intense drama, which the HFPA called a comedy, so for The Martian to be categorized as comedy wasn’t all that unusual after that. Its win wasn’t a surprise because it didn’t deserve to win either, because it did. It was a good film. However, I really thought The Big Short would be this year's frontrunner. I was half expecting the HFPA to repeat what they did with The Hangover, giving the Globe to an out-and-out comedy such as Spy this year, but I wasn't surprised that that's not how things turned out. 

6. Steve Jobs winning the Globe for best screenplay was definitely a surprise. Firstly, because it wasn’t as good as Aaron Sorkin’s work usually is. And secondly, this was the other category that I thought The Big Short would shine in.

7. Sylvester Stallone winning for Creed was quite unexpected. I think it was just to extend some kind of courtesy to the veteran.

One thing’s for sure. Things could look a lot differently than one might have imagined, when the Oscars roll out next month. Frontrunners are changing quickly. While the SAG Awards on January 30 could shed some light on what might happen at the Dolby Theater, only after this Thursday’s Oscar nominations announcement will we know for sure if this year’s Golden Globe winning films will even be contenders.

Here’s a complete list of all the winners. (**These were my predictions.)

Best Television Series – Drama

EMPIRE (Fox)

GAME OF THRONES (HBO)

MR. ROBOT (USA)**

NARCOS (Netflix)

OUTLANDER (Starz)

Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical

CASUAL (Hulu)

MOZART IN THE JUNGLE (Amazon)

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix)

SILICON VALLEY (HBO)

TRANSPARENT (Amazon)

VEEP (HBO)**

Best Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

AMERICAN CRIME (ABC)

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL (FX)

FARGO (FX)**

FLESH AND BONE (Starz)

WOLF HALL (BBC)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

Kirsten Dunst, FARGO**

Lady Gaga, AMERICA HORROR STORY: HOTEL

Sarah Hay, FLESH AND BONE

Felicity Huffman, AMERICAN CRIME

Queen Latifah, BESSIE

Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

Idris Elba, LUTHER

Oscar Isaac, SHOW ME A HERO

David Oyelowo, NIGHTINGALE**

Mark Rylance, WOLF HALL

Patrick Wilson, FARGO

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

Caitriona Balfe, OUTLANDER

Viola Davis, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER

Eva Green, PENNY DREADFUL

Taraji P. Henson, EMPIRE**

Robin Wright, HOUSE OF CARDS

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 Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical

Rachel Bloom, CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND**

Jamie Lee Curtis, SCREAM QUEENS

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, VEEP

Gina Rodriguez, JANE THE VIRGIN

Lily Tomlin, GRACE AND FRANKIE

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical

Aziz Ansari, MASTER OF NONE**

Gael Garcia Bernal, MOZART IN THE JUNGLE

Rob Lowe, THE GRINDER

Patrick Stewart, BLUNT TALK

Jeffrey Tambor, TRANSPARENT

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

Uzo Aduba, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK**

Joanne Froggatt, DOWNTON ABBEY

Regina King, AMERICAN CRIME

Judith Light, TRANSPARENT

Maura Tierney, THE AFFAIR

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

Alan Cumming, THE GOOD WIFE

Damian Lewis, WOLF HALL

Ben Mendelsohn, BLOODLINE**

Tobias Menzies, OUTLANDER

Christian Slater, MR. ROBOT

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Carol

Mad Max: Fury Road**

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical

The Big Short**

Joy

The Martian

Spy

Trainwreck

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Cate Blanchett, Carol**

Brie Larson, Room

Rooney Mara, Carol

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant**

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Will Smith, Concussion

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical

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 - Comedy or Musical

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Steve Carell, The Big Short

Matt Damon, The Martian**

Al Pacino, Danny Collins

Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Jane Fonda, Youth

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Helen Mirren, Trumbo

Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs**

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Paul Dano, Love & Mercy

Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation**

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Michael Shannon, 99 Homes

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Director - Motion Picture

Todd Haynes, Carol

Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road**

Ridley Scott, The Martian

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Emma Donoghue, Room

Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight

Charles Randolph, Adam McKay, The Big Short**

Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs

Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Animated Feature Film

Anomalisa

The Good Dinosaur

Inside Out**

The Peanuts Movie

Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Foreign-Language Film

The Brand New Testament (Belgium/France/Luxembourg)

The Club (Chile)

The Fencer (Finland/Germany/Estonia)

Mustang (France)

Son of Saul (Hungary)**

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Carter Burwell, Carol

Alexandre Desplat, The Danish Girl**

Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight

Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs

Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto, The Revenant

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

"Love me Like You Do" – Fifty Shades of Grey, written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Ali Payami, Ilya Salmanzadeh

"One Kind of Love" – Love & Mercy, written by Brian Wilson, Scott Bennett

"See You Again" – Furious 7, written by Justin Franks, Andrew Cedar, Charlie Puth, Cameron Thomaz**

"Simple Song #3" – Youth, written by David Lang

"Writing’s on the Wall" – Spectre, written by Sam Smith, Jimmy Napes