The 67th Annual Golden Globes were given out tonight with "Avatar" taking the top awards. Here's a blow by blow recap from my Twitter posts. You can see all the nominees and winners on the Hollywood Foreign Press site. The Golden Globes are given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press to feature films, and TV movies, mini-series, and shows.
Coverage of the red carpet began at 4pm and in the rain. Actresses tried to keep their designer dresses dry under umbrellas. Once again a lot of beautiful women looked bad in expensive clothes. The repercussion of tough economic times could be see in the dress styles this year. Necklines plunged as much as the economy revealing plenty of cleavage and boobs to raise spirits. Plus it looked like actresses couldn't afford sleeves or straps as most dresses were strapless or only had on strap -- sometimes looking like an afterthought.
Once again the Hollywood Foreign Press made the smart choice of hiring Ricky Gervais as host. He began the evening on a high note by teasing Steve Carell for getting all the credit for the clever ideas on the American version of "The Office" when all those bright ideas came from him, Ricky Gervais. So Ricky plugged HIS "The Office," made penis jokes, and taunted celebs. Great way to start.
First award of the night was Best Supporting Actress and the award went to Mo'Nique for "Precious." No surprise here and she gave a tearful speech hitting all the expected emotional notes.
The next award of interest was for Best Supporting Actor in a Mini-Series or TV Movie. It went deservedly to John Lithgow for his serial killer in "Dexter." Love his work but he gave a dull speech. Predictably he thanked his agent and his wife among a laundry list of others.
For Best Animated Film, "Up" beat the fantastic "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Filmmaker Peter Docter also thanks his spouse and gets cut short on his acceptance speech. Earlier no one dared cut Mo'Nique off.
Felicity Huffman is the first drunk presenter, okay maybe she's just ditzy but she couldn't get any of her lines right and kept trying to start over. Ricky just said a Golden Globe can't be bought... officially.
Scariest presenter of the night so far is Cher. Best Song goes to "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart." It's the only real song nominated. But this category should be eliminated because it only encourages bad songs to be made in movies for the sole purpose of getting nominated for these silly awards. Best Score goes to "Up."
Going to the break there's a shot of Colin Farrell and Pierce Brosnan. Think they're drinking? That's the thing about the Golden Globes: They serve alcohol and there's always the chance of a drunken scene by someone.
Okay Harrison Ford gives Cher a run for her money as scariest presenter. He looks embalmed introducing a clip from "Up in the Air."
Best Mini-Series or TV Movie goes to "Grey Gardens." The winners are getting lost on their way up to stage. Whole cast goes up with the producers and seeing Jessica Lange makes me wish she hadn't gotten that plastic surgery. She has only one expression now. People who read their speeches get the music and the hook.
Already at Best Actress Comedy or Musical with Meryl Streep competing against herself and winning. Streep mercifully wins for the better of the two nominated films:"Julie and Julia" rather than "It's Complicated." She gives a nice speech thanking her mom and talking about being a vessel to show the lives of great women. (By the way, Colin Farrell gave out the award and got the best intro from Ricky.)
Helen Mirren is so classy... Even when she has to introduce "Precious." She is one of the best dressed and most elegant looking actress at the event.
Kevin Bacon wins Best Actor in a TV Movie or Mini-Series. I had picked him to win because he was the only American in category.
Best Actress in TV Movie or Mini-Series goes to Drew Barrymore in "Grey Gardens." She's the most nervous and loony winner yet. But at least her acceptance speech feels spontaneous.
Ricky Gervais introduces the writing category as a bit of a "downer" and makes fun of the fact that writers get no respect in Hollywood. Best Screenplay goes to Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for "Up in the Air." Quentin Tarantino is cheated out of the award. Jason calls his wife the "fuel to his creative fire." Aw how cute. No divorce looming here.
Samuel L. Jackson presents "Inglourious Basterds" as "the feel good movie of the year." Damn right. Then he introduces Sophia Loren "a real legend." And yes she is. Too bad she allowed herself to appear in "Nine."
Surprisingly, the Best Foreign Film award goes to Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon." Why???? Haneke thanks everyone with what he describes as his "little English and jet lag." Arnold Schwarzennegger -- possibly re-establishing his ties to the film industry as his term as governor comes to a close -- is in audience and looks awful.
Taylor Lautner comes out to present a clip and is in an incredibly shiny tux that covers his six pack. You know, when he's fully clothed you realize he's not very talented.
And the winner for Best Supporting Actor is Christoph Waltz for "Inglorious Basterds." Okay if he didn't win there would have been rioting. He pays respect to the "gravitational forces of Quentin Tarantino" and acknowledges, "Quentin made a big bang of a movie," and the HFPA made it golden. Best speech of the night!
The Cecil B. DeMille Award goes to Martin Scorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro are on hand to present. I don't know why they start with DeNiro and then work their way down to DiCaprio. DeNiro describes his relationship with Marty as a marriage, they "just don't sleep together any more." They should have just had DeNiro prsent award and skipped Leo. The montage of clips, however, remind u how great Scorsese has been and how far down he has fallen. I also think Marty trimmed his eyebrows for this honor. He expresses very sincere thanks to HFPA for their support of film preservation. Of past filmmakers Scorsese says we're "walking in their footsteps everyday." He also adds that motion pictures are part of “a continuum.” This is a fitting award for Scorsese to receive.
Ricky's drinking beer at the podium and uses that as a great segue to presenter Mel Gibson. Now Best Director goes to... DAMN! It's James Cameron for "Avabore," I'm sorry I mean "Avatar." Just proves that the BFCA (which gave best director to Kathryn Bigelow) has better taste than the Foreign Press. Cameron says he'll make his speech short because "he has to pee." He should sit through his own movies and see how we feel. He acknowledges that his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow deserves the award. Then he pretentiously speaks in Na'Vi! OMG! Despite the promise to keep things short, he thanks everyone.
Newbie "Glee" wins Best TV Comedy /Musical. Whole cast is up on stage. It's a show that the creator says is about "the importance of arts in education" and for anyone who "ever got a wedgie in high school."
And the award for Best Musical/Comedy goes to "The Hangover!" Unbelievable! They give it to a deserving film. And they are playing Stu's song! This is a pleasant surprise.
Arnold is presenting now. He's making jokes about balancing state budget and the camera just cutaway to Mariah Carey's boobs. Now Mickey Rourke is to present Best Actress.
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock for "The Blind Side." Mickey Rourke announces her as the winner but doesn't look happy about it. So did they forget to finish doing Sandra's hair? She's thanking the costume designer from "The Blind Side"! Really?!
Best Actor Comedy/Musical: Robert Downey Jr. for "Sherlock Holmes." Okay he's an actor I love but this isn't by any stretch of the imagination the film he deserves to win for. He thanks his producer wife for telling him Matt Damon was going to win and to not prepare a speech. He also mentions how many times his career has been jump started then quotes Holmes/Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: "Art in the blood is liable to take strange forms." Then thanks the HFPA for giving him the award. This speech has some great moments.
Best Actor Drama: Jeff Bridges for "Crazy Heart." Jeff is always great! He thanks his wife and then thanks his dad for pushing his kids into show biz. Both Jeff and Drew Barrymore -- as the children of celebrities -- reminisce about being kids and coming to events like this. And he thanks his stand-in. Did I mention, he also got a standing ovation from the crowd, which seemed to touch and embarrass him. (This was confusing: bridges wins for Best Actor Drama in a film that's all about music; Downey wins for Best Actor Comedy/Musical for an action film about Sherlock Homes.)
Julia Roberts presents the Best Picture Award to: "Avatar." Smurfs in "Fern Gully" win. Ian Forbes from The Sobering Conclusion is watching with me and says, "So you can buy a Golden Globe." Quentin Tarantion and Jason Reitmen clap politely but look annoyed, and rightly so. Cameron is now telling us how he feels and this is even worse than his movie. He urges everyone to "give it up for themselves" because they all have the best jobs in the world. Oh please! He's trying so hard to get the audience pumped and clapping while he's up on stage.
Final summary: We needed more Ricky, less Cameron and "Avatar," and more alcohol on the tables.
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