Another year and another Golden Globes has come and gone. The Globes has long been my favourite award show since I saw Amy Poehler and Tina Fey team up and literally hang celebrities out to dry with their quick thinking and cunning humour. In the past years (namely since Tina and Amy waved goodbye) the Globes has lacked something. Is it humour? Deserving winners? Killer presenters? I just don't know.
What I do know is that riding off the success of 2018's ceremony, the Globes had a lot to live up to. 2018 gave us the Oprah 2020 slogan. It gave us Oprah championing women. It gave us preaching Oprah. It gave us Barbra Streisand pulling faces as she was forced to give Oprah a standing ovation. It is moments like this that make the Globes, because for once we get to see the celebrities being real human beings rather than unreachable idols.
As a television fanatic and an occasional movie viewer I love watching the worlds of television and movies come together and be celebrated in the one ceremony. What I can never understand is why the movie stars get the best seats in the house while the tv stars are relegated to the back portion of the room. Television actors have the tougher gig, they have to keep people from switching the channel during the course of a whole episode. Movie stars get undivided attention for 2 hours because people are paying specifically to see them. Alas, that is a grievance for another time.
The 76th annual Golden Globes Awards celebrates the best of film and television
Source: Flixed
As usual I have questions and axes to grind. Grace and Frankie is arguably one of the best comedies of this past decade and they were yet again excluded from the nominations. Instead, an insufferable Michael Douglas and his comedy show (which I won't dignify by naming it) was not only nominated, but was the eventual winner of the television comedy category. Grace and Frankie is better than Modern Family in its heyday and deals with the kinds of heavy issues that Hollywood stars are wax lyrical about celebrating.
I also take issue with A Star Is Born losing to Bohemian Rhapsody in the Best Drama Picture category. Remember when A Star Is Born was released? Record breaking was used, critics fawned over Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper and a song from the movie's soundtrack will go down as one of the greatest of the modern era. However, it seems that that isn't enough to win Best Drama Picture. Instead, the award went to a movie that was decimated by critics as lacklustre and unfulfilling.
This seems to be somewhat of a tradition for the Globes however. Movies that have been celebrated by critics and devoured by the audience such as The Theory of Everything, Spotlight and Lion are not Globe Best Picture winners, they are in fact just the nominees. With movies like Boyhood and Moonlight proving to be the eventual winners, the Globes indeed have a history of steering away from movies with the hype around them in favour of movies with complex stories.
Aside from these faux pas (which, by the way, I will always find) this year's Golden Globes were perhaps the best in years. The undercurrent of political tension was missing, there was no snark and the Globes couldn't be accused of closing their eyes to diversity. Instead, hosts Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh were the picture of lighthearted enjoyment. They cracked jokes at the expense of celebrities, weaved pop culture references into their opening monologue and navigated the long ceremony without missing a beat.
While you were watching the ceremony and being enamoured with the glitz and the glamour, here are ten moments that you may have loved, hated, missed, or just plain misunderstood.
10. Aloha
Sandra Oh while killing her opening monologue somehow found time to make a cutting (but hilarious) remark at the expense of the movie Aloha. Oh remarked that Crazy Rich Asians was the "first studio film with an Asian-American lead since... Aloha." Emma Stone played the lead character in Aloha who was of Hawaiian and Chinese heritage. Promplty, Stone could be heard yelling from the crowd "I'm sorry." This off the cuff banter feeds into what I love about these award shows- you get to see celebrities interacting en masse and often personalities and jokes come out that make you love them even more.
The movie Aloha was subject to Sandra Oh's quick wit in the opening remarks of the 76th Golden Globe Awards
Source: Roger Ebert
9. Glenn Close
When Glenn was announced the winner of Actress in a Drama Motion Picture my mouth fell to the floor. This was supposed to be Gaga's award. It has been an unspoken certainty in the entertainment industry that award's season would belong to Gaga in her leading role in A Star Is Born. Yet, she somehow lost to Glenn Close. At first I was guilty of misunderstanding this moment. But as soon as Glenn spoke about her film... " It was called The Wife. I think that's why it took 14 years to get made" I realised that there is still a long road ahead for women in Hollywood and women the world over. Without Glenn Close who some 40 years ago started to make way for women in this profession to have meaningful parts and thus receive awards, there might not have been room for a Lady Gaga.
Close accepting her award, truly surprised at the recognition
Source: Popsugar
8. Patricia Clarkson
Patricia may genuinely be the best part of Sharp Objects, which for me was a confusing, drawn out mess at times. What never wavered though was her portrayal of Adora, a complex woman who lived in a present day that was strongly defined by her past. Patricia subtly called out the past of Hollywood and the sex culture that has dominated headlines the past few years. In thanking Sharp Object's director she stated that he "demanded everything of her, except sex, which is how it should be."
Clarkson during her speech capturing the hearts and attention of the room once again
Source: People
7. Sandra Oh
Many know Sandra Oh from her decade long run on Grey's Anatomy, but tonight, Sandra will be remembered as a Golden Globe winner for her leading role in Killing Eve. Her repeated references and the camera's pan to her parents in the crowd was a nice touch that further showed that at the end of the day, actors are just people with real parents and real dreams. When people say that award shows just feed into ego, this is a perfect rebuttal. Award shows are a way to be rewarded for accomplishing your dreams.
Oh with her Golden Globe
Source: Vox
6. Shallow
Lady Gaga winning for Best Original Song probably did not come as a surprise to most. However, what might have was the fact that Lady Gaga actually had a hand in writing that song. Mark Ronson's glowing remarks about Gaga and her incomparable voice weren't just gushing comments, but rather genuine adoration for a person of Gaga's stature being able to sing, dance, act and write music. You would be surprised by how many of your favourite musicians haven't written a single lyric across their long careers.
Gaga walking the Red Carpet
Source: E! News
5. Keith and Nicole
Are Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman the first people to be married ever? All night long they were all over each other and I couldn't not watch them because they were placed at the centre table at the very front of the room. Was she a nominee? At this point I don't even want to know. I just want them to pipe down when in this setting. And just so I can get all my cynicism out, can Keith Urban just sit down! Nicole is a presenter, not a nominee Keith, she doesn't need a standing ovation. I mean, surely one good miniseries doesn't just wipe out the whole box office poison label.
Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman walking the red carpet before the Golden Globes
Source: Entertainment Tonight
4. Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph
I love Amy but I hated at least 50% of the time she spent on screen. The first part of her and Maya's joke about supporting actors was spot on, humorous and had the audience laughing. Then they just went overboard on the proposal bit and what was promising to be a bit of fun from two iconic comedians just transcended into gimmicky territory right before my eyes. Amy is better than that and her years hosting the Globes with Queen Tina Fey should be testament to that. Yes, the night needed a little more humour but this was just the wrong way to go about it.
Poehler and Rudolph mid gag at the Globes
Source: ET Canada
3. Bohemian WHAT?
I don't claim to know everything about what makes movies great and what resonates, but I do feel like I have a handle on pop culture and what is hot and what is just, well not. A Star Is Born was a sensation and Bohemian Rhapsody was rubbished by critics and fans alike in preview weeks. I just don't understand how it managed to win Best Drama Picture. I am always polarised by what wins in all the major categories at the award shows because they always seem to be films that ignite some sort of fury in me.
I hate to keep harping on, but Gaga and Bradley Cooper in the A Star Is Born remake were electrifying and issued a notice to the movie world that everyone needed to lift their game. I just didn't hear the same things about Bohemian Rhapsody. In an age where the viewership numbers for award shows are falling, maybe a reason is the fact that the eventual main category winners are just out of step with what the people wanted/thought was just.
Bohemian Rhapsody tells the story of Queen and their legendary frontman Freddie Mercury
Source: Minster FM
2. Carol Burnett
Now, this is a moment I can get behind. A television and comedy legend, not only having an award named after her, but subsequently being the first recipient of that award. In a time where television has often been viewed as the poor cousin of film, I look forward to many more esteemed television personalities winning this award and being celebrated for their hard work. We can only hope that the one of a kind Julia Louis Dreyfus is the next recipient.
The legendary Carol Burnett giving a moving speech touching on the television industry and her illustrious career
Source: New York Times
1. 100 people
Listen folks, there can be 100 people in a room and 99 of them don't believe in you, but you just need one person. While I would like to claim that as my own, many of you will know that Gaga flogged that line during press rounds for A Star Is Born. Starting the night with Samberg and Oh roasting Gaga for repeatedly using this line was a nice way to set out the intentions of the night. Everyone laughing, everyone on notice that their words may be used against them and a sense that this show was going to be about the people, not the current political climate or sexual misconduct rampant in Hollywood at the moment.
Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh undoubtedly poking fun at another celebrity during the 76th Golden Globe Awards
Source: Mashable
And maybe that is why this was one of the better Golden Globes from the past few years. The 76th Golden Globes was about the people in the room, their movies or television and their achievements and at the end of the day, isn't that what awards shows should be about? Yes there were surprise winners and moments fell flat, but the idea of celebration and achievement was never far from the forefront.
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