Was it just me or were the 71st Golden Globe Awards pretty awesome. They were um, well… I just… This is… I can’t… Woo I’m so nervous. I’d like to thank my dog groomer and um… Okay, they want me to wrap it up now.
I have just summed up 90% of the acceptance speeches from the Golden Globe winners. Sure the alcohol is flowing at the Globes, but who was the bartender, the Wolf of Wall Street, because everyone seemed to fall into an incoherent stooper. It was kind of fun when Jennifer Lawrence did it, but by the time Jon Voight did, enough was enough.
This ceremony marks the opening of award season. Sorry People’s Choice Awards, you don’t count. Hosted by returning funny women Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, they set the tone for what turned into a night full of SNL love and some good old’ celebrity roasting. Their open was very funny. The most memorable moment was when Poehler referred to Matt Damon’s star power in the room of A-listers as being that of a garbage person. It was a good joke, but the whole night had a theme of insulting Damon for some reason. The guy is a good sport, so that’s probably why. He was the logical option since the usually game Tom Hanks, didn’t seem to be feeling it last night and Leonardo DiCaprio has an almost Jedi like aura surrounding him. Even the unflappable Ryan Seacrest seemed slightly off when interviewing him on the red carpet.
Before we get to the awards, it’s worth noting who exactly is giving out these awards. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is a group of foreign journalists who cover Hollywood movies and TV shows. That is legitimate enough. But there are less than 100 members of this group. Remember statistics class? That sample size isn’t that big. So that would be why the Globes always seem to get some wonky winners compared to the other award shows. That isn’t a complaint; it actually makes it more fun. By the time the Oscars come around, almost everyone knows who will probably win. Not the case here. Plus with awards for comedy/musical in addition to drama, there is double the amount of categories viewers care about, even though the qualifications for being considered a comedy/musical are questionable.
Without listing all the winners, here are some of the memorable moments. For television, SNL alums Poehler and Andy Samberg won the comedy acting awards for “Parks and Recreation” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”. Both deserve it, but these wins were a bit shocking when looking at the award show favorites they were up against. Then “Nine-Nine,” a new show, won best comedy. For one minute it was like the Hollywood Foreign Press actually had the same taste as normal people. With hosts Fey and Poehler, wins from Poehler and Samberg, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers presenting and Will Forte there for his nominated film “Nebraska,” the night had a very SNL flavor to it. Even the clip from “12 Years a Slave” shown featured Taran Killam’s small role in the film.
With film, a number of the titles featured in the best picture discussion ended up walking away with a major award. “12 Years a Slave” lost in all of its categories until it won Best Picture, Drama. Spike Jonze won Best Screenplay for “Her.” Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director for “Gravity.” It was all incredibly well split up. Did the HFPA get together and figure out a plan to keep everyone happy? No because “Captain Phillips,” among others, won nothing. But the acting categories followed suit. Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams won for their “American Hustle” “comedic” performances. Matthew McConaughy and Jared Leto of “Dallas Buyers Club” did the same for the male drama categories. Cate Blanchett won for “Blue Jasmine,” DiCaprio for “Wolf of Wall Street.” See what I mean? It’s too well distributed.
The night’s success related to the fun variety of winners and the consistent laughs from the hosts and presenters. But there were plenty of moments that won’t be remembered. Woody Allen won the Cecil B Demille Award, but continued his trend of rarely showing for award shows. Instead we got to watch a kind of heartfelt, kind of weird tribute from Diane Keaton that included muted swearing and singing. The acceptance speeches were for the most part, as already mentioned, drunken stuttering thanks to lists of names the audience doesn’t know.
There were a handful of teleprompter snafus, and boy is it fun watching the rich and fashionable attempt to act cool when they don’t know what to say. Matt Damon pulled it off when he couldn’t read the prompter because he forgot his glasses. Jonah Hill took the pressure off nervous award show newcomer Margot Robbie when they tried to present their film, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and the prompter had different lines on it. Hill told the audience the truth and drew a few laughs as he described the film by reading the description off a piece of yellow loose leaf paper.
Overall, that moment can be used to sum up the 71st Golden Globe Awards. A comedian, who has gained the respect of mainstream Hollywood, gets some laughs while some type of minor technical difficulty plays out. For an award show that began with a malfunctioning sprinkler that damaged the red carpet, it pretty much followed suit the rest of the way.
Now that the Globes are distributed, award season is off and running.
No comments:
Post a Comment