Golden Globes – Reaction

Just a quick reaction here – It’s a sign of what kind of a writer I am that I have a lecture to go to very soon, so I can’t write for long. This means there will be bad grammar and poor writing all over the place.

And so the Globes have kicked off the awards season, bringing with it a couple of surprises. The Hangover can now release a DVD with “Golden Globe Winner” emblazoned above it, as can Sherlock Holmes. These two unconventional award winners were the only real shocks of the night, as the rest were not exactly taxing to guess. Despite some evident emotion, you could see that Meryl Streep was beginning to get a little bored with all the mantelpiece extensions she keeps needing, and Jeff Bridges was this year’s Mickey Rourke in terms of older actor playing a grizzled nostalgic trying to reconnect.

And it was with a certain sickening inevitably that Avatar hurtled towards its best picture Globe. It’s not that I didn’t like Avatar. I’ve seen it twice now, and I stand by my opinion that it is audacious, beautiful filmmaking from a master. But I just didn’t feel it deserved it. Cameron had an astronomical budget to play around with, and state of the art effects. He could have farted at the screen and it still would have looked amazing. Whereas films like Precious and Up in the Air have done a lot more relative to what they had to work with. It’s extremely difficult for younger, brighter filmmakers to get ahead if the biggest budget, biggest profit films scoop up all the major awards. It would have made more sense to me to award it to someone like Lee Daniels who is obviously ready to take the film world by storm, rather than giving it to someone who already has. Avatar isn’t even Cameron’s best film – Aliens has that title.

There is possibly a reason for this though. Three of the contenders for Best Drama were all relevant dramas that very much fit in with the here and now. Precious is a searing social commentary, Up in the Air a tragicomic look at 21st century life and The Hurt Locker addresses an ongoing war that many would rather forget is happening. Perhaps the HFPA found it a little too uncomfortable to be reminded of the world they live in, so they opted for an admittedly glorious piece of escapism. Yet I can’t help but hope that Oscar will be brave and go for something different.

And this is all without mentioning the criminal loss of Michael Stuhlbarg, who should win any award going for a Serious Man.

Here’s the list of winners for films. For an opinion on TV, find another blog!

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Avatar

Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
The Hangover

Best Animated Feature Film
Up

Best Foreign Film
The White Ribbon

Best Actor, Motion Picture – Drama
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Actress, Motion Picture – Drama
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Best Actor, Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Robert Downey Jr, Sherlock Holmes

Best Actress,  Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor, Motion Picture
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Director, Motion Picture
James Cameron, Avatar

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

Best Original Song, Motion Picture
T Bone Burnett, ‘The Weary Kind’,  Crazy Heart

Best Original Score, Motion Picture
Michael Giacchino, Up

Cecil B DeMille Award
Martin Scorsese

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