Golden Globe Recap and Thoughts

Below you will find the list of nominees and winners of the Golden Globes. I did watch the ceremony last night (which was on at 8 not 9 like I posted. Sorry!) and found it somewhat more entertaining than the Oscars. The Globes have shorter intros to categories and almost no skits, but still managed to run 3+ hours. There was almost no upsets the entire night and it made for some boring TV.

Anyways, on to the results!


Best TV Drama Series
24
Big Love
Grey's Anatomy - Winner
Heroes
Lost

AE's Take: I wasn't surprised that my fave Lost, er, lost. It has been derided a little lately. I was surprised that Grey's won though. To me, Grey's is just Melrose Place in a hospital and on a more respected TV station. It's a soap opera and all the pros and cons that come with that.

Best Actress in a TV Drama
Patricia Arquette (Medium)
Edie Falco (The Sopranos)
Evangeline Lilly (Lost)
Ellen Pompeo(Grey's Anatomy)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) - Winner

AE's Take: You might be thinking that I am disappointed that Lilly didn't win, but you'd be wrong. Lilly is not quite yet a strong dramatic actress. Edie Falco didn't win and she and The Sopranos are usually award show darlings. Can't say much about Mrs. Kevin Bacon though as I don't watch The Closer and have no intention to do so. She does have a funny accent on the show though, the rare times I have flipped past it.

Best Actor in a TV Drama
Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Hugh Laurie (House) - Winner
Bill Paxton (Big Love)
Kiefer Sutherland (24)

AE's Take: You would think that Kiefer was the shoe-in considering he won the Emmy. But Hugh Laurie took the award and had the first funny acceptance speech of the night. And it is always a little perturbing to hear a British actor accept an award for playing an American character.

Best TV Comedy
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
The Office
Ugly Betty- Winner
Weeds

AE's Take: Again, I would have thought that The Office would take home a Globe considering it took home an Emmy this year. The show's only gotten better in quality in Season 3. However, between this win and America Ferrera's win, I think I might pick up and watch Ugly Betty on DVD over the summer.

Best Actress in a TV Comedy
Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives)
Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives)
America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) - Winner
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine)
Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds)

AE's Take: As noted above, the combined win for Best Comedy and Best Actress in a Comedy has me interested in Ugly Betty. It seems like a sweet little show with some slapstick and "sitcomy" humor thrown in. ABC must be happy that the Golden Globes certainly did it's job with awarding this show and getting people (me) interested.

Best Actor in a TV Comedy
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)- Winner
Zach Braff (Scrubs)
Steve Carell (The Office)
Jason Lee (My Name is Earl)
Tony Shalhoub (Monk)

AE's Take: While I would have loved Steve Carell to win again and have another signature funny speech moment, I can't argue with this call. Alec Baldwin is hilarious as a pompous, somewhat dimwitted boss on 30 Rock. He's what kept me watching the first few episodes of 30 Rock and allowed me fully appreciate the show and root for it. Also, how must NBC feel that 4 out of the 5 nominees in this category all have their own show on its Thursday Night? Must-See TV is back!

Best TV Miniseries or Movie
Bleak House
Broken Trail
Elizabeth I - Winner
Mrs. Harris
Prime Suspect: The Final Act

AE's Take: I don't watch miniseries or TV movies, but considering all the awards that people associated with Elizabeth I received at the Globes, this was not surprising. Also, Helen Mirren seemed to be everywhere in these sorts of categories.

Best Actress in a TV Miniseries or Movie
Gillian Anderson (Bleak House)
Annette Bening (Mrs. Harris)
Helen Mirren (Elizabeth I) - Winner
Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect: The Final Act)
Sophie Okonedo (Tsunami: The Aftermath)

AE's Take: See? They should have seated Ms. Mirren closer to the stage.

Best Actor in a TV Miniseries or Movie
Andre Braugher (Thief)
Robert Duvall (Broken Trail)
Michael Ealy (Sleeper Cell: American Terror)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Tsunami: The Aftermath)
Ben Kingsley (Mrs. Harris)
Bill Nighy (Gideon's Daughter) - Winner
Matthew Perry (The Ron Clark Story)

AE's Take: Like I said, I don't watch these sorts of programming so I can't say who was or wasn't the best actor, but I am happy with Bill Nighy's win. I enjoyed his work in the last Pirates movie, in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and in Love Actually. By the way, if you actually watched the ceremony and saw Sienna Miller present this award, I have to ask you: is that it? That's the girl Jude Law cheated on? She did not look good last night.

Best Supporting Actress in a TV Miniseries, Movie or Series
Emily Blunt (Gideon's Daughter) - Winner
Toni Collette (Tsunami: The Aftermath)
Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy)
Sarah Paulson (Studio 60)
Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds)

AE's Take: Well, Ms. Blunt is having a good year between this award and critical acclaim for her role in The Devil Wears Prada. Another British actor/actress winning.

Best Supporting Actor in a TV Miniseries, Movie or Series
Thomas Hayden Church (Broken Trail)
Jeremy Irons (Elizabeth I) - Winner
Justin Kirk (Weeds)
Masi Oka (Heroes)
Jeremy Piven (Entourage)

AE's Take: This is the one result I am disappointed in. There is no doubt in my and many people's minds that Masi Oka was the breakout star of the television season. He should have been rewarded as such. Did you hear the loud applause for Oka when he was announced as a nominee? This category shows the weakness of the Globes awarding television awards: it lumps everyone into the supporting roles, no matter the project. Plus, the British keep on winning.

Best Motion Picture — Drama
Babel - Winner
Bobby
The Departed
Little Children
The Queen

AE's Take: Eh, haven't seen any of these films, though I want to see The Departed. Babel strikes me as a film made in the style of Crash and Traffic in that to discuss a certain topic in the world it exchanges one great plot for a number of smaller, less significant plots that become entangled and are really only there to serve to put the issue at hand in big flashing neon lights. Basically, these types of movies are meant to repeatedly bludgeon the viewer over the head with it's topic du jour. Crash rode it to win Best Picture last year at the Academy Awards, can Babel do the same?

Best Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls - Winner
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You for Smoking

AE's Take: Yawn. Dreamgirls is riding the critical raves wave, blah, blah, blah. Might be a good movie, but I am with Gonch here in that it does not interest me.

Best Director - Motion Picture
Clint Eastwood (Flags of Our Fathers)
Clint Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima)
Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel)
Martin Scorsese (The Departed) - Winner

AE's Take: Scorsese is from that Old School of directors, the ones whose artistic vision is unparalleled. He accepted this award from another Old Schooler: Spielberg. I do hope this is the year that Scorsese finally wins a Best Director Oscar, because as made apparent by his speech here, he does love movies so much.

Best Perfomance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama
Penélope Cruz (Volver)
Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Sherrybaby)
Helen Mirren (The Queen) - Winner
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

AE's Take: Helen Mirren should never sit down at this ceremony. Didn't see any of these pictures, so I can't say if she deserved it or not, but the critics think so.

Best Perfomance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical
Annette Bening (Running with Scissors)
Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine)
Beyoncé Knowles (Dreamgirls)
Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) - Winner
Renée Zellweger (Miss Potter)

AE's Take: I used to have a low tolerance for Streep. I thought she was basically playing the same dramatic character in all her movies, just with different accents. I came around a few years ago, around the time of Adaptation, and now fully enjoy her. It doesn't hurt that her speech was hilarious (and non-British!). Once again, the Globes do their real job and made me interested in The Devil Wears Prada. To Netflix it goes!

Best Perfomance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) - Winner

AE's Take: Not shocking at all. Whitaker has been sweeping around the awards lately and is pretty much a lock to win the Oscar. Too bad for Leo though, but he shouldn't have been nominated twice split the vote as The Departed is clearly the better movie when compared to Blood Diamond.

Best Perfomance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical
Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan) - Winner
Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)
Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Kinky Boots)
Will Ferrell (Stranger than Fiction)

AE's Take: Though I have yet to see the cringe-inducing Borat yet, I am very happy that Cohen won. The movie has been greatly debated and raved about and it would have been anti-climatic if he had lost. He is now a strong dark horse candidate to get nominated for an Oscar, though he has no chance of actually winning. Of course, I have to be cliched and say that this moment for Cohen must be very niiiiice.

Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Adriana Barraza (Babel)
Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal)
Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) - Winner
Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)

AE's Take: Once again, the Globes lumps everyone together in a supporting category. Good for the former American Idol contestant to win though.


Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Ben Affleck (Hollywoodland)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls) - Winner
Jack Nicholson (The Departed)
Brad Pitt (Babel)
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

AE's Take: Wow, Eddie Murphy? Maybe he is finally going to get back some credibility. Wait, what's this Norbit I hear coming out? Damn you Eddie and your multiple personality disorder!

Best Foreign Film
Apocalypto
Letters from Iwo Jima - Winner
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
Volver

AE's Take: I think it is weird when a foreign film movie is made by an American film director.

There was also winners for best original song (Prince for Happy Feet. He was stuck in traffic and didn't arrive till after he won), nest original score, and best screenplay. These categories usually interest me, but once again, lack of movies I had seen put me at a disadvantage.

Cars won for best animated film, in the first year The Globes gave out such an award. Pixar pretty much will always win this sort of category due their stunning output. Now, if only they could get nominated for the big prize, Best Picture at the Oscars (though I am not saying Cars should). I believe Beauty and The Beast was the last animated movie to be nominated in that category, though I may be wrong. Still, it is time for the Academy Awards to start to recognize the other genres of films other than drama in the Best Picture race.

For the Oscars, I might try to live blog it or at least write down my thoughts as the show unfolds and upload it later. Hopefully, I will actually care about the movies by then.