Ever since the news broke out late last year, I have been looking forward to the 70th Golden Globe Awards for a reason. And that reason can be summed up in four words... Tina Fey, Amy Poehler. The Saturday Night Live alums, and respective stars of their NBC comedy series 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, seemed like such a fun choice for the famed award show. Especially since it meant finally replacing Ricky Gervais after his consecutive three year run hosting the Golden Globe Awards (though I did think he did a great job last year).
My anticipation incrementally rose as their trailer (old Hollywood accents!) and publicity photo (wearing gowns while wearing colorful Chucks) were released to further promote the first major award show of the year (if you don't count the People's Choice Awards and you don't care about the less publicized Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards).
So, how did the girls do? Let's just say that their opening bit was the sign of good things to come for the rest of the show. While it did take a couple of lines for their jokes to finally get the laughs they deserved, Tina and Amy delivered zinger after zinger, showing everyone that you don't have to make the stars uncomfortable just to get a laugh out of their expense. If I did have to complain about anything, it was that there wasn't enough of the two during the show, with their appearances few and far in between, even if the sparseness of their appearance on stage did mean that the show moved along at a brisk pace.
Here are my some of my comments, random thoughts, best of show picks and one useless question relating to the 69th Golden Globe Awards. Or you can just skip ahead and check the results. :)
- Best opening zingers by hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler: “Kathryn Bigelow’s nominated tonight. I haven’t really been following the controversy over Zero Dark Thirty, but when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron.” by Amy and “Anne Hathaway, you gave a stunning performance in Les Miserables. I have not seen someone so totally alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars.” by Tina. This was actually hard to narrow down, because there were a lot of good material in their opening monologue (or is it dialogue, since there's two of them?), including jokes at the expense of Quentin Tarantino and Meryl Streep. You can check out the article featuring their best jokes that was posted by Entertainment Weekly.
- I liked that Dr. Aida Takla O'Reilly, featured humor in her speech as the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a task that's usually an expendable part of the telecast for viewers because of the expected boring factor.
- Most awkward production moment: Paul Rudd and Salma Hayek staring blankly at an obviously not-working teleprompter.
- Tina Fey and Amy Poehler might not be on the stage enough for me, but that doesn't mean they didn't appear elsewhere. Tina and Amy both dressed up in costumes, and sat as "nominees" for their work in Dog President (which could be a TV event that I would see... if it was real).
- Best reaction to winning: I expected Adele (and songwriting partner Paul Epworth) to win the award from Best Original Song. I also expected that the singer would give a funny and sincere thank you speech. What I didn't expect was that she would high five Daniel Craig after she was announced a Golden Globe winner.
- Best presenter for a Best Picture nominee: Bill Clinton. If only for reactions of the hosts after he left the stage with Amy exclaiming "That was Hillary Clinton's husband!", followed by Tina (still in costume as a "nominee" and trying to right her mustache) saying "That was Bill Rodham Clinton!".
- Best presenter(s) for any category, ever: Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig who came out with wide-eyed and awestruck filled looks that was only topped by their attempt to explain the work of the women nominated in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical category. My words will never do it justice, so you can just watch their segment here.
- Best acceptance speech: Jennifer Lawrence kicking off her acceptance speech with the statement "I beat Meryl." and thanking producer Harvey Weinstein with this sentence, "Harvey, thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me here today.".
- To whoever was sitting beside Sally Field when they were listing the nominees for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role... did you really have to make that weird move to smooth out your eyebrows right at that moment?
- The hosts also get to have fun when their names were called as nominees for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical, with Tina holding hands in hammy nervousness with Jennifer Lopez, and Amy being flirty as she sits on George Clooney's lap.
- Drunk Glenn Close. Nuff said.
- I should feel sorry for her, but I somehow wanted to see Taylor Swift's reaction after Tina Fey warned her to stay away from Michael J. Fox's son.
- Jodi Foster is officially the fastest-talking Cecil B. Demille Award honoree that I've ever watched. But no matter her near-inhuman speech rate, I don't think anybody missed her coming out speech (while still not saying the words gay or lesbian), her scathing comment about how celebrities share every aspect of their lives in public, and her gratitude to the people she shared her life and career with. Also, I can't believe she's 50.
- Best in-your-face message to the Oscars: The HFPA honoring Ben Affleck for directing Argo, which the Oscars failed to recognize with a nomination.
- Best presenter introduction: Tina: "This next presenter is so good-looking, he makes young George Clooney look like garbage." Amy: "Please welcome... middle-aged George Clooney!"
- And if you missed the telecast, don't know when the replay schedule is or just want to get the highlights, E! Online was kind enough to compile the different GIFs that sum up the whole show (in a slightly unhelpful but fun way).
Movies
Best Motion Picture - Drama: Argo
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical: Les Miserables
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical: Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Best Director - Motion Picture: Ben Affleck, Argo
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
Best Animated Feature Film: Brave
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour (Austria)
Best Original Score - Motion Picture: Michael Danna, Life of Pi
Best Original Song - Motion Picture: Adele and Paul Epworth for "Skyfall", Skyfall
Cecille B. Demille Award: Jodi Foster
TV
Best Television Series - Drama: Homeland
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama: Damian Lewis, Homeland
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama: Claire Danes, Homeland
Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical: Girls
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical: Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical: Lena Dunham, Girls
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Game Change
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Kevin Costner, Hatfields and McCoys
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Julianne Moore, Game Change
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Ed Harris, Game Change
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
You can get the full list of nominees from the official Golden Globe Awards website.
Happy viewing!!
Labels: Award Show, Film, Golden Globe, TV, TV Series
