My very first post of this blog was a recap of the 2015 Golden Globes Awards. So how fitting that my very first post of the New Year is a recap of this year’s ceremony. I have already expressed my love for this show, which is often deemed one of Hollywood’s biggest parties. The mixing and mingling of movie and television stars, not to mention all the free alcohol, makes for one fun night that sees its fair share of the funny, heartfelt and awkward as hell. And this year’s ceremony was certainly no different. The following are some of my highlights from last night’s ceremony.
He’s Back – The beer was chilled and waiting and just like that, Ricky Gervais was back as host. And if you thought time away might have tamed him a little, you were sorely mistaken. I think it might have made him even more brutal and cutting. He was as biting, snarky and unrelenting as ever. Not to mention hysterically funny. If there was one criticism to be had about his opening monologue, is that it was way too short.
Congratulations Freshman Class of 2016 – It wouldn’t be the Golden Globes if there weren’t a lot of fresh faces and this year was no different. As is often the case, wins in the television categories were dominated by new shows and this year it was all about USA’s brilliant Mr. Robot and Amazon’s Mozart In The Jungle. The latter won Best Comedy Series, as well as a Best Actor in a Comedy Series for its lead Gael Garcia Bernal. Mr. Robot saw wins for Best Drama and Best Supporting Actor for veteran Hollywood actor Christian Slater. And following in the footsteps of last year’s golden girl Gina Rodriguez, another CW break-out star walked away with the Best Actress in a Comedy Series, with Rachel Bloom winning for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. On the movie front, the name Brie Larson was probably not instantly recognizable to many at the start of this Awards season but something tells me it will be by the end, as she is looking more and more like the heavy favorite to win the Academy Award this year for Best Actress for her spellbinding performance in Room.
Speeches (The Good, The Bad and Awkward) – This year’s ceremony, much like most Award ceremonies definitely saw its share of awkward and bad speeches.
- Good – There were many speeches that were short, simple, sweet and heartfelt but two of the ones that most stood out was Sylvester Stallone’s after winning his first Golden Globe ever, for Creed and Leonardo Dicaprio, after winning for The Revenant. Sly’s winning moment was special right from the start, with the entire room giving him a rousing and heartfelt standing ovation. You could see what the reaction and the moment meant to him. And he could not have summed it up any better, than with a thank you to the greatest imaginary friend he ever had…Rocky Balboa. While I do wish he’d thanked more of the team on Creed, I understand that he was overwhelmed and it was just an oversight. This was certainly not Leo’s first Golden Globe win by any means, but it was still wonderful to see the reaction and further get that sense of how much the industry respects him. Barring some crazy, unexpected circumstance, I cannot see Leo not winning the Oscar this year and it will be well OVERDUE in my opinion. As for his speech, as usual it was articulate, well thought out, intelligent and heartfelt.
- Bad – For me this was undoubtedly Quentin Tarantino and Taraji P. Henson. Let’s start with Tarantino who first of all, didn’t actually win an award. He simply went up to accept the Best Original Score award for winner Ennio Morricone, who won for composing the score for the Tarantino directed film The Hateful Eight. But for some reason, Tarantino seemed to believe that directing the film qualified him to make a whole speech on Morricone’s behalf. And it wouldn’t have been so bad if the speech didn’t turn out to be such a disaster. First, he incorrectly stated that Morricone has never won an award for any movie he’s done, which um no…he’s won two Golden Globes for prior movie scores. And then Tarantino pissed of black Twitter with his comment about Morricone not being just his favorite movie composer because that’s ghetto. Yeah…let’s just say it was a blessing when he stopped talking and got off the stage. And then there was Taraji P. Henson. I guess at this point you kind of know what you’re going to get with Taraji, for better or for worse, and well that’s what we got. But sometimes a little of something goes a long way and a little of Taraji is definitely all we need. The crack about the producers trying to play her off was a little funny but it was all so loud and aggressive and just too much.
- Awkward – I don’t begrudge Rachel Bloom her excitement and joy at winning her first Golden Globe but WOW was she awkward on that stage. From practically screaming her entire speech, then the over the top gestures to her boobs looking like they were very close to popping out of that green dress…the whole thing was really just one giant awkward mess. But perhaps the night’s most awkward speech was Denzel Washington’s for his Cecil B. DeMille honor. And that’s really unfortunate because Denzel has had a stellar career and the honor was more than deserved. But despite knowing ahead of time that he was going to be honored as all the honorees do every year, Denzel came across as completely and wholly unprepared for the moment. He made some quip about forgetting his glasses and I guess that being the reason for his speech being kind of a mess but that’s a pretty lame excuse. And again, that saddens me because Denzel has a career and is an actor worthy of an exceptional tribute, including an amazing speech.
Didn’t See That Coming – Even with the Globes’ reputation for awarding fresh faces and newcomers, there are still some wins that can leave the viewers and critics a little thrown. Last night’s ceremony had quite a bit of that. At the start of the night, I was something like 0-3 in my predictions, which almost never happens with this show. One of the night’s biggest surprise was the HFPA’s obvious love for Steve Jobs, a movie that all but died at the box office, starting with Kate Winslet’s surprise win for Best Supporting Actress. I mean it is Kate Winslet, who let’s face it, is brilliant in everything she does. Still, she was by no means the favorite in this category and judging by her reaction, she obviously felt that way as well. And then there was Aaron Sorkin’s win for Best Screenplay, also for Steve Jobs and he too could not have looked more surprised. I think some might add Lady Gaga’s win for Best Actress in a Limited Series in this category but to be honest, I felt that was expected. That’s just the kind of gimmicky win the Globes love (no offense Gaga). All that said, perhaps the night’s biggest surprise was without a doubt The Revenant’s win for Best Drama over the highly acclaimed front-runner Spotlight. With that win, it has some wondering if Alejandro Inarritu and his team are going to pull off a two-peat Best Picture win at the Oscars, as they won last year for Birdman. It’s certainly now made the Best Picture race suddenly a lot more interesting. On a personal level, my biggest disappointment and surprise, was Rami Malek’s not winning Best Actor in a Drama for Mr. Robot. While I have nothing against Jon Hamm and I’m sure he was a deserving winner and it was his last chance to win for his role as Don Draper on Mad Men, it was hard to see Mr. Robot get so much love from the HFPA and Rami not win, when he basically carries the entire show. He is the most compelling thing about it. So that definitely sucked.
Fashion Police – And with that, we come to the fashion, because what is an award show without it. Once again, there was no true wow and stellar fashion moment for me but there were some pretty good ones. And of course there was the always, “WTH were you thinking and fire your stylist immediately.”
Best Dressed
Lady Gaga in Atelier Versace
I wasn’t in love with the hair (looked a little old and washed out) but this dress was absolutely stunning. It was old-school Hollywood bombshell. Very Marilyn Monroe.
Jenna Dewan Tatum in Zuhair Murad
Honestly, I’m not personally a fan of big, dramatic ball gowns but I really loved the look of this dress and I think Jenna carried it off beautifully.
Laverne Cox in Elizabeth Kennedy
Stunning silhouette and she wore this gorgeously. The hair and makeup were also on point. White is not an easy to color to wear and Laverne pulled it off beautifully.
Emmy Rossum in Armani Prive
Not really a fan of the necklace but I think her body looks amazing in the dress and the color is stunning on her.
Brie Larson in Calvin Klein
I’m not a big fan of the shiny, pageanty dress type look but if you are going to do it, this is the way to do it. Her body looked amazing in and the makeup and jewelry was perfectly understated.
Worst Dressed
This was a close one. There were many who were more than worthy of the honor (looking at you Kate Hudson) but at the end of the day, one stood out boldly amongst them all. Drum roll please… And this year’s Golden Globes worst dressed (according to me of course) is…
Regina King in Krikor Jabotian
Oh where to begin…shall we talk about the cheap K-Mart looking shoes, the weird gold fish-scaly looking material of the dress or the random WTF white cape in the back? Like I don’t even have the words to accurately sum up this atrocity. I don’t think there are words that have yet been invented to explain this atrocity.
PoPnOgR@PhY 