Well, the winners for this years Golden Globe Awards have just been announced, and I couldn't be happier with the selection. Here is a link to the official GG website, so take a look the winners now!
What pleased me most about this years results was the enormous amount of love for Slumdog Millionaire. The film won four statues: Best Drama, Best Director for Danny Boyle, Best Screenplay for Simon Beaufoy and Best Original Score for A. R. Rahman (buy the soundtrack, it rocks!). I saw this movie twice theatrically and absolutely adored it, so hopefully this win means more people will check it out. I'm particularly happy to see Boyle win for direction...fingers crossed he can make it a double at the Academy Awards.
Other thoughts: I was a little disappointed that In Bruges lost to Vicki Christina Barcelona for best Comedy, but at least Colin Farrell took home Best Actor in a Comedy (even though I thought Brendan Gleeson was better in the same movie). Not at all surprised that Health Ledger won a posthumous Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight (but how the hell did Tom Cruise get nominated in the same category for his role in Tropic Thunder?) Mickey Rourke was well deserving of his Best Actor in a Drama trophy for The Wrestler (although Milk hasn't been released in Australia yet, so I can't speak to whether Sean Penn was better.)
Speaking of films that haven’t been released, neither Revolutionary Road nor The Reader have made an appearance on a screen near me, so I can't comment on either of Kate Winslets wins. As for Best Comedic Actress, I haven’t seen any of the performances nominated except for Frances McDormand in Burn After Reading. I guess I'll have to check out Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky on DVD.
Obviously Wall-E was going to win Best Animated Feature...the real question is whether it will get a nomination for Best Picture at the Oscars rather than just Best Animation. I'm probably going to go and see Waltz With Bashir , the Foreign Film winner this evening, so check back later for my review. Rounding out the ceremony was Bruce Springsteen for Best Original Song in The Wrestler, and Steven Spielberg won the Cecil B. DeMille award for lifetime achievement
That about does it for movies. One thing I did notice was that despite getting five nominations The Curious Case of Benjamin Button did not win a single award. While I do agree that it was beaten fair and square in all categories (four times by Slumdog and Rourke beat Pitt for acting) , it's sort of a shame that director David Fincher continually gets snubbed, especially after Zodiac was completely ignored in 2007. The other strange exclusion this year was Darren Aronofsky, who wasn't even nominated for Best Director.
The big winner in TV was 30 Rock, which won Best Television Comedy as well as Best Comedic Actor and Actress for Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, respectively. Mad Men won for Best Drama; I watched the first season on DVD a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. This makes two years in a row for both Mad Men and 30 Rock, but take my word for it, they deserve it. Anna Paquin won Best Actress in a Television Drama for True Blood, which I haven’t seen, but seeing that it was created by Alan Ball, the writer of American Beauty and creator of Six Feet Under (one of the best shows ever) I'll definitely watch it eventually. As for Gabriel Byrne, who won Best Actor in a Television Drama for a show called In Treatment...I must admit I've never even heard of it. Apparently this win was a bit of an upset, as he was competing against Michael C. Hall from Dexter and John Hamm from Mad Men (both of whom are fantastic in their respective roles).
Now, anyone who has made it this far (congratulations by the way) might be wondering "Tom, who gives a rat’s ass about the Golden Globes?" The answer is no one. No one gives a rat’s ass about the Golden Globes. They do, however, point us in the direction of who might win the Oscars (you know, the good ceremony), and this years winners are, in my opinion, a very promising sign. My big hope is that both The Dark Knight and Wall-E get nominations for Best Picture, and I'd like to see Slumdog Millionaire win the same awards it did here (I think the score, at least, has a very legitimate chance) My aim this year is to see every single Oscar nominated film (except for the shorts, and I may have trouble getting a hold of all the foreign language flicks.) Wish me luck!
I didn't talk about the miniseries winners because lets face it, nobody cares.
