WASHINGTON – The envelopes are open. The Hollywood Foreign Press has spoken. And the long and winding road to the Oscars is officially underway.
Sunday night’s 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards were filled with a string of worthy winners, a few stunner surprises, and a host of memorable speeches and jokes in Beverly Hills, California.
The show kicked off with a bang, with the always hilarious Tina Fey and Amy Poehler returning for their final time as hosts. The duo went after everyone, from Bill Cosby to North Korea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_XUSOLVRzA
As for the awards — the real reason for the season — “Boyhood” was the big winner of the night. The one-of-a-kind time capsule movie, shot over a span of 12 years, took the top prize of Best Movie Drama, Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette and Best Director for Richard Linklater.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mwnjsJD5xw
Linklater’s “School of Rock” star Jack Black hailed his filmmaker as a “badass,” saying, “He’s been making great films for the last 25 years,” bursting on the scene with the Austin-based indie “Slacker” (1991), introducing the world to Matthew McConaughey in “Dazed and Confused” (1993) and tracking Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s romance in the “Before Sunrise” trilogy (1995-2013).
Listen below for my full one-on-one chat with Linklater about what makes ‘Boyhood’ so special:
While “Boyhood” was no surprise as Best Drama, the announcement of Best Comedy/Musical was a different story. Wes Anderson’s fanciful farce “The Grand Budapest Hotel” upset the masterful showbiz satire “Birdman,” pleasing Anderson’s faithful followers from “Rushmore” (1998) to “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001) to “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSJKy7YH7BE
The “Budapest” victory was the biggest shock for yours truly. Perhaps voters saw “Birdman” as more of a dramedy than a comedy. Or, perhaps the art-house flick was simply too bizarre for some voters. Either way, “Birdman” is a far superior film to these critic’s eyes, though it was nice to see writer/director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu win Best Screenplay and Michael Keaton win Best Actor: Comedy. The deeply personal role inspired an emotional speech by the superhero comeback kid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhsYhhVKc2Q
Keaton’s road to the Oscar will now go through Eddie Redmayne, who won Best Actor: Drama as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” besting Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”), Jake Gyllenhaal (“Nightcrawler”), Steve Carell (“Foxcatcher”) and David Oyelowo (“Selma”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8VKw9dcjHk
Best Actress Comedy/Musical went to Amy Adams for “Big Eyes,” Tim Burton’s drama biopic about painter Margaret Keane. It’s a bit head scratching why “Big Eyes” falls into the comedy category, but what a feat for Adams, marking back-to-back wins in the category after last year’s “American Hustle.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elptI3Jux3A
Adams should enjoy the gold while it lasts. Just like last year when Cate Blanchett won the Oscar for “Blue Jasmine,” Adams will run into the dramatic buzzsaw of Julianne Moore, who took home the Globe for Best Actress: Drama for her portrayal of an Alzheimer’s patient in “Still Alice.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzDHJ2UmlBw
Rounding out the movie winners were “Leviathan” for Foreign Language Film, “How to Train Your Dragon 2″ for Animated Film, Johann Johannsson (“The Theory of Everything”) for Original Score, John Legend & Common (“Selma”) for Original Song and J.K. Simmons for Supporting Actor in “Whiplash.” We waited with knees trembling to see if he would throw a cymbal off the screen at our heads, but instead he delivered a gracious acceptance speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT-DRD7CUzg
On the TV side, the big winner was “Transparent,” which won Best TV Comedy and Best Actor: Comedy for Jeffrey Tambor’s transgender role. The groundbreaking win was the first Golden Globe for a show streaming on Amazon Prime, with Jeff Bezos getting some love in the acceptance speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUAunx8tZ5A
Best TV Drama went to Showtime’s “The Affair,” whose cast appeared shocked to have pulled off the upset against the likes of “Game of Thrones” and “House of Cards.” The show also saw Ruth Wilson win Best Actress: Drama for her part across Dominic West (a.k.a. McNulty from “The Wire”). What irony that “The Wire” was never even nominated for a Golden Globe, while his new show wins it all in its first season. Such is the eternally bizarre phenomenon of “make-up awards.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD-Ra43XsVQ
While “House of Cards” was knocked off for Best TV Drama, its star, Kevin Spacey, took the Globe for Best Actor: Drama. The category has been dominated in recent years by Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), but with Cranston out of the way, Spacey finally got his due for Frank Underwood. After an snarky in-character joke — “This is just the beginning of my revenge” — the acceptance speech was admirably humble, offering a warm anecdote about the great Stanley Kramer (“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”). “House of Cards” fans no doubt appreciated the irony of Kate Mara giving him a hug.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke8vvM64OAs
While Spacey won in the drama category, another major moviestar faltered, as Matthew McConaughey failed to win for his magnificent role in HBO’s “True Detective.” The award instead went to Billy Bob Thornton for the TV spinoff of the Coen Brothers movie masterpiece “Fargo.” The FX show also beat “True Detective” for Best Miniseries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RgEDv90w0g
Hands down the best acceptance speech belonged to Gina Rodriguez for Best Actress: Comedy with “Jane the Virgin.” Not only was it a groundbreaking win for the CW network, Rodriguez also delivered the most honest, emotional speech of the night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7VZnWX8Jho
Rounding out the TV wins were Maggie Gyllenhaal for Actress in a Miniseries (“The Honorable Woman”), Joanne Froggatt for Supporting Actress (“Downton Abbey”) and Matt Bomer for Supporting Actor (“The Normal Heart”), whose win garnered plenty of swooning tweets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPXoP7JrH-8
Still, Bomer had nothing on George Clooney, who accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. After a video tribute showing everything from “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001) to “Good Night and Good Luck” (2005), “Up in the Air” (2008) to “The Descendents” (2011), Clooney delivered a classy speech with nods to the late Lauren Bacall and Robin Williams.
The entire list of Golden Globe winners is below:
MOTION PICTURES
—Picture, Drama: “Boyhood.”
—Picture, Musical or Comedy: “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”
—Actor, Drama: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”
—Actress, Drama: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice.”
—Director: Richard Linklater, “Boyhood.
—Actor, Musical or Comedy: Michael Keaton, “Birdman.”
—Actress, Musical or Comedy: Amy Adams, “Big Eyes.”
—Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash.”
—Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood.”
—Foreign Language: “Leviathan.”
—Animated Film: “How to Train Your Dragon 2.”
—Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, “Birdman.”
—Original Score: Johann Johannsson, “The Theory of Everything.”
—Original Song: “Glory” (music by John Legend, Common), “Selma.”
TELEVISION
—Series, Drama: “The Affair.”
—Actor, Drama: Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards.”
—Actress, Drama: Ruth Wilson, “The Affair.”
—Series, Musical or Comedy: “Transparent.”
—Actress, Musical or Comedy: Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin.”
—Actor, Musical or Comedy: Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent.”
—Miniseries or Movie: “Fargo.”
—Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honorable Woman.”
—Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Billy Bob Thornton, “Fargo.”
—Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey.”
—Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Matt Bomer, “The Normal Heart.”
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