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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

A Few Thoughts on the Golden Globes

I still miss the clips of nominated actors' performances after their names are read (and yes, I will continue to complain about this until they bring them back). 

Christian Bale looks like Jesus. Apparently, the part of his speech that was bleeped out was when he noticed Robert De Niro in the audience and referred to him as "the shit".


Ricky Gervais was in top form, so much so that he probably won't get asked back (especially after his hilarious closing line: "And thank you to God for making me an atheist!"). My favorite line? "Please welcome Ashton Kutcher's dad, Bruce Willis."

Man alive, you can even hear the Botox when Cher talks...

The best presenters of the evening were Steve Carrell and Tina Fey, featuring the ongoing Gervais/Carrell mock feud and the presenters' insistence that despite being writers they were also actors and thus worthy of our attention.


The worst presenters of the night were Thor and Captain America, though the fault lies not with them but with the painful dialogue written for them. "These women are superheroes of acting!"? Ouch.


De Niro's clearly-scripted acceptance speech was occasionally funny but mainly just painful to watch. I did enjoy the film retrospective, though, as it was nice to be reminded that De Niro was once better than the umpteenth "Fockers" sequel. I also liked Matt Damon's introduction. "I mean, who could forget Taxi Driver where he was literally unrecognizable as a blonde 13-year-old hooker!"


I'm surprised someone beat Johnny Depp, considering how much the HFPA loves him, and that it was Paul Giamatti for a movie I hadn't even heard of before he won.

Love the crack in Natalie Portman's speech about Black Swan choreographer and Portman fiance/baby daddy Benjamin Millepied's acting ability during brief appearance in the film as The Guy Who Wouldn't Want To Sleep With Natalie Portman. ''It's not true! He totally wants to sleep with me!'' she said, followed by a delightfully goofy laugh.


Colin Firth's speech was that winning combination of gratitude and humor we've come to expect when Brits win. Leave it to them to class up the place.

I thought Michael Douglas looked great following his battle with cancer, and he responded to the standing ovation he received upon emerging to present Best Dramatic Picture perfectly: "there's gotta be an easier way to get a standing ovation."


As far as the Globes-as-Oscar-Predictors go, nothing much changed. The main four acting awards went mostly as expected (with Supporting Actress the one award still largely considered open to an upset) and along the lines of previous awards this season, and The Social Network continued its impressive run, remaining the Oscar favorite.

6 comments:

  1. i like when you do these posts because we rarely get around to watching any award shows. We're lucky if we catch any of the academy awards

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  2. I don't watch these shows, but I love looking up the results to see what movies I ought to take a look at. I've heard Bale was outstanding in The Boxer, but haven't seen it yet.

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  3. yeah- what sarah said. It's like i'm actually watching the show!
    i heard rumors that Ricky 'went too far'- was the God joke the only thing that could be considered 'too far'?

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  4. I'm with Sarah and Anne but I'll go as far as, this is better than watching the show! I enjoy your posts so much that I'll think, maybe the award shows stopped sucking? Then I watch and I'm disappointed. Quit tricking me!

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  5. Anne, Ricky Gervais went too far as in he poked a few holes in the actors' fragile egos. (I can't remember the exact lines, but Ricky basically said The Tourist was no good and only got nominated because of bribery.)

    He apparently forgot that the actors are there to be honored and revered for the near-God-like beings they are and that only the mildest of good natured ribbing will be accepted.

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  6. @Falen: i like when you do these posts because we rarely get around to watching any award shows. We're lucky if we catch any of the academy awards

    Thanks! That's always good to hear. And you guys totes need to come to my Oscar party this year. It's been way too long since you last attended.

    @Matthew Rush:I've heard Bale was outstanding in The Boxer, but haven't seen it yet.

    Ditto on both counts. I'm making it a point to catch it before Oscar night.

    @Anne i heard rumors that Ricky 'went too far'- was the God joke the only thing that could be considered 'too far'?

    What Dr. Bitz said, basically.

    He had some good zingers at the actors' expense, and they were more pointed than what you usually get from the hosts of these things, so everyone's like "oh, did he go too far?".

    I mean, they were zingers, but nothing that was realistically that over the top.

    There was the crack about Bruce Willis and Ashton Kutcher that I mentioned, the requisite Charlie Sheen joke, another great one where, when introducing Tom Hanks and Tim Allen he said something to the effect of "of our next two presenters, one is a two time Oscar and three time Globe winner, acclaimed, etc. etc., and the other is Tim Allen."

    So nothing truly outrageous, but enough to aggravate sensitive actor egos.

    @Hannah: this is better than watching the show!

    Haha, thanks!

    @Dr. Bitz: He apparently forgot that the actors are there to be honored and revered for the near-God-like beings they are and that only the mildest of good natured ribbing will be accepted.

    And you'd best not be forgetting it either!

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