It’s the first major awards show of the new year, the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards. Recognizing the best in film and television, the show is once again hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
On the TV side, Fargo and True Detective lead all programs while there are plenty of new and unconventional nominees, whether it’s Netflix’s House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black or freshman shows like Showtime’s The Affair, Amazon’s Transparent and the CW’s Jane the Virgin.
See All of the Nominees>>
For film, Birdman, Boyhood and The Imitation Game lead all movies and will likely take home several awards between them.
I’ll be here throughout the telecast updating with the winners in all categories and my analysis of the proceedings.
Tina and Amy kick the night off with some clever jokes about The Interview, namely that they’re recognizing all the films North Korea was OK with. That’s followed by a series of decent jokes about various celebrities. My favorite is probably that it took Steve Carell two hours to apply his make-up for Foxcatcher while it took Tina three hours of make-up to look like a human woman. They also do a hilarious bit of “Who Would You Rather?” about some of the guys in the audience (Amy likes it “Ruff-alo”). They even go after Bill Cosby, slowly turning groans into laughter at the end of their 10-minute opening.
Supporting Actor in a Film: J. K Simmons, Whiplash
He’s cool and grateful. It’s awesome to see such a hard-working, long-time actor who’s been so solid in so many TV shows and films finally get some major recognition.
Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Miniseries or TV Movie: Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Anna Bates wins! Never underestimate a dramatic storyline about rape. She knows it and tells a touching story about getting letters from women who were raped after the story aired.
Miniseries or TV Movie: Fargo
Well, I guess HBO isn’t the God-like cable network it once was, with True Detective and The Normal Heart losing to FX. He thanks the Coen Brothers for the inspiration and quotes their movie.
Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie: Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo
Once again, Fargo beats out True Detective. His speech is short and hilarious, saying that you can get in trouble for saying anything, so he just says “Thank you” and walks off.
Lead Actress in a TV Series, Comedy: Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
The CW is officially on the map. She’s incredibly happy and emotional, and it’s nice to see the Golden Globes recognizing something different.
TV Series, Comedy: Transparent
The Globes really love new and shiny TV shows, going for the CW and now Amazon. They also love TV shows that most people have probably never heard of and not seen.
Score: The Theory of Everything
The winner is an Icelandic musician who is not Bjork.
Song: “Glory” by John Legend and Common, Selma
Everyone at the Globes seemed more excited for Prince to present the award. I guess people really love Prince.
Supporting Actor in a TV Series, Miniseries or TV Movie: Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart
He was definitely the best part of this HBO film, and this sort of makes up for losing the Emmy. And, in my mind, I can pretend he’s also winning an award for White Collar. And Magic Mike.
Lead Actress in a Film, Comedy or Musical: Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Presenter Ricky Gervais is great as usual, subtly mocking all of the celebrities and the immoral, illegal things they’ve done to become famous. Adams quickly diffuses it with her adorableness.
Animated Film: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Kevin Hart absolutely bombed as a presenter, which was kind of funny. I haven’t seen the dragon-training films, but I’m quite disappointed it beat out The Lego Movie.
Supporting Actress in a Film: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
She wins a major film award, so naturally her next career move is starring in CSI: Cyber on CBS. But really, she’s fantastic and emotional, even though she reads her speech off a list.
Screenplay: Birdman
Presenters Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader did a bit about famous movie quotes that went on way too long and wasn’t very funny. Luckily it’s always kind of funny when the winner’s first language isn’t English, as is the case with the Mexican writers of this film.
Lead Actor in a TV Series, Comedy: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Presenters Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are a hoot, which bodes well for their new Netflix series Grace and Frankie. And Tambor gives Transparent its second win. He’s humble and dedicates the award to the transgender community. But let’s remember that last year, Brooklyn Nine-Nine won for Best Comedy and Lead Actor, then got shut out at the Emmys and ignored by the Globes this year.
Foreign Language Film: Leviathan (Russia)
Raise your hand if you have any idea what this is. Just as I thought, no hands went up. The thick Russian accent makes the winner sound like a Bond villain.
Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie: Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honourable Woman
Jake’s sister won. And since this aired on Sundance, it’s also the only nominated performance I’ve never heard of. She gives a nice speech about how there are now plenty of roles for actual women.
TV Series, Drama: The Affair
Seriously? It had a great pilot and structure, but this Showtime drama got tedious and dull quite quickly. I guess the Globes just love anything new, and this was the only freshman series nominated. So far all four major TV series awards have gone to first-year programs that have premiered in the last six months.
Lead Actor in a TV Series, Drama: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Well, at least it’s not a freshman show. Inexplicably, this is his first Golden Globe out of eight nominations. He didn’t win for The Usual Suspects or American Beauty, both of which earned him Oscar wins. He tells an emotional story about film director Stanley Kramer that is quite poignant.
Cecil B. DeMille Award: George Clooney
George’s ER co-star Julianna Margulies and Ocean’s films co-star Don Cheadle present and start off with some funny banter about which of them is better friends with George. They metion an interesting fact, that Clooney has been nominated in more Golden Globe categories than anyone else. Not bad as a Writer, Director, Producer, Film Actor (Drama and Comedy), Supporting Actor and TV Drama Actor. Clooney is self-deprecating and charming in his speech. Then he gets sentimental about his wife, which is so darn endearing.
Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Finally, Boyhood is the first film of the evening to win multiple awards. And as we all know, this movie was 12 years in the making, so the award is for the marathon that was making this film.
Lead Actress in a TV Series, Drama: Ruth Wilson, The Affair
Wow, that’s a bit of a shocker. Claire Danes and Robin Wright won this award for the past three years, and my money was on Viola Davis for How to Get Away with Murder. Clearly the Globes loved The Affair, I just wish they gave an award to Dominic West too since he was Jimmy McNulty on The Wire. At least she praises the beauty of Dominic West’s ass.
Lead Actor in a Film, Comedy or Musical: Michael Keaton, Birdman
It’s so damn awesome to see Keaton getting a renaissance. This film for him is like what Quentin Tarantino did for John Travolta with Pulp Fiction. Plus, he’s super cool. His speech is about his hard-working family, and I was unaware that his real name is Michael Douglas, which is confusing. And he tears up when talking about his best friend being his son. Michael Keaton just won the Golden Globes.
Film, Comedy or Musical: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gosh, I really though Birdman had this one since it was the most-nominated film and already won two awards. But kudos to this gem of a Wes Anderson film for winning. And he’s very funny, listing off names of possible Hollywood Foreign Press Association members.
Lead Actress in a Film, Drama: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
I love her, but have never heard of this film. I always find it interesting that most of the films nominated for Lead Actresses aren’t also nominated for Best Picture, while almost all of the films nominated for Lead Actor ARE nominated for Best Picture.
Lead Actor in a Film, Drama: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
A hot guy won for playing the biggest nerd in history, Stephen Hawking. He’s like a younger, cuter Colin Firth.
Film, Drama: Boyhood
Well, with three wins, including Director and Film, Boyhood seems to be the frontrunner to win top honors at the Oscars.
Overview
On the TV side, Transparent, The Affair and Fargo each picked up two awards. The Globes certainly loved new programs, as the only returning series to win were Kevin Spacey for House of Cards and Joanne Froggatt for Downton Abbey. The major networks went home empty-handed (except for the CW), but Amazon broke through.
The big loser is probably HBO. True Detective had four nominations, Olive Kitteridge had three and Girls had two, all leaving without any wins. Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley and Veep also lost their sole nominations. So Matt Bomer‘s win for The Normal Heart left HBO at 1/15.
For films, Boyhood is the big winner with three awards while Birdman and The Theory of Everything each got two. The big loser is The Imitation Game, which came in with five nominations and walked away with nothing.
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
