Golden Globes Post-Mortem 2012

E:  YES!  Meryl Streep for the win! She’s the best!  You know it!  She rocks.  She rules. Come on, get up on your feet! Show me a little shimmy.  Let’s do a little dance together for the world’s greatest actress!

Ahem.  Okay.  You know, that was a pretty nice show.  There was a bit of drama in it for me in an entirely unexpected way; DirecTV is in a dispute with some asshat greedy outfit called Sunbeam, who’s not letting them broadcast freaking network tv stations in a few areas including mine, so I almost didn’t get to see the telecast.  Turkeys.  Thank heaven for my darling wonderful parents, who have a different cable carrier and chose to record the football playoffs and Downton Abbey rather than watch them live like they wanted, just so that I could get my awards fix.  Mum and Dad, I salute you!  Of course, it was rather less enjoyable to listen to Ricky Gervais (and eventually everyone else) make penis jokes in front of my parents.  All I can say is thank heaven they don’t know who the Kardashians are, or what the double entrendre involving Jodi Foster and Mel Gibson’s latest film meant. Cause that would have been even worse.

Beside this, the show included a lot of things I expected, one delightful surprise, two missed predictions that probably shouldn’t have been a surprises, and far more speeches thanking industry insiders than speeches making, you know, larger points about life or love or anything.  Come on, people – this is your chance to speak to maybe the largest audience of your life. This is your chance to be memorable – to be unforgettable!  Why do so few of them get this?

Well, anyway, there were some great clothes.  A really unpleasant image of Justin Bieber with a turkey baster. And a very few cute/emotional speeches.  If you’ll indulge me as I discuss how I did with the predictions, I’ll get into how the speeches went, and what this all means

Best Supporting Actor:

I predicted Christopher Plummer, and Christopher Plummer it was.  I can’t help thinking that what amazes people is how plausible such a hetero icon as Captain Von Trapp was at playing gay, and that seems sad to me.  Why are we not passed that yet?  At any rate, he’s a great actor and heretofore unrewarded, so I’m going to choose to be happy for him even if I’m not so sure what the big whoop about the performance is.  His speech was short and classy – so typical for a Brit – and he was rather funny in his various send ups of Ewan MacGregor, which is always welcome.  The funny, that is.  Especially when it makes Ewan laugh.  The only other things I can say about this category was that it’s nice to see Kenneth Branagh back on the scene, and that wow, Jonah Hill looks like a completely different person.

Best Supporting Actress:

I said Octavia Spencer, and Octavia Spencer it was.  She looked so pretty in lavender, and she started off with a great quote from MLK (appropriate to the holiday weekend) – “Any work which uplifts man has dignity.” Now that’s what I’m talking about!  Something relevant to her movie, something emotional that has greater meaning than just thanking her agent. And how cute was it that half the room had to kiss her on the cheek before she could get up on the stage?

Best Actor in a Comedy

I predicted Jean DuJardin, and so it came to be. He was quite and cute (though he looks quite different in color), and his little dance at the end?  Lovely.  What a ham, too – I thought they were bleeping him for a moment before I realized he wasn’t quoting Douglas Firbanks but pantomiming silent film.

Best Actor in a Drama

George Clooney is what I said, and George Clooney is who they picked.  Here he is, our gracious frontrunner for Best Actor.  Interesting that people didn’t feel the need to leap to their feet and laud him, no?  By the way, anyone else surprised that Ryan Gosling didn’t show?  Hey boy, they nominated you twice.  You’re supposed to show up.

Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical

I picked Michelle Williams, and so did they.  She gave a super cute speech about her daughter, I thought.  6 months of bedtime stories read in Marilyn Monroe’s voice?  Hee.  That’s so cute.  And her little line thanking the Hollywood Foreign Press for putting her hands the very award Marilyn herself won “over 50 years ago”?  Nice.

Best Actress in a Drama

I picked Viola Davis, and voila – they picked (as I maybe gave away) Meryl Streep.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Meryl Streep will automatically win the Oscar (note: supporting actress, 2002, but it for damn sure keeps the race interesting.  It stops it from being a forgone conclusion (which right now the other three races are looking like) which is awesome.  I have seen both movies, and I can say without a doubt that they awarded the right person.  Not that Viola isn’t deserving, and I totally adore her, but what Meryl did?  Damn.  And it also gives us the chance to hear Ms. Streep, who is so funny, and so clever, and so generous, and not at all the stuffy person you might imagine.  She not only thanked her fellow nominees in both comedy and drama, but spoke about the outstanding year it was for women, highlighting work by Mia Wa  in Jane Eyre and Adepero Oduye  in Pariah.  I mean, can you imagine what those two girls are thinking at home, knowing that Meryl Streep says she’s inspired by them?  Can you imagine a compliment meaning more to an actor, having someone like her mention you instead of just the executives who made her film?  I mean, awesome.  I would have been happy for Viola Davis, but I could not be more flat out thrilled to be wrong.  You’ll notice people did leap to their feet to applaud her.  By the way, did you know she donated her entire salary for this movie?  Yeah. That’s right.  That’s how she rolls.

Best Director

Now that we’re talking about categories I got wrong, here we are – I said Michel Hazanavicius of The Artist, and they picked Scorcese and Hugo.  Sometimes director and picture don’t match up; it’s not normal, but it’ll be interesting to see if this is one of those years.  Was it just that the Globes like to reward the biggest star?  Could be.  Martin Scorcese is a big name, big star director.  So it could do it.  Does this mean anything for Hazanavicius’s chances at Oscar? It didn’t help, anyway.  At any rate, as with Best Actress, this is now a genuine horse race, which is neat because there don’t seem to be a lot of them.

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy

I said The Artist, and The Artist it was.  No surprise. Still the front runner, I’d say. More tap dancing!  But guys, don’t bring the dog on stage with you if you expect anyone to pay attention.  A dancing Fenchman and a dog – how can you compete with that?

I will say, however, that the producer with the story about his dead father winning an Oscar for a short film in 1965, but not being able to afford the plane fare to attend the show?  That was pretty touching.  Unfortunately, I was watching the dog, and I don’t know who the guy was.  But the story stuck with me, anyway.   If he repeats it at the Oscars, they probably won’t get to bring the dog (much to serious!), and then we’ll know who he is.

Best Picture, Drama

I said The Help, and – oops! – they went with The Descendants.

Well, my original thought had been The Descendants (I swear I am not just saying that), but then I’d thought wait, the Hollywood Foreign Press likes movies about women.  This is their kind of thing.  That could do it.  But no.  Not this time.

What else?  Madonna’s a bit of a snooze, no?  Although she did have the most copied line of the night – calling Harvey Weinstein The Punisher.  I had to snicker when the camera panned to her whenever anyone mentioned Britain, rather than any of the actual Brits in the room.  Too funny.  I was surprised to find that W/E was officially released in 2011; I guess I forgot that when the nominations came out.  Maybe it’s just that I’m seeing that trailer at all the Oscar movies and it makes me want to spit, since we know Wallis Simpson to be a Nazi sympathizers.  Cause I just don’t have any sympathy for them.  And that’s not even to mention all the cheating. Another thing I forgot from the nominations – that Glenn Close wrote the lyrics to the nominated song from

And, let’s see.  Yay, Downton Abbey!  I was pleased for Idris Elba, too – although I can’t imagine how they made a second season of Luther, I really can’t.  My favorite moment of Ricky Gervais was probably when he attempted to skewer the “evil” Colin Firth.  Loved noticing George R. R. Martin – the author responsible for Game of Thrones – sitting at a back table.  Helen Mirren teased Morgan Freeman hilariously.  Felicity Huffman and husband William H. Macy harmonize really nicely together.  French composer Ludovic Bource was adorable, very much in the style of Charlie Chaplin.

Anyway.  Great dresses? There were a few.  I thought Angelina Jolie looked odd sitting, but that was just her wrap – her white gown was form fitting and super glamorous.  And how cute was the look on Brad Pitt’s face when she took the stage to present?  Also, did you notice what a trend the bright red lipstick was?  Not only Angelina, but also Clare Danes and Mirielle Enos.  Speaking of Clare Danes, I really loved her dress (and when she talked about winning the Golden Globe for My So Called Life, and bursting into tears because she’d forgotten to thank her parents). She’s just great; I’m sorry she beat Julianna Margulies, though I’m not surprised, and I’m still happy for her.  And us, that such apparently awesome television is getting made. Must get my hands on Homeland when it comes out on dvd.  New mom Jessica Alba’s purple dress was amazing.  Sofia Vergara, of course, looked incredibly curvy and gorgeous in bright blue, and  Nicole Kidman had a fascinating pale blue studded gown.  Reese Witherspoon was resplendent in red.

What did you guys think?  Did I miss any fantastic looks?  Are you as excited about Meryl Streep as I am?