The Golden Globes are a strong mixture of both the Emmy’s and the Oscar’s. The Golden Globes recognizes and congratulates anything dealing with cinematography, from TV shows to movies to even the straight to TV movies that normally go right under the radar but are no less great then their big budget counterparts. However, it doesn’t have the same hype and build-up surrounding that of the true behemoth of award shows: the Oscars.
Instead, the Golden Globes serves as a different experience, all-together celebrating the foreign and the mainstream, as well acting as a tool for predicting the winners of the much larger in scale Oscars.
The Golden Globes themselves are sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press and they live up to their name by bringing actors from all over the world to the celebration. Returning from last year as the two hostesses’ are Saturday Night Live friends Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. Both bring their wacky goofiness on to the stage, delivering their jokes with loads of charm and wit.
Enough about the show itself – time to discuss the actual awards and, in return, make some predictions towards the upcoming Oscars
Let’s get the extensive TV lists out of the way first.
Much like the Emmy’s, Breaking Bad was a big winner in TV series, taking Best Drama Series and giving Bryan Cranston yet another reward for his depiction of the chemistry teacher turned meth dealer, Walter White. Supporting actor Aaron Paul was also nominated for his role as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad.
One of the hostesses herself was nominated and won for her lead role in the hit comedy show Parks and Recreation. The show was also nominated for best comedy show but lost to Andy Samberg’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine. With that loss, we can nearly confirm that the Golden Globes were in fact not rigged.
A very odd and surprising addition to the already impressive line-up of nominations are the Netflix originals becoming huge contenders in the TV category all though they’re not played primarily on a television set. Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, and Arrested Development season 4 all originated from Netflix and still managed to receive at least one nomination each (all though only Robin Wright walked away with an award for her role in House of cards).
The movie category had even more surprises in store for us, with many nominations for movies with budgets lower than most people spend on a single trip to the gas station.
American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave led the pact for nominations both with a respectable 7 nominations each. All though 12 Years a Slave only won a single award this evening, it was the biggest achievement a movie could get at the ceremony in best drama. Any film with seven nominations and the title of being top movie of the Golden Globes has tons of potential to strive during the Oscars.
The other dominating nominee, American Hustle, fared somewhat better than its dramatic counterpart, taking three awards out of the ceremony, including the greatest trophy a comedic movie could receive: best comedy or musical. Both of the two lead female actresses in the film, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, walked away with Golden Globes for the wonderful roles they played in the movie. No doubt we will see more from David O’Russells crazy energetic comedy in the Oscars and maybe some love for the male actors in the film as well; Jeremy Renner didn’t even show up to the show.
Surprising many who are not used to him getting up on stage to actually accept an award and beating out lifetime actor Bruce Dern, for his role in The Wolf of Wall Street, Leonardo DiCaprio received his 9th Golden Globe Nomination and his second win as lead actor in a comedy/musical role. Now maybe he can finally get the Oscar he deserves in which will undoubtedly be his fourth Oscar nomination and with more hope than ever, his first Oscar win.
Honorable Mentions go to Dallas Buyers Club and one of Matthew McConaughey’s best years in acting. Dallas Buyers Club led to both lead male actors, Matthew and Jared Leto, winning Golden Globes. McConaughey had a great year starring in many critically acclaimed movies such as “Mud,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street,” so be prepared for Matthew and the films he is attached to this year to make numerous appearances in other award shows.
The visual spectacle that was Gravity was nominated for its eerie score and led to Director Alfonso Cuaron taking the best director award over prestigious directors who have won in the past such as Paul Greengrass and David O’Russell. We will be seeing more of Gravity for its fantastic sound design and beautiful special effects that entrapped us all in the claustrophobic environment of space.
From Limo Driver to golden globe nominee, Barkhad Abdi killed it as a pirate taking over a ship run by a resourceful captain in his first ever role in front of a camera showing great potential for the new-face. The reluctant captain was played by none other than Tom Hanks in Paul Greengrass’ Catain Phillips. And Tom Hanks nearly carries this entire movie with an ending sequence that will take your breath away solely by the brilliance and realism of his acting in the situation.
Last but certainly not least, Her is a dark realistic comedy set in the not too distant future about a man falling in love with an Artificial Intelligence. Needless to say this very original film will receive quite a bit of Oscar buzz for its screenplay and a jaw-dropping lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix. Sadly despite its three nominations for Phoenix’s performance, the fantastic screenplay only walked away with a single award.
