This year’s GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS should be even more interesting than usual. On the Film side, although there are favorites in most major categories (Boyhood, Birdman, Eddie Redmayne, Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, J.K. Simmons), none of them seems invulnerable, and while a win tonight won’t affect the Oscar nominations–those votes are already cast–it could certainly help those who find themselves nominated on Thursday morning. The Globes pride themselves on being cutting-edge when it comes to TV awards, and that means we could see brand-new breakouts like Transparent, Jane the Virgin or The Affair getting a win.
Plus, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are tried and true first-rate hosts, so the telecast should should be fun as well.
Come back here at 5PM for a Live-Blog of the festivities…
5:07: Best monologue bit so far: Amy Poehler’s imitation of British actors doing flat American accents.
5:09: Will there be Bill Cosby jokes? Yes, there are.
5:12: It’s always great to see an actor elevated from “that guy” status to award-winner, and no one will deserve any award tonight more than J.K. Simmons, newly-minted Best Supporting Actor.
5:14: Who does the seating charts for the Globes, and how did Simmons and his wife end up sitting with Lorne Michaels?
5:15: Joanne Froggatt may have been the single least likely winner of the TV Supporting Actress award, beating Uzo Aduba, Kathy Bates, Michelle Monaghan and Allison Janney. That meaty storyline on last season’s Downton really paid off.
5:22: Come on, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lopez as mismatched buddy cops. You know you’d watch.
5:23: Fargo over True Detective for Movie/Mini! It’s the deserving winner, but a surprise that the star-loving Globes went for the lower-key quality choice.
5:25: And Billy Bob Thornton over Matthew McConaughey!
5:27: Between Renner’s “globes” joke and Lopez telling Billy Bob Thornton to say thank you, it’s like they’re doing the pilot for their hypothetical show right in front of us.
5:31: NBC hitting the Blacklist promos hard, for obvious reasons.
5:33: the “North Korean journalist”/Meryl Streep bit was less than hilarious, but saved by the instruction to Michael Keaton to “fly like Birdman.”
5:35: Obligatory standing ovation for obligatory reference to Charlie Hebdo.
5:38: The Golden Globes being the Golden Globes: Gina Rodriguez wins Best Comedy Actress for Jane the Virgin. Is this the biggest award CW has ever won for anything?
5:40: The Golden Globes being the Golden Globes Part 2: the brilliant Transparent puts Amazon Prime on the map with the award for Best Comedy.
5:49: The Best Score win for Theory of Everything… could it suggest that film has more mojo than has been evident? (Redmayne aside.)
5:50: And it’s… Prince! Presenting Best Song very straightforwardly.
5:51: Selma takes the Best Song award, which is the opposite of a surprise.
5:54: A lovely acceptance speech by Common. The question for Selma, though, is if it can win anything else beyond this prize.
5:58: Lengthy, effective promo for Alligiance during the break (better than the pilot actually is).
6:00: Matt Bomer beats Bill Murray, Alan Cumming, Colin Hanks, and Jon Voight for Best TV Supporting Actor, another insanely packed category where everyone deserved to win.
6:03: It’s Ricky Gervais time.
6:05: Relatively toothless, as Gervais bits go.
6:06: Amy Adams wins Comedy/Musical Movie Actress, in a mild upset over Emily Blunt.
6:07: Adams is the person most hurt by the fact that the Oscar nomination votes are already in–this could have put her over the top, but now she’s either in or out. (And if she’s in, this won’t mean much in terms of a win.)
6:13: Kevin Hart is really running the gauntlet this week, from presenting tonight to Saturday Night Live. Just a coincidence that his Wedding Ringer opens on Friday.
6:15: Probably the biggest upset of the night so far is The LEGO Movie losing to How To Train Your Dragon 2. Both movies are done with their release, but it gives DreamWorks Animation something to boast about, which it desperately needs these days.
6:19: Patricia Arquette continues what should be her march to the Oscar podium for Best Supporting Actress.
6:25: Subtext of the NBC Night Shift promo: “We swear, it’s not State of Affairs!”
6:26: Oh, they’re not done with the North Korea jokes. Margaret Cho returns.
6:28: Best Screenplay schtick from Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. They should just have repeated their lip-synch from The Skeleton Twins.
6:30: Big win for Birdman. It won’t go head-to-head with Boyhood for Picture, since one is a Comedy and the other a Drama, so this and Director are their big showdowns. The wind also went out of Grand Budapest Hotel‘s sails–this was probably its best chance for an upset.
6:32: Jack Black delivers the most heartfelt introduction of a Best Picture clip for his pal Richard Linklater’s Boyhood.
6:36: Jeffrey Tambor’s win for Transparent would have had more oomph if it hadn’t followed the show’s even bigger win.
6:38: Nevertheless, a lovely speech from one of TV’s most reliable stars, who took things to a new level with this role.
6:42: It’s one thing for NBC to air commercials for upcoming cable shows (which aren’t allowed to give their airing day/time), but a promo about how wonderful FX is seems to be something new.
6:43: Audiences can’t wait for the new Star Wars movie. Critics think of it as the new Lupita Nyong’o film.
6:45: In a year without a standout Foreign Film candidate, the Globes win for Leviathan could make it the Oscar favorite, assuming it gets nominated on Thursday.
6:47: Maggie Gyllenhaal wins Movie/Miniseries Actress for The Honorable Woman! I love the Golden Globes! (Which is no slight against the spectacular Frances McDormand and the rest of the nominees.)
6:51: The new McDonald’s commercial makes me think of the freeway sign that talked to Steve Martin in LA Story.
6:53: The Gloves continue their romp through everything that’s new and exciting in TV with a Best Drama award to The Affair. It really isn’t the best drama on TV, but you have to admire the Globes spirit.
7:00: Amazingly, it was just a year or so ago that the idea of Netflix winning a major award seemed revolutionary. Now Kevin Spacey winning seems sort of blah when Clive Owen or Dominic West cold have won.
7:: 02: Seriously, Kevin Spacey should host an award show himself.
7:06: Is it me, or is it odd that NBC keeps plugging The Blacklist and Allegance while ignoring its other new Thursday show The Slap?
7:07: George Clooney is about as unanimous a choice for a lifetime achievement award as Hollywood’s got. Juliana Margulies and Don Cheadle, though–not the next great comedy team.
7:12: These montages are meant for it (no hint that in the Batman years, his movie stardom was less than a sure thing), but Clooney’s body of work really is extraordinary.
7:21: You have to love the slogan “A.D.: The Bible Continues”
7:22: Guess they couldn’t clear the title “Bible 2: Electric Boogaloo“
7:23: Richard Linklater wins Best Director, establishing Boyhood as the Best Picture Oscar favorite, unless something odd happens in the next half-hour. But this is the Globes, so that’s not impossible.
7:27: The Globes weren’t kidding about The Affair, as the great Ruth Wilson takes the TV Drama Actress award.
7:32: Home stretch.
7:33: Michael Keaton takes his prize with a speech that sounds like he’s just been nominated for political office.
7:37: Incidentally, no broadcast network won a single award tonight.
7:45: Grand Budapest Hotel beats Birdman for Best Comedy/Musical! Now that is a shock.
7:46: What a perfectly Wes Andersonian speech.
7:49: Interestingly, both Birdman and Grand Budapest are from Fox Searchlight. Assuming both are nominated on Thursday, you have to wonder if some advertising dollars may shift a bit.
7:52: Julianne Moore has been so good for so long (and she’s superb in Still Alice), that one has to feel happy for her win.
7:54: If it looks, acts and talks like an Oscar performance, it may very well be one. Eddie Redmayne did everything an actor is supposed to do to get up to that podium, and did it impeccably.
7:56: It always sucks when awards shows that allowed winners in “minor” categories to go on at length early in the show start playing off the winners in the biggest categories at the end, because they’re running long.
8:01: With Birdman‘s unexpected loss, Best Drama winner Boyhood is gunning for the Oscar.
All in all, this was a largely terrific Golden Globes, with a ton of deserving winners, including unexpected ones like Maggie Gyllenhaal and The Grand Budapest Hotel. We should all hope the Oscars leave as good an aftertaste.
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