by Nathaniel R
Oppenheimer emerges as the big winner at the Globes (Photo by Rich Polk via Getty Images)
If you’re looking for a complete list of winners, that’s at the end of this post!
Hello readers. Though I have been largely absent from writing, I am still me, therefore love movies and watch awards shows. The hilarious thing about my “notes” from awards shows (and also movies come to think of it) is that I always get so caught up in them that the notes ultimately end long before they should. The better the thing… the sooner the notes trail off! So herewith 8 expanded notes from the Globes, inspired by mostly indecipherable scribbles, and probably weighted towards earlier moments in the show...
1 Awkward start! Jo Koy face-planted from the start. Sometimes comedians know how to laugh at themselves when a joke bombs in real time but his attempt to do that with ‘Some I write. Some other people wrote” only feeling self-serving when laughing at yourself is often the best way to get people back on your side.. Apparently a lot of people turned down the hosting gig and he was a last minute hire. But still. Meryl Streep’s blank faced reaction shot during Jo Koy’s “pull out” joke about billionaires having children says it all.
2 The Envelopes. Please! Jared Leto and Angela Bassett were the first pair of presenters and it’s wild that that pairing worked so well with Jared Leto lampooning his Method reputation and Angela Bassett doing her always delightful E-NUN-CEE-AY-TION to get things back on track with the actual envelope.
3 Humble Coronation. While I’d personally be happier to have a long Ryan Gosling celebration as this year’s runaway train for Best Supporting Actor, at least Robert Downey Jr is good at speeches. His “most improved” jab as well as comments on his director and his agents were endearing examples of believable humility while being placed on a pedestal. Great stuff.
4 Beef. Ali Wong and Steven Yeun both winning for “Beef” – yay! This served as a welcome reminder that that limited series was just thrilling / excellent.
5 Great Presenters Who Will Never Speak Again. Keri Russell and Ray Romano prove unexpectedly hilarious together with a cringe comedy bit about being honest and not Hollywood phony during their banter. Russell's desperation at not being able to compliment Romano was perfection.
6 Speech of the Night? Chris Nolan may have given the Speech of the Night and color us shocked. We didn’t think he had it in him but, as he pointed out, we haven’t seen him accepting awards much. Like Robert Downey Jr the humility was such a pleasant surprise, in this case, crediting the success of his enormously successful film to cast and crew and pointing out that his job was really just about bringing people together and helping them shine. He’d probably cinched the Best Director Oscar this past summer when the film opened huge but this will only help.
7 Best Actress Forever (Obviously). Best Actress is always a highlight. In this case we were most excited about Comedy or Musical and the time was a joy from the presentation of the fine group of nominees all looking happy to be in the room, to Jennifer Lawrence’s mugging self-awareness (‘one of these things is not like the other) when she mouthed, “if I don’t win, I’m leaving” to the camera. True story: she’s excellent in No Hard Feelings (sorry not sorry) but it is obviously the kind of performance you only get nominated for if you’re very very famous and the ceremony is the Globes. The cherry on top was Emma Stone's beautifully judged speech which put the focus squarely on how special the character of "Bella" is and hopefully will lead more people to see Poor Things.
8 Can't Stop the Music. I have no notes on this one as it came late in the night but I haven’t forgotten the funniest moment. That gloriously silly dancing bit from Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell was A+ presenting. The faux outrage after their audience-baiting ‘how long can they keep this up?’ foolishness was a superb second punchline. May Wiig and Ferrell continue to be dragged to awards shows to present together.
STRAY THOUGHTS
Good lord this person is superhumanly attractive in random cutaways: Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie, Greta Lee, Matt Bomer…. and well, a hundred other people. Winners kept calling the room “intimidating”. Is this what they meant?
Not sure that speech did much for the Oscar campaign: Paul Giamatti vs Cillian Murphy… both were fine speeches if not truly memorable so neither made the case, speech-wise, that the Oscar had to be his. And it feels like it might possibly be an actual two person race …if Bradley Cooper isn’t happening. Is Bradley Cooper not happening? Weird how things just seem so obvious and then don't happen. But they've always, for 90 some years, kept the sexy movie gods from their statues until they were wizened elders.
Unexpectedly X-Rated (but not intended to be) Moment: Kieran Culkin saying “Suck it, Pedro” after beating the internet’s husband to Best Actor in a Drama Series.
Unexpectedly wholesome Moment : Taylor Swift’s admiring ‘she gets it’ reaction shot when a joyously flustered Ayo Edebiri very specifically (and generously) thanked her agents’ assistants for answering her calls. So sweet.
And the winner for favourite interstitial shot of celebrities talking to each other between awards: It’s Natalie Portman laughing it up with Ali Wong vs. the shot of two out gay heroes, genius actors Andrew Scott and Colman Domingo chumming it up. And the winner is… Andrew Scott & Colman Domingo. What put them over the top is the follow up shot of Andrew Scott chumming it up with Pedro Pascal. He made the queer and queer-adjacent rounds that night!
Complete list of winners
MOVIE PRIZES
PICTURE, DRAMA Oppenheimer
DRAMA ACTRESS Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
DRAMA ACTOR Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
PICTURE, COMEDY Poor Things
COMEDY ACTRESS Emma Stone, Poor Things
COMEDY ACTOR Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
DIRECTOR Chris Nolan, Oppenheimer
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
SUPPORTING ACTOR Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer
SCREENPLAY Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall
SCORE Ludwig Goransson, Oppenheimer
SONG “What Was I Made For?” Barbie
ANIMATED FEATURE The Boy and the Heron
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE Anatomy of a Fall
BOX OFFICE ACHIEVEMENT Barbie
What does all this mean for the Oscars?
Is it Oppenheimer vs Poor Things at the Oscars? Or is it just Oppenheimer sweeping? We think it’s just Oppenheimer sweeping. It’s epic. It’s successful. It’s self-consciously “important”... all the things Oscar voters most value historically and still. Poor Things is a better film but we don't think it will be close.
I'd argue that the second biggest winner of the night was actually Anatomy of a Fall which won a very competitive screenplay race AND took Best International Film (though that's a prize it can't win at the Oscars since it's not submitted in that category and is probably 50% English, too)
TV PRIZES
DRAMA SERIES Succession
DRAMA ACTRESS Sarah Snook, Succession
DRAMA ACTOR Kieran Culkin, Succession
COMEDY SERIES The Bear
COMEDY ACTRESS Ayo Edebiri, The Bear
COMEDY ACTOR Jeremy Allen White, The Bear
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown
SUPPORTING ACTOR Matthew MacFayden, Succession
STAND-UP COMEDY SPECIAL Ricky Gervais: Armageddon
What does this mean for the Emmys?
Nothing! The Emmys were voted on months ago so this can’t have any influence at all on their upcoming winners. In fact, not even the nominations could have an influence… unless we’re talking next year since a few of the shows nominated (like say Fellow Travellers) premiered after the Emmy cut-off date.
That's all. What were your favourite moments and speeches from the show?