Zzzzz…huh?, wha? Oh…
First and foremost, I have to note Ricky Gervais’s work as emcee. Last year’s stint was a bit stale, I thought, but this year the gloves were off. Way off. Which, for whatever reason, I was okay with tonight. The difference between Gervais and Armond White, though, if you want to go there, is that one is expected (and paid) to act like a clown. The other is not.
And I have to think “That was my favorite film of the year” was a subtle joke. Not that subtle was in his toolbox.
Anyway, kicking things off, Christian Bale’s speech in acceptance of yet another Best Supporting Actor trophy slid off the rails a bit toward the end as he rushed an impromptu shout-out to actor Robert De Niro. Apparently in the press room he said the legend was “the shit,” so maybe that’s similar to what was censored from the telecast. Earlier in the speech, though, he paid lovely homage to “The Fighter” actor and producer Mark Wahlberg. “You can only give a loud performance like mine when you have a quiet, stoic anchor,” he said.
His co-star, Melissa Leo, also took down another televised Best Supporting Actress award, but the speech was a lot less graceful than Friday night’s, I’d say. Still, I thought Helena Bonham Carter had a shot at that one, so chalk it up to another likely inevitability.
I thought Lee Unkrich did a nice job of at least trying to present Toy Story 3″ as a film that deserves a place at the table by noting “historic” box office numbers and that it “beat with a human heart.” And that “were you two even born when the first ‘Toy Story’ came out” joke aimed at presenters Hailee Steinfeld and Justin Bieber was another nice touch in that vein. As was seeing Tom Hanks and Tim Allen on stage together.
When Annette Bening’s name was inevitably announced as winner of the award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, my immediate thought was, “This is her chance to turn the corner on this season, if at all.” Playing the Hollywood royalty card so emphatically might have slayed them. Or brought the race tighter. No, seriously…
One almost thinks the HFPA actively voted for anyone BUT Johnny Depp in the comedy actor field, given the added attention paid to perennial star-f***ing this year, but I might have expected Kevin Spacey before Paul Giamatti. So a fresh change of pace was appreciated there.
I had heard going into the night that Susanne Bier’s “In a Better World” was the one to watch for an upset in the Best Foreign Language Film category but didn’t bother making a predictions (10/14, by the way) change. Lo and behold…
But the original score win for “The Social Network” was the early sign that the film would dominate the evening. Wins for Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture (Drama) soon followed. Lined up like dominoes through February 27 at this point.
I don’t think words can do justice to Robert De Niro’s Rupert Pupkin-esque monologue in acceptance of the Cecil B. De Mille Award. Yeesh. And the HFPA got its TV moment after all with Michael Douglas presenting Best Picture (Drama) after losing the supporting actor category.
Meanwhile, bravo to Michelle Pfeiffer, Bruce Willis and Megan Fox for announcing “Alice in Wonderland,” “Red” and “The Tourist,” respectively, as Best Picture nominees while maintaining a straight face. Could “The Kids Are All Right” have lucked out any sweeter?
And by the way, did Brangelina look like Caesars wondering why the lions were taking so long to kill the Christians to anyone else? Just me? Okay, just wondering.
Anyway, onnward. Check out tonight’s full list of film winners at The Circuit.
[Photo: Getty Images]
Comments
181 responses to “Frontrunners stay strong at the Golden Globes”
“Were you even born when the first Toy Story came out?”
lols and roflmaos x2.
TSN win for score makes me grumpy that it’s gonna be a zzzzz TSN night.
SC 47,
It’s actually possible that Steinfeld might appreciate the exposure. Let’s face it, being with Justin Bieber brings her a little more attention than she might get otherwise, and it’s not like it would hurt her by comparison (i.e. it’s gotta feel kind of good to be the obviously more serious and talented individual).
Let’s see if The Social Network even gets an Oscar nomination before we start predicting it for the win. The Academy music branch is rather insane, after all.
What the creep was that.
After the camera showed the five nominees for Best Actress in a Comedy, they went with a shot of some fat guy from Modern Family, I think.
Hilarious.
Very classy and low-key humorous speech from Bening. I don’t think Actress (at Oscars) is all sewn up.
I don’t think Annette Benning garnered any new voters with that speech (like Bullock seemed to do). She was classy, but boring.
Great introduction by Robert Downey Jr… A bit weird but tons more funny than Gervais!
Great speech from Bening, though the crowd seemed…subdued?
@ #55: That was Harvey W.
Al Pacino, really?
Paul Outlaw:
Oh, thanks for the clarification. Still, pretty hilarious xD
TSN Score is obviously going to win Best Score at the Oscars. It’s a Best Picture Winner and cool stuff in that soundtrack. Not a good score, just cool samples… but who cares when it’s another award for TSN, right?
I liked Bening’s speech.
Pacino. Respect. But, really?
Tilda & Geoffrey up there added a whole new element to the show… the fifth element.
Hans Zimmer doesn’t deserve to win a 2nd Oscar ever – especially when you realize that the late and irreplaceable Jerry Goldsmith only received 1 and his scores are unmatched by the likes of a Hans Zimmer.
The score of The Social Network alongside Andrew Garfield’s performance gives the film its greater emotional weight.
Tilda Swinton looks like Davie Bowie. That only works for, like, Davie Bowie.
I would argue TSN score is anything but emotional. It’s so artificial…
Sorkin collects a trophy, as expected. As a longtime West Wing fan, I’ll enjoy his various wins – though whenever his head gets too swelled, he becomes almost a caricature of out-of-touch Hollywood liberals.
Oooh, Sorkin rather awkwardly tries to placate two constituencies.
Aaron Sorkin is probably going to be the only 100% sure-thing come Oscar time.
…and that was not Julia Stiles.
We all said that last year for Reitman.
Stop cutting to Lea Michelle crying. Right now. Stop it.
LOL, Rhett.
Why does Sorkin keep apologizing to Mark Zuckerberg?
In A Better World wins foreign film.
Denmark wins Foreign Language; this category is of somewhat limited utility, since a couple of the likely big contenders are MIA, especially Canada.
They went with Option C for Foreign language. Interesting.
Rooney Mara’s prediction came true:
“You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.”
Yay, a surprise, sorta, foreign film.
Mirren takes a jab at the Cameron government.
Heh, having Queen Elizabeth introduce her dad’s film is neat.
Amazing. So happy for Susanne Bier. I can’t say that I agree that In a Better World is the best of the five (not even the best Danish movie of 2010) but great with a win for my country! :D
Melissa Leo picks it up. We’ll see if she can sustain that momentum if, as seems likely, Steinfeld gets nominated in the category later.
Melissa Leo wins supporting actress and I’m starting to think that the Oscar will go the same way. Only SAG will confirm this.
I think it’s Leo’s award to lose, and I think it is proper to do so, even though I would like Adams to win just out of sympathy for being nominated so many times in such a small “big-screen’ time frame.
Jeremy Irons sounded fucking awesome when he read the nominees for Supporting Actress.
I thought he sounded really weird.
“The Fighter” is on track to be the first film to win two acting Oscars since fellow boxing drama “Million Dollar Baby”.
Woohoo! Go Melissa! Why the hell was anyone doubting this? Oscar here she comes.
SC, and the first film to win both supporting categories since “Hannah and Her Sisters” 24 years ago!
A deserved honour for DeNiro. Could it please inspire him to start appearing in non-crappy roles again?
Ugh, I feel bad for Damon. He’s trying his hardest to sell this bit, but it’s just not funny.
Matt Damon’s speech to Robert De Niro was a bit clumsy.
Okay, what did Melissa Leo say? I must have missed it.
Leo is winning at SAG. If there’s on organization that’s consistent in awarding veteran actors and character performers it’s them.
Not one clip from Meet the Parents, but Rocky and Bullwinkle shows up?
Of course.
I would have loved to see Jacki Weaver win Best Supporting Actress here, but seeing Melissa Leo inching to frontrunner status over cheater Steinfeld is way cool.
That was, by far, the oddest speech of the night. Parts of DeNiro’s speech were hilarious (i.e. the Fox airport scan joke), other awkward. The whole thing just made me feel uncomfortable.
De Niro was hit & miss, there.
*one