Golden Globes Reactions

In a lackluster press conference on NBC last night, the Golden Globe awards were announced. Before I give my reactions, I loved this blurb from the Associated Press:

“I just got off the plane from Los Angeles and I was standing there and it was just perfect. It was perfect to stand there, that was better than being in a proscenium kind of space or at a dinner.” — Julian Schnabel, explaining how he learned he had won the best director Golden Globe for “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” by watching a television monitor in the baggage claim area at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Others learned about their wins at hotels, at shady bars in the Meatpacking Distrction, and my favorite – David Duchovny didn’t watch it at all.

I decided not to watch last night because the idea of Entertainment News hosts announcing anything made me a little nauseous. When I check the wins this morning, there definitely quite a few surprises. My thoughts are after the jump:

Television

I haven’t seen the winning dramatic series, “Mad Men,” but it was nice to see a win that wasn’t “House” or “Grey’s Anatomy.” Don’t get me wrong, I watch “House” religiously and have been known to dapple in “Grey’s” as a guilty pleasure, but I like to see something different and less popular win once in a while. I hope the show lives up to hype this win with certainly gain for it.

I’m ecstatic that “Extras” and Tina Fey one in their respective categories. “Extras,” in my opinion, is an amazing show. One of my favorite parts of television is the ease of cameos that make integration with pop culture icons seamless. I love how “Extras” manipulates that for comedic purposes, creating the quintessential post-modern sit com. As for Tina Fey, I used to hate her until I watched “30 Rock.” Now I want a t-shirt with her name on it for every day of the week.

Disappointments? My biggest was the best comedic actor. I would have been happy with Gervais, Carell, or Baldwin, all of whom show an amazing commitment to playing their ridiculous characters truthfully. Still, I haven’t seen “Californication” in its entirety, so I don’t want to criticize too soon.

Film

Did anyone see the win for Atonement coming? Anyone at all? I’m not going to criticize the choice until I’ve seen the film, but the hype seemed to leaning elsewhere. (My loyalties are always with the Coens… Sorry.)

Julie Christie and Daniel Day-Lewis were definitely good choices for the dramatic actress and actor pick, albeit predictable ones. I think Denzel Washington would have also been an outstanding choice. As for the comedic actor and actress, I was ecstatic that Johnny Depp won, though apparently I’m among the few film buffs who feels this way. I thought he did a wonderful job bringing Sweeney to the screen, something that I never thought could be done with any grace or subtlety. However, I stand firm by my stance that Amy Adams should have had a win. She was fantastic in Enchanted, a role that I think any other actress would have played far too cheesy. I’m sick of children’s movies being disregarded as low art. Some of the best films ever made were directed at children: The Wizard of Oz, Edward Scissorhands, The Princess Bride, Beauty and the Beast…

Of course, I was happy that Sweeney took the best musical/comedy prize, although really I think Juno deserved it just as much, if not more. Both films were beautifully crafted to fit a certain genre without forsaking the individual directors’ own signature styles, and I think that’s an accomplishment in and of itself.

Biggest disappointments: Persepolis should have won best foreign picture and Alan Menken should have won best original song. Guess the writer’s strike has affected the HFPA’s judgement, though.