Gervais’ performance the previous year garnered quite a large amount of criticism as critics considered him not-so-much hosting an awards ceremony but more as conducting a smoldering roast of all the celebs invited. When AOL entertainment interviewed Gervais on why he returned to the Golden Globes, he said, “I made a decision to not do it for the 20 egos in the room, I should be doing it for the 20 million people watching at home.”
I honestly don’t understand the issue here, I do tend to appreciate British humor more than American humor, but I don’t think this is an issue of disconnect between cultures. Gervais is technically rooting for the viewers. He’s poking fun at people who have millions and millions of dollars, to the apparent discomfort of Hollywood, and we find it repulsive? Doesn’t make sense to me. Regardless, Gervais promised some shenanigans, and he delivered. I liked that.
Now, onto the actual awards. I was overjoyed to see the awards started out the night right, with the first award given to Christopher Plummer for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Motion Picture. Plummer, best known for his role as Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” has well deserved this award on behalf of his performance in independent film, “Beginners.”
I am honestly surprised it has taken this long for this veteran of film and stage to get an award. I believe he was snubbed at 2010 Oscar’s for losing Best Performance as a Lead Actor in the film, “The Last Station.” I am predicting he will finally be awarded his Oscar in this year’s upcoming ceremony.
This year’s awards were pretty much all over the board. No movie or television series took home a majority of the awards. The movie, “The Descendants,” managed to come out with the nights big awards, Best Motion Picture- Drama and Best Actor for George Clooney.
There were some obvious choices: Michelle Williams and Meryl Streep took home awards on behalf of their films, “My Week with Marilyn” and “The Iron Lady,” respectively. Kate Winslet for the television miniseries, “Mildred Pierce” and “Downtown Abbey” for Best Miniseries.
There were also some surprising choices, such as Kelsey Grammer winning Best Actor in a Television Series for “Boss” and Peter Dinklage for his performance in the television series, “Game of Thrones.” Octavia Spencer won a Best Supporting Actress award for her performance as Minny Jackson in “The Help,” whereas I felt her costar and fellow nominee, Jessica Chastain should have won for her performance as Celia Foote.
There were some exciting choices, the extremely artistic and original (silent) film, “The Artist” took home three awards, Best Orginal Score- Motion Picture, Best Motion Picture- Comedy or Musical, and Jean Dujardin took home Best Actor in a Motion Picture- Comedy or Musical for the film.
This film has not gotten enough publicity for how well it was made, and more importantly, how much it deserved. The film was released in selected theaters, unfortunately, but this is a movie I highly suggest you see this season before the Oscars start to progress.
I can’t imagine if the Oscars will be as indecisive as the Golden Globes was when deciding a big winner for this past years movies. However, in my predictions, I see big wins for “The Descendants,” Christopher Plummer, and Jean Dujardin. The 2012 Oscar’s air Feb. 26. Will you be watching? I will.
