“Wait, is this real life? Like, this isn’t a joke?”
No, that wasn’t my reaction to the 8 seconds of new Game of Thrones footage that we got last night. It was my reaction to the highway robbery that I, along with millions around the world, witnessed last night during the 76th Golden Globe. A night that opens up the award season, the Golden Globes are generally a predictor of what is to come at the Academy Awards. Let’s hope that’s not the case this year.
Of course, the show itself wasn’t bad, as hosts Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh did a charming job hosting the awards; and most of the speeches were great (we didn’t get any super drunk celebrities this year, so that’s a plus). We also got to see Mahershala Ali win his first Golden Globe, in the category of Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, for his work in ‘Green Book’. Another first time winner was Regina King who won the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, for her work in ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ by beating out the likes of Amy Adams (‘Vice’), Emma Stone (‘The Favourite’), and Claire Foy (‘First Man’). And ‘A Star is Born’ got their first win of the night pretty early on by taking home the Globe for Best Original Song for ‘Shallow‘; however, it seemed like they banked on Lady Gaga to get her own award, as she didn’t really partake in the acceptance speech.
There were some shocking surprises last night (enough to make me wait a day before writing this article). To start, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story won Best Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, beating out heavy favorite Sharp Objects. Then, Michael Douglas took home his first Golden Globe in a surprise victory in the category of Best Actor in a Television Series, musical or comedy, by beating out Bill Hader and Donald Glover. However, The Kominsky Method was not done shocking us, as it pulled out a win in the category of Best Television Series, musical or comedy, over the likes of Atlanta, Barry, and The Good Place. Other television winners included:
Best television series, Drama:
“The Americans”
Best actress in a television series, Drama
Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”
Best actress in a TV series, musical or comedy
Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Best actress in a limited series or motion picture made for TV
Patricia Arquette, “Escape at Dannemora”
Best actor in a limited series or motion picture made for TV
Darren Criss, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Best supporting actor in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television
Ben Whishaw, “A Very English Scandal”
Best supporting actress in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television
Patricia Clarkson, “Sharp Objects”
And while the Globes do acknowledge and reward television series, the night is really focused on film, just ask Jim Carrey. In what was anticipated to be a big night for films like ‘ROMA’, ‘Vice’, and ‘A Star is Born’, it was ‘Green Book’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ that stole the show…literally. However, ‘Vice’ did net one win out of their 6 nominations, with Christian Bale taking home his 2nd Globe in the category of Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for his work as Vice President Dick Cheney. And while his speech was amazing, it was Bale’s British accent that had people talking, as seemingly nobody knew he was British. The other category that ‘Vice’ was almost a lock to win was Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy; however, everyone was surprised to see ‘Green Book‘ take home the award. ‘Green Book‘ also won Best Screenplay, Motion Picture beating the likes of ‘Vice’, ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, and ‘ROMA’. Best Animated Film was a little bit of a surprise, only because Disney has won the last 9 times; however, ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘ ended that streak, and took home the award beating out ‘Incredibles 2’ and ‘Wreck-It Ralph’. The one heavy favorite that actually won, it seemed like, was ‘ROMA‘ winning Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language.’ROMA’ also had another win, with director Alfonso Cuaron winning Best Director in a Motion Picture over the likes of Bradley Cooper (‘A Star is Born’), Spike Lee (‘BlacKkKlansman’), and Adam McKay (‘Vice’). Coming into the evening, a lot of people were looking at Emily Blunt as the favorite to win Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for her work in ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ (a film that was surprisingly shut out at the awards). However, it was Olivia Colman who took home the award for her work in ‘The Favourite’. However, we hadn’t reached the biggest shocks of the evening, at this point.
The Drama category gave us exactly that: drama, and to the max. The whole category (Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Motion Picture) looked to be a lock for ‘A Star is Born’ heading into the show, just look at Mark Ronson’s acceptance speech for ‘Shallow’, Lady Gaga barely got a word in because they were banking on her to win Best Actress. So when it was time to reveal Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama, it was a shock when Glenn Close‘s name was announced. Close, 71, won her first Globe last night for her work in ‘The Wife’, but it didn’t come without drama as Twitter exploded questioning how Gaga didn’t win the award. However, ‘A Star is Born’ still had Best Actor and Best Motion Picture to look forward to. But, another one bit the dust, as Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama, went to Rami Malek for his work in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Once again, Twitter exploded wondering how Bradley Cooper could have possibly lost, as he was the 2nd largest favorite of the evening (Gaga was the largest). Heading into the final award of the evening, ‘A Star is Born’ only had one win, but people still had hope that it would beat the likes of ‘BlacKkKlansman’, ‘Black Panther’, ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and take home the biggest prize of the night: Best Motion Picture, drama. But when Nicole Kidman opened the envelope and read the name, it wasn’t ‘A Star is Born’. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Golden Globes history, baffling fans, celebrities, and Twitter users alike. Personally, I was waiting for Steve Harvey to come up or for someone to say there had been a mistake. With all congratulations to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, I thought ‘A Star is Born’ was one of the best films of the year, and was completely robbed (so was Cooper and Gaga, for the record).
A few of my favorite things include my pet dragon (Drogon), Game of Thrones, Disney movies and theme parks, the MCU, DC movies, Star Wars, sports, and my rather large Funko Pop collection. Daenerys Targaryen is my queen, Robert Downey Jr is my man crush, and Simba is my spirit animal.
