Golden Globes
The Golden Globes just happened. You can see the results here. My highlghts of the show are as follows:
Worst Dress of the Night: Renee Zellweger, wearing an inky ziploc freezer bag and apparently having an allergic reaction to whatever used to be in it. She always has the puffy face and squinty eyes, of course, but she looked especially drowsy tonight. To make things worse, her hairstylist had opted for a busy little nest thing that I like to call 'tête au lit'.
Surprise of the Night: Slumdog Millionaire - the little film that could. I really ought to go and see this movie, eh? I don't think anyone was predicting this to have such an extraordinary night, but it took best film, best director, best original score and best screenplay. An extraordinary result. Who could have predicted that, of all the cast of Skins, Dev Patel would be the one being catapaulted into Hollywood?
Non-Surprise of the Night: Heath Ledger winning for Dark Knight. Entirely deserved, of course, but Mirren-level predictable. (Oh, and Wall-E won best animated, of course.)
Delight of the Night: Kate Winslet winning best supporting actress and then best actress. Because I love Kate Winslet, and it's nice to see her happy, and she gives charming acceptance speeches (given the chance). You have to love Kate Winslet; she's Kate fucking Winslet. Doesn't this mean she has to get an Oscar at last? And isn't it ridiculous that she's still so young and it's already an 'at last'. Kate fucking Winslet!
Funniest Moment: Ricky Geravis (or 'Gervay', as the Americans do insist on calling him), telling Kate Winslet that he knew she'd start winning awards once she did a Holocaust movie, and bemoaning that such movies never have a gag reel on the DVD. He milked his part, but Gervais always gives great awards ceremony. (Sacha Baron Cohen, not so much.)
Weirdest Moment: Salma Hayek waxing lyrical about how beautiful she is. It took me a few seconds to realise that she was actually talking about Penelope Cruz, who is, after all, a different person. They were both in the same room at the same time, so it's definitely true. Mind you, they were never both in the same shot.
Favourite Speech: I didn't expect Colin Farrell to win Best Actor in Not A Serious Film, and I doubt he expected it either. He doesn't have the body of work; he's not overdue; he's not going to get an Oscar nod; and Brendan Gleeson was nominated in the same category for the same film. It was a deserving performance, but it was surely a long shot. Anyway, the point is, I don't know if he'd prepped a speech, and he can be a bit rotten at these things - he was chewing gum and saying stupid things during his presenter slot, and I was shaking my head in despair - but the boy done good. His scattershot acceptance speech was heartfelt and funny and showed an unexpected streak of thoughtfulness. Hated the earrings, though. Loved the waistcoat.
Other Favourite Speech: Kate fucking Winslet, both times.
Disappointment of the Night: Sean Penn not winning Best Actor in a Serious Film for his portrayal of Harvey Milk in Milk. Mickey Rourke winning has that sense of rewarding an old dog, even though Rourke doesn't really have a history of great and credible performances behind him, but having seen Milk just last night and been moved, devastated and amazed by Penn's transformational and humane performance, I was really hoping he'd get the recognition, and it was not to be.
BBC News Story of the Night: 'British people win lots of awards'. The BBC story is always 'how many awards did Britons win?' This year the answer is 'lots'. Sally Hawkins, Tom Wilkinson, Kate Winslet (twice), Slumdog Millionare (several times); that's lots. Colin Farrell isn't ours, but everyone thinks he is, so we'll claim that one as well. And Paul Giamatti. He's a character actor, he must be British.
Worst Dress of the Night: Renee Zellweger, wearing an inky ziploc freezer bag and apparently having an allergic reaction to whatever used to be in it. She always has the puffy face and squinty eyes, of course, but she looked especially drowsy tonight. To make things worse, her hairstylist had opted for a busy little nest thing that I like to call 'tête au lit'.
Surprise of the Night: Slumdog Millionaire - the little film that could. I really ought to go and see this movie, eh? I don't think anyone was predicting this to have such an extraordinary night, but it took best film, best director, best original score and best screenplay. An extraordinary result. Who could have predicted that, of all the cast of Skins, Dev Patel would be the one being catapaulted into Hollywood?
Non-Surprise of the Night: Heath Ledger winning for Dark Knight. Entirely deserved, of course, but Mirren-level predictable. (Oh, and Wall-E won best animated, of course.)
Delight of the Night: Kate Winslet winning best supporting actress and then best actress. Because I love Kate Winslet, and it's nice to see her happy, and she gives charming acceptance speeches (given the chance). You have to love Kate Winslet; she's Kate fucking Winslet. Doesn't this mean she has to get an Oscar at last? And isn't it ridiculous that she's still so young and it's already an 'at last'. Kate fucking Winslet!
Funniest Moment: Ricky Geravis (or 'Gervay', as the Americans do insist on calling him), telling Kate Winslet that he knew she'd start winning awards once she did a Holocaust movie, and bemoaning that such movies never have a gag reel on the DVD. He milked his part, but Gervais always gives great awards ceremony. (Sacha Baron Cohen, not so much.)
Weirdest Moment: Salma Hayek waxing lyrical about how beautiful she is. It took me a few seconds to realise that she was actually talking about Penelope Cruz, who is, after all, a different person. They were both in the same room at the same time, so it's definitely true. Mind you, they were never both in the same shot.
Favourite Speech: I didn't expect Colin Farrell to win Best Actor in Not A Serious Film, and I doubt he expected it either. He doesn't have the body of work; he's not overdue; he's not going to get an Oscar nod; and Brendan Gleeson was nominated in the same category for the same film. It was a deserving performance, but it was surely a long shot. Anyway, the point is, I don't know if he'd prepped a speech, and he can be a bit rotten at these things - he was chewing gum and saying stupid things during his presenter slot, and I was shaking my head in despair - but the boy done good. His scattershot acceptance speech was heartfelt and funny and showed an unexpected streak of thoughtfulness. Hated the earrings, though. Loved the waistcoat.
Other Favourite Speech: Kate fucking Winslet, both times.
Disappointment of the Night: Sean Penn not winning Best Actor in a Serious Film for his portrayal of Harvey Milk in Milk. Mickey Rourke winning has that sense of rewarding an old dog, even though Rourke doesn't really have a history of great and credible performances behind him, but having seen Milk just last night and been moved, devastated and amazed by Penn's transformational and humane performance, I was really hoping he'd get the recognition, and it was not to be.
BBC News Story of the Night: 'British people win lots of awards'. The BBC story is always 'how many awards did Britons win?' This year the answer is 'lots'. Sally Hawkins, Tom Wilkinson, Kate Winslet (twice), Slumdog Millionare (several times); that's lots. Colin Farrell isn't ours, but everyone thinks he is, so we'll claim that one as well. And Paul Giamatti. He's a character actor, he must be British.