Here we have the 80th Golden Globe Awards that took place a couple days ago and it was a bit unusual that those were held in the middle of the week and not during the weekend, but oh well I guess that after last year we could be grateful that they got broadcast on (national) television at all again, which was not a given anymore I suppose. Before I go into detail there, let's look at some of the basics. It was a pretty round edition and this made it even more disappointing how poorly it turned out in total. Quality-wise I mean. The numbers were still massive. This ran for over two hours, but stayed under the 2.5-hour mark nonetheless. However, this only includes the actual broadcast. If you add commercial breaks there, three hours was not an illusion. The chaos already started with Jarrod Carmichael and he was the host this time. I don't think I have ever watched a more disappointing opening number than the one he delivered. I mean I don't need big music numbers (I don't mind them either though), but I have no clue what his rambling at the beginning was all about. I guess it was meant to be inspiring and funny at the same time. I don't think one person from the audience was laughing there. As for inspiring, he was explaining to us why the fact that he was Black may seem like the reason why he was hosting, but that it was not the actual reason. Really cringeworthy how he called himself there one of the most talented entertainers or comedians or whatever. I mean usually you have it at these shows that one of the announcers, winners or whatever steps up and says on one occasion that we should applaud the great hosting, but I don't think this even happened here. Self-explanatory as liberal Hollywood laughs about and applauds the most mediocre jokes these days as long as they fit the agenda, but not even this brought him any cheers. He still made sure to mention during every single segment that he was gay. Time passed and he still joked a bit about Will Smith's Oscar meltdown and Whitney Houston's death and the latter even brought him something hat sounded like occasional boos. Not undeserved. I mean Houston was an icon and who is he? Quite tasteless there. If you want to get in jokes like these, you should bring Ricky Gervais. He has a talent with those to still get the message through and not make them sound super offensive. By the way, Gervais hosted this event a couple times in the past and it is shocking how far down this has gone quality-wise between him as the host and the guy who had the job the other night.
Oh, I just mentioned the Will Smith joke. Eddie Murphy also got him in at the end of his speech there. That was also not super funny, but definitely better than what Carmichael did. Murphy has a bit of a shaky past with awards bodies too. He is still not Will Smith, that must be said in his defense. I personally also think he is far more talented. The other honoree was Ryan Murphy, yep another Murphy. Well, what can I say there? I love "Nip/Tuck" and parts of "American Horror Story" too, but some of the other stuff he has worked on was not good. Maybe too big of an honor, even if in theory I think it is nice they also focus on small screen bosses now, even if Murphy is also a bit too far on the left for my liking. As for the competitive awards, there was some stuff I like for sure in terms of winners. Brendan Gleeson would be even greater, but I take the Asian dude from "The Goonies" as well. He is likable and his success story is quite extraordinary. Michelle Yeoh I am not equally big on. I guess I will be cheering for Cate Blanchett on Oscar night. It is pretty close between them now. SAGs and BAFTAs may be good indicators, but I still feel they will give it to Yeoh. Blanchett would have better chances if she had won only once so far and not twice already. Brendan Fraser may not have won that night, but I still think he is the Oscar frontrunner. The Globes going for Elvis (Butler) is no surprise and I feel like with Farrell (just like Gleeson) not being present at the Oscars before that already, he might have a hard time there too. Then again, Fraser (The Whale) has not been nominated either, but he seems like a Hollywood powerhouse with all he has been in so far already. A lot is possible. We will see.
With the two Best Picture winners, I am totally fine, even if I have not seen Spielberg's newest yet. Quite interesting he also won Best Director over the nominated duo. The Globes really did not love the Yeoh film too much, which already became obvious when Jamie Lee Curtis lost her category. I like that. I don't want her to win the Oscar and Angela Bassett gave the much better performance I think. Admittedly, her speech was not a moment of glory either and she is far from safe to score the Oscar nomination. Best Supporting Actress looks also wide open. One of the most interesting wins of the night was the foreign language feature category. People were wondering if Germany, India or Korea would win there, but you should never underestimate Argentina. Quite an upset. The Indian film at least found some solace in the Best Song category where it won over Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Taylor Swift. And over the song from Pinocchio, which in my opinion is not the best number from the film though. The screenplay win also made me a bit happy. Can't wait to see McDonagh's newest soon. With the small screen categories, there is also some interesting to elaborate on. Kinda fascinating that the Game of Thrones glory continues from day one after the end of the show awards-wise while there is still no love at all for the Breaking Bad spinoff where at least Bob Odenkirk was considered a favorite. It wasn't meant to be and if we did not know to never underestimate Kevin Costner and his star potential, then we know now. He wasn't even there to accept the award. Maybe he did not expect the win himself. Other acting categories there had the expected winners. Zendaya I am indifferent to I guess, but at least I do not dislike her anymore. Impressive awards season for her. She was not around either though. The love for Paul Walter Hauser makes me happy though, even if his win was not a surprise either. Really cool actor and I also like that Eastwood kinda gave him his breakthrough role. Speaking of mentors here, you could see that Butler and Tarantino seem to have a nice bond as well.
As for the women winners, Amanda Seyfried and Jennifer Coolidge keep dominating just like Zendaya right now. I am not mad at all. Coolidge is especially fun to watch all the time when she enters a stage. Never can say for sure if it is her true self or if she is acting there too, but I am entertained and as a "2 Broke Girls" regular viewer, I am just happy for her. Definitely wanna watch her show too! The really successful Black show this time was "Abbott Elementary". I have not seen it (yet?), but it is rising quickly. The only one spoiling the evening a bit there for this show was Julia Garner. Maybe the two AE nominees in that category took away too many votes from each other to have one triumph. It won big enough nonetheless. There was not too much love spreading this time in the small screen categories, more in the big screen categories. Justin Hurwitz deserves a mention too. He is four from four now at the Globes and only slightly worse at the Oscars where he is probably now also the front-runner to take the trophy for his most recent collaboration with Damien Chazelle. The latter does not have a great awards season as reviews for "Babylon" are a bit on the mixed side, but it will be interesting to see if Brad Pitt's star potential is still big enough to also sneak in as a nominee at the Oscars. Today, we elaborate on the Globes though. I will just do some brainstorming for the last quarter of my review. One thing I still find baffling is that Jason Sudeikis did not get in as a nominee here. I think he was eligible, wasn't he? At least the Emmys are honoring him all the time, so it was a big surprise that he did not even score a GG nomination. Or that his show was snubbed altogether. That makes me think that perhaps they weren't eligible this year, but if they were, then it was probably the biggest surprise of the nomination announcement.
Of course, even if it has only indirectly to do with the show, it was shocking to read that Lisa Marie Presley died only two days later and we saw her here on the screen and she was really happy over Austin Butler's win with the latter portraying her father. No signs of the upcoming cardiac arrest and she wasn't old at all. I think one category that is really decided this year already just like Supporting Actor is the Animated Feature category and we will see the same winner there at the Oscars like we saw here. I was not blown away by Del Toro's "Pinocchio" to be honest, but it was decent and I like Del Toro, so I am happy for him. He is kinda sweeping the awards season. Also saw his film scored most nominations with the 2023 Annie Awards. Another aspect I liked from the Golden Globes was the piano segment and the player who did fine. Michelle Yeoh of course had to misbehave and refuse to follow the rules. But it would be cool to see Chloe Flower back in 2024. No need for a big band. So you see that there were quite a few positive inclusions from my perspective here to this show. As a consequence, the question seems valid why I give it such a low rating of one star out of five only? Well, the reason is not just the awful host, but the core reason for that was the inclusion of the Ukrainian President. The moment you use these events for global propaganda is the moment when this show starts sinking. Or is actually under the sea already (thanks Chloe Flower for this quick tune btw.!). That was absolutely atrocious and the worst decision they could have made. I am not sure which of the many writers gave this a go, but big thumbs-down to him and to Sean Penn as well. As a consequence, skip the watch.
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