As a movie buff, every year I look forward to the Golden Globe awards as it marks the start of the awards season and has been considered a precursor to the Academy Awards. I particularly like the fact the show is more like a party and does not have the pomp and circumstance of the Oscars.
However, this year I think that worked against it. Although I like Ricky Gervais, his normally edgy material seemed tired. Maybe it was the number of times that the censors had to cut the sound because someone decided to say something naughty. Maybe it was the completely unnecessary appearance of Mel Gibson other than to try to grab some ratings by having him and host Gervais trading barbs, some of which was again censored.
There were some memorably sincere and moving acceptance speeches (like seeing Sylvester Stallone get a standing ovation for his Creed win), but many were cut short because of some overlong inane bits done by some of the presenters.
The strength of this awards show is its spontaneity (in different years, both Christine Lahti and Renee Zellweger have been caught off-guard by being in the bathroom when their name was announced as winner) and much of that was tempered by many ill-conceived practiced moments.
There were a few surprising moments like Quentin Tarantino’s self-serving speech when accepting the award for Hateful Eight composer Ennio Morricone and saying something else (which I won’t repeat) that caused a stir in the audience and online. And Leonardo DiCaprio’s reaction when Lady Gaga brushed by him as she was heading to the stage for her win exploded the Internet.
While I do think the strength of the Golden Globes and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is creating a show that doesn’t necessarily follow the rules of the more formal awards shows (like inviting Gervais back for the fourth time), however, even they who do not take themselves too seriously lost credibility by putting The Martian in the comedy category. While I applaud them for separating comedies and musicals from dramas, even a gracious Ridley Scott questioned being in that category.
The big winner of the night was The Revenant which picked up Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Director and Best Actor-Drama for Leonardo DiCaprio.
As far as new movies to look forward to this week, Ice Cube and Kevin Hart return to the buddy cop comedy genre in Ride Along 2. The first movie was a surprise hit two years ago and for the sequel they head off to Miami to solve crime bringing along Olivia Munn and Ken Jeong for good measure.
Ken Jeong also lends his voice to the other new release this week, Norm of the North, an animated feature about a displaced polar bear in New York City. The voice cast also includes Rob Schneider, Heather Graham, Colm Meaney, Gabriel Iglesias and Bill Nighy.
