The 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards combined the best of both television and cinema for the 2015-2016 year into one awards show. Comedian Ricky Gervais returned for his fourth hosting gig, and he provided a surprisingly tame and entertaining awards entrance. Having gotten in trouble in the past, Gervais held back on a few jokes that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would have frowned upon. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is a group of journalists responsible for picking the winners of the Golden Globes.
The Awards show started off with a surprise as Kate Winslet took home the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, for her role as Joanna Hoffman in the critically-acclaimed Steve Jobs. She was as shocked as anybody to receive the award as evidenced by her facial expression, and lack of preparation for a victory speech.
Other surprises consisted of the fact that director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi survivor movie The Martian, based on the novel of the same title by Andy Weir, was nominated in the Comedy or Musical category. As more of a drama with moments of levity, the Hollywood Foreign Press controversially nominated The Martian for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical. The movie ended up winning in that category and star Matt Damon won the Best Actor in a Movie, Comedy or Musical as well.
Another positive of the 73rd Globes was the presenters. From hilarious duos such as Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, and Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg to the A-list actors presenting such as Tom Hanks and Jennifer Lawrence. The presenters provided entertaining and sometimes hilarious introductions to the awards.
There were a number of TV shows and movies that won big at the Globes. USA’s Mr. Robot won Best Television Series Drama, and Best Supporting Actor in Television Series Drama. Christian Slater was the recipient of the latter award and Mr. Robot’s first season turned out to be very successful upsetting fan favorites such as Outlander and Game of Thrones. Alejandro Iñárittu followed up his Academy Award winning film Birdman with his survival epic The Revenant. This was another big winner taking home, Best Motion Picture Drama, and Iñárittu took home Best Director. Leonardo DiCaprio, the film’s star, finally took home some hardware for his hard work. He received the Best Actor in Motion Picture Drama, defeating acting powerhouses, Michael Fassbender, and Brian Cranston.
There were another number of surprises and tight races. The Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama was highly competitive with acting greats like Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan, Rooney Mara, and newcomers Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander. Larson ended up taking the award for her role in Room, based on the novel by Emma Donoghue.
While the pleasant surprises were welcomed there were some snubs. Spotlight, the story of how the Boston Globe uncovered a massive molestation conspiracy in the Catholic Church, was nominated four times and was considered by many to be the most critically acclaimed movie of the year. It, however failed to win a single of the nominations that it received. This is surprising considering the HFPA is a group of journalists, and the fact that they didn’t pick a movie about one of journalism’s greatest accomplishments is surprising.
Overall, the Golden Globes were an entertaining award show in which both quality Television and Movies received appropriate recognition. While surprises like Kate Winslet were well accepted, some snubs like Spotlight disappointed fans.
