The first time I was able to watch the Globes live, and it was a great night. Loving a lot of the winners, the fashion was great (Kyra Sedgwick, Frieda Pinto, Laura Linney, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway), and the speeches were even better. Here are the winners and my reaction:-Best Picture, Drama: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog MillionaireBest Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy: Slumdog MillionaireBest Original Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog MillonaireReaction: Not since Return of the King in 2003 (a flimsy filmic year in itself) has a flick seemed so nailed on for Best Picture this early on. Unless something drastic happens (i.e. the heavens cave in, Dev Patel murders somebody, or there's major Bush-style vote-rigging) then Slumdog is on its way to huge success -- both in terms of awardage and box-office. Its wins for Screenplay and Score highlight that it probably won by a landslide here, if only since it managed to deprive Clint Eastwood of a Globe for the first time in god knows how long.
Best Picture, Comedy Musical: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Actor, Musical/Comedy: Colin Farrell, In Bruges
Best Actress, Musical/Comedy: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Reaction: Yeeehaa! Two of my favourite performances this year rewarded. Colin and Sally dearly deserve these Globes and gave honest (if a little profound) speeches that showed both were overjoyed. Although Colin was understandably a little more surprised at the win. Vicky Cristina Barcelona probably edged the others since it is a Woody Allen film after all. I don't love the film but it's a lot better than anything else he's done lately, excepting Match Point.
Best Actor, Drama: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Reaction: The Globes were perhaps more unashamedly media-orientated than ever last night, and these wins probably demonstrate that most, but I'm pretty sure there aren't an army of people complaining at Rourke and Ledger getting their due. It seems pretty apparent that Ledger's going all the way to Oscar; completely deserving (if a Leading performance in my book) and rather perverse in the sense that the role is so edgy, sinister, and downright scary that his clips feel almost like an anti-sentiment. Rourke, on the other hand, needed this Globe to resurrect a horn-locked battle with Sean Penn that was threatening to turn into a milk-stained whitewash. Still, I'm doubtful about whether Rourke can claim the Actor's vote given his dodgy history, and the fact that he isn't in a biopic.
Best Actress, Drama: Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Reaction: Well doesn't this blow everything wide open? I know this is the Hollywood Foreign Press, not the academy, but the level of support for Kate Winslet in winning both of her categories suggests that these performances are held in extremely high regard. I was contemplating even a double-snub for Winslet just a couple of weeks ago. Now, could it be that she becomes the only person to win two Acting Oscars in the same night? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's happened before.
If anything, it's a major sanctioning of Winslet as Supporting in The Reader, which I'd argue makes it very unlikely that she'll split many votes category-wise. Hathaway/Hawkins/Jolie/Streep/Winslet looks a good bet for Oscar at the moment, despite Melissa Leo's SAG nom. Whoever wins the SAG will probably be favourite for the Golden Guy, but if it isn't Winslet then maybe anyone's got a shot?
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir
Best Animated Feature: WALL·E
Best Original Song: Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler
Reaction: Probably the easiest ones to predict. Wall-E and Bruce Springsteen cannot be derailed. Waltz With Bashir will most likely make the Oscar shortlist (although they're notorious for snubbing critical faves lately) but has it got enough overall appeal to win? I'm dubious.
I never thought that my highlight of the BAFTA's this year would come courtesy of Mick Jagger in random but fine comic form in his announcement of the Best Picture award. Supporting Actress is still a free-for-all, and Leading Actor is still neck-and-neck, but although the Rourke-Penn battle seems remeniscent of Christie versus Cotillard last year, the eventual Oscar winner was in a biopic. Never under-estimate the biopic.
