2008 golden globes (31 posts)

Paramount Pictures

Brad Pitt. Angelina Jolie. Leonardo DiCaprio. Kate Winslet. Sean Penn. Meryl Streep. Tom Cruise. Anne Hathaway. Heath Ledger.

Even Miley Cyrus.

Think the Golden Globes missed having movie stars around last year?

The A-plus-listers are all among the nominees for the 66th Annual Golden Globes, as announced this morning.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Revolutionary Road and Slumdog Millionaire comprise the Best Motion Picture, Drama field.

Burn After Reading, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges, Mamma Mia! and Vicky Cristina Barcelona are up for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.

Cruise scored a supporting actor nomination for his unbilled, unhinged Tropic Thunder cameo. Robert Downey Jr. is up in the same category for the same film.

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Richard Foreman / Courtesy of Miramax Films

Kind of a surprising night, as many of us thought we'd see big wins for No Country for Old Men (Critics' Choice winner, but maybe it was too violent for the Hollywood Foreign Press) or There Will Be Blood (too "American," perhaps).

Other than that, the main story is, there is no main story, with awards sprinkled among a variety of films. In years past, there'd be one or two films that dominated every category. Not this time.

Sweeney Todd got two, including a long overdue Golden Globe for Johnny Depp, his first win after eight noms. Like Sean Penn, who was overlooked this year, Depp does not play to the press. He is reclusive and guarded and doesn't ham it up over fancy lunches with the HFPA members. Everybody knows the 80 or so voting members of the Foreign Press love to be wined and dined, and Depp just doesn't play the game.

Sweeney won, as did No Country for Old Men's Javier Bardem (the one true lock of the evening). And the Coen bros for Best Screenplay, with Julian Schnabel rightfully winning for directing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Daniel Day-Lewis took home the Best Actor, Drama Globe for There Will Be Blood, which is just a setup for the Oscars, where I'm guaranteeing he will win the Academy Award.

Juno, despite great word of mouth and multiple nominations, went home empty-handed. I thought for sure Ellen Page was going to win and Diablo Cody would be recognized for the script. That said, I still believe both will be nominated for Oscars. Also sad about my homegirl Nikki Blonsky losing. Don't worry, li'l Tracy, you're still number one with me!

So, a great year of film is honored with an average distribution of awards at a boring press conference. Hopefully, next year life in Hollywood will be back to normal, and I'll be at the Beverly Hilton in a penguin suit and hitting on actresses at after-parties. That's how the Globes should be celebrated.

NBC Photo: Eric Liebowitz, HBO, AMC, Larry Riley / FX, Randy Tepper/Showtime

Forget the canceled catering, the neglected diamonds and the predicted economic blow of about $80 million. The true tragedy of this whittled-down Globes is this: That Tina Fey isn't all glammed up, hoisting a big-ass trophy and shaking her groove thang right now over at the Beverly Hills Hilton.

The fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press finally gave one of TV's most genius comedic minds her first major award (Best Actress in a TV Musical or Comedy) is certainly something to celebrate—especially since she created, writes and stars in the best comedy on television (30 Rock). So, let's send some congratulatory hugs and well wishes to Tina via this here Internet thingamajig by commenting below, shall we?

Also worth cyber-fiving: AMC's Mad Men, which scored a win for Best Drama and also Best Actor in a Drama for newcomer Jon Hamm (now you gotta watch it, right?); Extras, which is the only series I could forgive for taking the Best Comedy win away from the shoulda-been shoo-ins, Pushing Daisies and 30 Rock; and Jeremy Piven, who finally scored a Globes win after three winless nominations. (It wasn't the show's best season, but Ari Gold was long overdue.)

Oh, and we can't forget David Duchovny, whose triumph over Alec Baldwin, Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell was hands-down the biggest upset of the night, am I right? (Though, hmmm, just remembered I did call it in my predix, which I must have written while on the sauce.) Everyone knows Duchovny was totally out of his league when it comes to laugh-out-loud funny, but, well, he's just too damn sexy to mind.

And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the HFPA also was something of a naughty little tease this year. Bryan Fuller's phenomenal, unique and inspiring Pushing Daisies seemed a shoo-in with its three big-category nominations (Best Comedy, Actor and Actress) and yet didn't receive a single win. Tsk-tsk-tsk. I expect that to be rectified next year, m'kay?

Also mind-blowingly tragic is Michael C. Hall's lack of a win for his near-perfect (and bone-chilling) turn as America's favorite serial killer this past season on Showtime's Dexter. His was the best dramatic performance of the year according to most critics out there, and yet he still hasn't won a Globe or Emmy. That ain't right.

Now, if anyone knows where Tina Fey is celebrating tonight, drop me a line so we can crash the party and hug her proper, okay? And while you're at it, please weigh in below with what you thought of the Globes TV's winners in the Poll and Comments section...

Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

7:30 p.m.:  Back in the ballroom, the Hollywood Foreign Press is still milling, the champagne is still pouring and the stars still aren't shining.

7:31 p.m.:  I pick up a list of the winners by the exit door. Maybe I'll relive the excitement of the announcements and read the names out loud on the drive home.

7:32 p.m.:  Or maybe I'll request that next time, under no circumstances, am I to be assigned to cover the 1980 Emmys.

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

6:34 p.m.:  I've got an idea. I'm going to find the biggest star of the night. The one, the only...Jorge Camara!

6:35 p.m.:  I make my way to the stage, where the Justice League of infotainment-show hosts are doing what they can to give the photographers some work.

6:36 p.m.:  There are a handful of reporters already in line to talk with Camara.

6:37 p.m.:  I get in line to talk with Camara.

6:38 p.m.:  Whistling.

6:39 p.m.:  Just so you know, I don't like to think of tonight as uneventful. I like to think of it as sad.

6:40 p.m.:  I stand corrected again. What happened here tonight were not announcements. What happened here tonight, I overhear Camara telling another reporter, was "an aberration."

6:41 p.m.:  Aberrations aren't as glamorous as you've read about.

6:42 p.m.:  My turn. Camara, as gracious as can be, demurs when I ask if NBC ruined his party by initially insisting to exclusively televise tonight's event, thus drawing the picket threat from the WGA and thus keeping away the actors. "I understand NBC's position," Camara says. "We were all part of a very difficult situation."

6:43 p.m.:  Camara, still as gracious as can be, demurs when I ask how the Hollywood Foreign Press took to NBC's nixed plan to turn tonight into an hourlong Access Hollywood-like show, complete with Access Hollywood anchors Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell. "What we wanted," he says, "was [to present] the press conference in the most discreet way possible."

6:46 p.m.:  And what the press was waiting for has been uncorked: complimentary champagne.

6:47 p.m.:  I don't drink, but I understand adult beverages are commonly guzzled on happy occasions. And on less happy occasions, when there are bad memories in need of blotting out.

6:48 p.m.:  Cheers!

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

6:22 p.m.:  I bet you're wondering what the buzz is like in the room. My answer is, what buzz? The free beer that's usually on hand for the Globes press corps is apparently on strike with the writers.

6:23 p.m.:  The "reporters" are very happy Sweeney Todd just won Best Comedy/Musical.

6:27 p.m.:  "And now for the final award of the evening..." This is how long it really takes to award the Golden Globes? Twenty-seven minutes? Is that all there is? I thought these were supposed to be announcements—plural?

6:31 p.m.:  Jorge Camara's return to the stage got a bigger hand than word that Atonement won Best Drama. I guess showing up is what counts sometimes.

6:32 p.m.:  The announcements are over.

6:33 p.m.:  Um, now what do we do?

—Filed by Joal Ryan

Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

5:58 p.m.:  Taking seats on the stage now, the Justice League of infotainment-show hosts. Its members, from left to right: The Insider's Lara Spencer (next to Jorge Camara), Showbiz Tonight's Brooke Anderson, Inside Edition's Jim Moret, E! News' own Giuliana Rancic, Extra's Dayna Devon and Entertainment Tonight's Mary Hart.

5:59 p.m.:  The PA guy announces Jorge Camara's name to a round of applause.

6 p.m.:  Apparently, Camara's name isn't met with a big enough round of applause. The assembled "reporters" are asked to clap again. (Sorry for the quotes, but if you're clapping, you're not a reporter, you're a fan. Or a loyal member of the Hollywood Foreign Press.)

6:01 p.m.:  Camara offers his opening remarks: "Good evening and welcome." Told you.

6:01 p.m.:  No lie. I'm the only person who laughs out loud when Cate Blanchett's nomination for I'm Not There is read.

6:02 p.m.:  Blanchett wins. Spencer says I'm Not There again. And finally, some other people sound like they just got the best joke of the night.

6:02 p.m.:  Wow. Two awards in two minutes.

6:03 p.m.:  Spencer might want to start extending her syllables or taking extra breaths. If she's not careful, the announcements are going to be over before we know it.

6:04 p.m.:  On second thought...

6:05 p.m.:  Entourage's Jeremy Piven wins an award and doesn't show up with his mother, an acceptance speech or snappy backstage repartee—boy, the strike really has shut down this town.

6:11 p.m.:  The Globes' integrity is intact. The names of the winners are only in the envelopes and not on the teleprompter. Moret has to crack open the gold seal to see that Queen Latifah just won for the HBO movie Life Support.

6:19 p.m.:  I give up. I can't possibly type or process as fast as the awards are being awarded. Who knew little old announcements could be so much more taxing than an actual event?