The 67th Annual Golden Globes: A Recap

By our guest blogger, Rob Stammitti

So, the ceremony's over, the winners are in, and it's less than a month away until the nominations are announced for the Academy Awards. Plenty of the winners last night will undoubtedly be making an appearance at the Oscars. So, without further ado, what films and television series were honored with a Globe?

As for the big awards, "Best Picture - Drama" and "Best Picture - Musical or Comedy," the winners were certainly among the most popular nominations. James Cameron's sci-fi epic "Avatar" (perhaps you've heard of it?) brought home the prize for the Drama category, and in a rather surprising turn, "The Hangover" took the gold for the Comedy category, overcoming another nominee and its primary competitor, "(500) Days of Summer."

Cameron also managed to grab the trophy for Best Director. Few surprises there, and it's all the more appropriate as "Avatar" draws closer and closer to overcoming Cameron's other box office smash and Best Picture winner, "Titanic." As much as I would've liked to see "Up in the Air" or "Inglourious Basterds" get both Picture and Director, it's hard to deny the impact Cameron's film had on the industry in 2009. Pixar proves once again to have a hold on awards season with "Up," taking home the award for Best Animated Feature.

In the film acting categories, there weren't many surprises. Chrisoph Waltz received the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the sinister Hans Landa in "Inglourious Basterds," Mo'Nique won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a real monster of a mother in "Precious," Meryl Streep won Best Actress - Comedy for her role in "Julie & Julia" (for which she gave a heartwarming and wonderful speech thanking her mother for inspiring her), Jeff Bridges beat out George Clooney for the Best Actor - Drama award for "Crazy Heart," and Robert Downey Jr. won the Best Actor - Comedy award for his portrayal of "Sherlock Holmes" in the film of the same name, beating out my personal favorites Matt Damon ("The Informant") and Michael Stuhlbarg ("A Serious Man").

The most appropriate award for acting, however, went to Sandra Bullock, who won the Best Actress - Drama award for "The Blind Side." 2009 was a killer comeback year for the actress, and it's only suitable that she receive the award for one of the films that did it for her.

The award for Best Screenplay went to the very deserving Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for "Up in the Air," and Reitman gave an excellent speech describing his revelatory experience working with George Clooney, who received particular attention at the ceremony due to the generous work he's doing for relief in Haiti.

The TV drama "Dexter" took home the awards for both Supporting Actor and Best Actor - Drama for John Lithgow and Michael C. Hall, respectively. Alec Baldwin wasn't present to accept his award for Best Actor - Comedy for "30 Rock," which lost the best TV Series - Comedy award to "Glee," which has rapidly grown in popularity since its debut.

Probably the greatest moment during the show came when Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio came onstage to present their friend and collaborator Martin Scorsese with the honorary Cecil B. Demille award for overall career excellence. Scorsese receiving his award from the two extraordinarily talented actors who have proven to be among his greatest muses was truly a sight to behold, and the master director's brilliant speech describing the wonders and importance of cinema alone made the entire ceremony worth watching. There are few filmmakers I can respect as highly as Scorsese, and this one simple, beautiful speech conveyed what is so great about cinema moreso than I ever could.

The ceremony was hosted by first-timer Rickey Gervais, and it would be an understatement to say his performance will be a controversial one. Throughout the whole ceremony, he made sardonic but painfully hilarious jokes about NBC, the Jay Leno controversy, celebrities, the Golden Globes themselves, and every single presenter he brought onstage. With a knife, you could cut the tension caused by his comedy, so much so that it's no surprise that Gervais himself announced multiple times, "Well, I won't be coming back next year." Regardless, it was one of the funniest and most entertaining hosting jobs I've seen in a long while, and was very typical of the comedian's typical humor.

The awards won are a definite indication of what we'll be seeing come March for the Academy Awards, and I'm sure now more than ever that "Avatar" will be the one coming out on top when we finally see Oscar winners.

Overall, this was one of the more swift and amusing Golden Globes in recent years, with some surprising winners, both deserving and otherwise.  More importantly, it was a celebration of the entertainers that keep us in good spirits even in the hard times our world continues to face.