The Golden Globes 2019

author: ethan butterfield | a&c editor

The night of nights. / Flickr

The second–best film awards ceremony around.

Well, it’s here. 2019, in all of it’s glory, has finally arrived. I never thought it would arrive, but look at how wrong I was. It’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Ringing in the New Year. Well, I think it is, ‘cause it gives us the chance to look at our past selves and say, “Christ, I’ll never drink that much again,” knowing full well you’re lying to yourself and everyone around you. But enough about me, let’s take a look at something that’s significantly less depressing – the Golden Globes!

Now, for those who have read past Golden Globe and Oscars articles, you’ll know that a) I have a lot of free time on my hands to write about such events, and b) that I love movies. There’s something about films that I just can’t get enough of, whether it’s the cheesy action and dialogue of classic gems like Die Hard or the heartwarming narrative of pictures like Mary Poppins (and, of course, Mary Poppins Returns), there’s a little something out there for everyone to enjoy.

This season of stunning cinema stories was especially interesting to watch due to there being a wide variety of films that could have easily taken home the coveted Best Drama and Best Comedy/Musical motion picture trophies. So, without further ado, let’s get into the winners from this year’s Golden Globes award show. (Note: I won’t be covering all the winners, due to page constraints, so I’ll be keeping it specifically about film instead of TV in this rundown. For a full list of winners, check out goldenglobes.com)

Kicking things off, we take a look at the winner of Best Animated Film, which went to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Strangely enough for the Best Animated Film category, there was some solid competition (The Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs) for the award this year, especially in regard to other years where you would hear the nominees and know immediately which one was the winner because it was the one that was Frozen.

Next up, we take a look at both Best Original Song and Best Musical Score, which went to Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga for “Shallow” and First Man, respectively. This category was also a bit shocking in regards to Best Musical Score. It seemed fairly straightforward when it came to Best Original Song, as “Shallow” seemed like the natural front-runner, with “All the Stars” from Black Panther possibly being the one to dethrone it. But First Man picking up Best Musical Score was something I did not expect as I thought A Quiet Place would take the award hands down. Awards shows do love their biographical films, though, as we’ll see later in this article.

Moving along, we arrive the Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Motion Picture category. With the winners being Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk and Mahershala Ali for Green Book, two amazing performances from two amazing films. Regina King also made a significant speech about including more women in the industry and production process, which is always great to hear as it keeps the discussion for equality in the larger film industry going strong.

When discussing the larger Hollywood industry, two important awards went out to both the legendary Carol Burnett and the equally legendary Jeff Bridges. These two gave unreal speeches during the ceremony, with Carol Burnett’s damn near making me cry. It was also an emotional experience to see all of Jeff Bridge’s roles and to see how he has evolved into the performer he is today.

Going back to the nominees, we arrive at the Alfonso Cuarón hour, who won for Best Director, well his film, Roma, won for Best Foreign Film. Roma should also be noted as a film that has, deservedly so, worked its way (in terms of hype) to the Best Picture recognition status that may help it become nominated for an Oscar.
Next, we take a look at the Best Actor and Actress for a Comedy/Musical. The winners being Christian Bale for Vice, where he humorously thanked Satan for inspiring the role. Then, there was Olivia Colman, who ended up taking home the award for The Favourite, which was very much a surprise when heavy hitters like Constance Wu and Emily Blunt were up for the award. Still, though, it was a solid win all in all.

Moving away from the Comedy and Musical acting categories, we move to Drama (the thing I believe most of us don’t need in our lives). Glenn Close nabbed the award for her role in The Wife, which she ended up winning against talent like Nicole Kidman in Destroyer and Lady Gaga in A Star is Born. Then, a win that was, at least quite surprising to me, Rami Malek for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. This was especially surprising considering the other nominees that were on the table were Bradley Cooper, John David Washington and Willem Defoe.

Now, last but not least, the Best Picture Drama and Comedy or Musical category, where the winners were… drumroll…stalling tactic… Green Book (which also won for Best Screenplay) for Musical/Comedy and…Bohemian Rhapsody for Drama…? Did somebody get these categories mixed up? I understand there are dramatic aspects to Bohemian Rhapsody and funny aspects to Green Book, but it feels like these two films may have ended up in the wrong place. Oh well, I don’t work there.
So, there you go… enjoy the New Year.