Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

A few additional thoughts:

Did Fallon's extended Chris Rock imitation strike anyone else as verging on vocal blackface?

I thought Steve Carell/Kristin Wiig were hilarious. I never responded to the bit Wiig did with Will Ferrell a few years back (that many appeared to find hilarious), but I thought this just kept getting funnier and funnier.

Going into the last three prizes, no nominee for Best Drama had won a thing. I can't imagine that's happened often, if ever.

If La La Land, as expected, wins best picture in February, it'll be the first fully original musical ever to achieve that. The string of West Side Story/My Fair Lady/The Sound of Music/Oliver!/Chicago were of course adapted from stage shows; Gigi had an original score but was based on a novel; An American in Paris was an original screenplay, but used existing songs (It's also the only one of this group to win a screenplay Oscar); if you want to include The Great Ziegfeld, it too used existing songs. There were a number of fully original musicals nominated in the early years -- several Lubitsch entries, 42nd Street -- but La La Land will ascend to a height none ever reached.

It struck me tonight: given the general lack of enthusiasm for anyone past Affleck/Washington/Gosling in the best actor category, is it possible Hugh Grant made a crucial error fraudulently positioning himself for a more competitive supporting nod instead of shooting for lead?

A few additional thoughts:

Did Fallon's extended Chris Rock imitation strike anyone else as verging on vocal blackface?

I thought Steve Carell/Kristin Wiig were hilarious. I never responded to the bit Wiig did with Will Ferrell a few years back (that many appeared to find hilarious), but I thought this just kept getting funnier and funnier.

Going into the last three prizes, no nominee for Best Drama had won a thing. I can't imagine that's happened often, if ever.

If La La Land, as expected, wins best picture in February, it'll be the first fully original musical ever to achieve that. The string of West Side Story/My Fair Lady/The Sound of Music/Oliver!/Chicago were of course adapted from stage shows; Gigi had an original score but was based on a novel; An American in Paris was an original screenplay, but used existing songs (It's also the only one of this group to win a screenplay Oscar); if you want to include The Great Ziegfeld, it too used existing songs. There were a number of fully original musicals nominated in the early years -- several Lubitsch entries, 42nd Street -- but La La Land will ascend to a height none ever reached.

Streep's speech made me cry. Very moving.

The big hit of the evening was clearly Streep's speech which is already making headlines.

I know she didn't say it to garner votes for Florence Foster Jenkins and I doubt she'll get any that weren't coming her way anyway.

Hollywood watches the Globes, not so much for the winners, but for the winners' speeches. Both Stone and Huppert gave charming speeches, but I think Huppert benefits more because Stone's film was already on their radar whereas Huppert's may not have been despite her haul from the critics.

I don't think Aaron Taylor-Johnson's win is going to secure him an Oscar nod. I thought it was the biggest head-scratcher since Pia Zadora's win.

That was the most unpredictable/predictable/unpredictable Golden Globes ever (charting my reactions during the first half hour, the long middle, then the last 15 minutes).

There were those stories prior to the nominations that Tom Ford bribed voters with perfume, and then there were those surprise nominations, so some were predicting his film might win something (maybe screenplay, a la William Peter Blatty's Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane -- which Magilla might remember). But supporting actor was the LAST place anyone expected it. I don't think it truly does much to affect Ali's run-up to the Oscars, but, hell, I didn't expect THIS.(ON EDIT: And by the way: the last Golden Globe winner in this category to not get an Oscar nomination was Richard Benjamin in 1975 -- and HE was replaced by George Burns (who'd been nominated in lead at the Globes) from the same movie. Streaks like that are made to be broken, but we have to take Taylor-Johnson a little bit seriously. Cue BJ enacting The Scream.)

The middle seemed (and almost was) all La La Land. Congrats to the film for what I guess is an unprecedented sweep, but, please: that screenplay award has a whiff of Gandhi carrying its writer along in its best picture sweep 1982. Gosling's speech was particularly graceful.

Speaking of speeches: the speeches are the main thing I'd comment on when it came to the TV prizes (except to say, I love Olivia Colman, and wish she'd been there). Ross' speech felt very genuine and was touching in a down-to-earth way. And Hugh Laurie's characterization of Trump's America was incisive and a far better joke than any Jimmy Fallon had offered.

Meryl Streep obviously thought so; I wonder if she'd already had that connection in her prepared remarks, or if she folded them in on the fly. In any case: she was pretty amazing. She'll no doubt be criticized as just another empty-headed celebrity inserting herself into politics, but the thing is, she didn't say anything that knocked Trump for being a conservative or Republican. She stayed on his simple, glaring failures as a human being (something I'd been talking about with my parents this very afternoon). This was a speech that more Republicans should have been willing to give at some point prior to November, to do what they could to stave off what many of them (in private) fear will be abject disaster. I know this isn't the politics thread, but I think it's incumbent upon us all to speak out just as loudly, every day. What this man is ushering in cannot be allowed to become just another political transition. History within living memory warns what can happen when the unacceptable is tolerated, even bit by bit.

Back to the awards: It turned out, given the long run of La La wins, that the most suspenseful portion of the program came in the last stretch. Casey Affleck wasn't a long shot or anything, but there've been murmurs (maybe hopes, in some quarters) that Denzel would step in during this TV phase and snatch it away. It's still possible that can happen at SAG (as I've mentioned before, Denzel has never won at SAG, and it might work as campaign tactic to point that out). But, for now, Affleck seems to be heading toward Oscar night in good shape.

Best actress, on the other had, is a free-for-all. I'd thought Huppert had two spots where she'd play especially well -- at BAFTA, where the Emmanuelle Riva choice showed they're open to foreign-language winners, and here. It obviously doesn't HELP Portman not to have won here, but I'm not buying the idea (touted elsewhere) that she suffered some fatal blow -- Emma Stone winning on the weaker field is practically meaningless. It does mean that the SAG award now becomes not just a step along the way, but a major moment in Oscar season. And even it may not be definitive. Wouldn't it be great if best actress were really a three-way race? Or even four-way, throwing in Adams? It's been so long since we had anything so wide-open.

And then the best dramatic film award: somewhat meaningless in Oscar terms (neither Manchester nor Moonlight is truly ready to challenge La La, at least as of today), but a feather in the cap nonetheless. After Ali's early loss, I can't imagine Moonlight partisans were confident...but I had an idea it might fall into the Bugsy/Babel/12 Years a Slave category and take its one award of the night.

As for the show: Jimmy Fallon was roughly as weak as everyone expected. Like many hosts, he seemed to disappear as the night went on, and I doubt many missed him.

Sabin wrote:Unless I'm mistaken, La La Land just won more Golden Globes than any other film.

Yes, it did. It broke One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest record. That film won 6.

Snick's Guy wrote:Anyone else think that speech just secured Meryl an Oscar nod?

That what i said!

Anyone else think that speech just secured Meryl an Oscar nod?

Unless I'm mistaken, La La Land just won more Golden Globes than any other film.

YES! Isabelle Huppert won!

Wouldn't it be funny if La La Land lost best comedy/musical to Sing Street or something right now?