By John H. Foote
“The Golden Globes are fun; the Oscars are about money”. So spoke Warren Beatty about 40 years ago when the Globes came under fire, and not for the first or last time.
Did anyone really think it would come to this? Last night the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a dubious group at best, handed out their annual awards with no televised program, no fanfare, no red carpet, nor any nominees or stars to accept their awards. It was as if they did not exist. Coming under fire last year for the lack of diversity in their organization, Hollywood chose to boycott them, to pretend they did not exist.
Accused of accepting bribes through the years, the Globes have never had an unblemished reputation and some of their winners have been questionable at best. And unless they can find a way to turn themselves around, this might be it for the Globes. They could be finished.
Last night their awards provided no real surprises.
The Power of the Dog was big winner with awards for Best Picture (Drama), Best Director (Jane Campion) and Best Supporting Actor (Kodi Smit-McPhee). West Side Story was the night’s other big winner, taking three including Best Film (Comedy or Musical) in a tie with Licorice Pizza, as well as awards for best Actress (Rachel Zegler) and Best Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose).
Will Smith won Best Actor (Drama) for his acclaimed work in King Richard, while Nicole Kidman controversially took Best Actress (Drama) as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos. In the year that saw Kristen Stewart dazzle as Princess Diana in Spencer, Kidman was their choice. See what I mean by dubious?
Andrew Garfield won Best Actor (Comedy/ Musical) for tick, tick … BOOM while Kenneth Branagh won for his screenplay to Belfast and Dune took Musical Score.
This could the last Golden Globes we ever hear of.
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
