By John H. Foote
After a year in which the industry boycotted the Golden Globe Awards citing many dark reasons, specifically their lack of diversity and inclusion, rumours of bribes, the Association of Foreign Press writers made the necessary changes, and last night the awards were presented with stars in attendance.
The Globes have often been seen as a preview of what might or will happen at the Academy Awards, though the Oscars have become somewhat less predictable the last few years.
The Fabelmans won Best Picture (Drama) and Steven Spielberg won Best Director for his marvelous autobiographical film. Since winning the coveted people’s Choice Award at TIFF the film has been on a golden road to the Oscars.
Cate Blanchett won Best Actress (Drama) for her stupendous performance in Tar, while Austin Butler won Best Actor (Drama) in Elvis.
The Banshees of Inisherin won Best Film (Comedy/ Musical) with lead actor Colin Farrell taking Best Actor (Comedy/ Musical) and Michelle Yeoh winning Best Actress (Comedy/ Musical) in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Martin McDonough won the ward for Best Screenplay for The Banshees of Inisherin surprising the audience who believed as I did Sarah Polley was a shoo-in for Women Talking.
Former child actor Ke Huy Quan, best known as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, took Best Supporting Actor in Everything, Everywhere All at Once, while Angela Bassett won Supporting Actress for Black Panther – Wakanda Forever, something of a sentimental win.
Best Musical Score went to Babylon, while Best Animated Film was given to Del Toro’s Pinocchio.
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.
