Golden Globes winners.

"How appropriate that the first winner was Cate Blanchett from I'm Not There. Neither was anyone else."

-Robert Bianco, USA Today

So the Golden Globes winners were announced yesterday via press conference, sans announcers, trophies, winners, losers, or stars.

And while the fact that no one was able to make an acceptance speech should have been the most disappointing aspect of the awards, for me the biggest letdown would have to be that Ellen Page didn't win 'Best Performance by an Actress - Comedy or Musical' for Juno. She lost to Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose, a drama that was neither a comedy or a musical (in the strictest sense). The movie was a bio-pic, of singer Edith Piaf, but her singing was merely vocational. It never crashed the walls of her reality. To maintain the purity of the 'Comedy or Musical' sub-division of the Golden Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association needs to stop considering musician biopics as musicals.

The only thing the Globes ever had on the Oscars was the fact that they distinguished between 'serious' dramatic films and comedies or musicals, and gave the latter two genres a fighting chance at some gold. If they continue to allow 'Musical or Comedy' categories to get hijacked by undercover dramas like Ray, Walk the Line, and now La Vie en Rose, their sole remaining edge will be lost forever.

Another big surprise, though one I agree with, was Julian Schnabel's Best Director award for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Schnabel won out over expected winners the Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men and Joe Wright for Atonement. Of all three of those films, The Diving Bell was indeed the best directed. If it hadn't been, the movie about a paraplegic with the ability to move only one eye would have been an absolute bore.

Here are the rest of the film winners:

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Atonement
-over-
American Gangster
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
(Note: I am quite sure this is how the Oscar is going to go, too, since the 'dude vote' is getting split so many different ways on arty, male-oriented thrillers and dramas.)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Julie Christie – Away from Her
-over-
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Jodie Foster – The Brave One
Angelina Jolie – A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley – Atonement
(Note: Duh! She's a ditto-lock for the Oscar.)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Daniel Day Lewis – There Will Be Blood
-over-
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
James McAvoy – Atonement
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington – American Gangster
(Note: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association might have voted for Daniel Day Lewis, but I still think the Academy will favor George Clooney for his constant industry support, as well as the fact that he doesn't go insane every time he gets a part.)


BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Sweeney Todd
-over-
Across the Universe
Charlie Wison's War
Hairspray
Juno
(Note: Looks like Sweeney Todd might have a genuine shot at an Academy Best Picture nomination. Oh, and what the heck is Across the Universe doing on a 'Best' anything list?)


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose
-over-
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky - Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd
Ellen Page - Juno

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
-over-
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks - Charlie Wilson's War
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Savages
John Reilly - Wak Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
(Note: Depp's win was a major surprise. I'm guessing the HFPA didn't take singing skills into consideration. Still though, I don't think he will be nominated for Best Actor for the Oscars.)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
-over-
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Julia Roberts, Charlie Wilson's War
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
(Note: How did Cate Blanchett snatch her one millionth trophy over the superior Amy Ryan? I call shenanigans!)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
-over-
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
John Travolta, Hairspray
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
(Note: The other big 'Duh!' and 'Oscar-ditto' of the evening.)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Ratatouille
-over-
The Bee Movie
The Simpsons' Movie
(Note: Looks like they gave this award to the best film nominated in its category for a change. The nerve of these people.)


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
-over-
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The Kite Runner
Lust, Caution
Persepolis
(Note: Dear France, When I said you should have nominated The Diving Bell over the animated Persepolis for the Best Foreign Picture Oscar, you should have listened. While your country's best film of the year won the Golden Globe, your little cartoon stands no chance at the Academy Awards.)

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
-and-
Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Ridley Scott, American Gangster
Joe Wright, Atonement

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen - No Country for Old Men
-over-
Diablo Cody - Juno
Christopher Hampton - Atonement
Ronald Hardwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Aaron Sorkin - Charlie Wilson's War
(Note: I can live with this, though, Juno and Charlie Wilson both had better screenplays from beginning to end.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
Dario Marianelli - Atonement
-over-
Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild
Clint Eastwood - Grace is Gone
Alberto Iglesias - The Kite Runner
Howard Shore - Eastern Promises
(Note: This is actually the only category wherin I would have actually considered voting for Atonement. The persistent type-writer discussion both saved and explained that movie for me.)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
"Guaranteed" — Into the Wild (Music & Lyrics by: Eddie Vedder)
-over-
"Despedida" — Love in the Time of Cholera (Music by: Shakira, Antonio Pinto Lyrics by: Shakira)
"Grace Is Gone" — Grace is Gone (Music by: Clint Eastwood Lyrics by: Carole Bayer Sager)
"That’s How You Know" — Enchanted (Music & Lyrics by: Alan Menken)
"Walk Hard" — Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Music & Lyrics by: Marshall Crenshaw, John C. Reilly, Judd Apatow, Jake Kasdan)
(Note: In terms of nominations, the biggest film that got robbed this year was Into the Wild. The movie had some wonderful scenes and some of the best acting of the year. I am glad that it won this award. Also, if NBC had went head and broadcast the awards in spite of the picket line for both writers and actors, Eddie Vedder is probably one of the only celebrity nominees who could have shown up.)