Welcome to our liveblog of the 2010 Golden Globes, the lively, laid-back, occasionally embarrassing cousin of the Academy Awards. Whereas the Oscars represent the pinnacle of glamour and prestige, the Golden Globes are all about Open Bar. Join us as we chronicle the boozy fun! (All times are Pacific, btw.)
8:13 – Instant Analysis: Avatar emerges as the night’s clear victor, building loads of Oscar momentum. Up follows close behind. Meanwhile, The Hurt Locker gets blanked, while Up in the Air and Inglourious Basterds are largely rebuked.
7:58 – Apparently not. Avatar wins Best Picture – Drama! Cameron gives a “hooray for us” speech to a largely unamused (or just possibly bored) audience.
7:51 – NBC’s been hyping Avatar all night for Best Picture – Drama. Could they be slow-playing us?
7:48 – Jeff Bridges pulls a Mickey Rourke and takes the Best Actor – Drama award, defying my Clooney prediction. Bastards. I mean, congratulations!!!
7:43 –Best Actor – Comedy or Musical winner Robert Downey Jr. just pwned the Golden Globes with his acceptance speech. Pwned it. (And I just learned the definition of “Pwned” a few weeks ago.) Well played, sir — and rightly deserved.
7:38 – The best performance of Helen Mirren’s career: not laughing hysterically or walking out angrily when Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress – Drama award for The Blind Side.
7:37 – Poor Mickey Rourke looks even more uncomfortable than Mel Gibson.
7:35 – Somebody please elect Arnold Schwarzenegger to another political office so he doesn’t go back to making movies.
7:28 – Whaaaa??? The Hangover wins Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, proving there is some justice in this crazy world of ours.
7:15 – Mel Gibson looks as uncomfortable as he was when I interviewed him for Edge of Darkness.(I’m told he’d just quit smoking.) James Cameron takes the Best Actor – Drama award, then jeopardizes his Oscar chances by speaking Na’vi during his acceptance speech. Loser Jason Reitman is visibly nonplussed.
7:06 – Major kudos to Scorsese for his heartfelt props to Cecil B. DeMille. Would love to see him remake Birth of a Nation.
6:59 – Tarantino and Martin Scorsese both share the award for Director Most Likely Afflicted With Asperger Syndrome.
6:50 – Unsurprisingly (and justifiably), Christoph Waltz wins the Best Supporting Actor – Drama award for his role in Inglourious Basterds. Surprisingly, his command of English is better than Drew Barrymore‘s.
6:47 – Chloe Sevigny wasn’t nominated for Brown Bunny? Now that was a snub.
6:39 – “Accepting the award for Mad Men will be Some Guy who actually cares.”
6:37 – Laugh all you want, Zachary Levi. You won’t be laughing so much when the reckoning comes for Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. There will be justice.
6:34 – Puzzled as to why Avatar wasn’t nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. HFPA just doesn’t respect the Na’vi. Bastards.
6:28 – Jennifer Garner looks like she could kick Ashton Kutcher‘s ass. They should have paired her with Butler. But then, Kutcher can’t hold a candle to alpha dog Jennifer Aniston.
6:26 – Jason Reitman wastes no time insulting Quentin Tarantino in his Best Screenplay acceptance speech. It’s on!!! Praying for a Tarantino Best Director upset.
6:23 – Gerard Butler looks like he’s probably banged half the attendees. The other half he’s beaten the sh*t out of.
6:13 – Has Kevin Bacon been taking hits from Harrison Ford’s bong? Allegedly?
6:10 – Helen Mirren looks better than Sandra Bullock. Seriously.
6:01 – Meryl Streep deservedly wins the Best Actress – Comedy or Musical award for Julie & Julia. Julia Roberts looks deservedly embarrassed to be nominated. Interestingly, the Golden Globes orchestra never intervened during Streep’s rambling speech.
5:50 – Michael Giacchino wins the Best Original Score – Motion Picture award for Up. And I thought Karen O’s scream-singing soundtrack for Where the Wild Things Are really had a shot.
5:44 – Captain Charisma, Harrison Ford, gives an awkward, monotonous, error-prone speech in his preview of Up in the Air. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I passed on press for Extraordinary Measures.
5:40 – On a positive note, it looks like Michael C. Hall has a really hot wife. So maybe there is such a thing as Karma.
5:35 – In the night’s first sobering moment, a cancer-stricken Michael C. Hall wins the Best Actor – TV Drama award for Dexter.
5:30 – Fun Fact #3: Why did Ricky Gervais‘ “can’t be bought” comment draw so many laughs? Because they HFPA is famously swag-friendly. In fact, they practically demand a tribute from each and every nominee. Allegedly. But seriously — they make the U.S. Senate look like a paragon of ethics.
5:21 – Up wins Best Animated Feature, but Fantastic Mr. Fox gets a better response from Globes attendees. I feel somewhat vindicated.
5:17 – William Hurt looks like that crazy Dr. Weil guy.
5:13 – Wow, Paul McCartney definitely traded up!
5:08 – Odds-on favorite Mo’Nique wins for Best Supporting Actress/Drama for Precious, gives first shout-out to God. I know that I’m “touched.”
5:05 – The first NBC/Leno joke, followed quickly by the first Haiti reference. Two of the most common themes tonight, yes?
4:35 – Fun Fact #2: Foreign entertainment journalists love celebrities, even more so than their American counterparts. Which helps explain why Tobey Maguire received a Best Actor – Drama nomination for Brothers. And which virtually guarantees a George Clooney win for Up in the Air.
4:12 – Fun Fact: The Golden Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization comprised of 90 members, the majority of whom learned English as a second (or even third) language. That crucial detail helps explain some of its more questionable choices, like the nomination of Avatar’s “I See You” for Best Original Song – Motion Picture. Moreover, it makes the copious spelling errors on the Globes’ website a little more understandable.
