The Hollywood Foreign Press had a pretty good night presenting the 81st Golden Globes Awards. 2023 was a great year for movies but that doesn’t always translate to a great awards season. Well, if this year’s Globes are any indication, we should have a lot of fun over the next two months. That’s because there was plenty to be excited about in last night’s show. It had a few head-scratching moments and some eye-rolling ones too. But for the most part the night was full of great winners.

As I do every year, here are a few random thoughts on this year’s Golden Globes awards...

• What a night for “Oppenheimer”. For my money it was the best movie of the year, but that means nothing during awards season. Thankfully the Golden Globes got it right. The film tallied a total of five wins.
• For the first time in his incredible career, Christopher Nolan took home the award for Best Director. It was long overdue, but what a deserving win nonetheless. This was one of the biggest treats of the night. Hopefully his name will be called on Oscar night as well.
• And to top off his terrific win, Nolan gave what I felt was the best speech of the night. It was humble, gracious, and a tad emotional.

• Cillian Murphy took home the Golden Globe for Best Actor – Drama. As with Nolan, this was incredibly well deserved. I adored this performance and think it’s the best of Murphy’s career (and that’s saying something).
• Staying with “Oppenheimer”, the wonderful Robert Downey Jr. won for Best Supporting Actor. This was a crowded field and I was worried that he might not get his due. But great job voters. They definitely got this one right.
• And congratulations to Ludwig Göransson who won Best Original Score for “Oppenheimer”. It’s such a crucial part of this extraordinary movie.
• Let me get this out of the way. The monologue from comedian Jo Koy was nothing short of dreadful. The jokes were lame and very few landed. Aside from some scattered courtesy laughs, the crowd seemed to feel the same way. To make matters worse worse it went on way too long. Ugh.
• I don’t do the fashion thing, but Hailee Steinfeld wins my best dress vote. She was putting off some serious Audrey Hepburn vibes!
• I haven’t hid my feelings about “Barbie”. It was one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me. That a big reason it blew my mind that it received NINE nominations. NINE!!! Thankfully the Globes went the more reasonable route. “Barbie” did win Best Original Song which is no real surprise considered it held three of the nominated slots.
• “Barbie” also won the new and utterly useless Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award. Presenter Mark Hamill was quick to stress that the award wasn’t just about box office numbers. Then he announced the year’s biggest box office movie as the winner!
• Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy went to “Poor Things”, Yorgos Lanthimos’ self-satisfying exercise in excess and indulgence. I was a bit surprised considering it was the weakest of the six nominated movies. But people love Lanthimos and give his films a lot of passes.
• Emma Stone won Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for “Poor Things”. It’s a performance that I’m not nearly as high on as a lot of people. I would have much rather Natalie Portman got it for “May December”.
• As for “May December”, it went home with nothing. Not a major surprise, but there had been some buzz around its nominations especially Charles Melton in Supporting Actor.
• “Anatomy of a Fall” had a big night. Not only did it win Best Non-English Language Motion Picture, but Justine Triet won the Globe for Best Screenplay. I was admittedly shocked. Make no mistake, it’s a great screenplay. But this is another category where “Oppenheimer” deserved a win.
• By not winning Best Non-English Language Motion Picture, “The Zone of Interest” went home empty-handed. That’s such a shame. It’s easily one of the year’s best movies.
• Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig were hilarious and my favorites among the presenters. I wasn’t alone in wishing that they would step in and host the rest of the show.
• I loved seeing Lily Gladstone win Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her incredible performance in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”. I still think she belongs in the Supporting category, but either way she deserves the recognition.

• Speaking of “Killers of the Flower Moon”, that was the only win it would get the entire night. I felt it might be the case considering this is such a stacked year.
• I also loved seeing Paul Giamatti win Best Actor – Drama for “The Holdovers”. It’s such a sweet, sad, and often funny performance and I’m so glad it hasn’t fallen through the cracks this awards season. It looks like we’re heading towards an Oscar night showdown between Giamatti and Murphy.
• Sticking with “The Holdovers”, what a treat to see Da’Vine Joy Randolph win Best Supporting Actress. She has been tracking as the clear frontrunner for the award and I don’t see that changing on Oscar night.
• Best Motion Picture – Animated went to Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron”. It was a bit of a surprise as many seemed to think “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” was the animated movie to beat.
• One knock I have against last night’s show was how they rushed the winners through their speeches. No one wants ten minutes of thanking people, but maybe cut the monologue in half (or cut it all together). Or maybe don’t give as much time to the presenters. I swear, there were instances when it felt the presenters had more time than the winners. Use that saved time on the winners.
• Also, can we please have clips of the nominated acting performances? We had clips of the stand-up comedy acts but not for best actor or actress? It’s a minor gripe but still…

And that wraps up this year’s look at the Golden Globes. What did you think of the show? How about the winners? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below.