Last night the Hollywood Foreign Press returned with the 82nd Golden Globe Awards. 2024 wasn’t the greatest year for movies and the current awards season has certainly reflected that. But to the show’s credit it did shake up what looked to be a fairly predictable evening. There were a few surprises (one really exciting one) and an interesting choice or two that hopefully will set up a little drama for Oscar night.

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

• One of the two biggest awards of the night went to “The Brutalist”. It won Best Picture – Drama which punches its ticket as a legitimate contender for the Best Picture Oscar. It’s a mostly good movie but not one I’d vote for.
• Far more bewildering is “Emilia Perez” winning for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy. I’ve had a hard time believing the film ever had a shot. But apparently it does (for reasons that escape me). Now it looks like the stage is set for it to duke it out with “The Brutalist”.
• To the credit of the Hollywood Foreign Press, they didn’t get onboard with the wild “Anora” hype. Sean Baker’s numbingly messy film had been touted as a possible big winner but it went home empty-handed. I wouldn’t be upset if the same thing happens on Oscar night.
• Best Supporting Actress goes to Zoe Saldaña for “Emilia Perez”. Again it’s movie I didn’t love that somehow received ten nominations. That said, Saldaña was terrific and well deserving of the award. She’s always been an underrated actress and this was a big moment for her.
• Zoe Saldaña also gave one of the best acceptance speeches of the evening. It was so full of humility, excitement, and gratefulness. It was hard not to be moved.
• Adrien Brody won Best Actor – Drama for “The Brutalist” and followed it with another moving speech. While I’m not as in love with the movie as many seem to be, his performance was absolutely brilliant and among the year’s best.

• The very best surprise of the night came in the Best Actress – Drama category. The phenomenal Fernanda Torres wins for “I’m Still Here”, a movie that didn’t receive its due from the critics group awards (mine included). It’s easily among the year’s very best performances and hopefully this will be the first of several nods it’ll get over the next few weeks.
• Nikki Glaser was a solid host, opening the show with some pretty good zingers. It was nothing especially memorable, but she got some laughs and did what she could to keep the show rolling.
• Less impressive were the comedy bits from the presenters. They routinely went on for way too long and the attempts at comedy often fell flat. How about next year we replace those with actual clips from the nominees?
• Best Supporting Actor goes to Kieran Culkin for “A Real Pain”. He beat out Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”) and Denzel Washington (“Gladiator II”) who were the strongest of the bunch. But there’s no denying Culkin gave a really good performance.
• The cantankerous Harrison Ford was hilarious. Whether presenting or any time the camera caught a glimpse of him in his seat, Ford looked like he’d rather be anywhere other than where he was. I couldn’t help but laugh.
• In a category with several head-scratching nominees, “Conclave” wins for Best Screenplay. It’s a movie that I loved right up until it comes unglued in its sloppy final 15 minutes. I’m not sold it will take home the Oscar, but this is big win for it.
• One of the more obvious yet still frustrating wins went to “Emilia Perez” for Best Non-English Language Film. How it beat such strong movies as “I’m Still Here” and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” continues to baffle me. But it’s that kind of year.
• Best Animated Feature went to “Flow” which beats out “The Wild Robot”. It’s somewhat of a surprise and it’ll be interesting to see if it plays out the same way at the Oscars.
• Demi Moore beats Mikey Madison to win Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. Madison had been winning everything until Moore begin shaking things up. I wasn’t a fan of either movie, but it does make things interesting come Oscar night.

• And I’m sorry, but I still have a hard time seeing “The Substance” as a comedy. But apparently some do so…
• Speaking of Demi Moore, she too gave a really good speech. In it she said “I’ve been doing this for 45 years and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor.” That has now changed and as an proud 80s kid I’m happy for her.
• Sebastian Stan took home the award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy. He gave a solid performance in “A Different Man” although not what I would consider awards worthy. That said, it’s considerably better than his performance in the hysterically bad “The Apprentice” (which was also nominated).
• “Wicked” won for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement although I’m still not sure that’s much of a feat. I’m also not sure what the criteria is considering there were other nominees that were critical successes and made more money than it did. Oh well.
• And that’s the only award “Wicked” would win which restores a little faith in the process. But fear not, stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were still able to continue their strange and awkward promotional tour which I’m guessing will continue through Oscar night.
• Brady Corbet wins Best Director for his three-hour indie “The Brutalist”. Later on in the night he would say “Final Cut tie-break goes to the director”. I agree, but it’s interesting considering his movie’s lone big flaw is due to that very thing.
• Best Original Score went to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their work on “Challengers”. It wasn’t my favorite, but it’s certainly a propulsive score. And it’s considerably better than the movie its in.

And that wraps up my thoughts on the 2025 Golden Globes Awards. Did you watch the big show? What did you think of this year’s batch of winners?