For the many years I’ve been watching the Golden Globe Awards. Of late, it’s just come off as kind of a sloppy affair. Everybody looks good, but, their behavior doesn’t match. There was a time when it wasn’t common knowledge that globe attendees came to the event with the intent to be drunk and obnoxious. It’s now common knowledge…

And now the Hollywood Foreign Press leads the charge to drunken-disorderly with their host. This year it saw Ricky Gervais again. Last year he made a right spectacle of himself; This year, he did not. I think he did that on purpose.

Everyone was so on alert for WHATEVER Ricky was going to say or do that in his mind, he probably said, “Piss off all of you. I’m no dancing clown – Go to the circus if you want to see that.” Good for Ricky. It made the show so much more balanced having the presenters be the center of attention and the source of the one-liners. This year’s show was the best I’ve seen in a long time.

But, the performance of the night was Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy. They sang their presentation in perfect unison, with perfect timing. It was brilliant. Watching that gave me a brief moment of joy that at least one marriage has managed to maintain its kismet. Brilliant.

The other thing that I feel compelled to comment on was the lighting. Whomever lit that show should get an Oscar. It was like everybody who stepped on the stage was air brushed. And since you can only air brush printed matter…

It started with Paula Patton. Now, I think she’s stunning anyway, so, I didn’t pick up on the lighting magic then. Then Jessica Alba presented and same thing; She’s stunning – no idea lights had anything to do with it. But then, Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper presented back to back and I started to think, “Now, these are nice looking guys, but, when did they become pretty?” They were sparkling. Men don’t sparkle. Especially Bradley Cooper and Gerard Butler who do the scruffy thing. But make no mistake – They were pretty…

But then Jane Fonda walked out. Jane Fonda is almost 75. WTF. She looked so hot, I knew I was being deceived in some way. Granted, she’s into fitness, so, her body is in great shape, but, she was stunning like Paula Patton and Jessica Alba. That’s when I realized there was some TV magic happening. But god bless you Jane Fonda – I hope I’m hot when I’m 75. On to the awards…

Best Actor Drama: George Clooney for the Descendants. I thought this would go to Michael Fassbender for Shame. European actors and films tend to have home field advantage with the HFPA, but, not this time. I think George thought Fassbender would win as well as he pointed out his performance in his acceptance speech. George found Fassbender’s frontal nudity funny, but, apparently, the voters didn’t. Absent the popularity contest and making a decision based strictly on performance, I though Brad Pitt was better in Moneyball.

Best Actor Comedy or Musical: Jean Dujardin for The Artist. Called this one. This was not even close. I saw some of the other performances and this was not even close.

Best Actress Drama: Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady. Called a toss up on this one between Meryl Streep and Viola Davis for The Help. This jives with the HFPA because it was about Margaret Thatcher. But, Meryl was shocked when she won and she’s Meryl Streep. It was clear she thought Viola should have won. Let’s see what the Academy has to say…

Best Actress Comedy or Musical: Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn. I actually haven’t seen this yet and haven’t seen anything else in this category.

Best Supporting Actor Drama: Christopher Plummer for Beginners. He’s winning because of the choice of the character, not because his performance was so outstanding. The story is touching; Ewan McGregor’s character is for whom you feel along with his story line. But, not enough to get a best actor nomination. This award goes to Viggo Mortensen in A Dangerous Method for me. He was absolutely convincing as Sigmund Freud.

Best Supporting Actress Drama: Octavia Spencer for The Help. This was expected. She was really good in this role. And of all of the categories, I felt like this one had the most really strong performances. Like Monique in Precious, she’ll sweep all of the awards for the season.

Best Picture Drama: The Descendants. I thought this was a great story, but, I would have given this award to The Help. I thought it was a slightly more significant story and had more strong performances. The Descendants would have been my second choice, but, I think the whole Hawaiian lifestyle is really very current in Hollywood right now and that seems to have made the difference.

Best Picture Musical or Comedy: The Artist. No contest. This was a French night as my second choice would have been Midnight in Paris. But of course, the effort and compassion that went into The Artist just put it over the top.

Best Director: Martin Scorsese for Hugo. Since I’m a writer, I have never much gotten into Directors. I know movie reviewers like to talk about Direction, but, I don’t. I focus on the writing, the stories and the performances. But, the irony of this win is that I’ve seen all of the films in this category except the one that won. Of the ones I saw, I would have given the award to Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris. It was just a really sweet picture if you’re a writer.

What’s next

The Academy Awards. Because they have fewer categories, it’ll be interesting to see who gets in and who gets “snubbed.” I don’t usually get to see everything before the globes, but, I do get to see just about everything for the Oscars. Look for my Oscar hypothesis in the next few weeks…