A Contender for Best Comedy — Golden Globes

Remember this when discussing the Golden Globes: More people (500) voted for class clown in my year at North Hollywood High than HPFAers (90) voted for the winners of Sunday night’s statuettes. According to Time, Ricky Gervais will return as host after a three-year hiatus, stepping in for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who have co-hosted the Globes the past few years.

“I want to do this monologue and go into hiding, okay?” Sean Penn interviewing “El Chapo”? Thank you for teaching me so much, professionally, personally, I don’t know.

Jennifer Lawrence walked the red carpet by creating her bold style statement in red hot Dior gown.

Hungarian “Son of Saul” won the best picture in foreign language, overcoming competition from the Chilean “El Club”.

In the comedy and musical section, “The Martian” won the best picture, and Jennifer Lawrence (Joy) received the best actress award; her third Golden Globe after “Silver Linings Playbook” and “American Hustle”. What the heck is Mozart in the Jungle?

While the Golden Globes generally tend to draw just a fraction of the Academy Award audience – last year’s uncharacteristically low-rated ABC broadcast averaged 37.3 million live-same-day viewers and an 11.0 in the demo – the Globes show is widely (if erroneously) seen as a sort of bellwether for how the Oscars will shake out.

On Sunday, Matt Damon took home the award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for his role in The Martian – which was named the top film of the year in the same category – a result that some criticized given that the Ridley Scott-directed blockbuster is not particularly amusing, nor could it be considered a musical.

Brie Larson (Room) won the best actress, drama (Room), over Cate Blanchett (Carol), Rooney Mara (Carol), Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) and Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl).

“I desperately wanted to do What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and I was pretty proud of myself at that age that I was that passionate about something and a character”, said the newly-minted Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for The Revenant. Whether winning a Golden Globe will lead to an Oscar for the star remains to be seen but the victory should turn tip scales in his favour.

In his fourth time hosting, Gervais’ act dominated the evening, often drawing loud laughs from the Beverly Hilton hotel audience, but also the expected criticism.

Here are the top 10 moments from our Golden Globes experience… He plays the title role in “Mr. Robot”, a hacker who tries to recruit series star Roni Malek into his anarchist group.

The Golden Globes, handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are the first major film honors of the Hollywood awards season that culminates with the Oscars on February 28. “And say what you will about it, but her role is flashy and out there”.

This reader hails from New Jersey where he’s “been following Gold Derby for many, many years”, he tells us.

7 Stars, they’re just like us.