If there was anything worth taking away about last night’s Globe telecast it was the following:
1) Best Actor is still open — now down to Michael Keaton for Birdman and Eddie Redmayne for Theory of Everything. The SAG will likely decide it but Keaton’s speech was one for the ages.
2) Birdman was not as beloved with the HFPA voters as it might be with the industry overall but The Grand Budapest Hotel is very much beloved by both. Look for it to do very well at the Oscars, particularly in the design categories but perhaps in other categories, like Original Screenplay where it will go up against Birdman.
3) Jennifer Aniston had a lot of love in the room. Julianne Moore likely has this but Aniston is definitely in the running. Again, the SAG could be the decider. It feels like it’s finally Moore’s year and that’s a powerful motivator to vote.
4) Freedom of Speech is going to be the big thing at the Oscars. That, along with the In Memoriam tribute should make for an emotional night at the Oscars.
5) Because The Imitation Game and Gone Girl did not get any awards does not mean they are not popular with the industry. The Golden Globes are not the industry.
6) The surge of Selma will have no impact on the Oscars because ballots were turned in before the Globes telecast, but the love in the room was palpable. Selma will do just fine – what a speech given by Common and one of the more memorable moments of the night.
7) It’s still a wide open year. Even with Boyhood winning Picture and Director there is no telling if the Producers Guild and Directors Guild will follow suit. But probably we’re looking at a juggernaut on the level of The Artist, which can’t be stopped. We’ve been predicting Boyhood since the beginning of the season and have had no other film in the number one spot. The last time that happened I could not tell you. Arquette gave among the best speeches of the night, securing her frontrunner status; she has no challenger.
8) The biggest surprise of the night was Grand Budapest Hotel besting Birdman. It’s not that surprising, given the flavor of the HFPA — and the exotic, international flavor of the film. Birdman is much more American, more industry, less foreign press. We’ll have to see how that one plays out in the long run.
9) The race does seem to have a basic shape, at least for now, with only Best Actor and the Screenplay categories in question. Original will be very competitive between Birdman and Grand Budapest, while Adapted will have Gone Girl vs. The Imitation Game vs. Theory of Everything vs. Wild. Flynn deserves to walk away with the award but one never knows how this thing will go when people want emotional and mushy. That she adapted her own novel to the screen and will be the only female in all of Oscar history to do that (the others have adapted plays) that should count for a lot.
10) It was a night for Boyhood, putting it in that nervous-making spot where The Social Network was in back in 2010. It needs to win the bigger industry votes to take it all the way. Its heavy presence on a widely-watched television program will go a long way towards helping them make the final leap.
