Avatar takes home two trophies in a largely predictable (or at least safe) Golden Globes ceremony

Posted by: Paul Little  •  January 18, 2010 @ 6:02am

Amongst a largely unexciting group of winners, Avatar stood as the only feature with multiple Golden Globe victories, winning for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Director (James Cameron). And while Cameron himself said he expected ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow to win the Director award for The Hurt Locker, handing the trophy to the director of what will probably end up the all-time box office champion wasn't exactly a daring choice for the Hollywood Foreign Press. The only other multiple winners were Showtime series Dexter (Michael C. Hall finally winning as Best Actor [Drama] after 3 previous nominations and John Lithgow winning as Best Supporting Actor) and HBO TV movie Grey Gardens.

Other winners, from Meryl Streep's Best Actress (Comedy) win for Julie & Julia to Mad Men taking home the trophy for Best TV Drama, were mostly anticipated, making for a mostly lacklustre telecast. The show was also hampered by some directing snafus and cue issues, not to mention the almost-exclusively bland scripts for the presenters. Even host Ricky Gervais, who surely made some NBC brass frustrated when he snuck through jokes about Mel Gibson and Paul McCartney, seemed generally restrained in his comedy. Seeing as how one of the 64th-place network's only hits these days (The Office) was originally created by Gervais in its BBC incarnation, you'd think they'd have let him off his leash a little bit. Then again, maybe that's as daring or biting as he wanted to be -- which, if that's the case, is really unfortunate.

It was certainly nice to see Martin Scorsese receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award (for Lifetime Acheivement) and hear wonderful things said about him by Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio. And Tom Hanks made a hilarious comment while introducingJulie & Julia ("This is not the movie in which Meryl Streep ends up in bed with Alec Baldwin, but the one where she ends up in bed with Stanley Tucci... by any measure, a substantial move up.") But overall, the show was very fast forward-worthy. Nothing surprising. Nothing exciting. Nothing very memorable. Except maybe for that Mel Gibson joke.

In case you missed the whole thing (which was probably a wise move, overall), below is the complete list of winners in all the Film and Television categories, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association:

Film

Best Picture (Drama): Avatar

Best Actress (Drama): Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side

Best Actor (Drama): Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart

Best Picture (Comedy or Musical): The Hangover

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Robert Downey, Jr. – Sherlock Holmes

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'nique – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Best Director: James Cameron – Avatar

Best Screenplay: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air

Best Animated Feature: Up

Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon (Germany)

Best Original Score: Up (Michael Giacchino)

Best Original Song: "The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)" – Crazy Heart (Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett)

Television

Best Series (Drama): Mad Men (AMC)

Best Actress (Drama): Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife (CBS)

Best Actor (Drama): Michael C. Hall – Dexter (Showtime)

Best Series (Comedy or Musical): Glee (FOX)

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Toni Collette – The United States of Tara (Showtime)

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock (NBC)

Best Mini-Series or TV Movie: Grey Gardens (HBO)

Best Actress (Mini-Series or TV Movie): Drew Barrymore – Grey Gardens (HBO)

Best Actor (Mini-Series or TV Movie): Kevin Bacon – Taking Chance (HBO)

Best Supporting Actress: Chloë Sevigny – Big Love (HBO)

Best Supporting Actor: John Lithgow – Dexter (HBO)

Tags: Golden Globes, awards shows, Avatar, The Hangover, Mad Men, Glee, Jeff Bridges, Robert Downey, Jr., Meryl Streep, Michael C. Hall

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Paul Little is the founder and Managing Editor of ShowbizMonkeys.com. When not interviewing his favourite musicians and comedians, he can also be found putting on and promoting music and comedy events with The Purple Room in Winnipeg, or co-producing the live comedy game shows Pants on Fire and The Great Patio Showdown. (@comedygeek)