By John C.

Jessica Chastain

Although the expected films triumphed in some of the major categories, the 70th annual Golden Globes still pulled off a few unexpected wins as they were handed out last night, and I was consistently surprised at just how much fun the entire show really was.  Hosted by the entertaining duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the jokes came at a quick pace and the evening had several surprising moments in store.

The two hosts got in a few playful jabs at the HFPA and the other nominees, without ever resorting to the sort of cynicism that Ricky Gervais has been guilty of in previous years.  As Amy Poehler said at the outset of the show, “we have no intention of being edgy or offensive tonight because, as Ricky Gervais found out the hard way, when you run afoul of the Hollywood Foreign Press, they make you host this show two more times.”  Tina Fey and Amy Poehler kept things light and easy, and the entire evening felt like an enjoyable celebration of film, with some truly memorable moments coming throughout the night.

The first award of the night was for Best Supporting Actor, and it went to Christoph Waltz for his excellent work in Django Unchained.  He closed his acceptance speech on a memorable note by pointing at director Quentin Tarantino and saying “in the odd chance that there are any astronomy aficionados amongst you, the North Star is that one,” a perfectly timed character quote from the opening scene of the film.

Daniel Day-Lewis

The next two film wins came in the music categories.  Best Score went to Canada’s own Mychael Danna for his beautiful music behind Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, and he called it the “film of a lifetime” as he thanked 20th Century Fox “for being crazy enough to make this movie.”  Adele won Best Song for “Skyfall,” delivering a great acceptance speech that opened with her saying that she had “literally come for a night out and was not expecting this.”  This was a much deserved win for one of the best voices in modern music.

The next film category of the night was Best Actress – Comedy or Musical, an award that was presented by Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig, who delivered hilarious fake descriptions of the five nominated films.  As they lampooned Meryl Streep’s work in Hope Springs, the surly reaction shot of her co-star Tommy Lee Jones was just priceless.

The award went to Jennifer Lawrence for her brilliant work in Silver Linings Playbook, and she delivered one of my favourite speeches of the night.  “I beat Meryl,” she said upon being handed the trophy, before going on to add “Harvey, thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here today,” in a shout out to the notorious producer Harvey Weinstein.  She also thanked her two older brothers, saying “I wouldn’t be who I am today without you being mean to me, but then really supportive and loving.”

Jennifer Lawrence

Next up was Best Supporting Actress, an award that went to Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables.  “Oh my gosh, this is happening” she said at the beginning of her wonderful acceptance speech, thanking the HFPA “for this lovely blunt object that I will forever more use as a weapon against self doubt.”  Referring to Anne Hathaway’s performance, Tina Fey turned to the actress and said “I haven’t seen someone so totally alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars.”

The next film category was Best Screenplay and the trophy went to Quentin Tarantino for his multilayered script behind Django Unchained.  He shared his genuine feelings on the somewhat unexpected win by closing his speech with the immortal line “this is a damn surprise and I’m happy to be surprised.”

The next two categories were Best Foreign Language Film and Best Animated Film, the first going to the expected recipient and the next one being a bit of a surprise.  Best Foreign went to the deeply moving Austrian film Amour, and when director Michael Haneke was handed the trophy by presenter Arnold Schwarzenegger, he opened his speech with “I never thought I would get an award in Hollywood by an Austrian.”  Pixar pulled off a surprise win for Brave in Best Animated, an award that was graciously accepted by producer Katherine Sarafian and director Mark Andrews, who called 2012 “an amazing year for animation” and thanked all of the fellow nominees.

Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman pulled off a bit of a surprise win for Best Actor – Comedy or Musical for his work in Les Misérables, providing one of the most unique speeches when he said “to the guy or girl who stole the wheels off my bike while I was auditioning for Les Misérables, we’re all good,” before adding “we’re good, keep ’em, in fact I’m going to put the frame in exactly the same spot and take it on Monday morning, alright?”

The third win of the night for Les Misérables came in the Best Picture – Comedy or Musical category.  The film was a huge box office hit and is coincidentally the only one that actually fit the musical part of the category.

Next up, George Clooney came on stage to present the trophies for Best Actor and Actress.  The lovely Jessica Chastain won Best Actress for her excellent performance in Zero Dark Thirty and accepted the award with all the style and grace that we have come to expect.  “I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was a little girl and I’ve worked for a really long time,” she said, “I’ve auditioned and struggled and fought and been on the sidelines for years and to be here now, in this moment, it’s a beautiful feeling to receive this encouragement and support.”  She is a true class act.  Daniel Day-Lewis took home Best Actor for his mesmerizing work in Lincoln, another much deserved trophy en route to the Oscars.

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck won Best Director for Argo, delivering a great speech and getting a much deserved standing ovation as he went up to accept the honour.  “Look, I don’t care what the award is,” he said after being handed the trophy by Halle Berry, “when they put your name next the names that she just read off, it’s an extraordinary thing in your life.”  Ben Affleck got another standing ovation for his excellent film when Argo won Best Picture – Drama at the end of the night, with producer George Clooney and the rest of the cast and crew coming on stage to accept the award presented by Julia Roberts.

But one of the most memorable moments came when Robert Downey Jr. presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Jodie Foster.  Her heartfelt, fearless and incredibly real acceptance was one of my favourite moments of the show.  “I hope that you’re not disappointed that there won’t be a big coming out speech tonight,” she said to the shocked audience, “because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago, back in the stone age, in those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family, co-workers and then gradually, proudly, to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met.”

Jodie Foster is a remarkable person and the moral that I took away from her lovely and deeply moving speech was to “love people and stay beside them,” a message that continues to resonate no matter who you are.  Along with honouring the winners and nominees, it’s moments like these that make awards shows worth watching.  The jokes were free flowing and the tone was easy going, and the show actually ended pretty much on time after about three hours.  All in all, I had a good time watching the 7oth annual Golden Globes, and the entire evening got me pumped for Oscar night on February 24th.