Monday, January 17, 2011

Kickin’ Off Awards Season – the Golden Globes

It has been a while since I've watched an awards show, let alone the red carpet coverage. But last night I sat down with a couple of girlfriends and a magnum of bubbly to soak up the kickoff awards show of the 2011 season, the Golden Globes. It was a solid if not groundbreaking start to the season.


Host Ricky Gervais was a naughty monkey. Started out with a bang with roast-like jokes about A-list celebrities, including several that were in the room. Think he did a good job of walking the line between mean and funny. Liked his patterned tux. I would guess that he might not be invited back next year, and who knows, perhaps that was his end game.


Many highlight moments during the show, like Jane Lynch’s well-deserved win and Chris Colfer from Glee’s sweet acceptance speech. De Niro’s offputting speech and Colin Firth’s humility. The Dude-arino. Melissa Leo’s delight at being kissed by Jeremy Irons.


Many comments made about how this awards show is more relaxed and the guests get to sit around eating and drinking … saw many bottles of Moet and ballotins of Godiva but other than that couldn’t glimpse what they were eating – is it snacky food or a full dinner? Do they get to pick what they want to eat or is it “chicken or fish” like at a wedding? I didn’t notice waiters during the broadcast so they did a good job of hiding the service part of the evening. Room looked sparkly and elegant.


But let’s get down to brass tacks: the clothes. For sparkly, overall favorite dress was worn by Olivia Wilde, who presented. While not groundbreaking, it was a show-stopper dress in a sea of ho-hum gowns. She looked like evening dress Barbie but in a nice way.


Pink was a charming color on many, like Natalie Portman and the Lea woman from Glee. Sofia Vergara was red hot in shiny red that accentuated her significant curves. Christina Hendricks from Mad Men also red hot, curves for days. Weeks even.


Torn on January Jones’ dress – she’s gorgeous and the dress was hot – lots of skin and fringe, but I’m just not sure it struck quite the right note.


Emerald green was the token color of the evening, evoking Scarlett O’Hara’s infamous curtain gown (but not in a bad way) : Elisabeth Moss (from Mad Men, so cute), Mila Kunis, Angelina Jolie, Catherine Zeta Jones (gorgeous).


Tina Fey – lovely in deep blue velvet (calling David Lynch). Kyra Sedgwick looked great in orange. Soft and pretty. Katy Sagal (go Peg Bundy!) also looked fantastic in orange.


The dominant and disappointing theme though was the boring pablum color spectrum favored by so many: taupe, silver, blush, greige. Washed out, uninspiring. YAWN. Like Michelle Williams. She’s a cute gal but that beige dress with daisy appliqués? Yawn.


Other observations:
Justin Beiber is growing up to be a lovely lesbian.

Halle Berre. She looks great, let’s say that up front. She hasn’t aged a minute it seems. But her dress left me confused – bustier top with mini dress with a longer sheer skirt overlay. It screamed 1980s and not in a good way. I swear a celebrity wore this dress on the red carpet in a previous life but I can’t put my finger on it yet – Madonna maybe?


What is up with the Dynasty/Falcon Crest throwbacks? Big puffy shoulders and covered necklines and lots of sequins. See Leighton Meester, Anne Hathaway.


Sandra Bullock is a lovely woman but the dress left me wanting more and her choppy hairdo with the blunt bangs was a miss.


Nicole Kidman – big ol lollipop head on a stick body.


Scarlett Johanssen – bride of Frankenstein.


Julianne Moore – someone stopped halfway while making the top of her dress.


Claire Danes - loved the color of her dress and its simplicity but she needs to eat a sandwich, STAT.


Sexy: Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, Ryan Gosling, Jon Hamm, LL Cool J, Trent Reznor (he cleans up real nice).


Angelina Jolie looked like she was falling asleep thru the whole event. Needed a Red Bull and a disco nap.


Christian Bale, I hope you are playing Jesus in an upcoming role, nothing else could excuse that ‘do and facial hair.


Tilda Swinton. You scare me a little, in a good way. Were you channeling Bowie’s Thin White Duke? Or preparing for an alien movie? That could explain your washed out face and weird hair and lack of jewelry maybe and pale color choices …. But why were your button down shirt and yellow skirt so ill fitting? You’ve earned the right to wear whatever the hell you want and you’re not timid when it comes to sartorial choices, so while I didn’t like this one I’ll give you a pass.


Helena Bonham Carter, thank you. Thank you for not being afraid to let your freak flag fly. On the red carpet, you looked a bit tipsy, I hope you enjoyed a few glasses of bubbly in the limo on the way over, to complement that wackadoo print dress with big tulle pieces, nicely balanced with your big frowsy hair and uneven eye make-up. And yes, you weren’t shy about wearing one red shoe and one green shoe, even tho I didn’t even detect any green in the dress. Punky Brewster would be proud. The only accessory missing was Tim Burton.


I only wish Cher had been there.

2 comments:

  1. I thought Halle Berre's looked great. It was the sheer train thing that made it seem weird. So why did Gervais disappear for an hour? A dressing down on a night for dressing up? Aging is not suiting Tom Hanks: his mouth is the only feature that moves, and with those tiny disappearing eyes he appears to have taken the modern orthodoxy of recessed lighting too far. I'm assuming Tilda was the help...?

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  2. Kudos to Halle for still managing to look good even in a dumb outfit. I think Gervais disappeared either because he was fighting with the show producers/censors over what he could say, or he was getting lucky/partying. that would explain why his jacket disappeared. Yes tom was looking very squinty. You think Tilda was there in a washerwoman or fishmonger capacity? Yes, that would make some sense ...

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