Winners of the 2012 Golden Globes

We watched, we laughed, we cringed, we Tweeted. The 2012 Golden Globes was a much more subdued event this year even though “edgy” host Ricky Gervais was invited back as master of ceremonies after causing a debacle at the 2011 show. While he got a few nice jabs in early on, he was absent for most of the broadcast and seemed a lot more tame and in control when on stage doing his duties. Maybe the British comedian is hoping this becomes a yearly gig for him as he seems to always have something to promote during it (he was pushing his new HBO show Life’s Too Short this year).

While we’re disappointed with a few of the winners, nothing was much of a surprise. The Artist took home the award for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Alexander Payne’s The Descendants won for Best Motion Picture – Drama. The Adventures of Tintin grabbed the Best Animated Feature Film award and A Separation won for Best Foreign Language Film. Martin Scorsese stole the Best Director award for the overrated Hugo while Woody Allen took the Best Screenplay award for Midnight in Paris.

In the acting categories, Meryl Streep walked away with Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for portraying Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady and George Clooney deservedly won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for his role in The Descendants. Michelle Williams won Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical for playing Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn and Jean Dujardin won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical for The Artist. Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer won for Best Supporting Actor and Actress in Beginners and The Help, respectively.

Sidney Poitier and Helen Mirren presented Morgan Freeman with the special Cecil B. DeMille Award, which honours “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment”. While the tribute video for Freeman was excellent, the biggest shock was a clip they used of him as Count Dracula from the ‘70s television show The Electric Company. Watch it here if you missed it.

The Globes also hand out awards for work in television and Showtime’s Homeland won Best Television Series – Drama with Modern Family winning for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical. Claire Danes picked up an award for Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama for Homeland while Kelsey Grammer won Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama for Boss. Laura Dern won Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical for the HBO show Enlightened and Matt LeBlanc (yes, Joey from Friends) won Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical for Showtime’s hilarious show Episodes.

If the Globes are any indication of how the Oscars will turn out, we’d put our money on The Descendants as the clear front runner as The Artist didn’t get much of a reaction from the elitist Hollywood crowd (the Globes are voted on by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press and not peers, like the Academy Awards are). The Oscar nominations are announced on January 24.

Full list of winners at the 2012 Golden Globes below:

Best Motion Picture – Drama
The Descendants

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
George Clooney – The Descendants

Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
The Artist

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Jean Dujardin – The Artist

Best Animated Feature Film
The Adventures of Tintin

Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Octavia Spencer – The Help

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Christopher Plummer – Beginners

Best Director – Motion Picture
Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Ludovic Bource – The Artist

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Masterpiece” – W.E. (Music & Lyrics By: Madonna, Julie Frost and Jimmy Harry)

Best Television Series – Drama
Homeland

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Claire Danes – Homeland

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Kelsey Grammer – Boss

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Laura Dern – Enlightened

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Matt LeBlanc – Episodes

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kate Winslet – Mildred Pierce

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Idris Elba – Luther

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jessica Lange – American Horror Story

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Peter Dinklage – Game of Thromes

Did you watch the 2012 Golden Globes? Let us know your thoughts on who won (or who didn’t) in the comments.

Top image: A scene from The Artist. Courtesy Alliance Films.