Atonement and Sweeney Todd Win Golden Globes
January 14, 2008

The Golden Globes were actually handed out last night in a bizarre press conference that took the place of the typical pomp and circumstance, cancelled due to the writers strike. After the writers threatened to picket the ceremony held annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the telecast was yanked from the air and the prom was cancelled, but there were still awards to be given out and Atonement, Sweeney Todd, No Country For Old Men, Mad Men, Extras, and Longford were just some of the big winners.

On the film side of the ledger, Atonement took home the big prize for Best Drama, a win that should inject some life back into a film that really needs it right now if it expects to regain some steam towards Oscar night. Atonement was once considered the Oscar front runner, but after all the critical acclaim and awards for the Coen brothers' No Country For Old Men, the period piece by Joe Wright fell off the map for some Oscar pundits. It should be back now. The Best Comedy/Musical winner went to another likely Oscar nominee, Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. Johnny Depp also took home Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical for the long-in-development bloody musical.

Speaking of blood, Daniel Day-Lewis made his second Oscar practically inevitable, winning yet another trophy for Best Actor in a Drama for his incredible work in There Will Be Blood. The two actress winners are the likely frontrunners for the Oscar, Julie Christie in Away From Her and Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose. As for supporting acting, those trophies aren't split into drama and comedy/musical, so the one winner in each category was Javier Bardem for his work in No Country For Old Men and Cate Blanchett for playing Bob Dylan the way no other person could in I'm Not There.

Joel and Ethan Coen will have to share their Golden Globe for the screenplay for No Country For Old Men, but, in the biggest shocker of the night on the film side, they didn't win best director. That prize went to Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a film that also won Best Foreign Language Film and one that seems to be building significant steam towards what will likely be several Oscar nominations, possibly even one for Best Picture. For the Academy, Diving Bell isn't eligible for Foreign Film, so Miramax has been pushing hard, trying to get a Best Picture nomination.

Other film winners include "Guaranteed" by Eddie Vedder from Into the Wild for Best Song, Ratatouille for Best Animated Film, and Dario Marianelli for his Best Score for Atonement.

On the TV side of the Golden Globes, the group that always love to award the newest nominees picked Mad Men for both Best Drama and Best Actor in a Drama (Jon Hamm) and Glenn Close for her work in Damages. Extras won Best Comedy for its final season (technically, I believe, for just a 90-minute episode, considering season two aired in 2006) and Tina Fey won Best Actress for 30 Rock with David Duchovny stealing the Actor prize for his first season of Californication. The TV movie of the year was clearly Longford, which won the top prize in that category, along with prizes for actor Jim Broadbent and supporting actress Samantha Morton. Jeremy Piven took home another statue for his work on Entourage and Queen Latifah won a prize for her turn in Life Support.

All winners courtesy of Yahoo.