The Golden Globes redux

In theaters this Friday: The Company Men, No Strings Attached, The Way Back [limited]

New on DVD/Blu-ray: Freakonomics, Jack Goes Boating, Stone, Takers

It was a big night for Hollywood’s mobsters on Sunday. Robert De Niro was honored with the Cecile B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, and deservedly so. Al Pacino walked away with a statue for his turn as Dr. Jack Kevorkian in Barry Levinson’s TV movie You Don’t Know Jack. Then HBO’s Martin Scorsese-produced prohibition era gangland series Boardwalk Empire unseated Mad Men—a decision I disagree with—from its three-year throne as television’s best drama series.

While those awards spoke clearly about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s predilection for edgy and loud performances over subtext—Christian Bale even noted this in his memorable speech when he was honored for his role as acclaimed boxer-turned-drug addict in The Fighter—and yet, these Golden Globes leave little indication, much less any solid assurance, as to which films and actors will walk away with the top prizes at the Oscars in February.

Certainly Bale’s transformative turn as Dickie Eckland and Globe-winner Natalie Portman’s role as a ballerina living out the phantasmagorical nightmare that is Swan Lake in Black Swan, are front-runners for Academy Awards, as is Aaron Sorkin for his The Social Network screenplay. These aren’t just front-runners, but Usain Bolts. And yet, what about Best Picture, Actor and Director? The King’s Speech and The Social Network seem to be on a collision course in all three categories. Firth was honored by the Globes (go figure, they choose a Brit), but The Social Network won for best drama film and best director for David Fincher on Sunday.

Could The Social Network be that rare film that wins a Best Picture Oscar without any Best Actor or Supporting Actor wins? Given the strength of Firth’s performance as stuttering King George VI, my money is on it. Could The Fighter pull in Supporting Actor wins for Bale and Melissa Leo and get nothing else? That unlikely feat could happen, too.

At the Globes, The Social Network director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin paid huge complements to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg despite having never met the guy. Are they angling for something there? A steak dinner on The Zuck’s dime, perhaps? Everyone else in the world may have liked The Social Network, but just about the only thing Zuckerberg said he enjoyed about the film was the accuracy of his clothing throughout. Hoodies and flip-flops are an easy look to replicate.

Those shout-outs I thought was a little strange, but my favorite moment of the night was seeing Michael Douglas on stage, looking and sounding good after rounds of stage four cancer treatment on his throat. Douglas may not win any major awards this season, but his recent roles in Solitary Man and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps were excellent, and upcoming performances in two Steven Soderbergh projects—action thriller Haywire and biopic Liberace—ought to bring more attention to a stellar performer who has somewhat quietly amassed a great breadth of work. Here’s to 2011, and to Douglas earning the Cecile B. Demille Award at next year’s Golden Globes.