The Golden Globes

Avatar beat out the critically-acclaimed Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker to win Best Motion Picture for Drama, while Box Office sensation, The Hangover, out-muscled the competition in Best Motion Picture for a Musical or Comedy with its hilarious bachelors misfire in Las Vegas antics. Both choices seemed to be buoyed by their public appeal and success at the Box Office.

Then in the performance category, Jeff Bridges ripped Morgan Freeman and George Clooney’s hearts out by winning a Golden Globe for his impressive dramatic performance as an alcoholic country singer on the mend in his role as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. Sandra Bullock rounded off a good year with a Best Actress win for her touching performance in The Blind Side, dashing hopes for Emily Blunt, Helen Mirren and newcomer Carey Mulligan.

When it came to Musical and Comedy performances, Robert Downey Jr. took the award for Best Actor for his wily performance as Sherlock Holmes ahead of some serious competition in Nine’s Daniel Day-Lewis, while Meryl Streep took the stage for her larger-than-life portrayal of American cooking legend Julia Childs, trampling her contenders and other nomination for It’s Complicated.

Inglorious Basterds finally cracked the nod in the Best Supporting Actor category for Christoph Waltz’s much talked about turn in Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time” take on World War II. Then Mo’Nique foiled Up in the Air’s double nomination in Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, claiming Best Supporting Actress for her role in Precious.

Best Director went to James Cameron amid some serious competition from Jason Reitman and Kathryn Bigelow, while Up in the Air finally struck gold with Best Screenplay going to Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, dislodging District 9’s chances of winning in the process.

Crazy Heart took Best Original Song for that “what every Country & Western performer longs for” kind of song by T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham. Best Animated Film went to Up, as did Best Original Score, which went to Michael Giacchino. Das weise Band – Eine Deutsche Kindergeschichte rounded off the Film Awards with Best Foreign Film.

Overall, Avatar triumphed, while Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker seemed to have been snubbed. It would’ve been good to have seen what had happened if Up had been put head-to-head with Avatar, but it’ll probably be a few more years before animated features reach that kind of respect. On that note, it’s easy to see how some of the Best Picture – Drama nominees would have preferred Avatar to have been relegated to Best Animation.