A lukewarm Golden Globes sets stage for Oppenheimer, Gladstone to dominate awards season

Sunday evening'slukewarm Golden Globes were muddled by meandering presenter bits and an awkward first-time host but anearly awards seasonnarrative emerged,withOppenheimertriumphingwith five wins across severalmajor categories.

First, that opening monologue: comedian Jo Koynever quite clicked with the crowd, getting a tepid response to requisite jokes about how few of the nominated projects he'd seen (just Beef), how long the movies were(Oppenheimer), jokes about prosthetics and genitalia (Maestro,Saltburn), and unexpected attractions (Ryan Gosling inBarbie).

Only a handful of presenters improved on his material, but for everyfunny gag fromKristin Wiig and Will Ferrell, there was a minute of painful rambling from Jared Letoor a stilted bit from Kevin Costnerstalling an already-lengthy show.

Oppenheimer cleans up,Barbiegets its flowers

The awards themselves were a reprieve. Thescales first tipped in favour of Oppenheimerwith Robert Downey Jr.'s win in the best supporting category, which wasn't quite a given thanks to stiff competition fromRyan Gosling'saudience-favourite turn as the ridiculouslyfaux-machoKen inBarbie.

The biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who invented the atomic bomb, kept cleaning up from there.

Like Downey Jr., best director winner Christopher Nolan and best actor winner Cillian Murphy gave pitch perfect speeches just the right amount of humour for the booze-infusedGlobes;just the right amount of poise for Oscar hopefuls. The film also won for Swedish composerLudwig Gransson's score.

The film's friendly summer foeBarbiegot its flower elsewhere. Director Greta Gerwig and producer-star Margot Robbie gave charming speeches when the film won the award for box office achievement (a prize which also gave the Globes an excuse to invite Taylor Swift). It was really a marketing award, after all Robbie thankedthe film's fans for going to the movie theatre, "the greatest place on earth," where it made over a billion dollars.

The film also won best original song for moody pop star Billie Eilish's delicateWhat Was I Made For?, beating out other Barbietracks likeI'm Just Ken,the comedic 80's-style power ballad sung by Gosling, and Dua Lipa's disco nostalgicDance The Night.

Canadians shut out,Poor Things upsets

The handful of Canadians competing in major categories were shut out.

Following London, Ont.-born Gosling's loss, Korean Canadian writer-director Celine Song and her film Past Liveswent home empty-handed French courtroom dramaAnatomy of a Fall beat it in two categories. Similarly, there was no win for Hamilton native Martin Short's work on the TV comedyOnly Murders in the Building, nor for thelate musician Robbie Robertson, a member of Six Nations of the Grand River, who composed theKillers of the Flower Moon score.

Somewhat unexpectedly,Poor ThingsedgedBarbieout both in the best musical or comedy category and in the best actress category (Emma Stone was chosen over Margot Robbie); whileThe Boy and The Heronwon overSpider-Man: Across The Spider-Versein the animated feature category.

The choices likelyspeakto the tastes of an international voting body seeking to distinguish themselves after a rocky few years, favouring Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos's kooky odyssey and Japanese visionary Hayao Miyazaki'sadventure fantasyover the kaleidoscopic, All-American charms of Hollywood-madeBarbieandSpider-Man.

Meanwhile, 70's-nostalgic period comedyThe Holdoversgot some recognition in the acting categories, with star Paul Giamatti dedicatinghis award to teachers he plays a strict boarding school professor in the film and Da'Vine Joy Randolph winning for best supporting actress.

Lily Gladstone speaks Blackfeet during powerful moment

The most powerful moment of the night came with Lily Gladstone's win for best actress in a drama.

Gladstone isreportedly the first Indigenous actress in Golden Globes history to win the award. Sheportrayed Molly Kyle in Martin Scorsese's historical dramaKillers of the Flower Moon, a real-life Osage woman deceived by a money-driveninterloper played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Gladstone, who isfrom Blackfeet Nation, gave her speech partially inthe community's language. She said she was grateful to be able to speak the language, noting that,"in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English and the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera."

Thanking her Alberta-born co-star, the Indigenous actress Tantoo Cardinal, as well as Osage Nation's Chief Standing Bear, she dedicated the prize to "every little rez kid."

Beef,The BearandSuccessionnab pre-Emmy prizes

With the Emmy Awardsjust over a week away on Jan. 15, the Globes' television categories were dominated by Netflix darlingBeef (best limited series); high-octanerestaurant dramedyThe Bear (best comedy or musical series); and the outgoing champion of prestige TVSuccession won best drama series following the show's May finale.

A shocked Ayo Edebiri took to the stage to accept the prize for best actress in a comedy or musical series, one of few memorable moments in an evening deprived of them, giving a shoutoutto the assistants who answer her emails. Her co-star Jeremy Allen White picked up an award in the counterpart category.

Beefstars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong won best actor and actress in a limited series, making history as the first Asian actors to win in their respective categories; while SuccessionactorsSarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen and Keiran Culkin gave swan song acceptance speeches.