Tina Fey and Amy Poehler Reinvent the Golden Globes

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press for choosing Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as emcees of the 70th Golden Globes! The "Saturday Night Live" veterans put the Globes on a roll from the start.

“Kathryn Bigelow’s nominated tonight. I haven’t really been following the controversy over "Zero Dark Thirty", but when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron,” intimated Poehler.
The remark went around the room in cascades of astonishment and amusement.

Then there were those other standout moments:

"JLaw", quipped presenter Will Ferrell with Kerstin Wiig about best actress in a comedy Jennifer Lawrence. In a hilarious clearly unrehearsed skit, the duo took us through their experience of the films in the category they were presenting.
On Lawrence and memorable lines from her role in “Silver Linings Playbook”, Ferrell and Wiig were as equally impressed with her as the other nominees:
"That's my cookbook!" "You get out of here",  "And she means it!" emphasized the duo.
Jennifer Lawrence acknowledged in her acceptance speech:

Jennifer Lawrence

"Oh what does this say? I beat Meryl". Lawrence in effect was referencing "First Wives Club," the classic 1996 comedy on female bonding starring Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton.
"Harvey: Thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here",  Lawrence exclaimed.
"To my brothers: I wouldn't have made it up here if you haven't been mean to me".
Well chosen words for the 22 year old actress. Go JLaw!  - a  beguiling actress with unexpected candor.

Back up at bat was Tina Fey on Anne Hathaway, best supporting actress in a motion picture:
“Anne Hathaway, you gave a stunning performance in "Les Miserables" (best musical). I have not seen someone so totally alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars.”
Hathaway particularly singled out fellow nominee Sally Fields who she applauded for resisting typecasting in roles from “The Flying Nun” to “Norma Rae”, to ‘Mrs. Gump’  to ‘Mary Todd Lincoln’.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone joked about their English language skills.
Stallone to Arnold: “You've been here how long? It's amazing”.

The Austrian drama “Amour”, was the winner for best foreign language film and director Michael Haneke thanked Arnold:
“I never thought to get an award in Hollywood by an Austrian", Haneke admitted. He also praised his actors Jean Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva and declared that “the Golden Globe is for those fantastic actors”.

Claire Danes won best actress in a television series for "Homeland", her fourth Globe.
“Wow!" I have to thank the HFP for being so insanely supportive of me”,  Danes gushed.
“I want to thank the other women in this category who are so brilliant and have contributed to making television this rich place with really dynamic, complex, bold, female characters."

Add to that list the characters in “Girls” created by 26 year old Lena Dunham who won best actress in a television series. The HBO series is about  20 year old women in New York based on Dunham's own life experience.

Jodie Foster

The true star of the Golden Globes this year was Jodie Foster who won the Cecil B. Demille Award. Robert Downey Jr presented her tribute, teasing that as presenter he was as important as the honoree.  Foster acknowledged Mel Gibson as one of her dearest friends and revealed that she is now single and grateful to her ex-partner Cydney Bernard of 20 years, co-parent to her two children. The 'coming out' announcement is the first on a global level.

Jodie Foster in 'Taxi Driver'

Foster has been in the business 47 years and just turned 50. It would appear from her speech like she won't be on the screen much and wants to change direction, though backstage afterwards she stressed that she has no intention of quitting acting. A compilation of clips from her films included her Oscar nominated supporting role as a 12 year old. In a scene with Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver (1976) Foster inquires, "Didn't you ever hear of women's lib?"
Though not as eloquent as her previous Oscar speeches,  Foster's Cecil B Demille award was a moving experience, all the more because of her decision to speak about who she is in a public setting. Even to her mother, Foster told her she loved her. hoping it would sink in.  She still wants her privacy and after being in the business since she was three, she deserves it. But the level of sharing that Foster did last night was something special for all of her fans and admirers around the world. It was a rare moment for Foster and a gift to us all.
As the evening wore on, more and more references were made to the free flowing spirits in the room, and comments were frequently censored for national television.

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain was more than gracious in her acceptance speech as best actress in a motion picture drama, especially when paying tribute to Kathryn Bigelow, whom she felt embodied her character Maya in "Zero Dark Thirty". Bigelow is the only woman to win an Oscar for director and her body of work consistently shows her ability to challenge and explore the terrain with great parts for women.
“You said that filmmaking for you is not about breaking gender roles but when you make a film that allows your characters to disobey the conventions of Hollywood, you’ve done more for women in cinema that you take credit for".
Another incredibly generous and compassionate winner with a beautiful acceptance speech was Daniel Day- Lewis, best actor in a motion picture drama for "Lincoln". The British actor reasoned that if Bill Clinton came to speak for "Lincoln" why not Queen Elizabeth making a last pitch for "Skyfall". (Adele won a Globe for the theme song of the latest James Bond film). Day-Lewis praised his "humble master" director Steven Spielberg in the role he will remember all of his life.
In the end, an overwhelmed Ben Affleck won the best director award for "Argo" that was voted the best motion picture of the year.
“Holy Cow, what an incredible company to be in", remarked director Mark Adams whose film "Brave" won the best animated feature. The comment  sums up the upbeat and entertaining Golden Globes this year, a pageant where the contestants seem to feel and display more freedom than they do at the Academy Awards, coming up on February 24.

Tina Fe and Amy Poehler had just the exemplary kind of talent, acumen and appeal that put the room into such great mood that everyone who climbed the steps put out their best. This is the mark of a brilliant awards show. It was an evening in which women were especially in the spotlight and the promise of continual and versatile, powerful roles from veterans Jodie Foster to Maggie Smith to newbies Lena Dunham and Jennifer Lawrence.

Lena Dunhan and cast of "Girls".