[ot-caption title=”A scene from “The Grand Budapest Hotel” showing (from right to left) Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Tony Revolori, and Paul Schlase. (Photo by Martin Scali/Fox Searchlight Films/AP Images)” url=”https://pcpawprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AP4894184827471.jpg”]

The Golden Globes, aka, the pre-Oscars chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, blends the Emmies and the Oscars into one extravagant event. A hundred diverse individuals vote on the winner of categories for both movies and tv from the prior year, in this case, awarding those involved in movies and tv from 2014. I’d like to talk about the three major movie winners: Boyhood for Best Picture, Birdman for Best Screenplay and Grand Budapest hotel for Best Comedy.

Boyhood – Best Picture and Best Director – Richard Linklater

Boyhood is the most avant-garde of the three choices. It did something that has never been done before in the history of cinema and something that will be hard to recreate, winning Best Picture and Best Director. Director Richard Linklater filmed a few weeks of a pseudo family life over the span of 12 years. The touching story follows a boy, Mason, from first grade to his first day at college. There’s no way you can’t relate to the movie the moment it starts, from the phrases and pop culture the characters followed to the dialogue that easily could have come from around the dinner table at your own house. Although, the film encompasses more than just boyhood, it is also resonated with fatherhood and motherhood. All and all, it was a heart warming story that, although I don’t like to admit it, made me tear up.

Birdman – Best Actor and Best Screenplay – Alejandro González Iñárritu

Birman is, by far, one of the most interesting movies I have seen this year, winning Best Screenplay and Best Actor in a comedy. It follows the life of an aged irrelevant actor, Riggan (Michael Keaton), who tries to break away from his prior famous superhero image by acting on broadway to restart his acting career. The comedy was quite black and humorous at times, but I would have placed it under the Drama category. The movie is filmed to seem as one continuous shot, and the director’s commentary was supposed to emulate the progression of the insanity of Michael Keaton’s character. I found myself in hysterics at one point, maybe influenced by the absolute chaos on the screen, but it was likely from the black comedy that wafted from the witty script.

Grand Budapest Hotel – Best Picture Comedy – Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson is my favorite director without a doubt, and if you look at his filmography, you wouldn’t be surprised. His gilded painted portrait might as well be pasted into every dictionary next to the word “quirky.” Of the three choices, this was my favorite. I previously wrote another review for it here (https://pcpawprint.com/?p=6177.) The movie takes place in a fictitious European hotel between the two World Wars. The story follows an eccentric (an understatement) hotel concierge played by Ralph Fiennes (pronounced Riaff Fines) and his new favorite lobby boy involved in a fight over a Renaissance painting that Fiennes’ character inherited. The first two things you should know about Wes Anderson are that he has a palpable style and that he has a beautiful mind (I should remind you that I’m extremely biased). If you watch the movie and then look at him, you might as well say “Oh, haha, that makes sense.” He’s this wispy little guy with a crooked bowtie and just the right amount of mousiness. Anyway, Grand Budapest Hotel encompasses what we don’t see in adventure movies anymore: palatable originality with fun and diverse characters who aren’t textbook attractive and oily (handsome is a better word).