The Golden Globes' Winners and Losers

Movie award season started this weekend with the Golden Globes being held in Los Angeles. Presented by English comic Ricky Gervais for the third year running, the big winner from the night was, unusually, a black and white silent movie called The Artist.

The Winners and Losers

The Artist tells the tale of a declining silent actor who is starting to lose his celebrity as talking films gain in popularity. On the night, it was named best comedy and its star Jean Dujardin (pictured above) took home the best male comedy actor award. On the drama side, George Clooney won best actor for his role in The Descendents, which also won Best Film Drama.

Other big winners included hotly-tipped Meryl Streep for her role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, and Michelle Williams who plays Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, both of whom won Best Actress awards. On the international scene, Iran's A Separation, which tells the simple tale of a couple's break up, won best foreign language film.

As well as film, the Golden Globes also pays tribute to the year's best television, and in this category, Britons came out on top. ITV's Downton Abbey won best TV mini-series, London's Idris Elba (who previously played Stringer Bell in The Wire) took home best actor, and Kate Winslett won the leading actress gong.

Ricky Gervais Hosting

In the lead up to the awards, much of the talk had been about Ricky Gervais presenting for the third time. Both the previous times he stole many of the headlines with his sharp insults and apparent lack of respect for the celebrities being honoured.

However, this year there was the sense of it all being a bit of an anticlimax, with critics calling Gervais "surprisingly subdued" (LA Times). Despite this, there were still a few Gervais moments that had the audience blushing. Below are a couple of his more risky insults:

• "The Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton. A bit louder, a bit trashier, a bit drunker and more easily bought. Allegedly."

• "What you don't know about Colin Firth is he's very racist. I've also seen him punch a little blind kitten."

The Baftas and Oscars

The Golden Globes are generally used as a good indication of who will be the big winners at the Baftas and Oscars, both of which are coming up over the next couple of months.

Indeed, the nominations for the Baftas have today been revealed, with The Artist leading the way with 12 nominations (including best film, director and actor), and is closely followed by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which has 11 nominations.

The awards season culminates on February 26th with the most prestigious ceremony- the Oscars. Whether the Golden Globes and Baftas offer a preview of who will take home the big prizes there, only time will tell.

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