69th Annual Golden Globe Award Winners

I guess when Ricky Gervais was surprisingly invited back to host the Golden Globes, it was under the condition that he would do his opening monologue and then disappear for the rest of the evening -- because that's exactly what happened. His opening zingers were actually great and not too harsh or cynical like last year. Bashes toward Kim Kardashian were a must, and Gervais was smart about knocking the HFPA itself as opposed to his celebrity spectators.

A quick hit on first presenter Johnny Depp was perfect allowing Gervais to pick up right where he left off last year. "Have you seen 'The Tourist' yet?" he asked Depp.

And then he jabbed, "The Golden Globes are just like the Oscars but without all the esteem." It also was two-and-a-half hours before he got bleeped, and that was right around the time Meryl Streep warranted herself a bleep. Penis jokes were aplenty most notably during George Clooney's speech when he gave a shout out to Michael Fassbender's full nudity in "Shame."

It was nice that the evening didn't feel entirely all about "The Artist," although it's still the one to beat at the Oscars. Instead, Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" closed out the night with a win for Best Picture Drama. "The Artist," however, still led a total number of wins at three followed by "The Descendants" with two.

"The Artist" took home awards for Best Score, Best Picture Comedy or Musical and Best Actor Comedy or Musical for Jean Dujardin. It only made sense for Dujardin to win in his category because all of his actor competition landed their nominations under Drama. This included George Clooney who won Best Actor Drama for "The Descendants." He's now the one to beat at the Oscars, and Dujardin is his closest competition.

The love was pretty widespread including a Best Director win for Martin Scorsese ("Hugo") over Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist." Meanwhile Woody Allen took home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay ("Midnight In Paris"). For whatever reason, "The Adventures of Tintin" won over "Rango" for Best Animated Feature perhaps to get Steven Spielberg up on the stage.

The other surprise of the night was Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady" winning Best Actress Drama over Viola Davis for "The Help." I still believe Davis is the front-runner for the Oscar, however. Streep gave a blind speech having lost her glasses. George Clooney made an attempt to pass them up, and they made it to David Fincher...and stayed there. Perhaps it was his anger toward Streep for winning over Rooney Mara.

Wins for Octavia Spencer for "The Help" and Christopher Plummer for "Beginners" further cemented them as the clear front-runners in their respective Best Supporting categories at the Oscars. Spencer's speech was exceptionally moving and timely touching on the MLK holiday.

Morgan Freeman received his tribute with the Cecil B. DeMille award, and everyone was disappointed when he didn't do the voiceover for his own career montage. Helen Mirren also managed to make a drunken fool of herself introducing him.

So it comes down to "The Artist" and "The Descendants" over what's going to nab the top prize at the Oscars. The former is still the clear leader, but last night's wins for the latter pushes up its potential.

Check here for a full list of the 69th Annual Golden Globe Award winners, and stay tuned for the announcement of the 84th Annual Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, January 24.