Get ready for a kinder, gentler Golden Globes

What’s more certain than “La La Land” winning the Golden Globe for best picture comedy/musical? One thing: That, with Jimmy Fallon hosting, the show itself will be a lot less snarky than the last several editions.

Welcome to the Gold Standard, the newsletter from the Los Angeles Times that helps guide you through the ins and outs of the awards season leading up to the Oscars.

I’m Glenn Whipp, The Times’ awards columnist and your newsletter host.

GOLDEN GLOBES A GO-GO

When Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes for the fourth (and, hopefully, not final) time last year, he joked that the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. threatened to personally pull him off the stage if he said anything “offensive or crass” or resorted to innuendo.

Of course, the evening was filled with wall-to-wall offensive, crass innuendo, including jokes about Roman Polanski’s love for “Spotlight” (“best date movie ever”), Ben Affleck’s wayward eye (Gervais called Matt Damon the only person Affleck “hadn’t been unfaithful to”) and introducing Mel Gibson with a comic bit that had the NBC censor scrambling for the mute button.

It was all in keeping with Gervais’ mission of skewering Hollywood hokum and self-importance — the very things that Fallon, this year’s Golden Globes host on Sunday, wears as a badge of honor on his late-night talk show.

To put it another way: The censors and the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. can probably relax, unless a game of beer pong or beer shuffleboard gets out of hand.

I preview this year’s show here, answering five burning questions, including what movie has the most to lose (“La La Land”) and who might deliver the evening’s most memorable speech. If you’re looking for predictions … look no further. They’re right here. (Yes, Greg Braxton, I really think “Atlanta” is going to win big on the TV side.)

And I’d encourage you all to follow The Times’ exhaustive Golden Globes coverage — the parties, the fashion, the speeches, the flowing of Fallon’s flattery — by going here. (We’ve already started! And it’s only Friday!)

FAITH UNSHAKEN FOR ‘SILENCE’

“Silence,” Martin Scorsese’s powerful epic about faith, martyrdom and God’s presence, hasn’t been registering much with guild voters. But has that led me to doubt my predictions that it will win several Oscar nominations in the crafts categories? Absolutely not! (OK. A little. I’m human. I need strength.)

You can find my Oscar predictions here for cinematography, production design, costume design, makeup and hair, visual effects and sound.

The Envelope’s directors roundtable participants: Kenneth Lonergan, left, Damien Chazelle, Barry Jenkins, Jeff Nichols and Pablo Larrain.

(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times )

TALKING TO THIS YEAR’S TOP DIRECTORS

Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the Sea”), Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”), Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”), Jeff Nichols (“Loving”) and Pablo Larrain (“Jackie”) have directed five of the year’s best movies. Actually, six, since Larrain directed “Neruda” too, and that was pretty great as well.

We gathered that quintet recently to talk about their movies’ influences and evolution. You can read — and watch — the conversation here. I also spoke not long ago with another Oscar-winning director, Mel Gibson, who has made quite a comeback this year with his war drama “Hacksaw Ridge.” You can read that conversation, including thoughts from the film’s star, Andrew Garfield, here.

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