Are the Globes...Good?

Initial Thoughts:

The Globes have found a new home on CBS (January 7th), and though a decent amount of Critics’ Associations have already made their picks, and though the Golden Globes are still awarded by the odd and small body that is the HFPA, and though the winners of the Globes haven’t reeeeaallly aligned with the winners of the Oscars for the last two years, there’s still a ton of crossover in nominees that make this silly ceremony worth paying attention to. This year, in addition to finding a new broadcast home, the Globes have added a few categories and expanded the nominees for most fields from 5 to 6; they’re aware they need to get more people to watch, and I salute the bizarre and out of touch HFPA for their efforts to maintain relevancy. Funny enough, I ultimately preferred many of the winners of the Globes last year to the winners of the major Oscars, but I’m choosing not to read too much into that.

All that said, maybe I should read into that, because the expanded HFPA made some pretty considered selections to go along with a few evergreen buzz-driven headscratchers. There are selections hailed by critics, winners of international film festivals, and all this will make for a fascinating Oscar race! The less said about the silly, now-relatively-mainstream Critic’s Choice Association nominations announced on Tuesday, the better.

Notable Snubs:

• The Killer. David Fincher’s latest absolutely rules but given his spotty track record with Awards bodies, a “smaller” film that’s far more rooted in genre was probably never going to do that well here, but hopefully it isn’t completely out of the picture going forward.

• Asteroid City. Similarly, Wes hasn’t been in the awards conversation since Grand Budapest Hotel, but his wonderful latest even getting overlooked for stuff like Screenplay is a bummer.

• Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. This movie is delightful, and the kind of thing the Globes would typically go for too! Fortunately, Rachel McAdams has been nominated by some critic’s groups, but it’ll be a real shame if this movie – and her performance – keeps coming up short at ceremonies like these.

• Afire. I really loved this German drama and wouldn’t have expected it to get much attention beyond Non-English Language Picture consideration, but it would have been nice to have it there (especially in place of a movie that doesn’t necessarily belong, like Past Lives).

The Over-Nominated:

From what I’ve seen, there’s nothing too egregious here, which is a rarity! I could pick a few nits about Barbie leading the field with 10 nominations, only the second time that’s ever happened, and even though its flaws have felt far more evident with time, its presence in this pack still feels right. There is a decent number of nominees I haven’t seen, so I may have thoughts about Nyad or Saltburn getting 2 nominations apiece, but it wouldn’t be fair to have them now.

Wait a minute, Air got two nominations?? I enjoyed it but that is two too many. I found the head-scratcher everyone!

The Under-Nominated

• The Zone of Interest. I’m breaking my “haven’t seen it, don’t have thoughts” rule, because it’s kind of odd for a film to land in “Best Drama”, “Best Score” and “Best International Feature” but not have anything for writing, acting, or directing.

• Past Lives. Depending on the day, I think either this or Killers of the Flower Moon is the best movie of the year, and so even though it got 5 nominations (including Non-English Language despite being an American production) I would love to have seen additional nominations for John Magaro in Best Supporting Actor and Teo Yoo in Best Lead Actor.

The Just-Right-nominated

• Oppenheimer. If you were to discount Barbie getting 3 Best Original Song nominations, then Oppenheimer got about every nomination it could (though an extra Best Supporting for Matt Damon would have been awesome) and would be leading the pack – as well it should.

• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. There was some talk about this movie getting looks beyond Best Animated Feature, and I love that that extra nomination came in the score category; Daniel Pemberton’s work is exceptional, with the added difficulty of creating enough music with variation on refrained themes to match the story’s multiverses defined by their similarities rather than their differences.

• John Wick: Chapter 4. The new award for “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement” is so dumb, but it means that this piece of bonkers brilliance got nominated, so I guess I’m content.

Haven’t Seen, Certainly Want To:

• Maestro. Bradley Cooper’s writer-director-producer-star follow-up to his remake of A Star is Born from 2018 and focuses on the life and marriage of Leonard Bernstein hits Netflix in less than a week, but who’s counting?

• May December. By the time you’re reading this, I might have seen Todd Hayne’s latest melodramedy, but as of this moment, I haven’t.

• The Holdovers. This film is already being hailed as a future holiday classic dramedy full of humor, warmth, and excellently nuanced performances.

• Priscilla. Sofia Coppola is back, and I believe A24’s newly struck deal means it’ll end up being available on MAX at some point, but who’s to say when that will be?

• The Zone of Interest. Critics are hailing this as an absolute masterpiece that tackles delicate subject matter in a way that is both tasteful and devasting all at once – not sure it’ll be a fun time, but I can’t wait to see it for myself.

• Fallen Leaves. Not to be shallow, but an international feature getting an Acting nomination means that this movie could be pretty special in the race.

• Anatomy of a Fall. Similarly, this French courtroom drama has received tons of critical praise and seeing it similarly embraced by, lol, the Golden Globes is encouraging.

• The Boy and the Heron. Hayao Miyazaki returned from his retirement to make what sounds to be another masterpiece, and a filmmaker this talented deserves two hours of my time; with him, as with all the great masters, it usually ends up being time extremely well spent.

Haven’t Seen, Not Sure I Will:

• Super Mario Bros. Fans of this movie might consider this a Waluigi-esque take of me, but sometimes you’ve just gotta own who you are.

• Saltburn. I really wasn’t a fan of Emerald Fennell’s debut, Promising Young Woman, but if this keeps getting nominated, I guess I’ll have to check it out eventually. I’m not sure if Rosamund Pike’s nomination was a result of anything great about her work in this movie or because she seems to have the HFPA in a stranglehold, given her inexplicable nominations over the years.

• Nyad. Seems fine?