For the first time in a while, the Golden Globes nominations felt truly international, reflecting its membership.
Once derided as “star fuckers,” the group really leaned into critical acclaim, championed contenders that needed some love, and in some ways, put some presumed shoo-ins back on their heels.
No surprise: Paul Thomas Anderson’s action epic “One Battle After Another” led the day with a whopping nine nominations, including best picture, comedy, and five acting nods for Leonardo DiCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor.
Some of the biggest shocks were the items included alongside “One Battle” in the top category, which seemed to undergo a complete overhaul.
Unsurprisingly, A24’s high-octane table tennis period piece “Marty Supreme” landed a nomination (although director Josh Safdie missed out), and Neon’s “No Other Choice” — the first South Korean film and second non-English language movie ever — made it into the lineup. In addition, following its Critics Choice nomination for best picture, Focus Features’ “Bugonia” broke into the lineup with its two leads, Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone, intact.
Richard Linklater snagged two slots for his double projects this year: “Blue Moon,” a biopic of Lorenz Hart, and “Nouvelle Vague,” a French-language movie about the making of the classic film “Breathless.” Linklater is the first director to have two films nominated in the category since George Sidney’s 1963 one-two punch of “Bye Bye Birdie” and “A Ticklish Affair.”
Taking the campaign blow of the day was Universal Pictures’ “Wicked: For Good,” which, despite nabbing five nominations — including a comeback mention for Cynthia Erivo following her Critics Choice Awards snub and two original songs — didn’t land in the best picture (comedy) lineup.
Can we discuss the cinematic and box-office achievement categories for a second? I get the inclusion of projections and pre-ticket sales that explain the inclusion of the yet-to-be-released “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” but the spirit of the category doesn’t really gel. It’s essentially saying, “You’re the best movie that made money?”
(L to r) DELROY LINDO, MICHAEL B. JORDAN and director RYAN COOGLER
Eli Ade
It also feels like a cheat code for the group not to reward Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” in best picture – drama, becoming the de facto spot to get the group on stage, as happened with the two previous winners, “Barbie” and “Wicked.”
Looking at the acting races, we have narrowed it down to key categories, especially given the six slots available in each.
On the lead actor – drama side, Joel Edgerton and Oscar Isaac live to fight another day with their recognition for the two Netflix titles “Train Dreams” and “Frankenstein,” alongside Dwayne Johnson nabbing his first significant piece of acting recognition for “The Smashing Machine” and a critical mention for Jeremy Allen White for “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” brought from the brink of flatlining in the awards race. The win will come down to Michael B. Jordan from “Sinners” and Wagner Moura from “The Secret Agent,” both from films that landed best picture (drama) nominations.
On the lead actor (comedy) side, that’s where the bloodbath will be spilled. Timothée Chalamet (“Marty Supreme”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“One Battle After Another”) are the presumed frontrunners for their respective films. Still, coming off a win at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Ethan Hawke has been the dark horse of the best actor race that many have not been paying close attention to.
Jesse Plemons’ work in “Bugonia” is worthy, and if the film can maintain its steady momentum, perhaps he can tack on a second career Oscar nomination three years after “The Power of the Dog.” Interestingly, he’s a back-to-back nominee in this category after “Kinds of Kindness.” Lee Byung-hun’s turn in “No Other Choice” was recognized, and George Clooney’s turn in “Jay Kelly” managed to stay alive despite the film missing in the top category. However, one would assume that this is as far as it goes for both of them, unless SAG and BAFTA come to the rescue.
Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes and Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew in director Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet“
Agata Grzybowska
In the lead actress – drama category, it’s clearly Jessie Buckley’s to lose as the wife of William Shakespeare in Chloe Zhao’s emotionally moving “Hamnet.” Her closest competition is “Sentimental Value” star Renate Reinsve, who delivered a perfect showing in her Norwegian drama. Unfortunately for the other nominees in the category, we seem to have a repeat of last year, where multiple lead actress (comedy) women are vying for the remaining slots.
Rose Byrne is riding off her current sweep of the precursors, including the National Board of Review, LAFCA and New York Film Critics Circle, for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” She’s the one to beat at the moment in this race, but don’t want to count out Chase Infiniti, who could get swept up in a “One Battle After Another” sweep day similar to “La La Land” (2016). Cynthia Erivo was able to bounce back from her Critics Choice Awards snub with recognition for “Wicked: For Good.” However, the movie was the glaring omission of the day in best picture – comedy, and the sequel could be headed to mimic something more of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” at the Oscars, perhaps returning for a few key tech categories and supporting actress (Ariana Grande), but ultimately missing out in the end.
Then there’s Kate Hudson from “Song Sung Blue,” which Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters are discovering by the day and is the standout from screenings, and Amanda Seyfried, who nabbed a vital Critics Choice Awards nomination for “The Testament of Ann Lee” and is exceptional in the Mona Fastvold period musical.
And it’s never wise to count out Emma Stone. The two-time Oscar winner has also won two Golden Globes, and in “Bugonia,” she delivers one of her most ferocious and compelling turns yet. Will she ultimately make the cut in this death match race? The Critics Choice Awards nomination helps considerably, and if she can tack on BAFTA and SAG, there’s no stopping her from being included in the end.
The supporting races have definitely identified six contenders for each race.
sabrina lantos
Supporting actor repeated the Critics Choice Awards six, and the question is whether Jacob Elordi (“Frankenstein”) and Adam Sandler (“Jay Kelly”) can claim the last spot? Or, as I’ve been discussing for the past few weeks: If Ethan Hawke is a viable contender for “Blue Moon,” why wouldn’t his co-star, Andrew Scott, who won an acting award at the Berlin Film Festival and was runner-up at LAFCA this past weekend, not come along for the ride? Could that be the surprise lurking in the wings?
Emily Blunt was given a lifeline for “The Smashing Machine” in supporting actress, and considering how much SAG loves her (a previous winner for “A Quiet Place” and has multiple nominations), she could continue her trajectory. Will she be this year’s Maria Bello (“The Cooler”) or Daniel Bruhl (“Rush”), would-be contenders that nabbed everything and missed in the end? Or could she mimic someone like Laura Linney (2004’s “Kinsey”), who was the surviving nominee from an early frontrunner that fell apart in the end?
Five of the 12 best picture slots are taken up by non-English-language titles. Moreover, the non-English language category is full of the top five Neon titles — four of which made the best picture (drama) lineup, the most for any studio. Not to mention, “Sirat” also snagged a much-deserved original score mention.
Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” made the animation lineup, and it’s something worth considering, but the Academy has never gone for anime. It could be between fellow nominee “Elio” from Pixar and the Globe-snubbed “In Your Dreams” for Netflix, which can round out the eventual Oscar lineup.
It’s worth noting that the screenplay nominees, along with Critics Choice Awards, are the only writing nominations Academy voters will see prior to nomination voting closing. This could be our strongest indicator of where the scribes will go.
On the TV side, Apple, HBO Max and Netflix dominated with multiple series mentions each.
Netflix picked up “The Diplomat” in drama series and “Black Mirror,” “The Beast in Me” and the Emmy-winning “Adolescence” in limited series.
Apple snagged spots for their freshman series “Pluribus” and their two Emmy-nominated dramas “Severance” and “Slow Horses.” In comedy, the Emmy record-breaker “The Studio” showed up strong.
For HBO Max (maybe soon to be Netflix Max?), the Emmy-winning “The Pitt” showed up strong, along with the Emmy-nominated “The White Lotus.” The fourth season of “Hacks” also performed as well as we expected.
Some of the biggest snubs on the TV side include the Emmy-winning Katherine LaNasa from “The Pitt,” the HBO freshman series “Task,” which missed out on a series nomination and supporting actor for Tom Pelphrey.
Very sad for Peacock’s “Office” spinoff, “The Paper,” getting blanked across the board, especially for Sabrina Impaccatore, and for how “Andor” missed in drama series, which the awards authorities should investigate.
In the meantime, we look ahead to the Oscars shortlist voting, which begins today, while BAFTA longlist ballots are out.
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