The Golden Globes were handed out last night, not that most people noticed, since they skipped a ceremony this year and didn’t even televise whatever event they had to hand out awards. Which honestly was probably the way to go this year, after all the chaos surrounding them the past year. I had questions about them even going through with a ceremony in the first place after announcing they were gonna skip it this year to get their house in order, only to turn around and come back for the money after what feels like a series of nominal-at-best changes. So them doing it this way was probably the way to go.
Of course, depending on the results, I may have a few questions about the validity of these choices as they pertain to the rest of this season, but my guess is what I’m about to see is generally what I’d expect from them.
So let’s see what the Globes have surreptitiously given us this year:
Best Picture – Drama
Belfast
CODA
Dune
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
Winner: The Power of the Dog
Interesting. I would have assumed Belfast, but given how things have gone since nominations were announced, this was the logical second choice. I still don’t know if this has the legs to win Best Picture, but at this point, all bets are off. I’m not sure if anyone even cares this year (like last year), so that could open the door for something like this (or for something like West Side Story just because it seems pleasant enough for them to vote for and move on). We’ll need to see how SAG and BAFTA and the PGA vote on this, but this feels like something that’ll get a bunch of nominations and do well overall, so cool.
They kinda painted themselves into a corner with this one, since you knew nothing other than this or Belfast really had a shot, but if this is what they liked, then good on them. I hope this wins at least one other award to validate their feelings on it, otherwise you’re really gonna start to see them become irrelevant (culturally they’re already there. But if they also stop becoming helpful for people who like to predict the Oscars, that’s when it’s over).
Best Picture – Musical/Comedy
Cyrano
Don’t Look Up
Licorice Pizza
Tick… Tick… Boom!
West Side Story
Winner: West Side Story
Makes sense. I’m not sure I can buy this as a Best Picture winner (because man, this winning Picture twice, 50 years apart. That would lead to a lot of takes. I’m already gonna have a hard enough time trying to justify my feeling that Ariana DeBose should win for it. I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like for Picture too), but it made the most sense here. Paul Thomas Anderson has never fully been for them, so Licorice Pizza felt like a stretch unless they truly thought it could contend. Cyrano felt like something they had to nominate but didn’t really care about ever voting for (which seems to be vindicated by this) and Don’t Look Up has been so mixed in response that I couldn’t have expected them to actually vote for it. That would have been planting a major flag and I just didn’t see that happening. So it was one of two choices and this was by far the more obvious. So I get it. Maybe this translates and contends seriously, maybe it doesn’t. We need more data. And since BFCA moved off their date, we don’t even have them as another guidepost. So we just have to wait and see.
Best Director
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Denis Villeneuve, Dune
Winner: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Okay, good. She won Director too, so no matter what, you can point to them preferring this as their favorite film of the year no matter how the rest of the season goes. Branagh would’ve come out of nowhere without the Picture win, so it was either Campion or Spielberg. So cool. And, it’s worth noting, Spielberg beat Campion in this category the last time she was nominated in 1993 (Schindler’s List over The Piano). So it’s nice that here they are almost 30 years later in the same category again.
Best Actor – Drama
Mahershala Ali, Swan Song
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Winner: Will Smith, King Richard
Having now seen almost all of these films (I’ll see Macbeth Friday to round it out)… I agree with this. And I think that quite possibly this is Will Smith’s year to get his Oscar. I’m looking at the data I have so far and it sure seems like the bulk of this final category will be Cumberbatch, Smith, Washington and Andrew Garfield, with the fifth spot TBD (the obvious choices being Bardem, Ali or most likely Peter Dinklage, based on what precursors we currently have). Denzel already has two wins, plus it’s Shakespeare in 2021, so I don’t feel bullish on his chances.
Garfield I’m assuming is gonna win the next category, but he’ll need either SAG or BAFTA for me to legitimately see him as a contender for the win. Cumberbatch is the only major player that I think can pull it off if the major groups rally around him. Though it feels way easier for them to rally around Will the way everyone rallied around Leo that year. He’ll get all the claps, everyone loves him, the performance is great even if it’s not necessarily an all-timer for the category, and we’ll all feel good about it. I don’t see a downside to it and, based on the road map that’s playing out, this feels very much like it’s the most likely scenario for this category. Smith, then either Garfield or Cumberbatch, depending on which (if either) can pull off a win (or wins) at BFCA, SAG and BAFTA. But we’ll see. It’s early.
Best Actor – Musical/Comedy
Leonardo DiCaprio, Don’t Look Up
Peter Dinklage, Cyrano
Andrew Garfield, Tick… Tick… Boom!
Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza
Anthony Ramos, In the Heights
Winner: Andrew Garfield, Tick… Tick… Boom!
Well, there’s that. He made the most sense. Dinklage was the only other one I could have seen legitimately winning here. Garfield’s gonna be the bigger player in Actor, though. So that furthers him along. But this being that separate category from Drama, without another win, I’m not sure I can see him as legitimately contending (and, given the lay of the land, BFCA actually would be a pretty big coup for him if he can manage it).
Best Actress – Drama
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Lady Gaga, House of Gucci
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Winner: Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Well that wasn’t expected. Weird choice. Though maybe… I didn’t expect Chastain or Gaga. Colman is an unknown entity to me at this point since I haven’t been able to sit down and watch The Lost Daughter yet (though just on paper — she’s won recently, the movie’s not incredibly high profile, and unless it’s a ‘can’t ignore’ situation, my gut would say nomination at best regardless of performance). So admittedly, sure, Kidman probably makes sense as a top two here. But no Stewart? That’s interesting. This category seems tailor-made for her to make a run. Which she still could, since this is only the Globes. BFCA will tell us if we’re gonna get a consensus or chaos (like last year). Guess this is that one category we’ll have to pay attention to this year. Every year three acting categories end up locked and there’s only one where you don’t fully know until they hand it out. It was Actress last year too. Guess we’re in for another one of those.
Best Actress – Musical/Comedy
Marion Cotillard, Annette
Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Jennifer Lawrence, Don’t Look Up
Emma Stone, Cruella
Rachel Zegler, West Side Story
Winner: Rachel Zegler, West Side Story
Makes sense. Lawrence was never gonna win, Haim maybe could’ve pulled it off, but I never felt real support for that film anywhere. Cotillard is just because they love her. Stone was the only other possible choice here, and maybe the Globes 7 years ago would have done that. Otherwise this was almost always gonna be Zegler. The only question with her is whether or not she has the momentum to 1) get nominated (which, in this year, feels more likely than not) and 2) contend for a win. 2 is really the only question I need to worry about, since I don’t know. My gut says no, but stranger things have happened. So we just need to wait and see what happens.
Best Supporting Actor
Ben Affleck, The Tender Bar
Jamie Dornan, Belfast
Ciaran Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Winner: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
That makes sense. Affleck was unlikely, as his film’s only nomination, Kotsur is more likely to win somewhere like BFCA or BAFTA than here and the two Belfast noms were a clear vote split situation. Smit-McPhee makes the most sense and, depending on how the category shapes up, he could damn well win the whole thing. This seems like a category where all the intrigue is which five it’ll end up being, and then as soon as we have a category it’ll be, “Oh, but this person is for sure winning.”
Best Supporting Actress
Caitriona Balfe, Belfast
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Ruth Negga, Passing
Winner: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
I said it up there. I honestly think she’s good enough to win, even if it’s the same character Rita Moreno won for 50 years ago. The rest of this category belongs here, but I do feel like DeBose leaves the biggest impression. I’d honestly be happy for any of these five, but with things being the way they are, it sure seems like she has a chance to build some unstoppable momentum in the next four or five weeks if she can stack a few of these wins up. BFCA should tell us a lot about where this one’s headed.
Best Screenplay
Being the Ricardos
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
Licorice Pizza
The Power of the Dog
Winner: Belfast
Oh, so there’s the Belfast win. I’m… not upset at that, actually. As much as I love Sorkin, this wasn’t one he should have won. Don’t Look Up was a tricky choice and I’m not even sure I’d have made it. Licorice Pizza, while I love the film I’m not sure the script needed to win (unless it’s to get Anderson an award, which… just give him Director at that point). It was either Belfast or Power of the Dog, and since Campion had already won twice, I get why they went with Belfast here. This doesn’t really affect much of anything since all the other categories are split Original and Adapted, but it’s something.
Best Original Score
Dune
Encanto
The French Dispatch
Parallel Mothers
The Power of the Dog
Winner: Dune
Cool. The Globes Score category is historically meaningless on its own. If Zimmer manages to sweep the other two precursors as well (unlikely, given that he hasn’t won an Oscar since The Lion King), then we can talk. Until then… hey, at least all five of these scores got shortlisted by the Academy.
Best Original Song
“Be Alive,” from King Richard (Beyoncé)
“Dos Oruguitas,” from Encanto (Lin-Manuel Miranda)
“Down to Joy,” from Belfast (Van Morrison)
“Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” from Respect (Jennifer Hudson/Carole King)
“No Time to Die,” from No Time to Die (Billie Eilish)
Winner: “No Time to Die,” from No Time to Die
Half-expected them to go elsewhere, but this was the best choice and probably will roll along to an easy Oscar win. The only intrigue in this category is what the other four songs are gonna be (all four of these are shortlisted, by the way).
Best Animated Feature
Encanto
Flee
Luca
My Sunny Maad
Raya and the Last Dragon
Winner: Encanto
Yup. That was the best animated movie of the year. Half-expected them to go with Luca, still half-expect everyone else (including the Academy to go with Luca), but Encanto should probably just go and win everything. And Raya… also great and I’d have been rooting for it if Encanto weren’t also this year, especially over Luca, but it got stuck in a bad situation. I bet all you Raya people feel a bit how I felt when Moana got ignored in favor of Zootopia (though at least here it’s two really good movies. I’m still not sure Zootopia’s very good).
Best Foreign Language Film
Compartment No. 6
Drive My Car
The Hand of God
A Hero
Parallel Mothers
Winner: Drive My Car
No shit. My only question is whether or not it has the momentum to go all the way. Asghar Farhadi is a tall order. I feel like Sorrentino should be easy enough to beat, but Farhadi is 2/2 this past decade. Still, this has always been the clubhouse leader, so no real surprise. But we can’t even begin to handicap the category until we know what the final five are. And while this is a good start, the Globes are always the one who go for the biggest profile in the category. So you can’t really say whether or not this is a harbinger of what’s to come until you know where the others go and what the category is.
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And now… TV.
This’ll be quick.
Best Series – Drama
Lupin
The Morning Show
Pose
Squid Game
Succession
Winner: Succession
I vaguely recall when nominations were announced saying that even though Squid Game would get all the press, Succession would go ahead and win anyway. And here we are.
Best Series – Musical/Comedy
The Great
Hacks
Only Murders in the Building
Reservation Dogs
Ted Lasso
Winner: Hacks
Oh right. They like the new trendy show in this category. Even with Lasso here. Globes gonna Globe, I guess.
Best Actor in a Series – Drama
Brian Cox, Succession
Lee jung-jae, Squid Game
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession
Omar Sy, Lupin
Winner: Jeremy Strong, Succession
Yeah, that makes sense. Good for him.
Best Actor in a Series – Musical/Comedy
Anthony Anderson, Blackish
Nicholas Hoult, The Great
Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building
Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Winner: Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Oh, there it is. They’ll give it to Sudeikis and go elsewhere on Series. Makes sense. Also, look at these five… was ANYONE else gonna win this?
Best Actress in a Series – Drama
Uzo Aduba, In Treatment
Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Christine Baranski, The Good Fight
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Mj Rodriguez, Pose
Winner: Mj Rodriguez, Pose
Good for them. Trans actress wins the Globe. It was a savvy call but also a reasonable one. Aniston and Moss weren’t gonna win and Baranski was there just to be there. It was either gonna be her or Aduba. And this is the outcome that looks the best on them. Did they game it? Dunno. Don’t care. Don’t watch TV. Still looks the best on them, and that’s really all that matters since it’s all pointless anyway. I feel like, with the TV Globes, unless there’s a real, true consensus, just give it to whoever would benefit the most, career-wise. Elisabeth Moss isn’t gonna make more money from an extra Globe. But Mj Rodriguez — she’ll get work and she’ll get paid more from this. So I’m fully in support.
Best Actress in a Series – Musical/Comedy
Hanna Einbender, Hacks
Elle Fanning, The Great
Issa Rae, Insecure
Traci Ellis Ross, Black-ish
Jean Smart, Hacks
Winner: Jean Smart, Hacks
I mean, obviously.
Best Miniseries or TV Movie
Dopesick
Impeachment: American Crime Story
Maid
Mare of Easttown
The Underground Railroad
Winner: The Underground Railroad
Oh, what? Who could have guessed that? (Hang on, I gotta clean up all that sarcasm that just dripped all over the floor.)
(But also, good for Barry Jenkins. At this point he’s retroactively earned a fuck ton of awards.)
Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Paul Bettany, WandaVision
Oscar Isaac, Scenes from a Marriage
Michael Keaton, Dopesick
Ewan McGregor, Halston
Tahar Rahim, The Serpent
Winner: Michael Keaton, Dopesick
Love me some Michael Keaton.
Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Jessica Chastain, Scenes from a Marriage
Cynthia Erivo, Genius: Aretha
Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision
Margaret Qualley, Maid
Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown
Winner: Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown
I feel like I said this as well. If they had a ceremony, all everyone would talk about was the WandaVision nominations and then they’d just go with Winslet anyway because that’s the one series everyone watched and talked about. This is how the Globes have operated for years.
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Mark Duplass, The Morning Show
Brent Goldstein, Ted Lasso
Oh Yeong-Su, Squid Game
Winner: Oh Yeong-Su, Squid Game
Cool.
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus
Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick
Andi MacDowell, Maid
Sarah Snook, Succession
Hannah Weddingham, Ted Lasso
Winner: Sarah Snook, Succession
Yeah, that feels right.
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So yeah, those are your Globe nominations. Honestly, outside of Nicole Kidman, nothing else feels that strange to me. Power of the Dog over Belfast was basically a tossup and they chose their side. So fine. Other than that, it feels like same old Globes, for better or worse. You can make the case that some of these choices were them trying to ‘diversify’, but honestly, a lot of these (and I’ll take other people’s words for the TV side of things) felt like legitimate winners. If anything the controversy feels like it might have gotten them to wake the fuck up and actually watch more things rather than pretend they watched stuff. I feel like most years we’d be yelling at them to care about something like Underground Railroad and now they’re actually sitting down to watch it and going, “Oh, wow, this is actually really good.” And it’s like, no fucking shit, we’ve ben shouting this stuff at you for years.
But, as always, this is just a piece to the puzzle, so in a vacuum this doesn’t really mean a whole lot. We gotta wait til more stuff announces. And now, with shows dropping like flies because somehow this country can’t get its shit together, who knows when things will get announced going forward.
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