The regular people holidays are over, but the hottest season in Hollywood is about to kick off. In less than a week, the Golden Globe Awards will herald the official start of Hollywood Awards season. It’s always a highlight of the season, thanks to the laid back (and a little tipsy) atmosphere of the show. As well, the Globes can be either a good prognosticator for the Oscars or a refreshing recognition of less pretentious fare. As such, we want to help you make some informed decisions as to who to root for this Sunday.
While the Golden Globes recognize both television and movies, this primer will focus on the movies. With the Emmy’s already over with, the real game is in the road to the Oscars. To help with our predictions, we enlisted the Fandomentals Head Film Critic, Jeremiah Sherman, to give his two cents on the films up for awards.
Below are the nominees for the major awards, along with our commentary and other information on the show.
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama
Call Me By Your Name dir. Luca Guadagnino (Sony)
Dunkirk dir. Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros.)
The Post dir. Steven Spielberg (20th Century Fox)
The Shape of Water dir. Guillermo del Toro (Fox Searchlight)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri dir. Martin McDonagh (Fox Searchlight)
The Drama category is a tough one this year, with no real favorite going in. The Hollywood Foreign Press are usually more open to strange or mainstream films the the Academy, so it is usually anyone’s game.
Who Got Snubbed: Personal Shopper. Never mind that Kristen Stewart gave one of the best internalized performances all year, Olivier Assayas has achieved something his younger peers have been agonizing over for almost a decade: How do you make texting cinematic and dramatic? No movie has felt as haunted to its core as Personal Shopper, and that includes del Toro’s The Shape of Water.
Who Should Win: The Shape of Water. Guillermo del Toro’s starkly weird and gorgeous passion project is hands down one of the best movies of the year. A pulpish fairy tale pulsating with a deep unquestionable love of its characters, human and bipedal fish creatures alike.
Jeremiah’s Prediction: Dunkirk. Without a doubt. If for no other reason than Christopher Nolan lives for awards shows like the Golden Globes. I haven’t seen Dunkirk, but no matter I’m willing to bet most of the Hollywood Foreign Press haven’t either.
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
The Disaster Artist dir. James Franco (A24)
Get Out dir. Jordan Peele (Universal)
The Greatest Showman dir. Michael Gracey (20th Century Fox)
I, Tonya dir. Craig Gillespie (Neon)
Lady Bird dir. Greta Gertwig (A24)
What was once a relatively inoffensive category has become controversial in recent years thanks to the recent uptick in genre movies produced as high level cinema. Defying traditional definitions, the Hollywood Foreign Press has put such films into this category. Last year, there was a great deal of confusion when The Martian won in this category. This year’s slate continues this trend, with obvious films (The Greatest Showman, I, Tonya) mixing with stranger picks (Lady Bird, Get Out).
Who Got Snubbed: Patti Cake$ is a working class hip hop musical coming of age film that never got the love it deserved. Geremy Jasper took made one of the best feel good musicals about family and going after your dreams. It’s an ode to dreamers in a way The Disaster Artist never can be because these people need jobs just to get by. Patti Cake$ is filled with vulnerable people big hearted dreamers who struggle to dream amidst their struggle for survival.
Another big snub was Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman. Exploding onto the screens out of the grey muck of the DC Cinematic Universe, Jenkins created perhaps THE female empowerment film of the decade. Thanks to great performances by Chris Pine and Gal Gadot, a great balance of fun and drama, and an actual color palette; the movie didn’t just stand out among its peers, but among all the films that came out in 2017.
Who Should Win: This is hard. Get Out doesn’t belong here but neither did The Martian. Get Out is a needle threading experience of a cinematic experience. One of my great regrets of 2017 is only being able to see Get Out once in theaters. The competition is much more fierce in the Comedy Musical genre than the drama, so if by chance Get Out does win, it will be a hard fought and truly competitive fight.
Jeremiah’s Prediction: The Disaster Artist will win because everyone seems to love this well done mediocre cinematic miasma. The Room is beloved by a subset of Hollywood celebrities and hip producers, all of whom are beloved by the HFP. Not to mention The Disaster Artist has a ravenous fan base simply because of the carry over from The Room. Plus, the HFP loves ratings and few things say “ratings hit” than Tommy Wiseau let loose at an open bar.
Golden Globe Award for Best Director
Guillermo del Toro – The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk
Ridley Scott – All the Money in the World
Steven Spielberg – The Post
Who Got Snubbed: Jordan Peele AND Greta Gerwig. The two films exhibit a confidence normally seen by people who’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s not a flashy braggadocio confidence but confidence in their choices and their vision. Most debuts tend to be all or nothing affairs dumping everything from their tool kit to try and dazzle us. Peele and Gerwig instead just told a straight story with a confidence and a vision that fit both their style and the story they wanted to tell.
One could argue that the aforementioned Patty Jenkins fits into the “snubbed” category as well.
Who Should Win: Guillermo del Toro, to the shock of no one paying attention. The Shape of Water had a twenty million dollar budget and that’s an insane fact to know once you’ve seen the movie. Compare the way The Shape of Water looks to, say, Justice League which had a rumored budget of somewhere north of three-hundred-million; you start to see why del Toro deserves some props.
Jeremiah’s Prediction: Ridley Scott. The HFP splits the nominations into two separate categories, Drama and Comedy/Musical, on damn near everything…except for Director. Normally, I’d say Christopher Nolan. No one sucks up and shakes hands come awards season quite like Nolan, but I think the Globe might go to Ridley Scott. If for no other reason than because Scott got the job done. It’s so clearly and understandably impressive a feat that even the HFP seems awed by it.
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor In A Motion Picture (Drama)
Timothée Chalamet – as Elio Perlman in Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis – as Reynolds Woodcock in Phantom Thread
Tom Hanks – as Ben Bradlee in The Post
Gary Oldman – as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington – as Roman J. Israel in Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Who Got Snubbed: Hugh Jackman for Logan. The HFP tried to cheat and nominate him for a Comedy/Musical for The Greatest Showman, but Logan is the one he should be up for. His final outing as Wolverine was a traumatized, guttural cry of mourning. Few performances have stayed with us quite as long and viscerally as Jackman’s in Logan.
Who Should Win: While Daniel Day-Lewis is never an unsafe bet, thanks to his legendary devotion to his roles and the quality of performance that devotion produces. However, the award ought to go to Gary Oldman. Transforming into Winston Churchill was no mean feat—he smoked enough of Churchill’s trademark cigars to give himself nicotine poisoning. It paid off with one of his best performances in a career of great performances, but it sits in the shadow of Lithgow’s barely-a-year-old Churchill performance. Sadly, that alone may hurt his chances..
Jeremiah’s Prediction: Timothee Chalamet speaks three languages in Call Me By Your Name. Speaking in languages that are not your own is akin to putting on or losing weight for a role. The awards shows eat it up, but especially awards shows that are put on by a body of people called The Hollywood Foreign Press.
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Jessica Chastain – as Molly Bloom in Molly’s Game
Sally Hawkins – as Elisa Esposito in The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand – as Mildred Hayes in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Meryl Streep – as Kay Graham in The Post
Michelle Williams – as Gail Harris in All the Money in the World
Who Got Snubbed: KRISTEN. STEWART. Her turn in Personal Shopper will be studied by a generation of actors and actresses, mark my words. Stewart’s Maureen is mesmerizing as she tries to work through her grief over her brother’s death. A performance torn from seemingly within it is one of the best things projected onto our screens this year. Her exclusion from this list is little more than willful ignorance.
Who Should Win: Sally Hawkins or Frances McDormand. Hawkins had the better role in the better movie, and had to convey her entire emotional spectrum using only her face and sign language. McDormand, on the other hand, had a conversation with a deer about Karma and regret and it must just be one of the more devastating scenes of the year.
Jeremiah’s Prediction: Meryl Streep. With 31 nominations for this show alone, she’s an American institution come awards season. Whenever Meryl gets nominated we know we have six more weeks of awards season. The Post was a late release, so few critics have formed a strong opinion on it, and I’m no different. Meryl Streep will win because of a very basic scientific principle: she’s Meryl Streep.
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress In A Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)
Judi Dench – as Queen Victoria in Victoria & Abdul
Helen Mirren – as Ella Robina in The Leisure Seeker
Margot Robbie – as Tonya Harding I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan – as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson in Lady Bird
Emma Stone – as Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes
Who Got Snubbed: Brooklyn Prince for The Florida Project. Prince’s Moonee is a thoroughly unlikable little girl who we find ourselves rooting for by the end. Moonee is a fully fleshed out character child, lacking in any and all self awareness.
Who Should Win: Margot Robbie gives such a transformative and complete performance, and she does it all, without changing much of her appearance, is the clear winner. Ronan is deserving and I wouldn’t be mad if she won but Robbie’s Tonya Harding propelled an entire movie by an almost sheer force of will. Robbie infuses a recklessness and a drive to her Harding, which combined, makes for a deeply humanized portrayal.
Jeremiah’s Prediction: Saoirse Ronan’s performance is absolutely worth the hype. Ladybird is now on record as being one of the best reviewed movies in modern history but Greta Gerwig herself has been conspicuously left off. The HFP will more than likely try to make it up to her by giving Ronan the award.
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor In A Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)
Image Courtesy A24
Steve Carell – as Bobby Riggs in Battle of the Sexes
Ansel Elgort – as Baby/Miles in Baby Driver
James Franco – as Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist
Hugh Jackman – as P. T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman
Daniel Kaluuya – as Chris Washington in Get Out
Who Got Snubbed: Doug Jones for The Shape of Water. Jones pulls off a hat trick of a performance. Jones has to convey thoughts and emotions through prosthetics and makeup all without a single line of dialogue, aside from some tongue clicks and growls. Through his stance and head movements alone Jones conveyed a fully realized character demanding of our sympathies.
Who Should Win: Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out. Get Out is a tightrope of a movie that only works because its lead actor was able to keep his balance. Kaluuya turned in a leading man performance sprinkled with subtle comedic timing and mounting terror.
Jeremiah’s Prediction: James Franco. Again, the possibility of a drunken Tommy Wiseau AND a blasted Franco will be too good for the HFP to pass up. I wouldn’t be surprised if the HFP sat the cast of The Disaster Artist next to the bar to speed up the process.
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe – as Bobby Hicks in The Florida Project
Armie Hammer – as Oliver in Call Me by Your Name
Richard Jenkins – as Giles in The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer – as J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell – as Officer Jason Dixon in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Who Got Snubbed: Gill Birmingham for Wind River. Birmingham played the father of a murdered girl with a naked, soulful anger. Wind River had one of the best last shots of the year, thanks in large part to Birmingham’s masterful portrayal of a man scarred from rage and sadness.
Who Should Win: Willem Dafoe spoke to a horde of flamingos in The Florida Project and it was one of the most mesmerizing and beautiful things I’ve seen all year. Dafoe’s Bobby is in many ways the anchor of The Florida Project. Bobby had a wounded hopefulness to him as he tried in vain to help Moone and her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite). Dafoe’s turn in The Florida Project was hands down some of the best acting of the year.
Jeremiah’s Prediction: Christopher Plummer. He stepped in to replace Kevin Spacey and, like a pro, hit a home run of a performance. Plummer’s willingness to jump in at the last possible moment on-call gives off an aura of professionalism. Combine this with the fact so much was done in such a short amount of time, a sense of awe seems to be attached to All The Money in the World. In much the way the HFP will honor Scott, I think they’ll do the same for the man who ‘saved the picture’.
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
Mary J. Blige – as Florence Jackson in Mudbound
Hong Chau – as Ngoc Lan Tran in Downsizing
Allison Janney – as LaVona Golden in I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf – as Marion McPherson in Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer – as Zelda Fuller in The Shape of Water
Who Got Snubbed: Dafne Keen for Logan. The twelve-year-old Keen’s Laura is a near silent portrayal of a traumatized girl desperately seeking understanding and a home. She brings a physicality and a confidence that is stunning for her age.
Who Should Win: Mary J. Blige’s role as Florence Jackson lends Mudbound a large part of its heft. In an emotionally charged but sparse performance, she dominates every scene she’s in, even when she’s just sitting. It’s an incredible performance for anyone, but especially when considering Blige’s relative newness to acting on screen.
Jeremiah’s Prediction: Allison Janney will probably win this. It’s between her and Laurie Metcalf, but I think the HFP has fond memories of the West Wing and would love to see Janney up onstage again. If this sounds like wonky tea reading logic; welcome to the Golden Globes.
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor – The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
Liz Hannah & Josh Singer – The Post
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Aaron Sorkin – Molly’s Game
Who Got Snubbed: Taylor Sheridan for Wind River. Wind River was an emotionally scalding and deeply affecting police procedural. Sheridan penned a taut psychological exploration of loss and grief. He never treats the Wind River reservation and the Natives who live there as just set dressing. Wind River is a murder mystery with a throbbing social conscience smuggled deep within it’s soul.
Who Should Win: Greta Gerwig’s Ladybird is near perfection. The characters are are complicated and prickly. Ladybird is filled to bursting with love for Sacramento and its own characters. It goes down so easily and with such delight its almost hard that to discern that it was made. Ladybird seems as if it’s happening before you for the first time. An impressive feat for any screenwriter, but for a first screenplay it’s almost miraculous.
Prediction: Martin McDonagh seems to have a strident and vociferous fan base in the HFP. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is massively flawed but it contains just enough failed ‘edginess’ that the HFP might be wowed by it. They liked it enough to give it a bushel of other nominations, which it probably won’t win, so in the interest of ‘Thanks for coming. Have a drink…and this award…”
Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film
The Boss Baby dir. Tom McGrath (20th Century Fox)
The Breadwinner dir. Nora Twomey (Cartoon Saloon/GKIDS)
Coco dir. Lee Unkrich (Disney/Pixar)
Ferdinand dir. Carlos Saldana (Blue Sky/20th Century Fox)
Loving Vincent dir. Loving Vincent (BreakThru/Trademark)
What Got Snubbed: The LEGO Batman Movie. No, it’s not high art. But there’s no reason The Boss Baby should get a nomination over LEGO Batman. Not only did it show off the uniquely cool LEGO animation style, but it is maybe one of the best depictions of the Dark Knight in years. Capturing the best parts of all Batman eras and poking fun at the worst parts, it shouldn’t necessarily beat the other nominees but c’mon…The Boss Baby?
What Should Win: Loving Vincent. There are few forms of animation that haven’t been tried on film. But Loving Vincent found one, and it’s a hell of a first. Made of 1,000 frames (of 65,000 painted) handpainted in oils by 125 classically trained painters, Loving Vincent is a beautiful tribute to one of the greatest visual artists in history. Sadly, awards show voters either go with whatever their kids like, or a Disney movie(Disney/Pixar have won all but two awards since the award’s inception in 2006). When Zootopia can beat out Kubo and the Two Strings, I doubt Loving Vincent will get much love.
Prediction: Coco. At least Coco is a genuinely fun, different sort of film from the rigid Disney and increasingly sequel-addicted Pixar. Pixar’s beautiful love letter to Mexico’s Dia De Los Muertos has already gotten an award from the National Film Board and is up for an Annie, and I’m sure Pixar will be adding a sixth Golden Globe to their shelf on Sunday.
Those are the predictions from us! Be sure to tune in here on Sunday for a liveblog with Dan and Kori! We’ll cover the awards as they go, the narratives going into the program, and the drunken antics that might go on.
The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Seth Myers, will broadcast live on January 7, 2018, from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST on NBC.
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