It’s the end of the year, and that means Awards season are going to be upon us again! Leading the pack is the Golden Globe Awards, and the nominations have just been announced. Who’s a shoo-in? Who was snubbed and who’s a shocker?
Here’s a snapshot:
Who’s In:
Dunkirk - Best Motion Picture – Drama & Best Director for Christopher Nolan
This comes as no surprise. The moment Dunkirk hit the theatres, it received rave reviews all around, and well-deserved too. Christopher Nolan’s war action thriller is a gripping portrayal of the Allied soldiers’ evacuation from Belgium, the British Empire, and France being thwarted by the German army in World War II.
Get Out - Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
It’s not a surprise that this Jordan Peele masterpiece is nominated for Best Picture, but it does come as a surprise that it’s placed under the Musical or Comedy category. The movie is anything but funny. In a league of its own in terms of storyline, Get Out is shockingly left out of the Best Screenplay category.
Daniel Day-Lewis - Best Actor for Phantom Thread
It will come as a shocker if Day-Lewis didn’t get nominated for his swan song performance. He plays Reynolds Woodcock, a renowned dressmaker in 1950s London with a charming smile with an increasingly tormented mind. As usual, Day-Lewis doesn’t just play the characters, he becomes them, and it’s no different with this one.
Dame Judi Dench - Best Actress for Victoria & Abdul
There are some actors that we often associate with the characters they play, and Dame Judi Dench, for us, is royalty. Ever since putting on her regal robes to play Queen Elizabeth in Mrs Brown (1997), she’s gone on to play Queen Victoria in the 1998 Shakespeare in Love (where she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) and Princess Dragomiroff in the recent Murder on the Orient Express. Her latest royalty “assignment” is back to Queen Victoria again, in Victoria & Abdul, a story about an unlikely friendship between the crown and a commoner. Dench once again, embodies royalty like fish taking to water.
Who’s Snubbed:
Wonder Woman, that’s Who! Despite being one of the year’s highest grossing movies and winning accolades all over, it didn’t win the hearts of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) and was left out in the cold.
Joining Wonder Woman is Logan, Hugh Jackman’s last outing as the clawed mutant, Wolverine. Released earlier in the year, it may be a distant memory for those in the HFPA, although the acting, storyline and direction were commended by many.
In the acting category, Jake Gyllenhaal’s convincing portrayal as Boston Bombing victim turned inspiration Jeff Bauman in Stronger, was left on the sideline. The film received much praise as did Gyllenhaal’s performance, arguably one of his career’s best. But sadly, it just wasn’t good enough for the HFPA.
Joining Gyllenhaal on the sidelines is Jennifer Lawrence (she’s a three-time Golden Globe winner!) for Mother! . Admittedly, the movie isn’t her best work, but Miss Lawrence seems to have that Midas touch, turning all her movies into award gems, but surprisingly, not this one. Perhaps the convoluted storyline may prove too much to digest.
Who’s a Surprise?
Ansel Elgort as Baby in Baby Driver wasn’t particularly memorable. He was dead-pan for most part of the movie and doesn’t make the character as unique as we’d like. To see him nominated over say, a stunning performance by Hugh Jackman as Logan is just surprising.
While we love Hugh Jackman, it comes as a surprise that he’s nominated in the acting category for The Greatest Showman instead of Logan. Jackman is good in both, of course, but if it were up to us, we’d vote for Logan over P.T. Barnum.
The Golden Globes will be hosted by Seth Meyers on 7 January, 2018.
