The Golden Globes Are Back.

Initial Thoughts:

The globes are back on TV this year, so fortunately I can follow the “formerly” corrupt HFPA’s awarding decisions with a shred of dignity. At this point, a handful of critic’s groups have been handing out their awards, and many of the HFPA’s choices here are adhering to what these other critics groups have been rewarding. In a few instances, they seem to be veering even farther off the beaten path than some of these groups, which signals to me that meeting their mandates for a more diverse member body might have produced a deeper diversity in taste. Of course, the HFPA still made some buzzy celeb-chasing choices that I doubt will be replicated as awards season trudges inevitably forward.

The Nominees (Film Only):

Best Motion Picture – Drama Avatar: The Way of Water Elvis The Fabelmans Tár Top Gun: Maverick

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Cate Blanchett, Tár Olivia Colman, Empire of Light Viola Davis, The Woman King Ana de Armas, Blonde Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Austin Butler, Elvis Brendan Fraser, The Whale Hugh Jackman, The Son Bill Nighy, Living Jeremy Pope, The Inspection

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Triangle of Sadness

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Lesley Manville, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Margot Robbie, Babylon Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Diego Calva, Babylon Daniel Craig, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Adam Driver, White Noise Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Ralph Fiennes, The Menu

Best Motion Picture – Animated Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Inu-Oh Marcel the Shell With Shoes On Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Turning Red

Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany) Argentina, 1985 (Argentina) Close (Belgium) Decision to Leave (South Korea) RRR (India)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness Carey Mulligan, She Said

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Brad Pitt, Babylon Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse

Best Director — Motion Picture James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Baz Luhrmann, Elvis Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Todd Field, Tár Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Sarah Polley, Women Talking Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans

Best Original Score – Motion Picture Carter Burwell, The Banshees of InisherinAlexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Hildur Guðnadóttir, Women Talking Justin Hurwitz, Babylon John Williams, The Fabelmans

Best Original Song – Motion Picture “Carolina,” Taylor Swift (Where the Crawdads Sing) “Ciao Papa,” Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro, Roeban Katz (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) “Hold My Hand,” Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice (Top Gun: Maverick) “Lift Me Up,” Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) “Naatu Naatu,” Kala Bhairava, M.M. Keeravani, Kala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj (RRR)

Notable Snubs:

• The Batman. I certainly wasn’t foolish enough to hope that this cool albeit flawed blockbuster would be able to fit in alongside the other cool albeit flawed blockbusters that managed to snag a bunch of nominations, but I had my hopes. Looking for an acting or directing nomination would have really been a fool’s hope, and the Globes don’t have a ton of technical awards that I’m hoping The Batman will stay relevant for. However, they do have a category for Best Score that The Batman didn’t appear in, despite having what I think is fantastic music. Shame.

• The Northman. Makes sense – this slow, dark, violent, brutal, brooding, and occasionally hallucinatory and hilarious film is probably too weird for the HFPA, but its exclusion is just a recognition that this may have been the big film of the year that everyone missed.

• Don’t Worry Darling. To be clear, I don’t think this movie is very good. However, the Golden Globes of the past would have been quick to leech off the fantastically dysfunctional promotion tour this movie went on in the late spring/early summer. If you’re looking for tabloid fodder involving bona fide celebrities, then what the motley crew of Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine, and Harry Styles provided in and around the Venice Film Festival is for you. It’s also hard to argue that Florence Pugh’s star as celebrity is on meteoric ascent, and she’s got the acting skills to back it up even in something as underbaked as this.

• Nope. While sci-fi/horror doesn’t really fit into the confines of the Globes’ categories, Jordan Peele is a name-brand auteur who made a very notable movie (that I have yet to see) in a year in which there weren’t necessarily a ton of those.

The Over-Nominated:

• Everything Everywhere All at Once. I like this movie, but I don’t think that it deserves *all* the nominations that it got. I suppose we’ll have to see how it shakes out in terms of wins, but as it seems to be one of the most serious contenders of the year, I just wanted to plant my flag on it. I think it’s fine.

• Elvis. This film has gotten hot with critics, pundits, and people in the industry out of nowhere in the last few months, with an insane amount of buzz that wasn’t quite there when this film was in theaters over the summer. In my opinion, this wasn’t one of the best 5 dramas, or best 5 directorial efforts of the year, but hey. Globes be globin’.

• Blonde. I really, really loathe this movie while recognizing Ana De Armas gave a great performance and appreciating the directorial craft. Problem is, this really is just a three hour-long odyssey of trauma porn and I don’t think that should be rewarded.

The Under-Nominated

• The Fabelmans. At this point I’m just getting greedy as this film already has 5 nominations (and for the record I don’t think it’s as strong as last year’s outing from Spielberg, West Side Story), but I truly think Paul Dano got missed in Best Supporting Actor. I feel like this might be it in terms of his chances in that category but bookending the year with two strong performances (don’t forget The Riddler) is an achievement in my book.

• RRR. I was hoping that along with the overhaul of their membership, the HFPA would overhaul their traditions and get some foreign language films into their Best Picture categories; I guess they don’t consider Triangle of Sadness in this way. Everything that Elvis does, RRR does bigger and better.

The Just-Right-nominated

• Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. Just one nomination here, but I love that Emma Thompson got recognized for her work in this movie. She’s great!

• Top Gun: Maverick. Buzz my tower baby! I didn’t need Cruise in Actor, but this movie being in Best Picture and Best Original Song is the kind of stuff I like to see for a wonderfully old-school yet contemporary blockbuster.

Haven’t Seen, Certainly Want To:

• Decision to Leave. Cool to see Park Chan Wook’s new movie, which is adored by critics, get recognized by the Globes. You know what would be cooler? If I could figure out how to see this movie.

• Women Talking. Lots of…talk (sorry) online saying this one was under-nominated. Guess I’ll have to wait until like January or February to see if I agree with them, since the studio pushed this film’s release way back.

• Tár. I’ll be correcting this soon.

• The Banshees of Inisherin. I’ll be correcting this imminently.

• Glass Onion. Just a couple more weeks til this hits Netflix!

• Babylon. This latest effort from Damien Chazelle (First Man, La La Land, Whiplash) is being described as something like Boogie Nights (perhaps too much like it, as if that were a bad thing) set in Hollywood as the silent movies transitioned to talkies. Where do I sign up?

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Just haven’t prioritized this one based on the less enthusiastic reactions than the first film, but Angela Bassett getting a nomination here is really cool and pretty interesting for the awards race, since this movie seems like it’s on track for less success than its predecessor.

• Avatar: The Way of Water. It’s been getting acclaim in far more serious circles than Globes-land, so it sounds like I can’t wait to return to Pandora.

• White Noise. I wish I could type a shrug emoji – no clue what I’m in for.

Haven’t Seen, Not Sure I Will:

• Most Animated Nominees. Del Toro’s Pinocchio seems like it’ll be a major player going forward and Turning Red seems nice. Never say never.

• The Menu & Triangle of Sadness. This doesn’t really seem to be my thing, and if you include Glass Onion, we’re overflowing with social satires about how rich people are out of touch and literally the worst (I also get plenty of that from Succession). In Glass Onion’s case, we’ll also be getting a murder mystery, whereas The Menu and Triangle of Sadness seem to bake their commentary directly into the plot, rather than as an addition. But, if it becomes necessary for awards tracking, I will do my duty.

• Empire of Light. The reviews aren’t encouraging here, so maybe this was a celeb nomination for Olivia Colman and seeing this movie won’t be necessary.

• The Whale. I’m pumped about Brendan Fraser’s return, nomination, and acclaim for his performance in this movie, but it just sounds unpleasant to sit through. Then again, I did mostly sit through Blonde.

• The Nurse. Riddle me this: did Eddie Redmayne steal Paul Dano’s nomination?