The nominations for the 71st Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning and, as usual, they include a variety of questionable decisions by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Did you know that the Golden Globes are decided by a group of less than 100 people? To quote from their atrociously written website, “The HFPA has about 90 members who disseminate information about movies and television to the world through their various publications throughout the world. HFPA members attend more than 300 interviews and countless movie and television screenings throughout each year. The group is also famous for starting and continuing to co-produce the annual Golden Globe Awards, held in January each year, and for its philanthropic activities.” You can see the list of the HFPA’s current members here. You probably haven’t heard of any of them — and if you are an aspiring journalist in Oslo or Kirkutsk, you, too, can come to Hollywood and create a fake Oscar buzz about anyone you like (or anyone whose PR people shower you with swag).
Rumors of payola and scandal have dogged the Golden Globes since its inception. Who can forget the Pia Zadora scandal from 1981 when the actress won a Golden Globe as Newcomer-of-the-Year for her performance in the atrocious Butterfly after her husband, multimillionaire Meshulam Riklis, flew members of the HFPA to his casino in Las Vegas and hosted them at lavish meals at his home at which he screened Zadora’s soft-core film? Another scandal erupted much more recently when the much-maligned film The Tourist got a Best Picture nomination following rumors that the studio had given voting members all-expense-paid trips to Las Vegas including a concert by Cher. Oy.
I realize that my eye-rolling about the Golden Globes sounds like I’m implying that other awards shows, including the Oscars, have more validity because the votes are somehow more legitimate. Not really, although at least the Academy Awards rely on thousands of movie professionals to assess their so-called peers. On the other hand, I know a bunch of Academy members and they often cast their ballots based on the same emotional whims and biases as the members of the HFPA. What else can they do? In the final analysis, it’s crazy to pit these apples-and-oranges performers and artists against each other and pretend that the winners are truly “the best.” It’s ALL a matter of opinion but I guess half the fun of awards shows is screaming at our television sets in anger and disbelief. I love when the losers fall over themselves to be magnanimous and say that it’s all about being nominated. Where does that leave all of the worthy people who weren’t nominated? Awards season has become a full-time occupation for publicists and studios these days. There are people whose jobs consist of spending copious amounts of money to get their clients thrust in front of awards voters.
The good news is that winning such awards occasionally gives worthy films more attention than they would otherwise ever get. I said occasionally — most of this year’s best smaller films were completely overlooked, as usual, but at least there were a few nominations for films such as Philomena, Frances Ha and Enough Said.
Accepting the limitations of these subjective decisions, my biggest beef with the Golden Globes each year is the way films are categorized into dramas vs. comedies or musicals. This year we have August: Osage County, American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street nominated as comedies (really?) while Saving Mr. Banks and Blue Jasmine are dramas. Completely arbitrary.
It’s pointless to talk about “surprises” in the Golden Globe nominations when the whole process is so flawed but I have to admit that I thought Oprah Winfrey was a lock for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Lee Daniels’ The Butler. That film was completely shut out of all categories. Was that because the HFPA couldn’t figure out if the movie was a comedy or drama?
Below are the movie nominations for the 71st Golden Globe Awards. Feel free to comment with outrage, shock, disgust or glowing agreement. The awards will be given out on Sunday, January 12, 2014, in Beverly Hills. In one of the group’s few decisions that make sense, the show will again be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Best motion picture, drama
12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena
Rush
Best motion picture, musical or comedy
American Hustle
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actress in a motion picture, drama
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Kate Winslet, Labor Day
Best Actor in a motion picture, drama
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford, All Is Lost
Best Actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Enough Said
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Best Actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Joaquin Phoenix, Her
Best Supporting Actress in a motion picture
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska
Best supporting actor in a motion picture
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Daniel Brühl, Rush
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jaret Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Best Screenplay
Spike Jonze, Her
Bob Nelson, Nebraska
Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan, Philomena
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, American Hustle
Best Foreign Language Film
Blue Is the Warmest Color
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Past
The Wind Rises
Best Animated Feature Film
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Best Original Song
“Atlas,” The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
“Let It Go,” Frozen
“Ordinary Love,” Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
“Please Mr. Kennedy,” Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Original Score
Alex Ebert, All Is Lost
Alex Heffes, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Steven Price: Gravity
John Williams, The Book Thief
Hans Zimmer, 12 Years a Slave