Category Confusion '24: COMEDY or DRAMA – Part One

by Cláudio Alves

Is THE SUBSTANCE a comedy or a drama? What gives?

This year, I am part of the voting body for the Golden Globes, which gives me access to a cornucopia of screeners and FYC material that was erstwhile inaccessible to me. This also means I get a front row seat for the absolute circus that is category fraud from studios and distributors alike. Not just in terms of finagling distinctions between lead and supporting performances. Because this is the Globes, there's also the matter of which films compete in Drama, and which others battle it out in the presumably less competitive realm of Musical or Comedy. Because we all need distractions right now, let's ponder these inconsequential genre divides and enjoy some benign polls whose results don't really matter beyond these awards obsessive circles of ours…

Click to read more ...

Nicole Kidman Tribute: To Die For (1995)

by Christopher James

The year 1995 is a pivotal moment in the definition of Nicole Kidman. Both of her films released this year paint different paths her career could go. As Dr. Chase Meridian in Batman Forever, Nicole Kidman pursues mainstream success, hoping to align her name with a big franchise full of stars. Though she eventually returns to the superhero genre (hello, Aquaman), we get the first real glimpse at the prestige actress we know and love today with her seismic turn in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For. At that point, Kidman was best known as Mrs. Tom Cruise, having already starred in Days of Thunder and Far & Away with her husband. In redefining her image as a real actress, Kidman first had to lean into the stereotypes that people saw in her.

Her Suzanne Stone Maretto is a ditzy social climber whose quest for fame greatly exceeds her talent at wielding it. Kidman mined every negative aspect of Suzanne for comedy and, in doing so, created a horribly relatable character we couldn’t get enough of...

Click to read more ...

Memorable Moments and Oscar Takeways from this year's Golden Globes

by Nathaniel R

Oppenheimer emerges as the big winner at the Globes (Photo by Rich Polk via Getty Images)

If you’re looking for a complete list of winners, that’s at the end of this post! 

Hello readers. Though I have been largely absent from writing, I am still me, therefore love movies and watch awards shows. The hilarious thing about my “notes” from awards shows (and also movies come to think of it) is that I always get so caught up in them that the notes ultimately end long before they should. The better the thing… the sooner the notes trail off! So herewith 8 expanded notes from the Globes, inspired by mostly indecipherable scribbles, and probably weighted towards earlier moments in the show...

Click to read more ...

"Barbie" leads the Golden Globe Nominations

by Nathaniel R

After a tumultuous few years for the Golden Globes, will we back on track this year? Or, rather, what kind of track will it be? The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is no more, really, at least not in the previous sense. The organization has been restructured and bought up by Penske Media (which also owns the big trade journals like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter) and the voter pool significantly expanded. But the big question is will it matter for viewers and celebrities after the past few years – the Globes were once a habitual must-attend/must-watch tradition but once you stop a tradition cold turkey can it return? 

The nominations (the Barbenheimer phenomenon leads in the movie categories with 9 and 8 nods respectively) and more commentary are after the jump…

Click to read more ...

Podcast: Gratitude, Globes, and some Must-Sees

The podcast has been hibernating for so long that you've surely forgotten it exists. But last week Nathaniel and  Nick jumped on a quick phone call to discuss the Globes so the Podcast is...uh... back for a moment. For those who aren't subscribed, we figured we'd share on the blog in case you missed it and feel like listening in on one last "precursor" conversation before the Oscar nominations are announced! 

56 minutes
00:01 Golden Globe reforms, Jerrod Carmichael, and Awards Show hatred
15:00 Wins & Speeches: Ke Huy Quan, Angela Bassett, and Gratitude
37:00 Nick on movies he loves this year including: Donbass, EO, Happening, Till, and Aftersun

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify or download the attachment below. 

Globes & Gratitude