The Golden Globes Boost Nocturnal Animals and Hacksaw Ridge but Continue to Solidify Big Three

There were a few surprises with the Golden Globe nominations this morning, most notably Hacksaw Ridge and Nocturnal Animals getting a boost in Director and Screenplay. Martin Scorsese’s Silence was noticeably absent, along with some of the films we thought would get more play there, like Arrival or Fences. The strong films continue to be the same films since Telluride:

Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
La La Land

All three grabbing key nominations in all categories – Picture, Director, Screenplay, Acting.

Lion also got a little boost, but that one was sort of predictable. Some key actors got noticed because of the split categories for drama and comedy, like Jessica Chastain got in for Miss Sloane and Viggo Mortensen got in for Captain Fantastic.

But it’s important to remember a few key things about these nominations and the Critics Choice Awards last night: it’s still very early in the race. These awards can add to, but not take away.  All we really have is our perceptions and the Oscar race doesn’t actually start until the guilds announce. We have build up, we have buzz, we have advocacy, we have publicity but the “there” there is with the thousands upon thousands of industry voters.

Still, probably not a good sign for Silence which is, as many who saw it believed, a long shot for audiences looking for a crowdpleaser. Whatever Silence is, its greatness should not depend on film awards. I hope, after all of the years of following this site you get that much. Awards are about right now. They’re about general consensus and liking things. I don’t suppose that great art fits into that mold very well, so my thinking, and the thinking of most people I’ve spoken with about Silence was this: how it will “play” with different factions of voters is still very much up in the air.

I thought if it would play anywhere it would be with the Hollywood Foreign Press. So there’s that.

When Oscar nominations are announced, probably Ryan Gosling will bump Viggo Mortensen and sadly, Emma Stone will bump Jessica Chastain (both worthy) when it comes to the Oscar race.

Really, this morning represents Mel Gibson first good chance to get his foot back in the door and that may be the dominant tale of the Golden Globes, 2017.