With the new year comes the arrival of the motion picture awards season marked by the big four awards ceremonies—the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Academy Awards. January 12, nominees for the Golden Globes, which typically foreshadow future nominees for the Academy Awards, were announced.
Across the film categories, independent works received a large number of nods, including Telluride Film Festival stand-out “Moonlight” and the critically acclaimed Sundance feature “Manchester by the Sea,” starring Casey Affleck, who received a “Best Actor” nomination. Other notable nominees included “Hacksaw Ridge,” a return to form for director Mel Gibson, and neo-western “Hell or High Water.”
Noticeably absent from the drama categories are nominations for Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction piece “Arrival” and bids for actors Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. In the musicals and comedies categories, “La La Land” starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling danced to the tune of seven nominations, including Best Actor and Actress nominations for both leads. Other notable nominations include Colin Farrell for his performance in the dark comedy “The Lobster,” Ryan Reynolds for his performance as the eponymous anti-hero in “Deadpool” and a thirtieth Best Actress nomination for Hollywood mainstay Meryl Streep for “Florence Foster Jenkins.”
In television, freshman HBO drama “Westworld” received only three nominations, but received a coveted Best Television Series – Drama nod. Netflix original series “The Crown” and “Stranger Things” also received Best Drama merits, but noticeably snubbed are the critically acclaimed “Mr. Robot” and Netflix original “House of Cards,” the latter’s first year without a nomination since its premiere. “House of Cards” is indeed entirely shut out, unlike “Mr. Robot,” which received nominations for its lead Rami Malek and co-star Christian Slater.
Best Actor and Actress nominations were spread rather evenly across the field to acclaimed actors such as Bob Odenkirk for his performance in the “Breaking Bad”-spinoff “Better Call Saul,” Keri Russell for cult hit “The Americans” and Evan Rachel Wood for “Westworld.” In the comedy categories, freshman FX series “Atlanta” was rewarded with a best comedy series nomination and best comedy actor for creator and lead Donald Glover; it will face-off against “Black-ish” and “Transparent,” as well as veteran series “Veep.”
