golden globes if you are reading this, catch me outside
It's time to go IN on awards season
Hey guys,
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…AWARDS SEASON!
I follow awards season with the precision and studious nature of a sports fan. I have spreadsheets and apps, I watch every critic’s circle nominations and wins, every precursor, I listen to the podcasts and watch the YouTube channel. It’s wild and for something, I make no money off of and rarely share with other people. It’s mainly just for my own satisfaction. It’s good to know that I won another Oscar predictions ballot sheet against myself.
So this week’s newsletter I decided to send out after the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations were out so I could dissect that. Also with some help from my Twitter followers who voted for what they want to see this week. I might lean on you’all to help me decide the content of future newsletters too.
So this week we are chatting about the GG and SAG scores and snubs and take a peep at my recommendations at the end of the newsletter, I watched some great stuff this week.
golden globes and screen actors guild nominations 2021
Once again, just like my commentary on the Emmys last year, I don’t talk about what I haven’t watched. So even though I might see the discourse online about particular performances, if I have not watched the film or show, I feel like I’m jumping on a bandwagon instead of giving my own opinion. So the points that will only be about what I have seen.
here are my GG thoughts:
You can find the full list of Golden Globe nominations here. The Globes are notoriously a whack awards show. They are decided by the Hollywood Foreign Press, which are international journalists reporting about Hollywood, kinda like me, but okay. The nominations are usually big stars (remember when they nominated Angelina and Johnny Depp for The Tourist) or ones who campaign really really hard. And they usually have their favourites (like Ryan Murphy). Please note I have not watched Emily in Paris or Prom that’s why they are not mentioned below (I’ve seen the tweets).
3 of the best director nominees are women - Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) and Regina King (One Night in Miami) were all nominated alongside David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin. It’s about time but also I 100% believe they all deserve to be there. I would have even left Aaron Sorkin out and nominated someone else.
Mank is getting way too much hype - Mank is 100% an awards season type film – about Hollywood, its in black and white, directed by David Fincher. However, the only nominations this film deserved are for Best Drama Film and Best Supporting Actress for Amanda Seyfried. It makes me mad to see that Gary Oldman for Best Actor is nominated when there are much more deserving candidates like Delroy Lindo in Da 5 Bloods.
Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm deserves- More of this below, but I loved this film, and I think it deserved the best comedy/musical and acting nominations for Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova. This is probably the only nomination Cohen will get for this role so I highkey hope he wins.
Anya Taylor Joy is a goddess - If you know me, you know I was and am obsessed with this Emma and thought Anya Taylor Joy was perfection in the role. I was very happy she got the nom for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical. She also received a nom for The Queen’s Gambit but that was to be expected, she bodied that role.
Hamilton nomination is…okay…. - I find it weird that a filmed play is eligible for film and TV awards? I mean it was good but we covered this already at the Tonys.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom deserved even more - Of course, Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman were nominated for their performances. But I expected to see this in the Best Drama Film category, as well as a nomination for Glynn Turman and/or Colman Domingo for Best Supporting Actor.
Nomadland, yes - Yes.
Why Bill Murray? - There was nothing outstanding about Bill Murray’s role in On The Rocks, he played a typical 60ish Bill Murray character.
One Night in Miami should have been nominated for Best Drama Film - even though black drama films dominated the conversation over the last year, none of them was nominated for Best Drama?
Where’s Ellen Burstyn? - While I am glad that Vanessa Kirby was nominated for Pieces of a Woman, Miss Ellen Burstyn did not haul her 80 something-year-old self out to act TF out of this role to just be ignored.
I’m liking this Promising Young Woman upset - I’m so glad that the film was so well-received and is all of a sudden dominating the awards season narrative. The best actress, writing and directing noms are well deserved.
Riz Ahmed for king - Riz Ahmed is such a talented actor and I’m so glad he’s finally getting acknowledged. However, it’s wild that Paul Raci was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Sound of Metal.
This bitch, The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Also Oscar catnip at the highest degree. I really did like this film, however, I think we need to be realistic about Aaron Sorkin’s directing, also this film is not as good as it thinks it is. The writing is excellent (I mean, that’s truly Sorkin’s strength) and Sacha Baron Cohen (again) deserves his best-supporting actor nomination. I would’ve loved to see Yahya Abdul-Mateen II nominated as well.
Schitt’s Creek is the only important nominees - I hope they just do a sweep of this awards show and make us forget about everything else. I was quite happy that Jane Levy was nominated for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist showing that at least people are watching this underrated show.
The hard-on these people have for The Crown - The Crown is really good, but I mean, the only outstanding performers this past season was Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor. The others could have made space for other deserving actors. But everyone is watching The Crown and I’m sure international audiences love it.
Let’s be honest about The Undoing - I am here for Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant to be nominated for the acting categories. But there are more deserving miniseries which could have been nominated for best miniseries like Mrs America and Little Fires Everywhere and ….
I May Destroy You - this is what truly made these nominations a joke. I May Destroy You is one of the best series I have ever seen. And not only because it dealt with very sensitive issues but because it was well written, directed and acted. The fact that it did not receive one nomination when it dominated the conversation and was universally acclaimed, is the wildest thing for me.
here are my SAG thoughts
You can find the full list of Screen Actors Guild nominations here. The Screen Actors Guild Awards are voted by the members of SAG which are basically the actors that you see on film and TV. Getting nominated for these awards is a great accolade for actors because it means that you were admired by your peers. So these awards are solely on acting.
Where is Delroy Lindo? - Da 5 Bloods was nominated for Best Ensemble and Best Supporting Actor for Chadwick Boseman, but the best performance in that film was definitely Delroy Lindo. He’s been winning many awards on the critics’ circuit was an Oscar favourite, but no love from the guild? But they nominated Gary Oldman, again!
Again the wrong Mank nominee - As mentioned above Gary Oldman was nominated but not the actual star of the film, Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies.
The lack of Paul Raci - I have not seen The Little Things so I’m not going to comment on Jared Leto’s appearance in the Best Supporting Category but Paul Raci in Sound of Metal should be in here.
Oh hey, Bridgerton - I was very surprised to see Bridgerton for getting Best Performance by a Cast, and Best Actor for Rege-Jean Page. Even if the guild is voting after swooning, you know what, I ain’t mad. Let’s shake things up a little.
What white nonsense in the Drama Actress in TV category - the nominees are Olivia Colman, Emma Corrin and Gillian Anderson for The Crown, and Julia Garner and Laura Linney for Ozark. That’s it. The winner here is Netflix because WTF. They should limit how many actors for one show they can submit for lead because this is tiring.
In miniseries - I loved the nominations for Little Fires Everywhere (still thinks Reese deserved though), The Queen’s Gambit, I May Destroy You (!!!), The Undoing and Mrs America.
Shows I think deserved accolades: P-Valley, Never Have I Ever, and, of course, as always, The Good Fight.
recs:
Film: Fiela Se Kind - I know what you’re thinking ‘what Caryn, we aren’t in high school Afrikaans’ and as someone who really didn’t like my first language Afrikaans teacher, I understand you. But the 2019 version of the film is really really good. Excellent cinematography, a beautiful score, the acting is sensational (the little boy that plays young Benjamin is so good. It is really worth a watch. You can watch it on Showmax.
Film: The Dig - If like me, you like your films historical and British, this is an interesting one. About the dig of the oldest Anglo-Saxon discovery – a burial ship in the UK. This stars Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James and Johnny Flynn. You can watch it on Netflix.
Film: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm - Now this I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did. I don’t usually like prank humour and I cringed through most of the first film, and I expected a similar reaction. What I didn’t expect to be absolutely intrigued and horrified. Borat 2 is a political comedy where the actors are real people reacted (or criminally not reacting) to the character of Borat and his daughter, Tutar. It is well written considering the other people are not acting, it tells an important story and god, I was glued to my screen. You can watch it on Amazon Prime.
Documentary: Boys State - This documentary was wild but I also loved it? There is a week-long summer camp in the USA, where they allow 1000 teenage boys to create a mock government. They copy political manoeuvres and campaigns in order to win elections. The one in the documentary takes place in Texas and most of the boys who attend are conservative and watching the liberal attendees try and make a change, is frustrating but also deeply moving. It is also incredibly well-made. You can watch it on Apple TV+.
Series: Belgravia - From the creators of Downton Abbey, this miniseries follows two families from two social classes whose lives are bound together by a secret. This was an interesting watch but it does not live up to its’ predecessor. You can read my review for Channel24 here and watch it on BBC Brit.
Fiela se kind made me cry — and smashed me right back into that apartheid childhood I had 😭