Oscar season finally kicks off in great fashion with maybe the most meaningless ceremony of them all! Meryl Streep inspired us all, Tom Hiddleston made an asshat of himself, and Spiderman kissed Deadpool, and all before half the nominated movies come out in England! To think!
I’ve seen people talking about the ‘upset result’ of Taylor-Johnson but he thoroughly deserves it for his scenery chewing performance. Nocturnal Animals was one of the best made, more exciting, and most intelligent films of 2016, (although in terms of Amy Adams films it pales next to Arrival), and it featured a lot of completely mad performances, not least from Taylor-Johnson himself. Personally I would have preferred to see Michael Shannon get the nomination but it’s the best performance Taylor-Johnson’s ever given.
The result in the animated category really shouldn’t surprise anyone, as beautiful as Kubo and the Two Strings is, and as well acclaimed as Moana is, Zootopia has allegory and awards voters love a good bit of meaty allegorical subtext.
It’s Meryl Streep, the fabulous! Of course she was gracious and modest, (take notes Tom Hiddleston), and on point with her Trump takedown, not to get political when talking about media eh Trump supporters. Maybe I’m just a ‘Hilary flunky’ and ‘Just more very dishonest media’.
One of the few things that are great about the Golden Globes are that with their drama/comedy split they open up the awards season for films that aren’t just prestige pictures, like La La Land and Deadpool – Deadpool of all movies is an awards contender. This makes it all the more surprising that La La Land is also cleaning up in the joint categories like best motion picture, and all the more gratifying because it really deserves it. It’s sweeping and full of joy and colour and it’s funny but also melancholic and I heartily recommend it to everyone. Director Damien Chezelle, (Whiplash), was aiming for a musical that people who don’t like musicals would also enjoy, and I think he succeeded here.
Ryan Gosling is an absolute knock out in La La Land and probably deserves his award. He somehow manages to channel both the melancholia of his Drive character and the wit and acerbic nature of his The Big Short performance and the physical comedy of The Nice Guys. It is by quite some way Emma Stone’s best performance – honest, charming, and raw. She’s so natural it’s extraordinary.
This awards season is particularly strong with the best yet to come for those of us living in the UK. It’s also looking to be a really good year for strong female performances in films that don’t just exist to get entered in the best actress category like Wild, and I couldn’t be more pleased. With the BAFTA nominations announced this morning and the likes of Jackie, Loving, Manchester By The Sea, Hacksaw Ridge, 20th Century Women, and Moonlight waiting in the wings, it’s a very, very good time to be a film fan in the UK at the moment.
James Selway
(Image courtesy of Kevin Winter/Getty Images)