The Golden Globe nominations are out!

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Crazy Rich Asians
The Favourite
Green Book
Mary Poppins Returns
Vice

Best Motion Picture – Animated
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
Capernaum
Girl
Never Look Away
Roma
Shoplifters

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Glenn Close, The Wife
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Nicole Kidman, Destroyer
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Rosamund Pike, A Private War

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns
Olivia Coleman, The Favourite
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Charlize Theron, Tully
Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale, Vice
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Robert Redford, The Old Man & the Gun
John C. Reilly, Stan and Ollie

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture
Amy Adams, Vice
Claire Foy, First Man
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture
Mahershala Ali , Green Book
Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice

Best Director – Motion Picture
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay, Vice

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Tony McNamara, Deborah Davis, The Favourite
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Adam McKay, Vice
Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Green Book

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Marco Beltrami, A Quiet Place
Alexandre Desplat, Isle of Dogs
Ludwig Goransson, Black Panther
Justin Hurwitz, First Man
Marc Shaiman, Mary Poppins Returns

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“All the Stars,” Black Panther
“Girl in the Movies,” Dumplin’
“Requiem for a Private War,” A Private War
“Revelation,” Boy Erased
“Shallow,” A Star Is Born

Best Television Series – Drama
The Americans
Bodyguard
Homecoming
Killing Eve
Pose

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Barry
The Good Place
Kidding
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
The Alienist
The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Escape at Dannemora
Sharp Objects
A Very English Scandal

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Amy Adams, Sharp Objects
Patricia Arquette, Escape at Dannemora
Connie Britton, Dirty John
Laura Dern, The Tale
Regina King, Seven Seconds

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Antonio Banderas, Genius: Picasso
Daniel Brühl, The Alienist
Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
Hugh Grant, A Very English Scandal

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Julia Roberts, Homecoming
Keri Russell, The Americans

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Stephan James, Homecoming
Richard Madden, Bodyguard
Billy Porter, Pose
Matthew Rhys, The Americans

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Kristen Bell, The Good Place
Candice Bergen, Murphy Brown
Alison Brie, GLOW
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Debra Messing, Will & Grace

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Sacha Baron Cohen, Who Is America?
Jim Carrey, Kidding
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Donald Glover, Atlanta
Bill Hader, Barry

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Alex Bornstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects
Penelope Cruz, The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Edgar Ramirez, The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal
Henry Winkler, Barry

Three lessons from this masterful supercut by David Erlich paying tribute to the best movies of 2018:

1. There was a truly bounteous crop of great movies in 2018.
2. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a song that goes with just about everything.
3. A truly great editor can make you see what you missed when you saw it before.

How many of these have you seen?

THE 25 BEST FILMS OF 2018: A VIDEO COUNTDOWN from david ehrlich on Vimeo.

My friend and fellow critic Sherin Nicole wrote a perceptive and thoughtful essay for The Black List about two movies considered to be wildly imaginative when they were released that now seem eerily accurate in predicting where we are now. She calls them Essential Political Films.

She begins with Idiocracy, which it’s star Dax Shepard jokingly calls a “documentary,” the wildly satiric story of a present-day time traveler who arrives in an America of 2505 to find that everyone is corrupt and, well, idiots. Nicole writes:

IDIOCRACY worried me in 2006 because it seemed plausible. We already had criminals pleading not guilty to crimes because they “were shooting reality TV shows.” Intelligence had begun to be a liability; people would fight you if you made them feel dumb. And beverages at the movies were served in plastic buckets so large you could pour a 2-liter into them and still have room for ice cream.

However, IDIOCRACY didn’t become an Essential Political film until 2016. Looking back on it from today’s vantage point, Mike Judge didn’t make a stupid slapstick throwaway, he made a smart satire about “how stupid we peeples r.” Sounds ridiculous, I know, but there are several parallels between Judge’s 2505 and our now: Logic and reason are shot down while lies and nonsense are repeated. Bullying and misogyny are desirable traits in a politician. We’ve gone back to glyphs to express ourselves. Reality TV stars are revered as purveyors of culture. And the kicker, the president is a wrestling enthusiast, former reality TV star who uses foul language and fouler gestures, incites violence, and has inexplicable hair.

And then there’s Night of the Living Dead. When it was released, no one realized that a low-budget horror film would be so influential, inspiring an entirely new genre of zombie films. And its filmmakers did not realize how revolutionary it was to cast a black man as the lead actor and hero of the film and how prescient the ending would be. She writes:

Yet, the final scenes are where NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD truly leaves a mark. After repeatedly risking himself to save his comrades from a horde of ravenous dead, Ben finally survives the night. Help arrives as the local sheriff and a group of militiamen sweep the area. As a viewer you feel a sense of relief — our guy made it through — but when Ben approaches a boarded up window, the darkened lighting tells us something is wrong. One of the militiamen sees Ben’s silhouette and fires his shotgun, putting a bullet through our hero’s forehead. He’s a good guy with a gun but they kill him and they burn him the same as the monsters.

Fifty years later and earlier this month, armed security guard Jemel Roberson had successfully subdued a violent shooter outside the bar where he worked in the suburbs of Chicago. Those who were wounded that day must have felt such relief when Roberson stopped their attacker. More help came afterward but not for their rescuer. When officers arrived on the scene they shot Jemel Roberson dead. He was a good guy with a gun. A black-American hero. They shot him anyway.

The parallels are painful.

The essay is highly recommended. And all of us should think about what movies today we think will and should give us insight not only into where we are now but into where we are going.

The Washington Area Film Critics Association has announced our film awards for 2018.

 

Best Film: Roma Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Roma) Best Actor: Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) Best Actress: Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Green Book) Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) Best Acting Ensemble: The Favourite Best Youth Performance: Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) Best Voice Performance: Bryan Cranston (Isle of Dogs) Best Motion Capture Performance: Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War)

Best Original Screenplay: Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favourite) Best Adapted Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) Best Animated Feature: Isle of Dogs Best Documentary: Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Best Foreign Language Film: Roma Best Production Design: Production Designer: Hannah Beachler; Set Decorator: Jay Hart (Black Panther) Best Cinematography: Alfonso Cuarón (Roma) Best Editing: Tom Cross, ACE (First Man) Best Original Score: Nicholas Britell (If Beale Street Could Talk) The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC: Vice

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