The Hollywood Foreign Press Association had not gone gaga for Gaga (or A Star is Born). Glenn Close made the Best Actress-Oscars category into a true battle. Roma performed well. Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody both overperformed, and the film critic community is not happy about it. Let’s talk about all of it.
Surprised, or How I Learned to Stop Expecting an Amy Adams Win
This was not the night I thought it would turn out to be for the criminally underappreciated Amy Adams. Not only did she not win for Vice, but she also lost for her performance in Sharp Objects. Though I must say the Patricia Arquette win makes sense as a second choice in Actress – Limited Series, as she is terrific in Escape at Dannemora, I am taken aback by her win, but maybe I shouldn’t be. As all fans of Amy Adams know, she is severely under-appreciated at awards shows.
The other thing I have to talk about is how this wasn’t HBO’s Barry‘s year. Winkler shockingly didn’t take his category. Hader missed too. And, at that point, its loss in the Comedy Series-category was a given. What makes no sense whatsoever is that The Kominsky Method won. This is coming from someone who, unlike most people, did check out a couple of episodes of the series. I am shocked that that is the comedy series the HFPA decided to honor last night.
Confused, or That Time I Realized The HFPA Wasn’t Gaga for Gaga
There are three films we have to talk about here, and they are Green Book, A Star is Born, and Bohemian Rhapsody. Let’s start with the big ‘comedy’ winner of the night: Green Book.
As you may know, I predicted this film to take all of the awards it won (I actually predicted it would win more categories than it ended up doing). Now, this was shocking to a lot of film fans, so why did I see it coming? I thought that Green Book, though I haven’t yet seen it, was this year’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and it turns out I was almost exactly right, just in the comedy category.
What was more confusing to me was the lack of love for Gaga and A Star is Born. Though I did predict that Cooper would lose Best Actor – Drama, I fully expected A Star is Born to run away with this thing not entirely unlike how La La Land swept the Globes a few years ago and became the new frontrunner.
Instead, the musical drama that the HFPA was gaga for was Bohemian Rhapsody, and that meant that Glenn Close (The Wife) had a chance to get a win over Gaga in their category. Which she ultimately did much to the surprise of you, me, and your mother.
Though I did predict Rami Malek to win the award for Best Actor – Drama — I didn’t think they’d go all-in on the divisive Bohemian Rhapsody after I rightly predicted they would’ve already picked the divisive Green Book in the comedy category. But here we are, and soon think pieces will be out to try to take both Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody down. And this could be a great thing for A Star is Born, but also for Roma. We have our frontrunners and the films right behind them could make a move upwards if the think pieces attacking Green Book and BoRhap are fully loaded.
Happy, or the Unexpected New Frontrunners
Speaking of front-runners, the Golden Globes also made frontrunners of a couple of films that I really like. One of them is Roma. Sure, it was the most talked about foreign language film of 2018, but I think it’s the frontrunner for Best Director at the Oscars now as well. There is an argument to be made, that had Roma been eligible for Motion Picture – Drama last night, then it would’ve won.
Also, the animation category might’ve declared an early winner. I was of the belief that the HFPA would fret at the thought of letting a superhero film win the category, and that they would, therefore, give the win to Isle of Dogs. That did not happen. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the most critically celebrated animation film of 2018, won the Globes’ prize, and it should now be the frontrunner for the same category at the Oscars. A legitimate frontrunner, and rightly so.
While no winner made me happier than Justin Hurwitz’s Best Original Score win for First Man last night, he’s not really a true frontrunner. Though his score did win at the Globes, it was not nominated against If Beale Street Could Talk, which is another film that I still have to see at some point. First Man and Beale Street are expected to compete for the prize at the Oscars.
– Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 