I woke up this morning to the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations, and quickly succumbed to the same mixture of lethargy and depression that everyone else is feeling.
Not so much about the Globes — will anyone care which films they’ll celebrate? will their picks influence anyone or anything in any way? — but the CCAs.
I was primarily upset when a friend predicted this morning that the box-office collapse of West Side Story had dented its award cred (“Nobody likes to vote for a loser”) and that the odds seem to favor a Best Picture win for Kenneth Branagh‘s Belfast. With the CCAs, I mean.
When I heard this I went “wait…what?”
West Side Story is still the same emotionally affecting, inventively shot and cut, extremely well-made film it was before last weekend’s box-office calamity. It really is the superior contender out there, certainly by my sights.
The Globes won’t have their traditional NBC telecast because of the angry industry boycott over a previous lack of black members, but their show, set for 1.22.22, will be streamed.
GG Best Motion Picture, Drama: Belfast, CODA, Dune, King Richard, The Power of the Dog. HE personal pick among these five: King Richard. Likely winner: I can’t say it…don’t ask.
GG Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy: Cyrano, Don’t Look Up, Licorice Pizza, Tick, Tick … Boom!, West Side Story. HE personal pick among these five: West Side Story. Likely winner: Don’t ask.
I am swallowed in lethargy…drowning in the stuff. I used to feel such excitement for this and that awards contender. I used to be a big rooting fan of awards season favorites. I would cheer and whoo-whoo! when my “team” won. I was in heaven when Green Book won Best Picture and all the would-be wokester assassins seethed and muttered “curses!” Their rage was my joy.
Now there’s…I was going to say “nothing” but what I mean is that there’s not very much. I’m not feeling anything right now. The West Side Story collapse knocked the wind out of me.
CCA Best Picture nominees: Belfast, CODA, Don’t Look Up, Dune, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog, tick, tick…Boom!, West Side Story. HE personal pick: West Side Story. Likely winner: I can’t say it. (The show will air on Sunday, Janary 9th.)
I’ll get into the actor nominations and likely winners later. I’m too depressed to sift through it all now.
Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone:
“It’s so many things at once. It’s COVID, primarily. It’s the comfort and isolation and security people have found in their homes this past year, with no desire to leave. It’s inflation — that is going to impact how people spend their money on stuff like movies since it impacts their gas prices and their grocery bill. Finding that extra cash to go out and sit in a movie theater probably isn’t a major priority at the moment. Richard Rushfield has been tracking the demise for a while now, with stories like “Will Movies Survive?” And “The Disappearance of Hollywood as We Know It” and “The Twin Plagues of Moviedom’s Assisted Suicide.”
HE Honestly? I don’t care how on-the-money Rushfield is with his doom-and-gloom assessments about how theatrical is basically finished, or certainly for people like me. I’m getting really fucking sick of hearing how horrible everything is, and how doomed we all are, and how the animals are doing their share and then some to bring this about.
Back to Sasha: “We can be aware of what’s happening. We can watch what’s happening. But probably only something like the news of West Side Story’s dismal box-office could provide that moment of ‘oh wow, everything really has changed.’
“It breaks my heart. There is so much content being produced every day that is occupying the attention spans of people that might have previously gone to the movies. At least we know teenagers are still going to go to the movies — for something to do on a Saturday night, for a place to go where their helicopter parents won’t follow, a place to go to make out. Parents will also still take their kids to the movies. The movies that will continue to thrive will be animation, fantasy, horror and genre movies.” HE comment: “That’s so sickening! We are truly witnessing the downfall of the “good movies are usually supported by smart audiences” holiday aesthetic. We are spiralling into decline. The end of a way of life.
Sasha: “I was hoping West Side Story would be our deus ex machina. Looks like we’re going to need a bigger boat.”
