Golden Globe Nominations 2015 for Films

It's time for the golden balls to come out shining again. The Golden Globe nominations were announced today with Birdman soaring above the rest with 7 nominations spanning a range of categories. Selma, The Imitation Game and Boyhood are close behind, each with 5 nominations and just behind them are The Theory of Everything and The Grand Budapest Hotel and Gone Girl, each with 4. Others worth a mention are Foxcatcher, Into the Woods and Big Eyes which all managed to land 3 nominations each, while St Vincent and Annie scraped 2 each.

Critics favourites Whiplash, Interstellar and Nightcrawler each have a single nomination to their name with the exclusion of Whiplash from the Best Picture category most likely to cause a stir. I'm also pissed to see that White God isn't up for best foreign language film but hopefully this is just due to its release date in North America. I guess Angelina Jolie will be heartbroken over the complete snub of her second effort as director, Unbroken, which looked like a proper piece of awards bait.

Of course UK audiences will just have to sit here fuming as we have to wait until 2015 for the likes of Birdman, Selma, The Theory of Everything, Into the Woods and Whiplash to be released. At least some of these will have been released by the time Amy Poehler and Tina Fey host the show on Sunday January 11th.

As usual, awards season is the only time of year that I decide to find out what it is like to have a gambling problem. I usually place some bets on the Globes and the Oscars and last year I lost some money on the Globes but won it back (with a little profit) on the Oscars. Hopefully I can continue my tiny little winning streak this year!

At least I've seen a fair few of these this year including Boyhood, Foxcatcher, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Pride, St Vincent, Gone Girl, Interstellar etc etc. As long as I get into early screenings of some of the others, I'll be very happy!

Here are the nominees in full:

Best film

Boyhood

Foxcatcher (click for review)

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Best director

Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ava Duvernay - Selma

David Fincher - Gone Girl

Alejandro González Iñárritu - Birdman

Richard Linklater - Boyhood

Best screenplay

Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo - Birdman

Richard Linklater - Boyhood

Graham Moore - The Imitation Game

Best actor, drama

Steve Carell - Foxcatcher (click for review)

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game

Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler (click for review)

David Oyelowo - Selma

Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

Best actress, drama

Jennifer Aniston, Cake

Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best comedy or musical

Birdman

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Into the Woods

Pride

St. Vincent (click for review)

Best actress, comedy or musical

Amy Adams - Big Eyes

Emily Blunt - Into the Woods

Helen Mirren - The Hundred-Foot Journey

Julianne Moore - Maps to the Stars

Quvenzhané Wallis - Annie

Best actor, comedy or musical

Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Michael Keaton - Birdman

Bill Murray - St. Vincent

Joaquin Pheonix - Inherent Vice

Christoph Waltz - Big Eyes

Best supporting actor

Robert Duvall - The Judge

Ethan Hawke - Boyhood

Edward Norton - Birdman

Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher (click for review)

JK Simmons - Whiplash

Best supporting actress

Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

Jessica Chastain - A Most Violent Year

Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game

Emma Stone - Birdman

Meryl Streep - Into the Woods

Best score

Alexandre Desplat - The Imitation Game

Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything

Trent Reznor – Gone Girl

Antonio Sanchez - Birdman

Hans Zimmer – Interstellar (click for review)

Best song

Big Eyes – Big Eyes (Lana Del Ray)

Glory – Selma (John Legend, Common)

Mercy Is – Noah (Patty Smith, Lenny Kaye)

Opportunity – Annie

Yellow Flicker Beat (Lorde) – Hunger Games, Mockingjay Pt 1 (click for review)

Best animation

Big Hero 6

The Book of Life

The Boxtrolls

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The LEGO Movie

Best foreign language film

Force Majeure

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

Ida

Leviathan

Tangerine Manderin

What do you think? Got any tips for my gambling addiction? Where's the easy money at and who are the outsiders that are worth a punt?

St Vincent Review

Curmudgeonly old codger Vincent has money problems, drinking problems and likes to make matters worse by spending what little money he has on sleeping with a pregnant Russian prostitute and gambling on the horses. Just as Vincent is at his lowest, the recently divorced Melissa McCarthy comes crashing into his life by moving in next door with her 12 year old son Oliver. When little Oliver is the target of bullies, he ends up losing his keys and having to ask Vincent for help. So starts a deal between Vincent and the boy’s mother where she will pay him to look after the boy while she works all hours to pay the rent.

Bill Murray is on fire as the grizzled old geezer at the beating heart of this story. Of course there is a heart beneath the gruff exterior. Of course the boy will help to thaw his heart.  Of course he’s not as mean as he first appears. While the old guy and his new young charge begin bonding over breaking bullies’ noses, the supporting cast also get their time in their spotlight. Naomi Watts is saddled with a dreadful accent and Terence Howard is completely wasted but Melissa McCarthy gets to deliver a wonderfully warm and touching performance as the straight one in her odd couple pairing with Murray, nimbly stepping out of the shadow of her recent comedic tour de forces. 

So while St. Vincent is filled with some fine performances, big laughs from Bill Murray and decent drama, it’s all as predictable as you can imagine. Chris O’Dowd fights earnestly in a handful of scenes for the title of funniest guy in the movie but this is definitely Murray’s vehicle. It’s a bright and sunny, heart warming film that never dwells too long on its brief moments of tragedy. Everyone in the film is inherently good, an overly optimistic take on life that occasionally rings false and sugar coats proceedings to the point where you may want to gag a bit by the end.

By the time, Oliver is trying to convince the world that Vincent is a modern day saint, the gags have all but dried up but St. Vincent has earned some of its its heart tugging emotion. Debut director Theodore Melfi has done well to gather such an accomplished cast who are capable of eliciting laughs and tears, even if the writing is frequently a little too obvious. St Vincent isn’t one of Bill Murray’s best films but without him, it would have been a hell of a lot worse. 

What did you think of St Vincent?

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