The Golden Globes nominations have been announced, and it's time to return to a certain "galaxy far, far away!" In this week's "Cinema Chat," WEMU's David Fair talks to Michigan Theater executive director Russ Collins about the movie business and all of the films coming to your local movie house this weekend.
Select Golden Globe Nominations: Jimmy Fallon, under pressure to lift ratings, is to host the 74th Golden Globes broadcast on Jan. 8.
Best Motion Picture, Drama
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Best Motion Picture, Animated
Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language
“Divines” (France)
“Elle” (France)
“Neruda” (Chile)
“The Salesman”(Iran / France)
“Toni Erdmann” (Germany)
Best Actress, Drama
Amy Adams, “Arrival”
Jessica Chastain, “Miss Sloane”
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Best Actor, Drama
Casey Affleck, “Manchester By the Sea”
Joel Edgerton, “Loving”
Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington, “Fences”
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy
Annette Bening, “20th Century Women”
Lily Collins, “Rules Don’t Apply”
Hailee Steinfeld, “The Edge of Seventeen”
Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
Colin Farrell, “The Lobster”
Ryan Gosling, “La La Land”
Hugh Grant, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Jonah Hill, “War Dogs”
Ryan Reynolds, “Deadpool”
Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, “Fences”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion”
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Simon Helberg, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, “Nocturnal Animals”
Best Director, Motion Picture
Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Tom Ford, “Nocturnal Animals”
Mel Gibson, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Tom Ford, “Nocturnal Animals”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”
Taylor Sheridan, “Hell or High Water”
The candy-colored Lionsgate musical “La La Land,” about dreams and dreamers in this city of stars, twirled its way toward being an awards season juggernaut on Monday, taking seven Golden Globe nominations, including ones for best director, screenplay and lead actor and actress. But it was not a runaway. The lyrical “Moonlight,” about a young black man growing up in a poor Miami neighborhood, drew six nominations, including best drama, director and screenplay. “Manchester by the Sea,” focused on a New England plumber coping with horrific loss, was also nominated for best drama, receiving five nods total.
Golden Globe voters overlooked contenders like Martin Scorsese, whose “Silence” arrives in limited release on Dec. 23. Mr. Scorsese may have diminished the Awards season prospects of “Silence” by delivering the film late. “Silence,” an epic drama about two priests who face violence in 17th-century Japan. In general, Hollywood’s elder statesmen did not fair well, besides Scorsese, Clint Eastwood’s “Sully” was uninvited to the Golden Globe banquet and Warren Beatty’s “Rules Don’t Apply” barely alive, receiving a lone nod for Lily Collins’s performance. Also ignored was Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation,” a slave rebellion film once seen as a leading awards contender.
Opening Downtown
Joey (Jon Dore) is the undisputed king of Detroit party MCs. He's also a single father and deeply in debt. To make matters worse, all his prized sound and lighting equipment is destroyed in a freak accident, and his daughter’s Bat-Mitzvah is only four weeks away, and she's counting on him to MC her party. After exhausting all his options, he turns to his shady Uncle Morty (David Paymer), who agrees to give him the money he needs to get back into business, but only under one condition. Joey must steal his grandmother Rose's (Lynn Cohen) most prized possession: her famous top secret dill pickle recipe, which she has vowed to take to her grave. Shot entirely in Detroit and featuring numerous UM grads in the cast and crew, “The Pickle Recipe” opens Friday. Join us Friday through Sunday when we’ll be joined by members of the crew for post-screening Q&As!
A searing and intimate portrait of one of the most important and tragic moments in American history, seen through the eyes of the iconic First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman). The film places us in her world during the days immediately following her husband's assassination. Known for her extraordinary dignity and poise, here we see a psychological portrait of the First Lady as she struggles to maintain her husband's legacy and the world of "Camelot" that they created and loved so well. Also starring Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, and Billy Crudup, “Jackie” opens Wednesday. 88% positive reviews. Critics Consensus: Jackie offers an alluring peek into a beloved American public figure's private world -- and an enthralling starring performance from Natalie Portman in the bargain.
Continuing Downtown
The film chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world, told across three defining chapters in his life. “Moonlight” is nominated for six Golden Globe awards, including Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture.
After the death of his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), Lee (Casey Affleck) is shocked to learn that Joe has made him sole guardian of his teenage nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for Patrick, and is forced to deal with a past that separated him from his wife Randi (Michelle Williams) and the community where he was born and raised. “Manchester by the Sea” is nominated for five Golden Globes, including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture.
This film follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been handed down from father to son for centuries.
Special Screenings Downtown
You’re invited to a special preview screening! See the first hour of MASTERPIECE’s highly anticipated new drama, Victoria, before it premieres on Detroit Public Television in January, in the Sunday night time slot which Downton Abbey has occupied for six years. Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) stars as the young Victoria, the teenager who overnight became Queen and eventually the most powerful woman in the world. The Season 1 preview of Victoria plays Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 PM. Admission is free!
The greatest holiday film – and it has a local connection. It stars the great Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a good man who deferred his own dreams for the benefit of his small town. (The film also features Virginia Patton, better known locally as Ginny Moss, as George’s beautiful sister-in-law. Ginny was a contract player in Hollywood’s heyday and appeared in over a dozen studio pictures.) As the film opens, it's Christmas Eve, 1946, and George, who has long considered himself a failure, faces financial ruin and is seriously contemplating suicide. As George bitterly declares that he wishes that he had never been born, angel Clarence, hoping to teach George a lesson, shows him how different life would have been had he in fact never been born. “It’s A Wonderful Life” plays Sunday at 1:30 PM. Free admission! Presented as part of the Michigan Theater’s Holiday Classics Film Series.
Opening at the Multiplex
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"
This is the first of the Star Wars standalone films. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire's ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” opens Friday.
When a successful advertising executive suffers a great tragedy, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death. But it's not until his notes bring unexpected personal responses that he begins to understand how these constants interlock in a life fully lived. Starring Will Smith, Helen Mirren, andEdward Norton, “Collateral Beauty” opens Friday. 24% positive reviews. Critics Consensus: Well-meaning but fundamentally flawed, Collateral Beauty aims for uplift but collapses in unintentional hilarity.
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— David Fair is the WEMU News Director and host of Morning Edition on WEMU. You can contact David at734.487.3363, on twitter @DavidFairWEMU, or email him at dfair@emich.edu
