GOLDEN GLOBE SNUBS/SURPRISES (AND A BRIEF REVIEW!)

My Golden Globe predictions were off. I'm the first to admit it. I got three right in the drama category, and ONE right for comedy/musical! How was I supposed to know "Wolf of Wall Street" and "American Hustle" were going to be considered comedies? Technically though, I did get all of the animated nominees right, since the Globes surprised me by just nominating three. The one I claimed to be the front runner, "The Wind Rises," was put into the foreign film category instead, "Monsters U" was downright snubbed! I think it's "Frozen's" prize to lose. Here's my reaction to the rest of the list, which can be found right hurr.  

DRAMA:

I'll admit the Globes didn't do half bad this year. They really didn't. I could see all 10 of their best picture category films getting Oscar nods. But why oh why did they leave out THREE of the year's best films from all categories?!? That's right, no "Fruitvale Station," no "Prisoners" and no "Mud" anywhere near this list. A common thread between these shutouts: they were released too early. Globe voters have attention spans of about two weeks. That's why studios cram them out and leave common audience folk like us scattering to see them. It was a pleasant surprise to see Idris Elba up for "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," especially due to recent events, and Kate Winslet popped up for Best Actress in a movie getting little buzz, Jason Reitman's "Labor Day." Perhaps the biggest shockers were for Best Drama: "Philomena" (see the review below) and "Rush," which prior to this had mostly just received attention for Daniel Bruhl's supporting performance. The Globes just made these two dark horses possible leads in the race.

COMEDY: 
My go-to source IMDb lists "American Hustle," "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "Nebraska" all as only dramas...but logic hasn't stopped awards shows before. All the leading men from the Best Comedies swept the nominations, but Actress threw in some doozys. Streep naturally was nominated for the pitch black "August: Osage County." Gandolfini wasn't recognized in his race, but Elaine herself Mrs. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss secured a nod for "Enough Said," and perhaps the strangest of any of the Globes' choices is choosing Julie Delpy for a "comedic" turn in "Before Midnight," the heavily lauded threequel that is supposedly an intense, dramatic  look at marriage. Good for Delpy but...why Foreign Press?

THE OTHER STUFF:
I'm actually ecstatic Barkhad Abdi has been recognized so much this season, his Oscar nomination seems a lock. He and fellow nominee Fassbender were terrific villains this year, but a fellow no-gooder missing from this list is James Franco's Alien! Amazingly Franco has been getting some hardware for his role in "Spring Breakers," and I'm hopeful the Oscars will right this wrong of his absence. Another welcome face is Sally Hawkins for "Blue Jasmine;" that American accent is worth a Globe alone! Other than this and the fact that the Original Song category is like a pop-culture who's who (U2, Justin Timberlake and Taylor Swift among the nominees) and the Globes were fine, but fairly by the numbers in terms of predictability. At this point "Gravity's" buzz has quieted down a bit, and it's a full on war with "American Hustle" vs. "12 Years a Slave." For your viewing pleasure, I review one of the drama nominees:

A BRIEF PHILOMENA REVIEW:

Oh Judi Dench. Your versatility amazes me. There's no detectable trace of M in this emotionally charged role about a woman who looks for her son that was taken away from her a half century earlier with a cynical reporter, played wickedly good by Steve Coogan. But Coogan, who wrote and produced the film, realizes it's Dench's picture. The sometimes naive, elderly Philomena Lee is a glove-fit role for the dame, her range going from sentimental to sassy to broken to childlike wonderment. I just wish the script could've been tighter and the pacing of things a little matured. The Oscar-bait smell is slightly detected, but little gems like this are excused.

Rating: 3/4 stars