Tag Archives: Golden Globes

Entertainment, Movies, Videos

Netflix’s 2021 Release Plan: after 42 Globe Noms, 71 New Releases Coming

Video

Aggressive release schedule for 2021continues…

At the beginning of the year, Netflix dropped a beautiful and major bombshell, that they will be premiering a brand new movie every week of 2021. That means, thee will be appropxiately, it appears, upwards of 71 new movies with all the various genres covered! (action, sequels, dramas, musicals and more). 

If you are not new to the platform, 2021 is streaming gold for Netflix (with 42 total Golden Globe nominations). With Bridgerton, Lupin, The Dig, Below Zero, Night Stalker and we are only barely into February.

Streaming is looking like a permanently dominant dissemination method for visual content going forward, as, in addition to Netflix, HBOmax is getting all of the WB theatrical slate based on the initial North American debut schedule, while Disney is going full bore with a string of Star Wars and Marvel spin offs. A slew of books are also getting film treatment including best selling titles: The Girl on the Train, The Woman in the Window, Munich, The Last Letter from Your Lover.

Below are some of the upcoming releases with trailers for the next two months:

MALCOLM & MARIE:

Sam Levinson teams up with Zendaya and John David Washington for an achingly romantic drama in which a filmmaker (Washington) and his girlfriend (Zendaya) return home following a celebratory movie premiere as he awaits what’s sure to be imminent critical and financial success. The evening suddenly takes a turn as revelations about their relationships begin to surface, testing the strength of their love. Working with cinematographer Marcell Rev, Levinson creates a film of rare originality; an ode to the great Hollywood romances as well as a heartfelt expression of faith in the medium’s future.

THE DIG:

As WWII looms, a wealthy widow (Carey Mulligan) hires an amateur archaeologist (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate the burial mounds on her estate. When they make a historic discovery, the echoes of Britain’s past are illuminated in the face of its uncertain future.

BELOW ZERO:

A Spanish gritty action thriller movie (Bajocero) that has English voice-over features  is set when a prisoner transfer van is attacked. The cop, Martin, who is in charge must fight those inside and outside while dealing with a silent foe: surviving the icy temperatures.

NIGHT STALKER

This historical limited series is a documentary that follows the young detective Gil Carrillo and legendary homicide investigator Frank Salerno as they work expeditiously to catch the “Night Stalker”. Beneath the sunlit glamour of 1985 LA lurks a relentlessly evil serial killer. In this true-crime story, two detectives won’t rest until they catch Richard Ramirez, who was eventually arrested for his terrible crimes.

I CARE A LOT:

A crooked legal guardian who drains the savings of her elderly wards meets her match when a woman she tries to swindle turns out to have equally shady ties of her own. Starring Rosamund Pike, Eiza Gonzalez, Dianne Wiest, Peter Dinklage, Chris Messina, and Isaiah Whitlock Jr.

PENGUIN BLOOM

Penguin Bloom tells the true story of Sam Bloom (Naomi Watts), a young mother whose world is turned upside down after a near-fatal accident leaves her unable to walk. Sa m’s husband, (Andrew Lincoln), her three young boys and her mother (Academy Award-nominated Jacki Weaver), are struggling to adjust to their new situation when an unlikely ally enters their world in the form of an injured baby magpie they name Penguin. The bird’s arrival is a welcome distraction for the Bloom family, eventually making a profound difference in the family’s life.

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

A bright city, a dull morning and a curious girl on the train. When a voyeuristic divorcee fixates on the lives of a perfect couple from afar, she soon gets embroiled in a murder mystery that unfolds revealing truths about her own life. Get on board a thrilling experience with Parineeti Chopra, Aditi Rao Hydari, Kirti Kulhari and Avinash Tiwary. Catch Ribhu Dasgupta’s The Girl On The Train on 26th February, only on Netflix.

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Climate Solutions

Oscar Contender Joaquin Phoenix Arrested with over 100 including Martin Sheen in support of Jane Fonda

Photo / Joker / Warner Brothers

Celebrity Voices begin to Come Together on the #1 Issue of the Day

During a Golden Globes ceremony that had no shortage of politically charged dialogue, actor Joaquin Phoenix delivered one of the most memorable acceptance speeches of the evening. After winning the Best Actor in Drama Motion Picture award for his titular role in Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” Phoenix diffidently took to the stage and, before even expressing any obligatory thank yous, he first applauded the event’s efforts to be plant based. He then went on to condemn Hollywood’s egregious carbon footprint, urging his fellow stars to live up to their rhetoric and make tangible changes in their lives for the good of the planet.

Since Phoenix gave this unconventional speech on January 5th, there has been a lot of debate surrounding celebrity activism. Fueled also in part by 77th Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais’ opening monologue where he accused movie stars of hypocrisy, some are questioning weather celebrities actually do their part to combat climate change when the cameras aren’t rolling.

It has been argued, by the Extinction Rebellion (XR) and others that charges of celebrity hypocricy leveled at any who dare to speak up, encourages others to stay silent, thus achieving the opposite of what the climate, and the world actually needs. And cries of “stay in your lane” or “stick to entertaining” and even celebrities lobbing insults at each other, is precisely what the fossil fuel industrial complex needs to keep the movement to raise awareness of the climate crisis from gaining a larger following.

While we can’t speak for all of the winners who addressed the climate crisis in their acceptance speeches, Joaquin Phoenix recently showed concrete solidarity with the ideals he preaches, by getting arrested at a climate action rally in Washington DC.

Jane Fonda’s Leadership continues to Inspire and Energize

The climate rally was held on Friday, January 9th, just four days after the Globes. It was the last in a series of DC rallies led by actress-turned-activist Jane Fonda. Inspired by Greta Thunberg’s environmental campaigns, Fonda has been hosting weekly events, known as Fire Drill Fridays, on Capitol Hill since mid-October.

Fonda has used her own celebrity status and that of her friends to garner attention for the cause. At the final rally, both Joaquin Phoenix and fellow actor Martin Sheen also attended, and they each gave speeches to the crowd. Sheen expressed his admiration for Fonda among other female activists and then read “Where The Mind Is Without Fear,” a modernist poem by Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore.

When Phoenix spoke to the audience, his speech echoed that of his from the Globes. He pressed people to make changes in their individual livelihoods and particularly talked about consumption, once again championing plant based diets as the easiest and most effective way a single person can lower his or her carbon output.

As the rally escalated, the Capitol Police soon issued a warning for the protestors to vacate the Capitol Building’s steps or risk prosecution. When the protestors did not comply, the Police arrested 147 of the participants—both Phoenix and Sheen among them. The arrestees were charged with crowding and obstructing before being released.

Due to an increasing number of previous arrests, Fonda has been careful not to end up in handcuffs again herself. Nevertheless, she expressed her appreciation and unity with those willing to get a criminal record for Fire Drill Fridays’ goals. Fonda is now returning to Los Angeles to film the final season of Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie,” so she will not be seen in the capitol as consistently. Nevertheless, she is likely to continue her activism wherever she goes.

Photo / Joker / Warner Brothers

Expect More Celebs to Join and Repeat

As for Phoenix and Sheen, neither have announced any future Hollywood projects just yet—with the exception of a rumored “Joker 2” for Phoenix. Sheen will be appearing in the upcoming “The Adventures of Theo Star” and “12 Mighty Orphans” while Phoenix will be in “C’mon C’mon” later this year. However, all of these films are already in post-production. Therefore, the actors have seemingly free schedules, so we can likely expect to see them at more rallies and events in the future.

Phoenix’s arrest is a testament to the honesty behind his Golden Globes acceptance speech. While cries of celebrity hypocrisy may rise among perma-critics and those that carry water for the fossil fuel companies, Phoenix (and Sheen) are show their true colors and the willingness to put themselves on the front line for environmental justice. For that, they, along with Fonda, Sam Waterston and others can be seen as genuine role models and deserve commendation.

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Entertainment, Movies

77th Golden Globes Recap: Ricky Gervais hits a nerve, On Stage Activism & Netflix goes Unsung

’Big Winners Mostly Among the Predicted with a few Notable Exceptions

With the 77th Golden Globes concluded, Hollywood’s 2020 awards season is officially underway, celebrating the best and brightest that the film and television industries had to offer in the past year.

The Golden Globes took place on Sunday, January 5th at the famous Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The ceremony began at 5:00 PM Hollywood time, when stars from around the world took their seats to eagerly await the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s picks for 2019’s best film, show, actor, actress, and so on… as well as the obligatory drama and awkward moments that come with any award show.

The event started far from subtly, as host Ricky Gervais took the stage. A notoriously raw British comedian, Gervais did not shy away from controversy in his opening monologue. He poked fun at just about every industry professional in the room, humorously calling out individuals for their leftist stances on political issues while engaging in an exploitative business led by capitalist juggernauts like Apple, Amazon, and Disney. Add in a Jeffrey Epstein suicide joke, a comparison between Joe Pesci and Baby Yoda, and a shot at Felicity Huffman’s prison sentence, and the night was off to a deliciously cringey start.

Despite his forewarning jests, through, Gervais did not manage to silence the award winners in their acceptance speeches. With few exceptions, it seemed as if each recipient used his or her stage time to make a statement regarding the world’s current turbulent condition.

Upon receiving the award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV film, “Fosse/Verdon” star Michelle Williams spoke out for a woman’s right to choose; While accepting his Best Director title for “1917,” Sam Mendes made a sly remark about war that was indubitably tied to President Trump’s recent actions in Iran; Actor Jared Harris also touched on the cost of political lies when getting the Best Limited Series award for the ever-so-relevant “Chernobyl.”

Undoubtedly (and unsurprisingly), however, the social issue most addressed on the stage was climate change. Nobody addressed this topic more profoundly than Joaquin Phoenix, who upon winning Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture for his performance in “Joker,” took to the stage with peculiar reticence before immediately thanking the HFP for making the event plant-based. He then proceeded to get on Gervais’ level by dropping several f-bombs in calling out Hollywood hypocrisy. The speech was jarring, yet well received, as the actor delivered the message with far more sincerity than Gervais did at the night’s beginning.

Climate change was on many people’s mind throughout the night, especially in light of the ongoing bushfire epidemic in Australia. Russell Crowe even missed winning best actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie for his performance in “The Loudest Voice,” because he was Down Under protecting his house and family from the catastrophic infernos. In absentia, Jennifer Anniston read the New Zeland-born (yet Australian-raised) actor’s acceptance speech, where he definitively articulated the link between the country’s present forest fires and the planet’s continuing climate crisis.

Ellen DeGeneres also started out her speech expressing her concern and love for Australia. DeGeneres was honored with winning the Carol Burnett Award for achievement in television. After her touching words for Australia, the comedian-actress-talk show host shared her humble rise to stardom and her thoughts on the power of television, all with a characteristically stellar mix of endearing humor and unmistakable earnestness.

Later in the evening, actor Tom Hanks won the second special award of the night—the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. Hanks gave a deeply impassioned speech and even got choked up while thanking his family. He touched on the duty of an actor to think creatively, know ones part, and “show up on time.”

This brings us to the meat of the event—the actual winners. While the drama, activism, and jokes all make for good television, the Golden Globes are ultimately there to recognize yesteryear’s outstanding works in the entertainment industry.

First off, we obviously had a number of expected outcomes. On the TV side, Brian Cox and Olivia Coleman won best series actor and actress for their respective work in “Succession” and “The Crown.” “Succession” also won Best TV Drama Series while “Fleabag” won in the Comedy category.

As for movies, we saw the anticipated Brad Pitt win Best Supporting Actor for his role in Quentin Tarantino “Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood.” Tarantino himself also won Best Original Screenplay and the film as a whole won Best Film in the Musical or Comedy category. Similarly predictable, the Korean “Parasite” won Best Foreign Language Film, Hildur Guðnadóttir won best original score for “Joker,” and Renée Zellweger won Best Drama Actress for “Judy.”

1917 is Stealth Favorite and Takes Top Drama

The upsets, however, came about in some other fields. As aforementioned, Sam Mendes won Best Director for “1917,” and the movie went on to win Best Film in the Drama category. Neither award was anticipated for Mendes. On the directorial front, he faced competition from the likes of Tarantino and Scorsese. Likewise, for best picture, he went up against bona fide critical hits such as “The Irishman,” “Joker,” and “Marriage Story.” “1917” is yet to get a wide release, however, which may be the reason many people did not foresee its success.

Another upset occurred in the Best Musical/Comedy Actor category, where Taron Egerton won the title for portraying Elton John in “Rocketman.” The thirty-year-old actor beat out stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Eddie Murphy, and Daniel Craig. Furthermore, in the Animated Film category, Laika Entertainment’s “Missing Link” beat DreamWorks’ “How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” along with Disney’s triple-threat nominees “The Lion King,” “Toy Story 4,” and “Forzen II.” “Missing Link” performed abysmally in the theaters and director Chris Butler was utterly baffled during his acceptance speech. Evidently, big studios and box office figures do not always correlate with talent or translate to critical success.

That being said, the films that had no box office earnings whatsoever (i.e. the copious direct-to-streaming nominees this year) did far worse than expected at the 77th Golden Globes. Going into the night, Netflix had more film nominations than any other production company. Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” led the race with six nominations, trailed only by Scorsese’s “The Irishman” with five—both of which were Netflix originals.

It seemed as if the Globes was going to be a game-changing event for the streaming world as well as a defining moment for Netflix to rebrand itself as the “prestigious” streaming platform amongst the competition. Maybe just getting the nominations was enough for Netflix to earn this reputation. However, the company walked away with just one film award—Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress in “Marriage Story.” For all the hype that Netflix’s “The Irishman,” “Dolemite Is My Name,” and “The Two Popes” went in with, they all left empty handed.

Contrary to expectations, perhaps the Hollywood Foreign Press was not quite ready to hold direct-to-streaming titles in the same regards as traditional theatrical releases. Maybe the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will think otherwise, as they announce the Oscar nominees on January 13th—if nothing else, maybe they’ll at least select a host with a touch more compassion.

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Entertainment, Movies

Golden Globes: Netflix Dominates and Apple TV+ makes Big Debut as Streaming still Shines

Photo / Adobe Stock

Streaming is now Fully Integrated into Hollywood Awards System…

After Netflix’s “Roma” earned ten nominations at last years Academy Awards and took home three Oscars, director Stephen Spielberg came out with some controversial statements about streaming content’s questionable eligibility for cinematic awards. Ever since the esteemed director made these comments, streaming services have become an increasingly divisive topic in the film industry—especially as most of them are transitioning towards creating more in-house productions.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), however, clearly does not see an issue in recognizing streaming platforms for creating excellent content. On December 9th, the HFPA released its nominations for the 77th Golden Globes and a number of the most picked out titles came from streaming companies.

In the Best Picture categories, Netflix reigned supreme, with its original movies adding up to four of the ten nominees. In the Musical/Comedy category, Craig Brewer’s “Dolemite Is My Name” received a nomination alongside “Jojo Rabbit,” “Knives Out,” “Rocketman,” and “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.” Meanwhile, in the Drama category, Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” and Fernando Meirelles “The Two Popes” were all nominated alongside “Joker” and “1917.”

Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” actually led the entire race with more nominations than any other title. It received six nominations including Best Drama Motion Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern), Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture (Adam Driver), Best Actress in a Drama Motion Picture (Scarlett Johannson), and Best Original Score (Randy Newman).

The movie just narrowly beat out Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” which earned five nominations including Best Drama Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Steven Zaillian) and two for Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci and Al Pacino). Oddly enough, leading man Robert De Niro did not earn recognition for his performance in the film.

Regardless, both are Netflix titles, and with them leading the nominations by the numbers, it makes Netflix the most recognized production company in the runnings. Obviously, the streaming service’s newfound focus on producing prestigious content is paying off in a critical sense, and Spielberg’s comments have not slowed it down on the road to success.

Stars of “The Morning Show” from Apple TV+

New Kid on the Block Hits Pay-dirt on first Try

Meanwhile, Apple TV+ also received three nominations for its original series “The Morning Show”—one for Best Drama TV Series and two for Best Actress in a Drama Television Series (Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, both of whom are also executive producers on the show).

“The Morning Show” debuted just over a month ago on November 1st, the same day that Apple TV+ launched. While the new service may not be as popular as Disney+ or Amazon, it is the first streaming website to receive recognition from the HFPA in its first year online. This bodes well for the young platform’s future.

Other direct-to-streaming shows that received nominations this year include Hulu’s “Catch-22,” Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and Netflix’s “Unbelievable,” “The Crown,” “The Kominsky Method,” and “The Politician.” And that’s not including all of the individual actors, actresses, composers, and songwriters who also got nominated.

Clearly, streaming is dominating television nowadays, but if this year’s Golden Globes are any indication, it is also starting to leave a mark on film. This recognition is good news for both Apple and Netflix. With the recent oversaturation of options causing a streaming war within the entertainment market right now, awards will start to mean a lot more than they did in the past. Everything else aside, at least these two companies are not skimping on quality.

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