Richard Rushfield on the Globe nominations and Oscar trends that are beginning to emerge.
For the first time in many years of Oscar races, no heavyweight or pair of heavyweights has dominated the field; no out-of-left-field choice has grabbed the voters' hearts and run away with them. Academy Awards pundits have been moping, praying for a last-minute savior to appear, and almost refusing to believe that one of these films will have to take the Best Picture trophy.
Nevertheless, after a flurry in the past week of film critics' awards—and with the Golden Globe nominations this morning—some clear trends have emerged. It's an exaggeration to say that the Golden Globes set in stone what will and will not be graced by Oscar. The hallowed Academy has shown itself more than willing to ignore the lead of its glitzier, brasher trophy-wielding cousin. But all the same, as much as Oscar might hate this fact, the Globes are a leading indicator of Oscar's predilections, ratifying trends shaping in the ether and helping solidify the general consensus. As above-it-all-that as Oscar voters like to think they are, in the end they tend to fall in line with the winds of conventional wisdom like everyone else.
In February, someone is going to have to take home the Oscar, and a picture of who that might be is taking shape, as well as a sense of who is looking like the winners and losers of this year's Best Picture marathon.
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