2024 Golden Globe Nominee Reviews
Read without fear. I’ll give you warning before I launch spoilers. And FYI, it’s not a complete list – just those movies I got to.
My adult daughter and her friends loved this movie and I’d seen enough of the clips to understand that it was going to be clever and amusing. And it was. The opening was hilarious. The first time we saw Barbie and entered Barbieland, I was all smiles and admired the way the movie was shot. And the jokes. The inside-ish jokes that we all get about the dolls, the doll clothes, how girls played with them, the accessories, the marketing craze with all their failures and successes. Lots of work went into this movie and it took a lot of talented people to make it.
But then a few things happened. SPOILERS HERE ON…. The Mattel Headquarters bit, presided over by the wonderfully talented Will Ferrel, didn’t work for me. It was stupid. That entire storyline was pointless to me. But then again, that was part of the problem. What was the story? Yeah, it had one, but it moved at a slow pace interspersed with song and dance numbers that made me check my head, wondering if I had a fever. They were creepy. And too long. And sometimes with Ken, you couldn’t hear the dialog or the words in the song.
Speaking of the dialog, there was a lot of deep cultural commentary (I think that was the meta point of the movie), but it was delivered at a clip and written by a Ph.D. in Sociology.
Back to Barbieland and the evolution of “Classic” Barbie becoming a human – why? So she can become more modern? The doll has a successful coming-to-life experience, but I absolutely hated Barbie’s last scene in the movie. It was not clever. It was cringe-worthy and lame.
Positive takeaways were for Margot Robbie. She was perfectly cast and is a great actor. The voice-over from Helen Mirren and the casting of Rhea Pearlman were inspired choices too – and I loved Rhea Pearlman’s character. Ryan Gosling was okay as the I-Get-The-Joke-Enough-Already Ken. And there was an arc with Ken’s character which I suppose I might have appreciated more – but it was all very juvenile feeling. Like the scene in Mary Poppins when the human actors jump into a cartoon world.
I have no idea what young girls who still play with Barbies will think about this movie and if they will be adversely or positively influenced by it. They will have a lot to think about. Should we be telling them what to think or letting them play with their Barbies so they can discover things for themselves? I’m not sure adults should wield this heavy hammer. But then again, the world is changing.
If asked what I thought about this move, imagine me cocking my head way to the side with my face scrunched up. “Well, I was really excited to watch it since it had all the earmarks for something epic. Have you ever seen Terms of Endearment?” An eye-roll comes my way. “Of course you have. It was a slice of life, all about relationships. And it made me cry. Which I adore.” So I was ready for something like that. I thought The Holdlovers, with all its awards and cast with the soulful Paul Giamatti was gonna make me cry. But it didn’t. The production was beautifully shot, and the acting was great, but the story just didn’t seem punchy enough. It’s hard to put my finger on it. Maybe it’s me. What does it take to pierce my hardened shell? The movie was almost quaint juxtaposed next to all the incredible evil and shit going on in the world. I’m so used to ducking and covering all the time, waiting for the next grenade launch on the news cycle… Sorry. It was a good movie. But it was Christmastime both in real life and in the movie, and I really wanted a nice, sentimental cry.
This movie is another stab at trying to understand the Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Faualaau story. (Come on, Hollywood, we all know the story is about Vili and Mary Kay – why did you give everyone brand new names in the movie? To distance us? So we could take a look at these characters with fresh eyes? Maybe it was aimed toward the Gen Z-ers.)
Anyhow, Mary Kay was Vili’s teacher. She went to prison for sexual assault against Vili, after initiating a relationship when the poor boy was 12 years old. They had two kids together, both born before Vili was 15. (She already had four other children with her first husband. Sorry kids.) After serving seven years in prison, Mary Kay and Vili continued to stun the world when they got back together and purportedly built some kind of happy life until she died of cancer in 2020.
The tabloids and movie-making machine have been all over this story for years. May December is the latest—based on a true story—jab, this one taking place around the end times for Mary.
Release the lions into the arena. Natalie Portman is an actor playing an actor who will be portraying Mary Kay in a movie. And the girl needs to do some research. Julianne Moore plays Mary Kay. And so the two will meet.
The rest of the cast is interesting, but superfluous to the ride as the movie really focuses on these two, acting their little fannies off. And I’m not kidding, they are both extraordinary in their roles. The guy playing “Joe” (Vili) was also superb – Charles Melton. And he was definitely the most tragic figure for me. I suppose that shouldn’t be a surprise, but such deep psychological dives have been made on Mary Kay, trying to influence us that we are supposed to feel sorry for her. We’ll never know the real story, so it’s hard to know what to think. But my vote is clear – #TeamVili.
The creepiness of this dark movie left a bad taste in my mouth. SPOILER . . . (maybe)
Natalie Portman’s character may have been more disturbing than Mary Kay’s. Natalieliterally, biblically wanted in on the Mary Kay experience and had to feel what it was like to be Mary Kay. It’s acting, darling. The role and process is everything. Whatever, Natalie!
Listen, I watched it. So now I can say it’s checked off the list. If it hadn’t been on the list and if I’d known how blechy the movie was, I wouldn’t have watched it. Grade A all around for acting, though.
I gathered with my clan for this, everyone ready with expectations high for a big oh-my-gawd-that-was-great movie. That’s how it’s touted, right? So why did I have so much trouble with it? First off, I found the beginning scenes really confusing. Cillian Murphy (and his haunting blue eyes) plays Oppenheimer. While asking my family questions, trying to keep up, I annoyingly kept pronouncing Cillian’s name like Killean – because the C at the beginning (instead of an S) I likened with the word Celt – so a hard C sound. “It’s pronounced Sill-ian, mom. Gawd, can we just watch the movie?”
“But what’s happening?” The timeline was everywhere. Some scenes were in color and some and black and white and I assumed—wrongly—that black and white would mean it was from the past and the color scenes were from the present or future. But no, that was incorrect. Later in the movie, the black and white stuff happens even though it’s “present” time. It was difficult throughout. “Follow the hairstyle on SILLian,” George said. “It’s longer when he’s in the past.”
I thought that was a good tip, but then I got lost again. It took me a belated moment to realize that I was looking at Robert Downey, Jr. He was playing a vital role (I didn’t realize how vital it was until way late in the movie). I adore Robert Downey, Jr. His acting abilities are phenomenal. I remember praying for him—a lot—when he was in prison, super worried all the time. Moving forward, he seems to have overcome his addictions, but what the hell has Hollywood done to him? What is he. . . like 100 pounds? Has he eaten a carb in the last decade? I realize the hair and makeup in the movie were supposed to make him look like an older gentleman but come on. He was gaunt. And now I’m worried about him again.
Once I got the rhythm (sort of) and distractions out of the way, I got confused again about Oppenheimer’s love life. The character introductions of Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt were choppy. “Wait, isn’t Emily Blunt married to someone else? Is Florence Pugh his wife?”
“Stop talking, Mom!”
“Oh look, that’s Josh Hartnett! He’s such a cutie.”
And then Matt Damon came into the movie as an American General and it all started making sense. He took control and grounded me in reality. Oppenheimer and his life were peyote-type messy, but Damon had a job to do that I understood.
The movie was basically about the famous and brilliant physicist Oppenheimer (dur) and his guilt about having a hand in developing the atomic bomb. Or was it the hydrogen bomb? Both? And about his personal life, and how during the McCarthyism times, he was investigated for being a communist. Kay. As always, you gotta love the chain-smoking white men politicians in dark rooms manipulating the world. I started picturing Joe Pesci in the movie JFK screaming that it was “a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma.” Everyone was losing their shit and Truman called Oppenheimer a crybaby. Was there a spy at Los Alamos? I think so, but then my brain decided it was working too hard, and I fell asleep with about 30 minutes left to go in the movie.
Finishing up the next day, the last scenes make the motivation of people clearer, and the movie ends with a nice wrap-up between Einstein and Oppenheimer. The movie was about guilt. Which is what we knew from the onset. And that humans are manipulative, short-sighted, and stupid.
I’m not burying the lead . . . I loved this movie. It made me smile and even laugh out loud. The boys are back with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and it’s fun to see them together. They know how to put together a story and how to make an entertaining movie. And they don’t skimp on the budget for the licensing fees for classic music. I’m curious how much they paid Springsteen. And kudos to the set designers for getting the 1984 vibe just right.
If you don’t already know, this is about the marketing magic that came together between the basketball legend Michael Jordan and his relationship with Nike. They made the infamous shoe—Air Jordan—and they all got rich and changed the industry. (I won’t say how because of Spoilers). The acting was superb. And I get an anticipatory gleefulness whenever Jason Bateman has a line. He’s just awesome. The entire cast was filled with surprises. Matthew Maher as the shoe creator was hilarious as was Chris Messina as Michael’s agent. Michael’s mama was played by Viola Davis. Need I say more?
It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how an iconic American success story happened. Break out the popcorn.
I don’t think this movie received any Golden Globe nominations. After watching it, I googled the awards question, but 50 non-related sites to my query popped up. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?) But I don’t think further due diligence is a deal breaker for this blog. So why is this movie on this list? Because my daughter wanted to watch it. And I’m Jello in her hands.
I’m also including a review here because I really liked this movie. It grabs you fast and doesn’t let go. I dare you to turn it off. The sleek camera work and the suspenseful plot were everything. And I’m frightened thinking about the possibility that something like this could happen in the future. Because it could. I probably didn’t need more shit in my head about end-of-the-world stuff. But . . . SPOILER . . . . (stop reading now if you need to)
Whispering. . . .
But was it the end of the world for everyone or just the end of the U.S.? Because there would be serious if not catastrophic ripple effects, right? So to all of you world dominance and country destroyers out there, I’ll give you a hat tip from Jurassic Park – clever girl. But plot carefully.
There is a ton of chatter about the end of the movie. For me, I don’t enjoy books and movies that have no clear endings. But the options about which way to end this movie would be endless. And the hourglass only held so much sand. The writers probably batted it around for a while and then just threw up their hands. This movie could be the framework for a series. Anything could happen. But none of it would be good. The United States would most likely be destroyed. Millions would die. Probably. Unless we could fix communications and get emergency relief fast. Are we ready for that? Are people in the U.S. government paying attention? The good ones? The ones who care about the population and not some new world order? There is so much shit about how smart AI is – run some scenarios through that bitch and see what she says. Would it be like War Games with the computer learning from Tic-Tac-Toe? What would Hal spit out? I may never sleep again.
I gave the movie four stars because it was really well made and the acting was superb, but I held out awarding the last one because it was so deeply esoteric and artsy and not truly my cup of tea. But then I’m an American mutt and not some world-renowned artist whose name will forever be coupled with the angels of music who bring forth ambrosia for the rest of us mortals to enjoy.
Bradley Cooper was magnificent, and I truly forgot it was him while watching it. Carey Mulligan can soften the hardest of hearts with her entrancing-like face and teary expressions and deserves whatever awards come her way too.
Since it was a bio picture of the conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, I’m not sure how much I can criticize or comment on the man’s behavior. I learned a lot about him and his super complicated and at times beautiful relationship with his wife, children, and even friends, and I suppose I ended with the understanding that he was human first, but so tightly meshed within his craft and listening to his heart that the two blended. He was his art. And others, painfully at times, made room for him to be that.
I learned a bit about the importance of a conductor too. And that was interesting.
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