Hollywood, CA: December 13, 2016

The 2017 Golden Globe nominations were announced yesterday in Beverly Hills.

Actor Don Cheadle, Laura Dern, and Anna Kendrick were joined by the Miss Golden Globe trio — Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet Stallone as well as Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Lorenzo Soria, and Barry Adelman in revealing the nominees.

The Golden Globes are presented by the HFPA, which consists of journalists who cover American film and television for international outlets. The membership requirements however are not tough. Members are only required to publish four articles per year in almost any publication, meaning that many of the members are not full-time journalists who work for big-name outlets. In fact it has been said that legitimate journalists from major international publications are often denied HFPA membership.

It would seem it’s who you know, not what you know.

Many in Hollywood consider the Golden Globes a second-class trophy compared to the Oscars and the Emmys, so why does Hollywood continue to support the ceremony? Because the public doesn’t know the difference and the telecast is a fun, alcohol fueled party with great gift bags for nominees and presenters.

And… as the old saying goes, any publicity is good publicity.

This year the nominations seem to be on track with what’s popular in the mainstream. La La Land, the fresh musical starring,Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone leads with seven.

The well deserved acclaim for the Matt Damon produced, Manchester By The Sea with powerful performances from Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges is also growing and both these films will surely get Oscar nods.

Lion is another heart-tugging film that is gathering traction and is worthy of it’s nomination. The HFPA got these right.

The somewhat overrated Arrival is a surprise on the list, but we are happy to see Annett Bening recognized for her honest and believable work in 20th Century Women.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon’s fine work in Nocturnal Animals was overlooked by the HFPA but hopefully the SAG and Academy Awards will rectify that.

There are rumblings that Fences did not get a best picture nod. While the performances in the film are exceptional, it feels much like an over the top play that is more suited to the stage, the medium for which it was conceived.

Sully, a basically well made TV movie was left out of the mix, leaving Tom Hanks and Clint Eastwood batting zero for the time being. Truthfully, there are many other deserving potential nominees who join Hanks and Eastwood on the sidelines.

In the foreign film category, the strong Hungarian film, Kills On Wheels was sadly bypassed, perhaps because Son of Saul, also from Hungary, swept last year. This is a unfortunate because Kills On Wheels is a well made, action-packed film with heart and deserves to be seen.

Here’s a full list of nominees for the Golden Globes.

Winners will be announced in a live telecast on January 8, 2017, starting at 5pm PST.

Best motion picture, drama:
Hell or High Water
Hacksaw Ridge
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

20th Century Women
Deadpool
Florence Foster Jenkins
La La Land
Sing Street

Netflix‘s The Crown
HBO’s Game of Thrones
Netflix’s Stranger Things
NBC’s This Is Us
HBO’s Westworld

FX’s Atlanta
ABC’s Black-ish
Amazon‘s Mozart in the Jungle
Amazon’s Transparent
HBO’s Veep

Best TV movie or limited series:
ABC’s American Crime
Starz’s The Dress
AMC‘s The Night Manager
HBO’s The Night Of
FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences

Best actress in a motion picture, drama:
Amy Adams, Arrival
Jessica Chastain, Miss Sloane
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie

Colin Farrell, The Lobster
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Jonah Hill, War Dogs
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

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 supporting actor in a motion picture:
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Simon Helberg, Florence Foster Jenkins
Dev Patel, Lion
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals

Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea