The Irishman 2019
Front-runner status, honored up and down the slate, but De Niro was snubbed for Best Actor, read as payback for mocking the HFPA on a telecast years ago.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
Golden Globes Nominations Snubs and Surprises | The Oscars Show
December 9, 2019/ 91 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins woke up at 5 a.m. for the 77th Golden Globe nominations and go through them category by category: the De Niro snub, Netflix crowding out Ford v Ferrari, Cats left for dead. Then they read the tea leaves on the Oscar race and talk with documentarian Alex Gibney about Citizen K.
65 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The Golden Globe Nominationscategory by category
Marriage Story 2019
Six nominations, but no Best Director for Baumbach. Hit Netflix this weekend and drove the conversation.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019
Five nominations. Kyle Buchanan floated it as a possible A Star Is Born of the season; Brad and Leo both got in.
Joker 2019
Four nominations including Todd Phillips for director, running eighth on the oddsboards. Sean's Green-Book-style pick to actually win Best Drama.
Parasite 2019
Three nominations including screenplay; ineligible for drama or comedy under the HFPA's foreign-language rule. The screenplay nod signals it's being taken seriously.
Knives Out 2019
Three nominations. Daniel Craig got in on star power once Sandler moved out of the comedy field.
The Two Popes 2019
Golden Globes candy: Vatican setting, Pryce and Hopkins, feel-good and accessible. Premieres on Netflix Dec 20.
1917 2019
The serious-dad movie of the season; nudged into Best Drama over Ford v Ferrari.
Little Women 2019
Only two nominations and no Best Drama, a big loser of the morning. One of four woman-led films the Globes overlooked.
The Farewell 2019
Two nominations, no Lulu Wang for director or screenplay. Ran in drama, not comedy, complicated by its Chinese production.
Bombshell 2019
Two nominations, missed Best Drama. Margot Robbie in supporting; Charlize Theron's transformation called unreal on rewatch.
Hustlers 2019
One nomination, for J.Lo: expected, but nothing else.
Cats 2019
One nomination. 'Dead, at least in the awards race.' Sean keeps insisting it was snubbed.
Richard Jewell 2019
One nomination, for Kathy Bates in supporting. Too Eastwood-American for the HFPA, but rising in critics lists.
Just Mercy 2019
Zero nominations, three weeks before release, may toll the end of its campaign.
Waves 2019
Zero nominations; ends the conversation completely.
Ford v Ferrari 2019
Christian Bale in Best Actor but no Best Picture. A traditional crowd-pleaser squeezed out by Netflix's four-film haul.
The Lighthouse 2019
No love for Pattinson or Dafoe. The film the top-five audience begged Sean to cover. 'Keep shining.'
Uncut Gems 2019
Moved from comedy into drama after last week's taping, neutralizing Sandler's chances. Shut out.
Dolemite Is My Name 2019
Two nominations, a campaigning win for Netflix. Watch whether Eddie Murphy makes the Best Actor race.
Pain and Glory 2019
Best Foreign Language nominee; Antonio Banderas in Best Actor.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019
A nice surprise in Foreign Language: strong opening box office, one of the best-reviewed films of the year, and not France's Oscar submission.
Les Misérables 2019
Ladj Ly's film, in Best Foreign Language.
Atlantics 2019
Mati Diop's Netflix film, the big Foreign Language snub.
Invisible Life 2019
Brazil's Oscar entry; Sean caught it over the weekend and recommends it.
Frozen II 2019
Best Animated nominee in a weak year for the category; 'Into the Unknown' also up for song (Idina Menzel, not Panic! at the Disco).
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World 2019
Best Animated nominee.
Missing Link 2019
Laika/UA production with an aggressive swag-heavy campaign; looks exposed once the Oscar race narrows.
Toy Story 4 2019
Best Animated nominee, one of three Disney nods in the category.
The Lion King 2019
Nominated in Animated at the Globes; won't compete there at the Oscars.
I Lost My Body 2019
The critics' animated pick, snubbed here: a strange, very good French Netflix film whose oddity may have limited the HFPA.
Rocketman 2019
In Best Comedy; 'I'm Gonna Love Me Again' up for song (Elton John).
Harriet 2019
Cynthia Erivo in Best Actress/Drama; 'Stand Up' up for song. A movie Sean and Amanda find fine but uninteresting.
Wild Rose 2018
Jessie Buckley is delightful and the song is lovely. Shame on the HFPA for missing it.
Motherless Brooklyn 2019
A random-but-welcome Best Score nomination (Daniel Pemberton) capturing mid-century New York jazz.
Jojo Rabbit 2019
Shut out of screenplay and score (Giacchino); starting to feel like it's fading.
Us 2019
Michael Abels' score snubbed; Lupita Nyong'o's Best Actress snub is a blow despite Universal's billboard push.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 2019
No score nomination, no Star Wars at all. Hadn't screened in time.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 2019
Tom Hanks in supporting; missed Best Drama.
The Report 2019
Annette Bening in supporting, Sean's 'nothing burger' pick: 'she's just wearing a wig.'
Judy 2019
Renée Zellweger a lock in Best Actress/Drama; category fraud that it isn't in comedy. Possibly this year's Glenn Close, though she already has an Oscar.
Clemency 2019
Alfre Woodard snub in Best Actress, last-minute, few have seen it.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette 2019
Cate Blanchett in Best Comedy Actress, a movie Amanda thinks doesn't work but isn't quite bad.
Booksmart 2019
Beanie Feldstein in Best Comedy Actress, a cheerful Globes-stage moment if she wins.
Late Night 2019
Emma Thompson in Best Comedy Actress.
Honey Boy 2019
Noah Jupe in the young-actor race, running behind Julia Butters.
Avengers: Endgame 2019
Amanda's beloved Critics' Choice Best Sci-Fi nominee; Sean keeps calling the Thanos snub 'brutal.'
Stock Up, Stock Downreading the wider Oscar race
The Irishman 2019
Stock up: New York and NBR both named it best film. Getting Roma vibes: critics love it, but the older, watch-my-friends crowd has been resistant. Reached ~13.2M viewers in five days per Nielsen.
Marriage Story 2019
The best-picture weather vane: as soon as film Twitter started asking 'are we sure it's that good,' Amanda called it. Manageable, quietly artistic, and 'anyone who's been cheated on is like, fuck this movie.'
Roma 2018
The comparison point: swept the critics last year, then a lot of people just meant to get through it at home.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie 2019
Debuted to ~11M views but didn't crack the Oscar conversation. Popularity doesn't equal awards.
Bird Box 2018
The meme-fueled benchmark: ~26M views in five days, zero Oscars.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 2019
Stock down: cooked except for Tom Hanks, whom Sean really likes. Doing okay business, on year-end lists.
Ford v Ferrari 2019
Stock down: didn't even make the AFI top 10, which is where a movie like it wants to be.
In conversation
Alex Gibney on
Citizen K 2019
His latest: the story of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, jailed after calling out Putin's corruption and now a dissident in exile. A pocket history of Russia's false democracy told as pulp: gangster film, Western, dark comedy. Title nods to both Kane and Kafka's K.
Alex Gibney on
Taxi to the Dark Side 2007
His Oscar winner. Approached as a torture film; found the way in through Dilawar, the taxi driver, and told it as a murder mystery. The first film he narrated himself, after including footage of his dying father.
Alex Gibney on
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief 2015
Cited among the films that made his name.
Alex Gibney on
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley 2019
His other 2019 release, also dark, also about what ambition does to a person.
Alex Gibney on
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson 2008
Rights trouble stalled it, so he worked on it alongside Taxi to the Dark Side, the accidental start of his habit of juggling projects.
Alex Gibney on
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room 2005
His first big film, narrated by Peter Coyote; he approached it as a heist film.
Alex Gibney on
Casino Jack and the United States of Money 2010
The Jack Abramoff film. Left him still hunting a lobbyist willing to name names about money in politics.
Alex Gibney on
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer 2010
One of the films where he used actors to play with fiction and reality.
Alex Gibney on
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese 2019
Got the playful fiction/non-fiction conceit but found the real Dylan footage (the Baez exchanges, the performances) far more interesting than the invented mythology.
Alex Gibney on
For Sama 2019
His pick for the last great thing he's seen, raw and tender, a first-time filmmaker documenting horror in Syria while raising a child. 'Out of despair comes hope.'
Also mentioned raised along the way
Comparisons and asides Inglourious BasterdsThe NaturalGreen BookBohemian RhapsodyThe WifeAmerican SniperCasablancaChinatownRaiders of the Lost ArkRenaldo and Clara
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The Morning ShowMindhunterThe Looming TowerBillionsThe BluesBreaking Bad
Awards / other MTV Movie AwardsToday ShowGood Morning AmericaSaturday Night Live