Awards season, much like winter, is coming, and we have FEELINGS about it. Today, Ben, Brian and Nina discuss this morning’s Golden Globe nominations, what this could mean for the Oscars, and the “dreaded Fallon factor.”

Ben: Welcome to mid-December, which means it’s officially awards season, which here at (Pop) Culturally Informed is the same thing as Christmas! The official start of the season is here with the Golden Globe Nominations, that special time where the Hollywood Foreign Press makes super odd choices and the entertainment elite get together to drink their cares away, and this year they definitely need it. How are these Globe noms looking this year, folks?

Brian: Looking pretty sunny for La La Land with only a small chance of Moonlight.  The insane momentum of Barry Jenkins’ opus seems to be grinding to a little bit of halt thanks to more recent release Damien Chazelle’s modern musical follow-up to Whiplash. They both bagged all the critical nominations, but last night’s Critic’s Choice Awards were completely swept by Land. I love Moonlight, so I’m nervous.

Ben: As of this writing, I still haven’t seen La La Land yet, but it is definitely the more “Academy-friendly” film, a big splashy musical with two (white) Hollywood A-listers, what’s not to love? But Moonlight is definitely playing the long game pretty well, racking up Critics awards across the country, and the acclaim of this masterpiece (my personal favorite of the year) is undeniable. It’s almost certainly the dark horse of this awards season, and deservedly so.

Brian: Definitely. It has some pretty stiff competition for Best Drama. Manchester by the Sea is emerging as a frontrunner thanks to its buzzy performances by Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. And I don’t know much about Lion or Hell or High Water, but I think I’m the only one because they’re both also nominated across the board. And, for some reason, we’re letting Mel Gibson be a thing again. Does this mean Hacksaw Ridge is really that good?

Nina: You’ll have to ask Andrew Garfield about Hacksaw Ridge, since I feel confident nobody has actually seen it. As for La La Land vs. Moonlight, I certainly see the diversity dynamics at play here, but both movies have gotten phenomenal buzz, and from what I’ve been reading, Land has been a Best Picture frontrunner for months now. (Full disclosure: as of now, I have seen neither, though I’m trying to make it to Moonlight this week.) A few surprises in the acting categories – notably, unsurprising love for Amy Adams, but nothing for Arrival as a whole. I’m also VERY EXCITED to see Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds making an appearance.

Brian: Me too! La La Land is 100% going to time step away with Best Picture — Comedy/Musical, but how cool would it be for Reynolds and company to win for the hilariously vulgar anti-hero romp?

Ben: Thrilled for all the wonderful social media quippy marketing we’re about to get from the Deadpool team, and we can be sure our lovely masked anti-hero will make an appearance on the Globes stage at some point. We’ll do a predictions post closer to the awards, but based on these nominations, our three Best Picture hopefuls (La La Land, Manchester By The Sea, and Moonlight) have nothing to worry about, and things are looking brighter for the teams from Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, and maybe even Nocturnal Animals, which is also a film that exists.

Nina: If Viola Davis DOESN’T sweep for Fences, I’ll eat a live pigeon and stream it on Facebook. You heard it here first, people!

Brian: It’s happening. She started her awards march with the Critic’s Choice, and I don’t see anyone getting in her way. It’s a shame she had to pull an Alicia Vikander and campaign for Supporting in what is clearly a Leading role, but who cares? It’s about damn time.

Ben: I’m not mad about it at all, I’m thrilled to see that movie, and she deserves all the praise from it. If the race is between Davis and Naomie Harris for Moonlight, then it’s a damn good awards season we’ve found ourselves in. Plus Mahershala Ali is our wonderful frontrunner for Supporting Actor, I think it’s shaping up to be an exciting Globes…  for once.

Brian: Don’t forget the dreaded Fallon factor.

Ben: Oh FUCK, he’s hosting?! Never mind, this will go down as the worst Golden Globes in history. Burn it all down.

Nina: Unfunny white dudes named Jimmy are hosting the Globes AND the Oscars. I’m sorry, was NOBODY else available? Anyway, let’s move right along. As for TV, does it surprise anyone else that People vs. OJ leads the pack there? Of course not, although there were some nice surprises throughout.

Ben: Totally not surprised by the love for Westworld either, the Globes always like to single out TV shows that have become the talk of the town. I’m super excited to see Atlanta getting love, a new series that’s pretty frantic and new and weird. Good for Donald Glover, I’m glad his latest TV outing is paying off. And Issa Rae getting nominated for Insecure is the loveliest too, I’m just so glad to see young creators getting recognition for their work!

Nina: I’m really happy to see a lot of new faces coming through – looking at Drama, it’s awesome to see The Crown and Stranger Things, two especially good offerings from Netflix, break through for their debut seasons. I’m still so confused by some of the HFPA’s choices — are they seriously going to keep pretending that any real people watch Mozart in the Jungle?!? — but it’s good to see former winners Rachel Bloom and Gina Rodriguez alongside first-time nominees like Issa Rae, Donald Glover and Evan Rachel Wood, proving that the next generation of performers is pretty goddamn strong.

Brian: Also, This Is Us has only aired HALF of its first season. I am big fan of this rare win for NBC, but really? Good for Mandy Moore and Chrissy Metz getting their names on the board, but it’s a real shame to not see Milo Ventimiglia’s well-rounded butt performance get any love. I blame Billy Bob Thornton because what the hell is Goliath?

Nina: That’s the perfect lead-in for my favorite part of awards show posts – COMPLAINING! Let’s talk snubs, friends. Some of my most egregious (god, I love bringing that word back every year) snubs — Peter Dinklage slash any actors at all from Game of Thrones who aren’t Lena Headey, Ed Harris and Jimmi Simpson’s excellent performances on Westworld, and Taraji P. Henson and Viola Davis missing out on nominations for their TV performances as Cookie Lyon and Annalise Keating, respectively. I’m not super invested in Mr. Robot getting shut out of Best Drama, but it IS surprising after it took home the trophy last year, and I’m actively THRILLED to see House of Cards finally get knocked out of that category. God, that show sucks.

Brian: Well, I think the ladies of Litchfield Prison have a whole new reason to riot because Orange is the New Black was completely overlooked for its game changing fourth season. No Best Drama Series, no Uzo Aduba, no Samira Wiley, no Laverne Cox! If the Television Academy tries to pull this shit next fall… Emmys, you in danger girl.

Ben: Heading back to movies, I’m super disappointed that the masterpiece The Handmaiden was left out of the Foreign Language Film category, since it’s easily one of the best movies of the year, Foreign Language or English Language. And fuck Florence Foster Jenkins, the comedic heartbreaker of the year Don’t Think Twice easily deserved a spot in the Musical or Comedy Best Picture slot. As always, HFPA, you’re a bunch of star-hungry buffoons.

Brian: If they didn’t nominate FFJ, how is Meryl ever going to land her 10,000th Globe nomination, Ben?

Ben: You’re right, what was I thinking. How foolish of me.

Nina: Well, I think we’ve said our piece, but we’ll be back just before the Globes actually air in January to make final predictions, bitch some more, and make jokes about talented famous people. Til then, nerds!