Golden Globes Night: 11 Moments. 27 Winners. 3 Takeways.

by Nathaniel R

How was Globe night for you? We don't plan to rain on your parade if you loved it as we'll focus on the positive herein. That said a dark storm threatened to dampen the jolly proceedings from Ricky Gervais opening monologue. The joke gathering the cloud "I don't care anymore. Kidding, I never did." We have personally never seen an awards show host phone it in as much as Gervais did on the big night -- even James Franco tried harder at his famously disastrous Oscar co-host gig -- so good riddance to Gervais forever and ever. There's insult humor and then there's being a walking insult to anyone who deigns to watch you. BUT ON TO HAPPIER THINGS.

After the jump we'll share the key moments, winners, and takeaways...

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"Parasite" is the mashup of "Shoplifters" and "Burning" we never knew we wanted

by Lynn Lee

For a 132-minute Korean film that isn’t yet in wide release, Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite is already one of the most talked-about movies of the season, and for good reason.  Alas, most of the reasons can’t really be discussed without major spoilers – but that’s all the more incentive to see it as soon as it hits a theater near you.

When I saw it, I loved it, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting considering I hadn’t been a fan of either The Host or Snowpiercer, arguably the director's most popular films.  Despite its run time, Parasite is tighter than those films, and its tonal shifts and genre-melding smoother.  It's also more focused, its treatment of one of Bong’s favorite themes – class disparities – razor-sharp yet also oddly compassionate, ultimately condemning the system rather than any individual players.

Parasite, which took the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, also felt to me like the deranged evil twin of last year’s Palme d’Or winner, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters...

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How had I never seen... "Z" (1969)

by Mark Brinkerhoff

After finally having gotten around to seeing 1931’s M, it seemed only fitting to round it out with 1969’s Z, co-record-holder of the shortest movie title ever. Who knew that these two would have more in common than their one-word titles? 

Bracingly directed by Greek-born Costa-Gavras, the Algeria-set, French-language Z is a thinly veiled version of the circumstances around the 1963 assassination of a reformist Greek politician by right-wing zealots. Both the fictional and actual events stoked social upheaval and prompted a political crisis. Factor in a shady government coverup, eventually exposed by a dogged team of investigators and journalists, and you have the makings of a thriller that is as timeless as it is unnerving...

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Yes No Maybe So: "Bombshell"

On the heels of Showtime’s unheralded miniseries The Loudest Voice, Lionsgate and director Jay Roach are diving into the zeitgeist with Bombshell (formerly titled Fair and Balanced). The film details the #MeToo fallout at Fox News and stars three of today’s greatest working actresses. For whatever reason, Bombshell is being mostly ignored by many early Oscar prognosticators.

This despite, well...let’s dive into that teaser shall we?

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No Time to Link

• Variety cultural conversations about a TV show lift its Emmy prospects
• The Guardian on Leonard Bernstein's 10 year affair with a Japanese fan
• /Film Bond 25 has a title No Time to Die
• Daily Xtra Joey Moser remembers seeing movies with his father on the weekend - lovely

After the jump Love Simon, Spider-Man divorce, cool film festivals, and Marvel Comics avoiding anti-fascist "politics" in a genre built on just that...

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