Cheers & Jeers: 2025 Golden Globe Film Nominations
BY Kevin Dillon
The Golden Globes announced the nominations for the 2025 edition of the awards this morning, including for movies. This film award season has had so many twists and turns, ups and downs for so many films across the board, that I am already getting whiplash. This is shaping up to be one of the most exciting Oscar races I have followed in years. It reminds me of 2007, when things were swinging all over the place, and that excitement is so needed.
I would love to twist the Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes in Conclave) quote about certainty, but it does not translate as well here. Speaking of Conclave the film made a huge bounce back today with these nominations (as expected) with 6 overall. Emilia Perez is the nomination leader with 10, breaking Barbie’s record, followed by The Brutalist with 7, and Anora and The Substance with 5 nominations.
While Emilia Perez won big at the European Film Awards, the film has largely been ignored by all of the U.S. critics groups. Today’s 10 nominations show a huge resurgence for this film. I do think — since the Golden Globes are mostly journalists and critics from outside the U.S. — this demonstrates a distinction in engagement between different populations. I think this high number of nominations is a sign this film is absolutely going to still be a big player in the Oscar race. With that said, Barbie had this high vote total last year and did not win a lot of awards. Could history repeat?
The Brutalist has been on its own rollercoaster ride, and these 7 nominations show an immense amount of strength for the film. The Brutalist got Golden Globe nominations in categories it missed at the Gotham Awards and Independent Spirit Awards. Brady Corbet has also missed Best Director in a lot of key races, but again showed up here, giving it a nice bump for the film’s Christmas Day release in theaters.
Conclave is another film that has been missing from critics groups, aside from the previously mentioned Fiennes or in Best Score, and maybe an adapted screenplay nomination. The Globes showed up strong for Conclave with 6 nominations, a huge boost for the film I am currently predicting may win Best Picture.
I have to say the Globes did mostly a good job with their nominations, especially with Anora and The Substance. I am going to count down my Top 10 nomination moments for these, because there is a lot to celebrate — but I will throw a dig at the nomination leader Emilia Perez, a film I truly did not enjoy. It’s…something.
See below for my top cheers and jeers for the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards Film nominations.
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CHEERS: The Substance Gets 5 Nominations
I think this is so fucking cool. I love The Substance, and while I recognize that it is a body horror film, it still fits in the Comedy/Musical category. There is comedy in this — in fact, a lot of it. The fact that this film was in the group of the most-nominated films makes me incredibly happy. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are excellent in the film. It’s also incredible to see Coralie Fargeat get nominated in the Best Director category!
JEERS: Sing Sing Only Got 1 Nomination
Happy for Colman Domingo (nominated for Best Actor), but this one is unfortunate. I have had numerous debates with folks online about the way this film was platformed. Sing Sing sadly was never in more than 200 theatres in the United States. The film is another on that rollercoaster ride: it won two acting prizes at the Gotham Awards, and has shown up in peaks and valleys with awards over the last few weeks. I do expect this to do better at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, but this is a major blow for this film, and honestly A24 has been a bit of a mess in the way it has handled this movie. The Golden Globes struggled to celebrate stories about the African-American experience this year; Sing Sing and Nickel Boys only getting two nominations total feels incredibly off.
CHEERS: Nickel Boys Lands Best Film Nom
I had this predicted across the board, and then I remembered that this voting body tends to not award stories or films like this, so I removed it from a lot of categories in my predictions. I am happy that Nickel Boys landed this nomination, and think this shows it has the goods to keep up some of its momentum in this space. I am excited to see this film this Thursday!
JEERS to Nomination Leader Emilia Perez and 10 Nominations
Simply put, I do not like this movie. I think it looks ugly (cinematography wise), and the story paints with incredibly broad strokes around identity and culture in ways that just do not work for me. I ultimately am not surprised the film led the nominations, but boy, it is the worst film I have seen the Globes hand nomination leader in a long time.
CHEERS to the Globes for Nominating International Features Outside Siloed Categories
I am loving this trend. Fernanda Torres showing up and Payal Kapadia getting nominations in Actress and Director, respectively, is exciting. These are two incredibly celebrated women, and I love that the Globes are continuing to honor more non-U.S. cinema across the board. (This is obviously true of Emilia Perez as well, but I’m just not sure it’s deserving.)
JEERS to Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Category
What is the point of this category? It’s pointless and needs to go. The win for these films is the money the movies make.
CHEERS to Challengers Showing Up in 4 Categories
I love Challengers, and I am honestly very excited that it continues to get recognition across the board from organizations. It’s such a fun film that deserves the love and acclaim it receives. I love that it also got nominations for Best Song and Best Score.
CHEERS to Fun/Great Acting Nominees
*Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl
*Hugh Grant in Heretic
*Jesse Plemmons in Kinds of Kindness
*Yuri Borisov in Anora
*Daniel Craig in Queer
*Glen Powell in Hit Man
*Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked
Overall the film nominations continue to show that there are a lot of moving pieces in this year's Oscar race. I think there is so much potential for surprising acting races in the months ahead!
Click here for the full list of 2025 Golden Globe nominations for Film.
What are your thoughts on the 2025 Golden Globe film nominations? Leave a comment below!
