Jafar Panahi and his fellow international filmmakers Joachim Trier and Park Chan-wook stand out among the Golden Globe nominees

Despite years of controversy, strange dealings, and shadiness, the Golden Globes live on and yes, I will always mention the controversy and shadiness because I still think this might all blow up in our faces someday and I will want my “I told you so” moment when it (probably) does. This morning was Golden Globe nomination morning, with the nominees for the 2026 Golden Globes announced at ass o’clock in the morning, as is tradition. There were no real surprises among the nominees, but there were some rather ludicrous inclusions, as is also tradition.

The single most ludicrous inclusion is nominating Julia Roberts for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for After The Hunt, a pretty bad movie. It’s not surprising because this is the Golden Globes and despite all the overhauls and membership changes, they’re still starf-ckers who want to guarantee stars at their show. They have plenty of genuine movie stars among their nominees from the pool of real Oscar contenders, such as George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Elle Fanning, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Ethan Hawke, Oscar Isaac, and Timothée Chalamet, I don’t think they needed to reach as far as Julia Roberts in a bad movie, but that is classic Globes behavior.

Among the film nominees, One Battle After Another continues solidifying its frontrunner status with nine nominations, including acting noms for Leo, Chase Infiniti, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, and Sean Penn, and scripting and directing nods for Paul Thomas Anderson, as well as a Best Picture/Comedy nod for the film itself. It’s been a big week for One Battle, starting with a Best Feature win at the Gotham Awards, followed by wins at the National Board of Review, AFI, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s awards.

Meanwhile, Sinners picked up seven nominations, including two for Ryan Coogler and one for Michael B. Jordan. At this point, I think our Oscar frontrunners are One Battle, Sinners, Sentimental Value, and It Was Just An Accident, but I will not count out the big, emotional appeal of Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet. That’s the kind of weepy the Academy LOVES. Hamnet, by the way, picked up six nominations this morning.

But it’s Jafar Panahi (It Was Just An Accident) and his fellow international filmmakers Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) and Park Chan-wook (No Other Choice) who stand out to me among these nominations. We’ve seen in recent years that the Academy is more willing than ever to nominate and reward films not in the English language for major awards besides just Best International Film. Sentimental Value is all over critical groups’ awards and scored eight Golden Globe nominations, behind only One Battle, making it a clear top contender for Oscar. And It Was Just An Accident is the reigning Palme d’Or winner, and Jafar Panahi is a pretty damn irresistible figure in cinema. It might finally be time for the Academy to acknowledge Panahi’s exceptional work under extremely oppressive conditions.

Among the actors, Jeremy Allen White’s Oscar campaign gets a shot in the arm with a nomination for Deliver Me From Nowhere. He’s a double nominee, also landing a nod on the television side for The Bear. He’s actually one of several double nominees, among whom are Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein, The Narrow Road to the Deep North), and Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee, Long Bright River).

The Best Actor race is more competitive this year than it has been in recent years—though the Globes’ inclusion of Dwayne Johnson is silly, he has little chance beyond this one award—but before you hand Timothée his first Oscar or Leonardo his second, look out for Wagner Moura from The Secret Agent. His performance is astounding, the film itself is strange and mystifying, capturing the disorientation and paranoia of living under a military dictatorship. The Secret Agent has a rising tide of support, and Wagner Moura is steadily moving from dark horse contender to probable frontrunner. Keep an eye on him.

Amongst actresses, there are no real surprises, though including Emily Blunt is wishful thinking, Oscar-wise. Amy Madigan (Weapons) continues building support for Best Supporting Actress, so don’t engrave Ariana Grande’s name on a trophy just yet. Madigan has one previous Oscar nomination from the 1980s, she is well liked by her peers, she’s worked with everyone, and she is reliably great. She could run an “it’s her time” campaign, though she has not been aggressively campaigning thus far. The support for her performance in Weapons is materializing mostly organically, which is the main reason to keep an eye on her. People like her and they WANT to reward her.

On the television side, the nominations are not terribly surprising. Adolescence is big, as is Severance, Only Murders in the Building, and Pluribus and Rhea Seehorn got in under the wire. The Pitt picked up two nominations, The Studio three, and the starf-ckers at the Globes nominated Mark Ruffalo for Task, but not the equally good—if not better—but less famous Tom Pelphrey (even though he would bring Kaley Cuoco as his date). Glen Powell was nominated for Chad Powers, and we’re guaranteed a Keri Russell/Matthew Rhys date night, as they’re both nominees.

As for the Globes’ unique categories, the “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement” award is the most embarrassing thing the Globes have done this year. It’s a real “that’s what the money is for” moment. And despite much sturm und drang, the inaugural Best Podcast award does not include any fringe lunatics or right-wing conspiracy nuts. The first class of nominees include Armchair Expert, Call Her Daddy, Good Hang with Amy Poehler, SmartLess, The Mel Robbins Podcast, and NPR’s Up First. Of the six nominees, half involve hosts who were already famous before podcasting.

In all, this is not a particularly embarrassing year for the Golden Globes. Their nominations are mostly normal, in line with expectations as we chug ever deeper into awards season. Sure, a few nominations are blatant starf-cking, but that’s to be expected with this group.