It’s the Golden Globes tonight. One of the first big ceremonies to kick off the season, heavyweight movies contend for the ultimate prize and copy that they can put on their marketing materials forever more. Despite the horrid year, politically and socially, 2016 did provide a grand quality of cinema. From Manchester by the Sea to Arrival, there was a high-end selection of movies that we have all adored.
In Golden Globes anticipation, and because you all really care about what I have to say, I have a confession: I really want Ryan Reynolds to win Best Actor in Comedy/Musical. Because, of all the people on that list, Reynolds is the momentous and undeniable rock star who has shaken grab people by the bollocks yelling: “I’m fucking amazing.”
And yes, he is better than Ryan Gosling in La La Land.
While the same could be argued for Ryan Reynolds, we’ve all believed that Marvel planted him at birth and cultivated him into the best Deadpool, the Canadian actor gave us an unquestionably stellar performances with the titular fourth-wall breaking character.
Reynolds has just had this ridiculously undeserved career where the flops of his films have essentially overshadowed his talent as an actor. His work recently has been good – really, really good. The Voices is one of the best dark comedies of recent years as Reynolds nails the perturbed in a visceral manner. If this were a perfect world, he’d have been awarded for his portrayal there.
Far beyond the Golden Globes, I wouldn’t be surprised if Reynolds scored an Academy Award nomination here. Superheroes of the Academy’s haven’t been mutually exclusive either, nor have popular “mainstream” characters. Heath Ledger scooped up a Best Supporting Actor trophy posthumously for the transcendent Joker performance in The Dark Knight, Robert Downey Jr, on the same year, had a nod for Tropic Thunder, and Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow was also nominated.
As Hugh Jackman once famously sang in the best Academy Award opening number, how come comic book movies never get nominated? The sheer technical, emotional, and purposeful scale of these films shouldn’t be shunned from the Academy Awards because it doesn’t fit into the box. The movie of last year to win the most awards, after all, was Mad Max: Fury Road (a film I believe should have easily walked away with Best Picture,) proving that action doesn’t have to be avoided at “prestigious” award ceremonies. You can both appreciate the subtly of Affleck in the stirring Manchester by the Sea but also find yourself drawn to the brilliance and power that an actor puts his buttocks into a spandex wearing hero.
It all comes down to why you think a performance deserves an award: Is it because they did something different, pushing the boundaries of their art to create something unseen in the industry? Or is it because they were in a drama playing a sad story, an ill story, or a historical one? How about a sad and ill story that also kicked arse too?
Ryan Reynolds deserves the recognition for his performance in Deadpool. It is one of the more unique and profoundly deep roles of the year that has wowed critics all over, even punting the movie into Top 10 lists of 2016.
Give him a shiny gold man to play with!
Golden Globes air tonight!
