The Week - USA (2021-03-20)

Review of reviews: Film & Home Media ARTS 25

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The Golden Globes: An awkward launch into awards season

This year’s Golden Globes ceremony

“begged to be rated on a curve,” said

James Poniewozik in The New York

Times. But the glitch that marred the

very first acceptance speech—an inadver-

tent muting of actor Daniel Kaluuya—

encapsulated two challenges that this

edition of the popular awards show

couldn’t fully overcome: how to manage

a three-hour live broadcast during a

pandemic and how to address the embar-

rassing revelation that there is not one

black member of the award-giving body,

the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Kaluuya, winner of a

best supporting actor prize, did eventually get his say, but because

other deserving black artists had been snubbed in the nomination

process and because the Los Angeles Times also had exposed cor-

ruption in the HFPA voting ranks, the normally frivolous Globes

“were serious news this year for all the wrong reasons.”

The night’s winners were generally uncontroversial, said Miles

Surrey in TheRinger.com. Chadwick Boseman’s widow tearfully

accepted her late husband’s well-deserved best actor trophy for

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Chloé Zhao’s win for Nomadland

made her only the second female director ever to be awarded a

Globe. And although The Crown’s four TV trophies did noth-

ing to advance the cause of diversity, that Netflix series about the

U.K.’s royal family “just so happens to be one of the best shows of

the past year.” Still, the Times exposé hung over the entire broad-

cast, said Richard Lawson in VanityFair.com. Co-hosts Tina Fey

and Amy Poehler, bantering on opposite

coasts, “did their best to make light of

the situation.” But why the pair bothered

to go on with the show is unclear. “Why

would anyone, for that matter?”

Traditionally, “the Globes were allowed

to be ugly behind the scenes because

they were fun onstage,” said Daniel

D’Addario in Variety. This edition,

though, felt less like a night of tipsy

camaraderie and more like an enervating

Zoom conference. “It was an evening

defined by sourness and a sense of obligation on all sides,” with

the unquestioning assumption that conducting business as usual

was the best way to fend off an existential threat. Unfortunately,

it “likely convinced many viewers to change the channel.”

Worse, they may not come back.

Zhao: A historic winner on a Zoom-y night

And the winners were...

Best film, drama: Nomadland

Best film, musical or comedy: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Best film, foreign language: Minari

Best director: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best actor, drama: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best actress, drama: Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Best TV series, drama: The Crown

Best TV series, musical or comedy: Schitt’s Creek

Best TV limited series: The Queen’s Gambit

“Valheim is officially the ‘stay in

touch with your quarantine-isolated

buds’ game du jour,” said Nathan

Grayson in Kotaku.com. Though it’s

still in its “early access” phase, the

viral new PC game has already sold

more than 4 million copies on the

digital store Steam. Recently, more

than 500,000 people were playing at

once. That’s unheard-of for an “out-

of-nowhere” indie title made by a five-

person team—especially one whose

core mechanics “initially seem like

pretty standard fare.” Valheim is an

open-world survival game set in the

age of Vikings. You and up to nine friends

work together to explore “ethereally beau-

tiful” landscapes, gather resources, and

craft increasingly complex tools, weapons,

armor, boats, and shelters. “It’s something

of a slow burn,” despite some “pulse-

pounding” encounters with mythological

monsters. But Valheim isn’t as simple as

it seems: “It is an intricate grandfather

clock of intertwining systems, and when it

chimes, you pay attention.”

Better yet, “it’s a surprisingly forgiving

game,” said Fraser Brown in PCGamer .com.

Video games: Valheim and the appeal of its kinder, gentler Viking world

For the sake of realism, survival simula-

tors too often task players with tedious

chores such as repairing broken tools or

eating nonstop to replenish a hunger meter.

Valheim is “one of the most welcoming

survival games around” because it instead

focuses on the experiences that make the

genre appealing in the first place—whether

you’re expanding your home, tending your

crops, or fermenting mead to share with

friends. Sure, you might die: Even trees

felled for timber can kill you. “But these

moments don’t feel like punishments,”

and “you don’t need to go through hours

of drudgery” to gain a foothold

in Valheim’s sprawling world. No

wonder the $20 game is so popular.

“At the moment, I absolutely favor

kinder games, because reality is kind

of a slog.”

“The first time Valheim really made

me go ‘Wow!’ was when, after about

15 hours of preparing, I set sail on

my own hand-built ship,” said Leana

Hafer in IGN.com. Unfortunately,

my boat got stuck in a narrow can-

yon, and then a troll appeared and

destroyed it. “I had to flee in terror,

shivering in my soggy boots, return to my

camp on foot, build a new ship, come back,

deal with the troll, finish my canal, and get

on my way before I froze solid.” It was a

memorable experience, and this game “con-

sistently generates campfire-worthy stories”

like mine. “Whether I’m fighting for my

life, plundering forgotten barrows, or just

watching the sun play across the water in a

calm moment of respite, Valheim has cre-

ated a world I’m consistently joyful to live

in and discover more of. Grab some mead

and come join me by the fire. I don’t think

you’ll be disappointed.”

Into the wild, with a shield and spear