Golden Globes: What Scotsman critics had to say about the 2024 Golden Globe winners

With the 2024 Golden Globe winners now crowned and the Oscars looming, we take a look at what The Scotsman critics have had to say about films such as Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer Image: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

From surprise wins to more likely candidates such as Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the quality of last year’s releases will have undoubtedly made selecting winners a controversial task.

For those who may not have seen some of the entertainment on offer – such as Poor Things – we take a look back at what our critics , Alistair Harkness and The Scotsman’s film podcast, (Not) Everyone's a Film Critic, have said about this year’s awards favourites and winners - including one 2-star review of Barbie.

Oppenheimer: 5-stars

Cillian Murphy took home the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in Oppenheimer. Image: Getty

Winning five awards at the Golden Globes – including Best Motion Picture: Drama and Best Director – and a favourite for the 2024 Academy Awards, our critic Alistair Harkness awarded the film 5-stars and claimed it as the best film of the year.

He said: “Hard as it is not to despair at the ongoing desecration of cinema as mere content, Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s gargantuan, form-challenging biopic of the father of the atomic bomb, was a potent reminder of what can be achieved on the biggest of screens.”

Meanwhile, The Scotsman’s film podcast hosts debated if Oppenheimer was a “genuine masterpiece or merely very, very good” – though it was included in the pair’s own roundup of the year’s best films.

The Boy and the Heron: 4-stars

The Boy and the Heron.

Before winning Best Motion Picture – Animated at the Golden Globes, Alistair Harkness praised Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. Supposedly the Studio Ghibli director's final film, he was impressed with everything from its visuals to the “remarkable philosophical ending”, giving The Boy and The Heron 4-stars.

Barbie: 2-stars

Musicians Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell pose with the award for Best Original Song - Motion Picture "What Was I Made For" from the movie "Barbie" in the press room during the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards. Picture: Robyn Beck/Getty Images

While Barbie won two awards at the Golden Globes – Best Original Song and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, The Scotsman reviewers have been in two minds about it.

One on hand, Alistair Harkness – perhaps controversially – awarded the film just 2-stars. Finding it lacking in originality and “less a movie than a collection of meme-able moments”, was disappointed by the lack of “bite” to the film.

Meanwhile, the hosts of (Not) Everyone's A Film Critic both enjoyed the film with David Hepburn including it in his best films of 2023.

Anatomy of a Fall: 3-stars

Anatomy of a Fall. Image: Carole Bethuel

Up against foreign films such as Past Lives, Society of the Snow and The Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall was up against stiff competition to take home the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language as well as Best Screenplay.

The courtroom drama was given just 3-stars by Scotsman critic Harkness, with the writer comparing it to Basic Instinct, though heaping specific praise on lead actress Sandra Hüller’s performance.

Killers of the Flower Moon: 5-stars

Lily Gladstone and Killers of the Flower Moon director Martin Scorsese. Image: Apple

Another film to be awarded 5-stars by Alistair Harkness was Killers of the Flower Moon, which saw lead actress Lily Gladstone take home a Golden Globe for her role. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Harkness described the film as “ an incredible feat of virtuosic filmmaking from an artist who, at 80, is still pushing cinema’s capabilities.”