If I were voting for Golden Globes...

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL Nebraska

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL -- Amy Adams, American Hustle

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL -- Bruce Dern, Nebraska

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA -- Gravity

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA -- Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA -- Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE -- Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE -- Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club 

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE -- Alexander Payne, Nebraska 

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE -- Bob Nelson, Nebraska

OTHER CATEGORIES --  On advice of my counsel, I invoke the privilege afforded by the fifth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and I respectfully decline to answer any questions.

Late August, Early September: My recent views, reviews and interviews online

Just in case you missed it:

Instructions Not Included : Judging from remarks on the comment thread for this one, my take on Eugenio Derbez's mawkish dramedy was not a popular one. Hey, what can I say? I'm a critic, not a pollster. Must admit, though: I find it amusing that, whenever I say less than complimentary things about a film made by anyone who isn't a Caucasian male, some people automatically assume I must be a conservative. Or, worse, a Republican. Come to think of it, my less-than-favorable review of Lee Daniels' The Butler generated a similar response.

Furthermore: Didn't think much of either I Declare War or Savannah. On the other hand: I thoroughly enjoyed Blue Jasmine (featuring Cate Blanchett, pictured above) and In a World..., and had an absolute blast talking with the wild and crazy guys who made The World's End. And I highly recommend Herblock: The Black & the White -- a warmly celebratory documentary about the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist -- as a film well worth tracking down and checking out.

Last but by not means least: Hail and farewell to Elmore Leonard.

First thoughts on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The immensely entertaining Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gives you the same sort of pleasurable rush – a potent mix of nostalgia-fueled glee and in-the-moment excitement -- that you can get from a really great concert by a favorite band that first started charting in the 1980s. That is, provided it’s a concert where (a) the original players are obviously and unashamedly older, but still at the top of the their form, (b) they play both the oldies and the new stuff with the same full-out, rock-the-house energy, (c) the new members of the group fit in seamlessly because they’ve got the same beat, and (d) a bandmate who left the group a few albums back makes a welcome return midway through the performance.

Here’s a tip of the fedora to Steven Spielberg for offering no fewer than three sly tributes to the late, great Denholm Elliott, the actor who played Indy’s friend and colleague in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And another hat-tip to Cate Blanchett, who isn’t content merely to be a good sport while playing the villain of the piece. Instead, she insists on being a good actor – and makes Irina Spalko, a Cold War-era Soviet femme fatale, an altogether worthy opponent for the whip-cracking, wisecracking hero. Take my advice: Go. Now. Enjoy.

First impressions

Jake Paltrow gets the stars to confess: Leonardo DiCaprio was moved to tears by King Kong. Penelope Cruz loved Billy Wilder. And Cate Blanchett was scared witless by Basil Rathbone in The Hound of the Baskervilles.