The roughly 90 foreign journalists who vote on the nominees for the Golden Globes are often criticized for snubbing acclaimed movies, notable television shows and powerful performances across the board. It is fair to say this year was no different.
But beyond the headline-grabbing exclusions, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association also ignored a handful of releases that speak to the contemporary mood, reflecting urgent conversations shaping politics and culture.
Here's a look — in alphabetical order — at just some of the most resonant projects that were shut out of Globes contention but richly deserve a spot in your streaming queues.
'Da 5 Bloods'
Spike Lee's searing epic centers on a quartet of aging Vietnam veterans — Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) — who return to Southeast Asia to find the remains of their squad leader (the late Chadwick Boseman) and a stash of buried gold bars. "Da 5 Bloods" is both a riveting saga in the tradition of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and a vital statement on how the sins of America's past poison its present. The movie features — and embodies — anguished debates about imperialism, racism and capitalism that stretch from the founding of the nation to our current moment. Lindo's character, a tortured and psychologically scarred Trump supporter who sports a red MAGA baseball cap, is the movie's tragic heart and soul.
Where to stream: Netflix
'The Good Fight'
CBS All Access is not nearly as high-profile as streaming rivals like Netflix, but the service contains this biting, well-regarded sequel to "The Good Wife." The show, which wrapped an abbreviated fourth season in May, revolves around Chicago lawyers Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), Liz Lawrence (Audra McDonald), Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) and Adrian Boseman (Lindo again) as they navigate complex cases, political dramas, racial tensions and modern sexual politics. "The Good Fight" is one of the great satires of the Trump era, featuring surreal plotlines about the Steele dossier, fake news, Russian trolls and Jeffrey Epstein, among other topical riffs. (In the third season, Michael Sheen played an unscrupulous lawyer modeled on Trump mentor Roy Cohn and Trump ally Roger Stone.)
Where to stream: CBS All Access, soon to be rebranded as Paramount Plus
'I May Destroy You'
The mightily talented Michaela Coel — creator, writer, director, executive producer, actor — delivered this fearless 12-episode limited series. Coel anchors the story as Arabella, a young writer coping with the trauma of rape. The series, based in part on Coel's experience with sexual assault, is a liberating combination of tones and moods, defying easy categorization. The exclusion of "I May Destroy You" from the list of Globes nominees drew intense criticism on social media Wednesday. "The total freeze out of I May Destroy You and Michaela Coel is proof that the Golden Globes deserve zero attention and have zero connection to the actual culture," Lydia Polgreen, the head of content at podcasting company Gimlet Media, tweeted.
Where to stream: HBO, HBO Max
'Never Rarely Sometimes Always'
The Golden Globes shut out several interesting independent films released last year, including Kelly Reichardt's "First Cow" and Kitty Green's "The Assistant." The exclusion of Eliza Hittman's "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" was especially stark given that the drama film, a harrowing portrait of a teenage girl (Sidney Flanigan) seeking an abortion, recently earned a commanding seven nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards. "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" is both a deeply moving character study and an important work at a time when reproductive rights are threatened across the U.S. (The film was distributed by Focus Features, a unit of NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
Where to stream: HBO, HBO Max. You can also rent it on various VOD platforms, such as iTunes.
