Favorite lead actress: Blanchett, Yeoh, Deadwyler?

I’m plugging in the navigation directions to Alhambra because in chilly weather like this, who isn’t craving a bowl of warm, yellow goo? Then again, ’tis the season and I’m tempted to switch it up and do a tamale run or three to these Times-vetted markets and restaurants. Is there a better gift to unwrap this time of year than a freshly made tamale? (It’s a rhetorical question.)

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter and corn husk enthusiast. Let’s peel away the week’s news, shall we?

Actress power rankings

After “Tár” premiered on the first day of September at the Venice International Film Festival, more than a few people called the Oscar race for lead actress over and done, sending a message to the motion picture academy to begin engraving the trophy with Cate Blanchett’s name — provided they weren’t one of those people who thought Lydia Tár was a real person and that the movie was an absorbing documentary about the life and times of a legendary conductor who has slept with Kristen Stewart.

But as we’ve seen in the last few months, for women in film, 2022 is not just about Blanchett and “Tár” and long, onstage interviews with the New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik. Which brings us to my recent rankings of women who got us talking, including two from “Women Talking,” in movies these last 12 months. Is your favorite on the list?

Danielle Deadwyler, star of “Till.”

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

L.A. film critics take ‘Tár’ far

“Tár,” Todd Field’s drama about a world-renowned, scandal-plagued classical music conductor, dominated the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.’s awards voting on Sunday, winning prizes for Field’s script and direction, and for Cate Blanchett’s lead performance. But the movie ultimately shared the best picture prize with Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s action-fantasy “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which also was recognized for Ke Huy Quan’s supporting performance.

Speaking of sharing: In the group’s first year with gender-neutral acting categories, the L.A. critics also honored Bill Nighy (“Living”) for lead performance and Dolly De Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”) for supporting performance. “EO,” Jerzy Skolimowski’s film about the hard, harrowing life of a donkey, was named best film not in the English language, while “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras’ portrait of the artist and activist Nan Goldin, was named best documentary/nonfiction film. “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” which Del Toro directed with Mark Gustafson, was the group’s choice for best animation.

Times film critic Justin Chang and I both voted and then sat down afterward to discuss how the day went down. Yes, grievances were aired — it is Festivus, after all — but mostly we were pretty thrilled with the choices.

Cate Blanchett won the lead performer prize from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.

(Cate Blanchett)

Hollywood still ‘on the fence’ with the Golden Globes

I woke up early Monday, as did my colleagues Josh Rottenberg and Stacy Perman, to call around and see just how Hollywood was going to respond to the nominations for the first televised Golden Globe Awards in two years, since a 2021 Times investigation exposed a lack of diversity in the organization’s membership and raised concerns about its ethics and financial practices.

As Josh wrote, the reaction amounted to a collective out-of-office message.

Of nearly 60 nominees in the film and TV acting categories we reached out to on Monday, including Adam Driver (“White Noise”), Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) and Viola Davis (“The Woman King”), only one was available for comment, with a handful of others sharing prepared statements of gratitude.

How many will show up at the ceremony on Jan. 10? Right now, studios and streamers, nominees and their publicists are waiting to see which way the wind is blowing before committing.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s Helen Hoehne at the 80th Golden Globe Awards nominations Monday.

(Axelle / Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic via Getty Images)