Well, I found it to be quite an entertaining evening indeed. It was one of the better awards telecasts of the last few years. One thing that made it that way is that they went the whole three hours instead of trying to rush it shorter (hear that, Mr. Cates!). Additionally, there were a lot of great acceptance speeches including: Geena Davis referencing a sweet little girl that she made up, Steve Carrell reading a speech written by his self-important wife, and Hugh Laurie deciding who to thank by selecting random names from his pocket. These were a lot better than the usual "I'd like to thank a hundred people" speeches.
The other great thing of the night was that there were quite a few surprises (at least from my point of view). Most winners were my runner-up predictions, thus leaving me with only 6 correct predictions out of 13. That's pretty bad for me. At least I tied with Dave Karger of Entertainment Weekley, Andy at Everyting Oscar, and Nathaniel at The Film Experience. Most other websites and pundits scored higher than me so congratulations to them. But keep in mind that I am the reigning champion from last year when I scored 10 out of 13, higher than anybody else that year.
Well, the results are below, the winner is in bold, and my original prediction is included. It also features my thoughts, and what this means for the oscar race.
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Best Drama Picture Brokeback Mountain The Constant Gardener Good Night, and Good Luck A History of Violence Match Point |
My Prediction: Brokeback Mountain This was probably the most obvious category of the evening, especially after having already won three other awards that night. Having now won the Globe and Critics Choice award, it is certainly the clear frontrunner for the oscar, unless the PGA or DGA says something differently. |
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Best Comedy or Musical Picture Mrs. Henderson Presents Pride and Prejudice The Producers The Squid and the Whale Walk the Line |
My Prediction: Walk the line This was another obvious choice. I think at this point there's no chance for any of these other nominees to get nominated for best picture. Walk the Line is still on the border of the top five though, but this win should put it over the top. |
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Best Drama Actor Russell Crowe (Cinderella Man) Philp Seymour Hoffman (Capote) Terrence Howard (Hustle and Flow) Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mounatin) David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck) |
My Prediction: Philip Seymour Hoffman This did seem like a toss-up between Hoffman and Ledger, but I knew Hoffman would inevitably get it since he simply had the superior performance. Ledger may no longer be as much of a threat for the oscar anymore. Joaquin Phoenix may be Hoffman's biggest threat now. But we'll wait for SAG before confirming that. |
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Best Comedy or Musical Actor Pierce Brosnan (The Matador) Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale) Johnny Depp (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Nathan Lane (The Producers) Cillian Murphy (Breakfast of Pluto) Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line) |
My Prediction: Jeff Daniels This is the category where I decided to make my idiot prediction. For the heck of it, I predicted that Daniels would upset Phoenix here, but I did have good reasons for my decision. But I guess I was really driven to pick somebody different because oscar pundits get recognition for correctly predicted an unlikely win (Nathaniel at Film Experience was the only one to correctly predict Roman Polanski, so that is what he is known for). Anyway, Phoenix could still be a possibility for the oscar win. And I'd say that Daniels still isn't out of the race yet. |
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Best Drama Actress Maria Bello (A History of Violence) Felicity Huffman (Transamerica) Gwenyth Paltrow (Proof) Charlize Theron (North Country) Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs of a Geisha) |
My Prediction: Felicity Huffman So I'd say that the best actress race really is down to Huffman vs. Witherspoon. Drama vs. Musical. Glamour vs. Deglamour. At this point, I'm curious to know what chance Maria Bello has, and whether or not their get her categorization correct. |
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Best Comedy or Musical Actress Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents) Keira Knightly (Pride and Prejudice) Laura Linney (The Squid and the Whale) Sarah Jessica Parker (The Family Stone) Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) |
My Prediction: Reese Witherspoon Well, she was set on this from the beginning. Frankly, I still find Judi Dench to have a better performance, but it is better to give it to somebody new. Witherspoon now has a real shot at the oscar win, especially thanks to all the heart-warming, friendly acceptance speeches she keeps giving. |
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Best Supporting Actor George Clooney (Syriana) Matt Dillon (Crash) Will Ferrell (The Producers) Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man) Bob Hoskins (Mrs. Henderson Presents) |
My Prediction: Paul Giamatti I guess everybody was right when they said that Clooney had to win somewhere (despite his having won a Globe five years ago already). So now I think that this is a toss-up race between him and Giamatti. It's dead even, and it should make the race a lot more interesting. I like it when things get shaken up. But I'm still dissappointed in Clooney for political reasons (which he referred to in his speech). |
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Best Supporting Actress Scarlett Johanson (Match Point) Shirley Maclaine (In Her Shoes) Frances McDormand (North Country) Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) |
My Prediction: Michelle Williams I'm pretty surprised that of all the categories to leave Brokeback out of, this was one of them. Additionally, I personally believed Williams' performance to be significantly better than that of Weisz. I'm still happy to see Weisz get it however. This category has also been made more confusing. The frontrunner is probably a race between Williams, Weisz, and maybe even Amy Adams. |
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Best Director Woody Allen (Match Point) George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck) Peter Jackson (King Kong) Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) Fernando Mierelles (The Constant Gardener) Steven Spielberg (Munich) |
My Prediction: Ang Lee I'm glad to see Lee get this for the second time in five years. He's finally on his way to that overdue oscar of his. The oscar nominees for this category are likely to be very different though with only Lee, Spielberg, and Clooney likely showing up. |
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Best Screenplay Brokeback Mountain Crash Good Night, and Good Luck Match Point Munich |
My Prediction: Crash This violates what I have come to learn about this category at the Globes. Lately they have tended to award the original screenplays, or at least adapted screenplays that seem "original." That's why I chose Crash. But Brokeback's win violates that. Well, I guess at this point it's all set to win adapted screenplay. It's still uncertain if Munich and Match Point have got their nominations down yet. |
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Best Score Brokeback Mountain The Chronicles of Narnia King Kong Memoirs of a Geisha Syriana |
My Prediction: Brokeback Mountain I knew it was between Brokeback and Geisha. I should have trusted my own preferences when I knew that Brokeback didn't have that difficult of music. Well, it's nice to see John Williams at the podium yet again, which might also happen at the oscars. It would actually be his first win in over a decade. |
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Best Song Brokeback Mountain Christmas in Love The Chronicles of Narnia The Producers Transamerica |
My Prediction: The Producers I was rather dissappointed in this. I really wanted Producers to win just to see Mel Brooks' hilarious acceptance speech. Also Brokeback's win doesn't tell us anything in the oscar race since it is ineligible for original song. Bummer, huh? |
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Best Foreign Language Film Kung Fu Hustle (China) Merry Christmas (France) Paradise Now (Palestine) The Promise (China) Tsotsi (South Africa) |
My Prediction: Tsotsi I guess we have a new oscar frontrunner, since Paradise is oscar eligible. Tsotsi is still a possibility though. |