So the Golden Globes came and went with a few interesting surprises. I'm beginning to like this year and its unpredictability. Clearly, the biggest surprise was Babel taking home the best drama picture prize after not winning a single previous award. That is the first time that has happened at the Globes since Bugsy in '92. The acting races went mostly as expected but some changes might occur. Eddie Murphy's acceptance speech was underwhelming compared to his normally comedic nature, and that could cause him problems at winning the Oscar. Same goes for Forest Whitaker. The lack of presence for Peter O'Toole, Judi Dench, and Prince hurt their Oscar chances.
Again, the television categories really steal the show (except for Borat). The praise for Ugly Betty was noteworthy. Warren Beatty was mildly amusing, as was Governor Ah-nold.
As for me, I correctly predicted 9/14 of the categories. By my standards, that isn't so good. Most of the errors came in the tech categories which are often tricky. And I had a feeling I was going to be wrong about Nicholson. The winners are in bold below, and I have my thoughts on what each category means for the race.
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Best Drama Picture Babel Bobby The Departed Little Children The Queen |
My Prediction: The Departed This was the biggest surprise of the night, and it certainly complicates the best picture race. Now I'd say that Babel, Departed, The Queen, and Dreamgirls have all gotten equal share of awards more or less so this could actually be a four-way race. Not winning anything hurts Sunshine, but it's still a likely nominee. |
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Best Comedy or Musical Picture Borat The Devil Wears Prada Dreamgirls Little Miss Sunsine Thank You For Smoking |
My Prediction: Dreamgirls I knew the HFPA couldn't resist musicals even in the presence of far superior quirky comedies. I'd say Dreamgirls once again has a shot at best picture, but it could be close. Sunshine not winning this puts it on the border with the best picture race though. |
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Best Drama Actor Leonardo Dicaprio (Blood Diamond) Leonardo Dicaprio (The Departed) Peter O'Toole (Venus) Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness) Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) |
My Prediction: Forest Whitaker I have a feeling that this is where Whitaker's winning streak might end. His acceptance speech was lame enough that SAG voters might rally behind Dicaprio's single lead actor nomination for Departed. Peter O'Toole has less chance as well. Pretty much the only thing still in his favor is the overdue factor. |
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Best Comedy or Musical Actor Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking) Chiwetel Ejiofor (Kinky Boots) Will Ferrell (Stranger Than Fiction) |
My Prediction: Sacha Baron Cohen No surprise here. If the Oscar nomination ballots had not already been turned in, Borat's amusing acceptance speech could have helped him get the Oscar nomination. But now it probably won't happen. It was good to hear his real voice for a change though. So this category really doesn't affect the Oscar race at all. Sad to see Depp backed out of the ceremony this time. |
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Best Drama Actress Penelope Cruz (Volver) Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal) Maggie Gyllenhaal (Sherrybaby) Helen Mirren (The Queen) Kate Winslet (Little Children) |
My Prediction: Helen Mirren No surprise here, despite winning a prior Globe in the same night. It's official that Mirren is unstoppable, so this really doesn't change a thing, just solidifies it. |
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Best Comedy or Musical Actress Annette Bening (Running With Scissors) Toni Collete (Little Miss Sunshine) Beyonce Knowles (Dreamgirls) Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) Renee Zellweger (Miss Potter) |
My Prediction: Meryl Streep Not a surprise here either. But I'm thinking that Streep's delightful speech, with a message about wide-releasing independent films, concluded with her character's signature line, "That's all", might make her replace Dench as Mirren's biggest competition, especially due to Dench's absense. That is if Mirren has any competition at all. |
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Best Supporting Actor Ben Affleck (Hollywoodland) Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls) Jack Nicholson (The Departed) Brad Pitt (Babel) Mark Wahlberg (The Departed) |
My Prediction: Jack Nicholson I think this might have hurt Murphy's chances more than it helped. One of the funniest actors ever gave one of the lamest speeches ever. I'm not sure anybody is eager to see that speech two more times. But the question is, who moves in on the territory? |
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Best Supporting Actress Adriana Barazza (Babel) Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal) Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) |
My Prediction: Jennifer Hudson And she deserved it. Her teary-eyed acceptance speech should help maintain her winning streak all the way to the Oscar. |
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Best Director Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima) Clint Eastwood (Flags of Our Fathers) Stephen Frears (The Queen) Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Babel) Martin Scorsese (The Departed) |
My Prediction: Martin Scorsese Things are looking better and better for Marty. I've been saying it all season, he'll finally get the Oscar. We still don't know who his main competition is though. It could be Frears, or Inarritu, or even Condon. |
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Best Screenplay Babel The Departed Little Children Notes on a Scandal The Queen |
My Prediction: Babel This was a big surprise. I can't believe Babel beat The Queen and Departed for picture, but it couldn't pick up this easy category. That probably makes the Original Screenplay category a three-way race between Queen, Babel, and Sunshine. |
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Best Score Babel The Da Vinci Code The Fountain Nomad The Painted Veil |
My Prediction: Babel Big surprise here as well. This category has become completely unpredictable in the last few years for both Globes and Oscars. So I'm really having trouble figuring out what this means for the Oscars. |
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Best Song Bobby- "Never Gonna Lose My Faith" Dreamgirls- "Listen" Happy Feet- "Song of the Heart" Home of the Brave- "Try Not to Remember" The Pursuit of Happyness- "A Father's Way" |
My Prediction: Dreamgirls The unexpected win for Happy Feet could help its chances, assuming that Prince's absense doesn't hurt it. |
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Best Animated Film Cars Happy Feet Monster House |
My Prediction: Cars I still think that this is a race between Cars and Happy Feet for the Oscar. HFPA has always loved Pixar, but the Oscars just might be sick of them. |
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Best Foreign Language Film Apocalypto (US in Mayan) The Lives of Others (Germany) Letters From Iwo Jima (US in Japanese) Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico) Volver (Spain) |
My Prediction: Letters From Iwo Jima Seeing as how Letters is ineligible for the Foreign-Language Film Oscar, this really doesn't change a thing. At this point we can only assume that Pan's Labyrinth still holds the edge over Volver. |