It's that time again. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has voted, and now it's time to clear another award show off the list as we make our way to the Oscars. Before the envelopes are opened, here are my picks for the winners of tonight's Golden Globes. Below, I'll provide a little commentary on the nominees. The ceremony begin at 8pm eastern time, with Ricky Gervais hosting. And, because I don't watch television, I am going to leave all TV nominees alone. That information lays after the film nominees, for your speculative pleasure.
MOTION PICTURES (My predictions are in bold)
Drama: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The King’s Speech, The Social Network
Musical or Comedy: Alice in Wonderland, Burlesque, The Kids Are All Right, Red, The Tourist
Actor, Drama: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network; Colin Firth, The King’s Speech; James Franco, 127 Hours; Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine; Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter
Actress, Drama: Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice; Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole; Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone; Natalie Portman, Black Swan; Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
Director: Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan; David Fincher, The Social Network; Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech; Christopher Nolan, Inception; David O Russell, The Fighter
Actor, Musical or Comedy: Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland; Johnny Depp, The Tourist; Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version; Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs; Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack
Actress, Musical or Comedy: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right; Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right; Anne Hathaway, Love & Other Drugs; Angelina Jolie, The Tourist; Emma Stone, Easy A
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter; Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; Andrew Garfield, The Social Network; Jeremy Renner, The Town; Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter; Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech; Mila Kunis, Black Swan; Amy Adams, The Fighter; Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Foreign Language: Biutiful, The Concert, The Edge, I Am Love, In a Better World
Animated Film: Toy Story 3, The Illusionist, How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, Tangled
Screenplay: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours; Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right; Christopher Nolan, Inception; David Seidler, The King’s Speech; Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech; Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland; A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours; Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Social Network; Hans Zimmer, Inception
Original Song: “Bound to You” (written by Samuel Dixon, Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler), from Burlesque “Coming Home” (written by Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges), from Country Strong “I See the Light” (written by Alan Menken, Glenn Slater), from Tangled “There’s a Place for Us” (written by Carrie Underwood, David Hodges, Hillary Lindsey), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” (written by Diane Warren), from Burlesque
TELEVISION NOMINEES
Series, Drama: Boardwalk Empire, HBO; Dexter, Showtime; The Good Wife, CBS; Mad Men, AMC; The Walking Dead, AMC
Actor, Drama: Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire; Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad; Michael C. Hall, Dexter; Jon Hamm, Mad Men; Hugh Laurie, House
Actress, Drama: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife; Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men; Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs; Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy; Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Series, Musical or Comedy: 30 Rock, NBC; The Big Bang Theory, CBS; The Big C, Showtime; Glee, Fox; Modern Family, ABC; Nurse Jackie, Showtime
Actress, Musical or Comedy: Toni Collette, The United States of Tara; Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie; Tina Fey, 30 Rock; Laura Linney, The Big C; Lea Michele, Glee
Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Steve Carell, The Office; Thomas Jane, Hung; Matthew Morrison, Glee; Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Miniseries or Movie: Carlos, Sundance Channel; The Pacific, HBO; Pillars of the Earth, Starz; Temple Grandin, HBO; You Don’t Know Jack, HBO
Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Hayley Atwell, Pillars of the Earth; Claire Danes, Temple Grandin; Judi Dench, Return to Cranford; Romola Garai, Emma; Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Client List
Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Idris Elba, Luther; Ian McShane, Pillars of the Earth; Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack; Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship; Edgar Ramirez, Carlos
Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Hope Davis, The Special Relationship; Jane Lynch, Glee; Kelly Macdonald, Broadwalk Empire; Julia Stiles, Dexter; Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Scott Caan, Hawaii Five-0; Chris Colfer, Glee; Chris Noth, The Good Wife; Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family; David Strathairn, Temple Grandin
HONORARY AWARD
Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Robert De Niro
Before Ricky Gervais has even taken the stage, this year's Golden Globes are off to a bad start. How bad? Almost People's Choice Awards bad. While we don't have any Twilight nominees mucking about what can sometimes be an awards show to take serious, we do have some strange award potentials, making for a few rocky categories. For example, look at "Best Comedy or Musical." It's clear that The Kids Are Alright will win the award, but not because of it's quality - it's because everything else its up against is bad, without question. There have been murmurs about conspiracy for some of these nominees, which has to be the only explanation as to why a movie like Burlesque could even be nominated in that category. After all, this isn't the Razzies.
The same can be said for "Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy." What a dreadful bunch of performances. There is no performance in that category that stems from an especially good movie (Love and Other Drugs being the best of the five, but it wasn't stupendous). Nevertheless, Johnny Depp is nominated twice in the category, which is indicative enough of his sway he has on voters. If they were silly enough to give him two top spots, he'll surely take one of them. More likely with the performance that involved him wearing a lot of make-up, and doing Johnny Depp-like things.
I hate to be an awards season broken record, but I have a feeling that this year's Golden Globes will be sharing a lot of the same mindset when it comes to other major awards. For example, Natalie Portman is a given. Christian Bale, the same way. The real toss-up is with "Best Drama," as the Globes did give that award to Avatar last year, snuffing out the later Oscar winner The Hurt Locker. Still, I don't see any Avatar like confrontation occurring, instead it will just be a battle of The King's Speech vs. The Social Network. And aligning with the way nearly every other awards voting group has been thinking (including the Chicago Film Critics Association and Broadcast Film Critics Association), I would doubt that the Globes would think differently.
Although, the Golden Globes are on the fringe of giving Burlesque the same award that was won last year by The Hangover, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.