Awards
Page Index
* OSCAR coverage here
'06 Golden Globe
AWARDS
by
Nathaniel R
Awards
Page
1 / Page 2
NEW Awards Discussion Page
3 / Page 4 / Page
5
UPDATED WITH PREDICTIONS
Post Show Thoughts January 16th
Perhaps taking a cue from Oscar's rather non-committal ceremony last March where no picture won more than three awards or dominated the Globe voters decided that they basically liked all of Oscars presumed shorlist (except for possibly Little Miss Sunshine). Scroll down for comments on each category.Post Nomination Thoughts From December
Are the Golden Globe voters idiot savants or just idiots? Or are they smart cookies with bad taste? It’s tough to say sometimes. They can give you whiplash with alternating smart and terrible choices, all lined up side by side. For every “hell, yes!” there’s an “ohmygod. No!” In my years of Oscarwatching I've come to this realization: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is both smarter and stupider than the Motion Picture Academy.They’re smart enough to honor major and challenging films (think Mulholland Drive, A History of Violence etc) that Oscar voters don’t seem to understand, but they also make choices that are so flat out awful that you think the good choices are accidents. Oscar is somewhere in the middle, I think, mixing good choices with bad ones… but rarely finding room for absolute genius or the truly awful in quite the same measure as the Golden Globes manage to do.
The Globes are still the most important off-Oscar game going, both for the ways they influence the Oscar race (these nominations are well covered by the media the week before AMPAS voters have their nominating ballots in hand and "they" say that the majority of Academy ballots are returned in the first week) and for the ways they reveal that they are just their own race, too. More than any of the other precursors (apart from some of the critics associations) they seem to be voting for what they like, first and foremost.
Best Picture Drama
Innaritu
(Paramount Vantage)
Estevez
(Weinstein Co)
Scorsese
(Warner Bros)
Field
(Newline)
Frears
(Miramax)Post-Show
Well, look at that: Babel managed to hold on to its frontrunner status (it did have the most nominations going in) and banish The Queen and take a rifle shot at The Departed
Pre-Show Comments
Babel leads the nominations but can it win? I'm guessing they swerve toward The Departed instead. Longshot: The Queen.Post Nomination Comments
Last year Oscar’s lineup was only 40% similar to the BP Drama lineup at the Globes but the Globes was better, wisely avoiding Crash while honoring A History of Violence among other things. This year’s Drama lineup looks Oscary enough with the exception of the bizarre inclusion of Bobby, which has been poorly reviewed and poorly attended. It's there in place of any number of films that have already been mentioned this season like Flags of Our Fathers (tellingly recognized for director without a pic nom here, more evidence of the cult of Clint ruling the world) and United 93Who gets the biggest boost? Little Children… it’s a longshot for the big one at Oscar but given the almost embarrassingly teensy release it seems like it needed something like this to give New Line more faith in it.
What to make of Babel? It leads the Globe nominations (with 7 in total) but it has a tough battle for that fifth slot with Oscar (assuming the top four are locked up with The Queen, The Departed, the yet to arrive Letters From Iwo Jima, and Dreamgirls)
Best Picture Comedy/Musical
Charles
(Fox)
Frankel
(Fox)
Condon
(Dreamworks)
Faris & Dayton
(Fox Searchlight)
Reitman
(Fox Searchlight)Post-Show
I predicted an upset just for fun but The Hollywood Foreign Press Association stayed true to their history. If a musical is nominated (In this case: Dreamgirls ) it wins. End of story.
Pre-Show Comments
This one might be a photo finish. The obvious choice, given Globe history, is Dreamgirls. And yet... something tells me that Little Miss Sunshine is very close to spoiling --so because I like to have fun predicting, that's what I'm gonna say. It'll be an exciting moment if it happens. Longshot: BoratPost Nomination Comments
The best thing about the existence of the Globes is their comedy division. While this is where they often make horrendous choices, it’s also the only real campaign booster for award worthy comic films and performances. So god bless… Without the two separate categories at the Globes my guess is we would see even less comedy at the Oscars. That said it wasn’t a great year and what is Thank You For Smoking doing in this list at the expense of A Prairie Home Companion which filled both parts of this categories title: Comedy and Musical. It was probably too much to hope for Shortbus figuring in.Who gets the biggest boost: Probably Sacha Baron Cohen’s best actor bid for Borat. If enough people enjoy this Golden Globe hoopla and giggle about his grand performance art joke…. Who knows?
Can Little Miss Sunshine really make the Oscar shortlist? It can. Don’t know if it will. Again, it’s got to fight off Babel which will presumably get more support from the technical branches and which leads the Globes, and which has a heftier “message” and you know that part about comedy not being deemed award worthy…
Best Actor Drama
Blood Diamond
The Departed
Venus
The Pursuit of Happyness
Last King of ScotlandPost-Show
Proving that he's not just the critical favorite (which was a possibility prior to the Globes) Forest Whitaker holds off three true movie stars and in so doing becomes our Oscar frontrunnner. Might still lose the SAG since The Last King of Scotland is still underseen but he's the man to beat.
Pre-Show Comments
Umm.... I have no idea? If Forest Whitaker can pull this off he's looking much much better for Oscar. At this point, despite his very strong run with critical prizes, I still think Whitaker will lose the Oscar to O'Toole but a Globe win might tip the balance. A Globe win would show that he's more than just the year's critical darling? Can he do it? Alternate: Peter O'Toole Venus Longshot: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Departed. I'd actually predict him for an upset if he wasn't nominated twice.Post Nomination Comments
Other than that DiCaprio twofer (that's against the rules with acting Oscars), this is pro’lly your Oscar shortlist right here.
What is going on with that double dipping DiCaprio? Hell if I know. Anyone have any guesses? Did they really need him in their twice at the expense of say Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson), Patrick Wilson (Little Children), Ken Watanabe (Letters From Iwo Jima), or Edward Norton (The Painted Veil), or Hugh Jackman (The Fountain) Now he woulda been an honorable hip and still ratings friendly choice in that a) he’s great in the movie and b) he has no hope for Oscar, so throw him a bone here would ya. Thanks!summing up
"hell yes!" WHITAKER "oh no!" BIG WILLIE SMITH
Best Actor Comedy/Musical
Borat
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Thank You For Smoking
Kinky Boots
Stranger Than FictionPost-Show
Quoted from shore to shore, media darling Sacha Baron Cohen wins (we're betting it was no real contest) his expected Globe for Borat. Best acceptance speech of the night. If Oscar ballots hadn't already been due...
Pre-Show Comments
When you're all the rage you usually win. So it'll be Sacha Baron Cohen for his in character hijinx as Borat. But if an upset happens it'll be Johnny Depp who is shockingly still without a Globe win despite being their kind of actor: über famous and great in comedies. Somehow Mr Depp has lost every time despite six previous nominations at the Globes. If he loses again Monday night he'll be like the Peter O'Toole of Globe ComedyPost Nomination Comments
Now this one --this is where we have to recognize the Globes sometimes know almost nothing about what they’re doing.Cohen and Eckhard are certainly worthy choices. But the rest? Ick. Depp is phoning this one in, a real shame since you know how I feel about his first go at this character. Ejiofor is a fine rising actor but this film and even this performance go nowhere. It's plodding, predictable, and uninspired work. And finally --Ferrel in Stranger Than Fiction. He’ll probably make my “worst” list. Like many comedians his idea of adjusting himself to a dramatic role (yes, it's mostly a dramatic performance) is just to turn himself off. But he barely registers he's so "off." You can argue that that is a valid choice given the character he’s playing: a nobody who barely registers. But part of the job of a lead actor is to carry a movie and if the center of your film is dead eyed, you have a big problem.
Biggest boost: Eckhart and Cohen both of whom are in play for Oscar’s fifth spot. It's one of them or Ryan Gosling (more here)
Snubs: Jamie Foxx Dreamgirls, Will Ferrel Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Gregg Kinnear Little Miss Sunshine (a better performance on second viewing)
summing up
"hell yes!" COHEN & ECKHART "oh no!" THE REST OF IT
Best Actress Drama
Volver
Notes on a Scandal
Sherrybaby
The Queen
Little ChildrenPost-Show
Helen Mirren wins her 25th prize (if I'm counting correctly) and presumably saves the cool acceptance speech for the Oscars since she was rather dull last night. Helen Mirren dull? Whoda thunk it.
Pre-Show Comments
Helen Mirren will take her 99th award for The Queen. End of story. So what I'm curious about is who the Globes will give all the camera time to? Will it be Maggie, Kate, or Penelope?Post Nomination Comments
A lovely and worthy list across the board. Sometimes that happens.Biggest boost: Gyllenhaal. But she probably won’t be able to repeat this for Oscar. The problem is that someone needs to go to make room for Meryl Streep’s Prada wearing devil and the most likely to get the boot is Maggie G, great year be damned. Like many a rising actor she was all over the place in a breakout year (four acclaimed performances plus one great voice performance in Monster House) but when you do too much small good stuff in a year, Oscar voters won’t know where to go with you.
Her only hope is that Cruz and Winslet are more vulnerable than she but they just aren't. Oscar likes warmth and Maggie' s Sherrybaby is a bitter pill to swallow. Worthy performance, though.
Best Actress Comedy/Musical
Running With Scissors
Little Miss Sunshine
Dreamgirls
The Devil Wears Prada
Miss PotterPost-Show Comments
While it's obvious that every actress in the world wants to *be* Meryl Streep (who won for The Devil Wears Prada) why don't they translate that admiration to emulation? Nobody but nobody in Hollywood understands how to give acceptance speeches the way she does. They are always magical things, deftly mixing gratitude, honesty, message and wit. She alone seems to understand that once you win it ceases to be about you and should then be about the audience since you are speaking to them. Why can't more celebrities watch and learn?
Pre-Show Comments
I can look forward to Meryl Streep winning. And I'll need something to look forward to since She Who Must Not Be Named will surely appear on camera throughout. Argh.Post Nomination Comments
Collette, Streep, and Bening are worthy choices sure enough. Beyonce is not so great in the acting side of things. Beautiful and in fine voice but beauty and singing don’t translate to an inner life onscreen. Different talents.Worst nomination of the year: But who cares about whether or not Beyonce can act when right in the same list is the horrifically fussy, completely Razzie worthy She Who Must Not Be Named. Her performance as Miss Potter makes her Oscar winning turn in Cold Mountain look like minimalist underplaying. I’m not kidding.
Snubs: Catherine O'Hara For Your Consideration roughly 5.8 million times more worthy of awards than Zellweger's facial contortions, Scarlett Johansson Scoop
summing up
"hell yes!" LA STREEP "oh no!" The Return of the Evil One
page 2 Director / Supporting / And more...
