by Ken B.
As always, my awards season mantra:
“To predict awards shows, you don’t have to have seen all of the nominees beforehand, you just have to have seen awards shows beforehand.”
In a first (and quite possibly last) for filmreviews12.com, I’m offering some thoughts and predictions for the upcoming Golden Globe Awards. This post will focus mainly on predictions for the film side of things, and although some of you may want to know my TV predictions, this is a movie review website, and that might not be too appropriate. But I’ll show them to you, albeit without any elaboration, category names, and entirely out of order:
Jeffrey Tambor; Viola Davis; Orange is the New Black; Gina Rodriguez; Kevin Spacey; Uzo Aduba; Frances McDormand; True Detective; House of Cards; Matt Bomer; Matthew McConaughey.
Got it? Now the flip side…
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Prediction: Boyhood
Thoughts: By no means a lock. The Imitation Game, safely within the realm of possibility for Hollywood Foreign Press Association voters, waits in the wings.
BEST FILM DRAMA ACTOR
Prediction: Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Thoughts: With Redmayne’s chief Oscars competitor, Michael Keaton, away in the Comedy category at the Globes, this is a safe, assured victory.
BEST FILM DRAMA ACTRESS
Prediction: Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Thoughts: No longer as locked in as she was several weeks ago, Moore’s campaign faces stiff competition from Jennifer Aniston in Cake, a movie even fewer people have seen than Still Alice, but with a nearly equally viable shot.
BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY/MUSICAL
Prediction: Birdman
Thoughts: The Grand Budapest Hotel or even Into the Woods are closer to upsetting than many may think.
BEST FILM COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTOR
Prediction: Michael Keaton – Birdman
Thoughts: Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel, or even Bill Murray in St. Vincent, could reasonably upset.
BEST FILM COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTRESS
Prediction: Emily Blunt – Into the Woods
Thoughts: Although an Emily Blunt win looks relatively easy to predict right now, if the Drama Actress Globe goes to anyone else but Julianne Moore, don’t be surprised if she wins here for her role in Maps to the Stars instead.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Prediction: J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Thoughts: And that’s it.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Prediction: Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Thoughts: And that’s it.
BEST DIRECTOR
Prediction: Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Thoughts: Linklater is vulnerable when it comes to this category. Whether the alternate could be Ava DuVernay or Alejandro G. Iñárritu I don’t know.
BEST SCREENPLAY
Prediction: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Thoughts: One of the biggest question marks of the night. I don’t think they’ll want Boyhood to win too much, as the HFPA likes to spread the wealth around, so it’s either Birdman or Grand Budapest. Wes Anderson often has showy screenplays in addition to his distinctive visual style, and The Grand Budapest Hotel is definitely a movie that shows his writing talent in some of the biggest ways from the films of his that I’ve seen.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Prediction: The LEGO Movie
Thoughts: Big Hero 6 would also be a popular choice.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Prediction: Ida
Thoughts: Someone pointed out that apparently Force Majeure is the kind of film that would be right up the HFPA’s alley. I haven’t had the chance to see it, but take that for what it’s worth as a possible spoiler.
BEST SCORE
Prediction: Birdman
Thoughts: Birdman’s score has been disqualified for competition at the Oscars, so this could be a way of giving the film’s solid soundtrack a prize it can’t get down the road.
BEST SONG
Prediction: “Glory” – Selma
Thoughts: “Yellow Flicker Beat” from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is more populist, and sometimes it’s nice to go with a movie and song more people may have had the chance to see and hear. And with “Big Eyes” from Big Eyes – well, who doesn’t love some Lana Del Rey once in a while?
And those are my Golden Globes predictions. I may come back and update this post with some post-ceremony thoughts, but it’s not exactly a top priority (nor is watching the ceremony, to be honest). Next on the site, Tuesday at the latest, my review of Selma.
The Reviews 