Golden Globes Wrap-up

Yeah, it's a week late - I'm busy!

One of my best friends and I have a tradition with the Oscars: we fill out a ballot with what we think will win, what we think should win, and what actually wins. In that vein, here's the major Golden Globe categories (I've left out some of them, like mini-series, because I never see any of them). I notice my prediction skills are as brilliantly honed as ever.

TV Drama Series
Big Love
Grey's Anatomy
Heroes
Lost
24

Should win: Heroes. Will win: Lost. Did Win: Grey's Anatomy.

Hmmm. No HBO series here, so I went with Lost because TV critics seem to love it (I am tempted on a weekly basis to write to Entertainment Weekly to ask what the weather is like up J.J. Abrams' ass). I'd like to thank the HFPA for picking Grey's though, because of the headline-grabbing brouhaha that resulted after the all-cast interview.

TV Comedy Series
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
The Office
Ugly Betty
Weeds

Should win: The Office. Will win: Ugly Betty. Did Win: Ugly Betty.

I have yet to see Entourage or Weeds, and I gave up on DH after the first season. As far as I'm concerned, The Office is the funniest show in primetime, but Betty's pedigree is even more international than The Office's so it's not surprising the HFPA would honour it. Their win was one of my favourite moments of the night, though, so good for them.

TV Drama Series Actress
Patricia Arquette - Medium
Edie Falco - The Sopranos
Evangeline Lily - Lost
Ellen Pompeo - Grey's Anatomy
Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer

Should win: Falco. Will win: Falco. Did win: Sedgwick

And the evidence that the Globes' love-affair with HBO is over continues to grow. Falco was snubbed at the Emmys, too, so I can only assume this is a Return of the King-type scenario where the second half of the "final season" will win everything.

TV Drama Series Actor
Patrick Dempsey - Grey's Anatomy
Michael C. Hall - Dexter
Hugh Laurie - House
Bill Paxton - Big Love
Kiefer Sutherland - 24

Should win: Laurie. Will win: Sutherland. Did win: Laurie.

Yay! I'm shocked, and so was he, apparently, but yay! Love Laurie. Love the idea of acceptance speeches from Dolce & Gabbana. This was also evidence of the new trend at the Globes: Brits winning everything. Maybe the Globes have finally realized that the British tend to give better speeches.

TV Comedy Series Actress
Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives
America Ferrera - Ugly Betty
Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - The New Adventures of Old Christine
Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds

Should win: Fererra. Will win: Dreyfus. Did win: Fererra.

Favourite moment of the night, hands-down. Like much of the audience, I got weepy during America's speech. Also, she looked fantastic, and, as they pointed out on Go Fug Yourself, real. I picked Dreyfus because, again, she's a critics' darling, and everyone seems to be so happy that the "Seinfeld curse" is broken.

TV Comedy Series Actor
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Zach Braff - Scrubs
Steve Carell - The Office
Jason Lee - My Name is Earl
Tony Shalhoub - Monk

Should win: Carell. Will win: Baldwin. Did win: Baldwin.

One of the strongest category groups. I adore Shalhoub, and I'm glad he's gotten so much recognition lately, but Monk is not funny. Not by a long shot. Ditto Lee and Earl. Braff should have won this a few years ago, but Scrubs is past its prime now. Baldwin is the best part of 30 Rock, but his job isn't anywhere near as tough as Carell's, and Carell writes for The Office too, so he should have won.

Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
Borat: No I'm Not Typing Out The Damn Subtitle
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You for Smoking

Should win: Borat. Will win: Dreamgirls. Did win: Dreamgirls.

The only one I didn't see was Smoking. Sunshine was my favourite of the ones I did see, but we're talking comedy here, so ... why didn't Borat win, again? Oh right, because Dreamgirls is a musical, even though it's not remotely funny, or even all that good. Fuck off, Dreamgirls.

Motion Picture - Drama
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Little Children
The Queen

Should win: The Departed. Will win: Babel. Did win: Babel.

Not really a surprise, given the film's provenance and subject matter. I still haven't seen it, I've only seen The Departed and The Queen thus far.

Best Actress - Movie Comedy
Annette Bening - Running With Scissors
Toni Collette - Little Miss Sunshine
Beyoncé Knowles - Dreamgirls
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Renée Zellweger - Miss Potter

Should win: Streep. Will win: Knowles. Did win: Streep.

I should have predicted that the HFPA's love affair with Streep would continue, but I thought the Dreamgirls buzz might be enough to overcome it. I'm happy to be wrong.

Best Actor - Movie Comedy
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

Should win: Ferrell. Will win: Depp. Did win: Baron Cohen.

Kind of stunned, in that I figured they'd be terrified about what his speech would turn out to be (in the event: nearly as cringe-inducing as the movie). I guess Depp is too much of an outsider. Personally, I think Ferrell's performance has been unfairly maligned; I thought he was really good in a film I absolutely loved. Also fun? Hearing all the different ways people pronouced Ejiofor's name.

Best Actress - Movie Drama
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Sherry Baby
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Kate Winslet - Little Children

Should win: Mirren. Will win: Mirren. Did win: Mirren.

The closest thing to a lock since Jamie Foxx won for Ray. It's the only one I've seen so far, and while everyone in this category is fantastic, I can't imagine any of them being better than Mirren as Queen Elizabeth - the best performance of the year that I've seen.

Best Actor - Movie Drama
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

Should win: DiCaprio for The Departed. Will win: O'Toole. Did win: Whitaker.

Lovely to see someone else from Fast Times making good beyond Sean Penn and Jennifer F*cking Jason Leigh.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel

Should win: Hudson. Will win: Hudson. Did win: Hudson.

Also pretty much a lock. Hudson and Blunt were the only two I've seen so far, and people keep raving about Blunt's performance and... yeah, I don't see it. I mean, she was fun and everything, but the only really good part of that movie was Streep. Oh, and the soundtrack, and how hot Adrian Grenier is.

Best Supporting Actor
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Brad Pitt - Babel
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed

Should win: Murphy. Will win: Pitt. Did win: Murphy.

Murphy was the best part of Dreamgirls, as I've said before, but I thought given the film and its subject matter and how much the HFPA love to get their pictures taken with big stars that Pitt would win it in a walk. Also - why is Affleck nominated in this category? Isn't the movie all about his character? Qu'est-ce que le fuck?

Best Director
Clint Eastwood - Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood - Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Should win: Marty. Will win: Eastwood for Flags. Did win: Marty.

Apparently the HFPA doesn't have its collective lips planted so firmly on Eastwood's ass as the rest of Hollywood does. It'll be interesting to see, come Oscar night, if a) Scorsese's curse continues; b) if the vote-splitting that may have hurt both Eastwood and DiCaprio here continues to be a problem; c) if the Academy realizes that, frankly, from a directing perspective, Inarritu had the hardest job here.

Final Score: 6 out of 15. Yeah, not that good. I'm happy to see so many of my "should wins" did win, though. Apparently the HFPA and I have similar taste. And now I'm afraid of myself.

Some final thoughts:

Salma Hayek: great colour, but the dress is too much for your wee frame.
Felicity Huffman: ditto.
Justin Timberlake: Prince is going to have you killed.
Jeremy's Iron: are you wearing ruby buttons? The hell?
Naomi Watts: someone please tell her how to dress, and also to give Liev Schrieber to me.
Will Ferrell: Art Garfunkel called, he wants his hair back.
Forest Whittaker: prep a speech, dude.
Oh good, another rambling speech by Warren Beatty. Didn't we do this already? Or was that at the Oscars? God, make it stop, make it stop!
Best table to be at: Tie - Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry's/The Ugly Betty team
Worst table to be at: Dominick Dunne, Sharon Stone and Donald Trump. I think that may be my new idea of hell, actually.

Until next year!