It’s that time of year – Awards Seasons has begun and the Golden Globes have been announced. Here I offer my views on them and predict who will be the winners. Overall, it’s a pretty good mix this year and the HFPA have got it mostly right, but understandably there are a fair share of snubs as well, some that are unforgivable.
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
An interesting field of contenders here and good to see ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ getting the recognition that it deserves. I think the winner here will be ‘Carol’ as that’s the film that’s been getting the best reviews out of the five.
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
The Big Short
Joy
The Martian
Spy
Trainwreck
I think the winner here will be ‘The Big Short’. Again, it has very strong reviews and its actors have been recognised further down the nominations. The only other possibility would be ‘The Martian’, but it hasn’t featured much anywhere else so that’s why I’m going with ‘The Big Short’. ‘Joy’ has received rather polarising reviews and ‘Spy’ and ‘Trainwreck’ are filler.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Bryan Cranston for Trumbo
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant
Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl
Will Smith for Concussion
Now here I have some issues. What is Will Smith doing here?! Johnny Depp for ‘Black Mass’ or Michael Fassbender for ‘Macbeth’ or Ian McKellen for ‘Mr Holmes’ is a much better fit than Smith. As for the rest of the nominations, it’s pretty much spot-on. Naysayers think that DiCaprio could win here and then go onto win at the Academy Awards – I disagree. I think it’s Redmayne’s year again as he is playing a role that is ‘different’ and these kinds of roles are the ones that ultimately end up bagging the win. However, I would still be happy if DiCaprio did end up taking the win.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale for The Big Short
Steve Carrell for The Big Short
Matt Damon for The Martian
Al Pacino for Danny Collins
Mark Ruffalo for Infinity Polar Bear
I think this is a win for Matt Damon but don’t expect a further nomination at the Academy Awards. Audiences really connected with his character in ‘The Martian’, particularly as he has the screen mostly to himself. Impressively, ‘The Big Short’ has managed to get two nominations here but seeing as both actors received recognition recently, I think this should be Damon’s. Pacino and Ruffalo are filler.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence for Joy
Melissa McCarthy for Spy
Amy Schumer for Trainwreck
Maggie Smith for The Lady In The Van
Lily Tomlin for Grandma
Surely this has to be Jennifer Lawrence’s award? She’s the only one out of the five who is being tipped for Awards success. Smith is another worthy actress here and the rest are just filler.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Paul Dano for Love And Mercy
Idris Elba for Beasts Of No Nation
Mark Rylance for Bridge Of Spies
Michael Shannon for 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone for Creed
I think this is Mark Rylance’s award as he has been getting a lot of good recognition for the role. Elba and Shannon are closely following behind and Stallone is the ‘Robert Duvall’ (who got nominated for the extremely disappointing film, ‘The Judge’) of this year.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Jane Fonda for Youth
Jennifer Jason Leigh for The Hateful Eight
Helen Mirren for Trumbo
Alicia Vikander for Ex_Machina
Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs
Alicia Vikander has done really well to get nominated twice and she’s had a fantastic year in film. Ultimately whilst not on this list, I think her performance in ‘The Danish Girl’ will win at the Academy Awards, here I think the Golden Globe will go to Jennifer Jason Leigh as she’s been getting a lot of buzz for her performance. I’ll say this again, I really don’t understand why Kate Winslet is getting all the fuss she is getting, her performance in ‘Steve Jobs’ was atrocious and she kept slipping and sliding between accents – it’s enough that people like it but then to actually go and give her a nomination is just horrendous.
Best Director – Motion Picture
Todd Haynes for Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott for The Martian
A very good field of nominations, maybe Ridley Scott’s direction is being bit optimistic and could have been replaced for Quentin Tarantino for ‘The Hateful Eight’. I think Haynes will win here as ‘Carol’ has received universal acclaim but Miller could also win here for his sterling work on ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ as he created arguably one of the best action films in recent years.
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for The Big Short
Quentin Tarantino for The Hateful Eight
Emma Donoghue for Room
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer for Spotlight
Aaron Sorkin for Steve Jobs
This is a fantastic set of nominations and it could be anyone’s. My guess would be Sorkin for Steve Jobs as it is a very strong script but it could also be Donoghue for Room for adapting her own novel. Very tough list to call.
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
‘Love Me Like You Do’ (Fifty Shades Of Grey)
‘See You Again’ (Furious 7)
‘One Kind Of Love’ (Love And Mercy)
‘Writing’s On The Wall’ (Spectre)
‘Simple Song #3’ (Youth)
Well, it hasn’t particularly been a strong year in this category anyway so a very predictable set of nominations with the exception of ‘Love and Mercy’ and ‘Youth’ – I think one of these two films will take the win as the others are filler.
Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Carter Burwell for Carol
Alexandre Desplat for The Danish Girl
Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight
Ryuichi Sakamoto and Carsten Nicolai for The Revenant
Daniel Pemberton for Steve Jobs
An interesting set of nominations – I think this will be a win for Morricone as it is his first score in years. The others are also very strong and it’s a shame that Sakamoto and Nicolai have been disqualified for the Academy Awards. There are a few snubs here though. Tom Holkenborg’s score for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is amazing, as is Johann Johannsson’s score for ‘Sicario’ and Jed Kurzel has also had a strong year for ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Slow West’.
Best Animated Film
Anomalisa
The Good Dinosaur
Inside Out
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun The Sheep Movie
A very strong set of nominations, this will undoubtedly go to ‘Inside Out’ with many hailing it as the return of Pixar and is was loved by audiences and critics alike.
Overall
Overall, a very strong set of nominations and the HFPA have got it almost correct. There are a lot of snubs here though and there are number of films that failed to receive recognition for anything:
– Sicario
– Macbeth (I had my issues with this film but that doesn’t stop it being deserving of so many awards)
– Slow West
– Black Mass
These films are deserving in so many categories and all received very strong reviews but the HFPA have failed to catch on – hopefully these will be recognised in the BAFTA’s and Academy Awards.
The Golden Globe winners will be announced on Sunday 10th January at
8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on NBC.
The Film Meister 