Golden Globe Picks 2006

The Golden Globes are seen as the preeminent indicator for the big awards show, the Oscars. On Monday the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gives out the awards so I’d better document all of my picks so I can play a game of I-told-you-so or apologize for my lack of insight next week. Though we have all heard about the doom and gloom at the box office it was not a bad year for films. There was a lot of good stuff out there. Of course many of the quality films were of the Hollywood blockbuster kind which had a surprisingly robust year with King Kong, Batman Begins, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire all turning out to be well scripted roller coaster rides. On the awards front it has perhaps been a softer year. Had studios known how soft perhaps Crash and Cinderella Man would have debuted later. That said there is no clear front runner to sweep all of the categories but there are some gems out there and some clear winners for the specific categories.

The thing I like best about the Golden Globes is that they honor both television and film, and they have the common sense to hold comedies and dramas in equal esteem, roughly. So they have a plethora of categories and tailor them a little more strongly to the strengths of the genres more than the Oscars do. (Keep an eye out for a commentary on romantic comedies and why the Academy rarely considers them Oscar material.) So here are my picks for the Golden Globes in 2006.

Best Motion Picture Drama

While there are some great films nominated in this category I think that the winner is fairly clear, Brokeback Mountain was by far the best film of the year. Politics and actor/director egos aside it would be a crime to not award such a well done film.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Best Actress is one of those categories that leaves me cold and which I rarely pick correctly, except for last year. Most of these performances were hyped well before the release of the films but the movies were not well received by overwhelming consensus and most of the films only did marginally well. In this case I will take Felicity Huffman for her affecting performance as a transsexual in the last stages of her transformation who learns she has a teenage son and embarks on a cross country voyage. Honoring someone with gender identity issues may seem trite, but Felicity Huffman did an admirable job of transforming herself and developed that disturbing voice that fit her character well.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

This one is a tough one for me. I thought that Heath Ledger had the performance of his career as terse cowboy Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. But, all things considered, I think that Philip Seymour Hoffman will win the award for best Best Actor in a Drama for his illuminating role as writer Truman Capote. Hoffman made the film work without the benefit of really beautiful scenery and he showed Capote as a less than sympathetic complex individual.

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

This one is probably up for grabs. I would pick Walk the Line and its entertaining look at the early years of Johnny Cash. But the mood of the Foreign Press group might lean towards the more quietly effective The Squid and the Whale. Because the Globes don’t seem to shy away from films that do well with the box office I will go with Walk the Line as the winner.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Reese Witherspoon will add to her mounting collection of awards hardware with a win in this category as much for her as for Joaquin Phoenix who has been slighted so far this awards season.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

I like Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line but dark horse candidate Jeff Daniels could pull off an upset for his work in The Squid and the Whale. I must admit though that I am incredulous as to this really being a comedy but then again was Walk the Line really a musical? Last year Jamie Foxx won for his role as musician Ray Charles now Phoenix plays Cash and he does his own singing. Give the award to Joaquin Phoenix.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Another category filled with actresses bigger than the roles that are afforded to them. Here I will go with Michelle Williams as Heath Ledger’s long suffering wife Alma in Brokeback Mountain.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

There is a wide variety to choose from here as this is one of the categories that is not split into comedy and drama. Will Ferrell was hilarious as the Nazi playwright in The Producers but this is really a two man race between Matt Dillon’s racist cop in Crash and Paul Giamatti’s boxing promoter in Cinderella Man. Voters feel bad that Giamatti didn’t get noticed for his excellent work last year in Sideways so give it to him this year for a lesser role.

Best Foreign Language Film

Paradise Now, just a wild guess.

Best Director - Motion Picture

I’ll go with Ang Lee to keep the best picture and best director awards together. Surprisingly there are two directors who are nominated but their work is not, Steven Spielberg for Munich and Peter Jackson for King Kong. This one depends heavily on who is voting, watch for George Clooney to possibly pull off some magic in the Oscars in which actors have the greatest voting block.

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

All of these films are wonderful and densely complex. Good Night, and Good Luck may be the front runner for this one because George Clooney will probably be shut out in the other categories. I think that there has been a lot of buzz surrounding Tony Kushner’s work on Munich but going by merit I think I will stick with Crash which had a tightly woven screenplay by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco.

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
There are a lot of big names here including 73 year old John Williams for Memoirs of a Geisha and James Newton Howard for King Kong. The music for King Kong was sweeping and majestic despite the issues involved in the production and the fact that Howard came in at the 11th hour when another Howard, Howard Shore, and Jackson were unable to come to agreement on how the score should sound.

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

I don’t recall any of these songs having a significant impact in the films that they were in so I’m not sure there is a clear winner. How about a random guess at ‘Wunderkind’ the song from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Television

I like doing this part because I don’t often get to comment of my television opinions. I do have them, but that is just too much ground for one writer to cover consistently.

Best Television Series - Drama

It is nice to see a few new shows nominated for this award but I will have to go with Lost again. I think that the show has matured well and that JJ Abrams’ show has provided significant character development and serious depth over the past year. Some may argue that Abrams has provided more questions than answers but he has given a strong ensemble cast significant development and some forward progress in the overall story arc.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

I’m not sure what to do with this since I don’t really watch any of these shows. It would have been nice to see Kristin Bell nominated for her work in Veronica Mars but I guess the nods went to older more seasoned movie stars. The front runners should be Glenn Close in The Shield and Patricia Arquette for Medium. Arquette probably won’t win since she took home the award last year so give the nod to Glenn Close.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama

On the other hand I watch most of these shows and I think that there are a number of worthy performances. I still have to stick with last year’s big winner Hugh Laurie for his excellent work as the misanthropic Dr. House. Though with the best season yet Kiefer Sutherland has a good chance to bring home the hardware for 24.

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy

It is nice to see that comedy isn’t entirely dead though it is interesting to see that half of these nominees are from cable and that many deviate from the traditional half hour comedy length. Though Entourage had a good year I give this one to the jolly newcomer My Name is Earl.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

Gee which person in Desperate Housewives should win this? Actually Mary-Louise Parker could sneak off with this one with her own desperate suburbanite from Weeds.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

I’m glad to see Steve Carell nominated for his work in The Office since his film turn in The 40 Year Old Version seems to have escaped notice. But again I think that My Name is Earl should take the honors for Jason Lee and his considerable moustache.

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Empire Falls, why I don’t know, I liked Warm Springs but I just think Empire Falls will win.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or motion Picture Made for Television

While I really liked Kelly MacDonald in The Girl in the Caf

Related posts:

1. Golden Globe Picks 2005
2. Golden Globes Review 2006
3. Golden Globe Redux 2007
4. Golden Globes 2007 - Television
5. Golden Globes 2007 - Film