The Golden Globes are now just days away. On Sunday night, hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey will try to keep our attention in between the awards being handed out. Although the winners are chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and not members of the industry, the Globes still provide the awards season with a nice roadmap.
TheCelebrityCafe.com has already done predictions for all the TV categories and for the actors, so now it’s time to look at the top movie categories.
In the Best Picture - Drama category, the HFPA has nominated 12 Years A Slave, Rush, Gravity, Captain Phillips and Philomena. Among the bunch, Gravity is the only one that is an original story, as the rest are based on true events.
Rush, which was directed by Ron Howard and centers on the Formula 1 rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, was a surprise nominee and the Globes may be the film’s rare chance to shine in the spotlight. Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips and Philomena have received plenty of awards recognition, though, so it’s no surprise that they are both there.
But the real race here is between Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave. While Gravity is one of the most gripping thrillers to come out of Hollywood in years, I predict the historical drama will win. 12 Years A Slave has been the frontrunner for 2013 for months and the Golden Globes will be where it starts winning.
The Best Picture - Comedy/Musical category is far more interesting than the Drama group. I really doubt that if you told David O. Russell or Martin Scorsese that their movies would be dubbed comedies they would believe you. Yes, both American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street have their hilarious moments, but both are serious, dark comedies. Alexander Payne’s Nebraska is also on the more serious side of the spectrum, while Her is a more serious love story. The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis is also up for this award.
My pick for this category is Hustle. The HFPA clearly loves the movie, since all four members of the cast have been nominated in the acting categories. I did like Wolf more, so I’ll be pulling for it, but Russell also got the Best Director nomination, while Scorsese didn’t.
Speaking of Best Director, the nominees in that category are McQueen, Russell, Cuaron, Greengrass and Payne. My pick is Cuaron because it had to be one heck of a challenge to pull Gravity off as well as he did, but if 12 Years A Slave wins Best Picture - Drama, this goes to McQueen. If the HFPA picks by genre for the top prizes, then it should do the same for Best Director.
You can check out all our Golden Globes coverage here and the list of nominees is here.
image: Warner Bros