Awards Season: Picking the Golden Globes

Earlier this week, the nominations for the 2009 Golden Globes were announced. To use a food analogy, the Golden Globes are like the appetizer platter of award season. To use a baseball analogy, they're like the Chicago Cubs. Mixing those metaphors is a polite way to say that the Golden Globes are a delightful sampling of what's to come, but in the end they're not that crucial.

The good news is that despite not having gotten to actually most of the nominated films I want to yet (limited release and Saddle Brook, New Jersey do not make good bedfellows), I can make my Golden Globes picks based on irrationality and whims to get it out of my system before Oscars time!

The stuff I want to win in italics (if I care yet) and the stuff I think will win in bold (if they're one and the same, bold italics baby!)

(And let me say again: I seriously have little to no idea what I'm talking about in a lot of these categories. I will in a few months, but not yet. And I'm skipping foreign language stuff, songs, TV mini-series and anything else I have not only no idea about but no interest in)

BEST PICTURE - DRAMA
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"The Reader"
"Revolutionary Road"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
(Haven't seen any of these yet, but hope to see all except maybe "The Reader" soon enough. If I were to pick a sentimental favorite just based on what I've read, it would be "Slumdog Millionaire")

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire")
Stephen Daldry ("The Reader")
David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button")
Ron Howard ("Frost/Nixon")
Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road")

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA
Leonardo DiCaprio ("Revolutionary Road")
Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon")
Sean Penn ("Milk")
Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button")
Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler")
(There is no movie I'm more excited about to see in the coming weeks than "The Wrestler." I feel like Penn and Langella both have a shot here, but the sheer force of Rourke seems nigh unstoppable)

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA
Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married")
Angelina Jolie ("The Changeling")
Meryl Streep ("Doubt")
Kristin Scott Thomas ("I've Loved You So Long")
Kate Winslet ("Revolutionary Road")
(I'm rooting for Hathaway based on her SNL hosting--is that wrong?)

BEST PICTURE - MUSICAL/COMEDY
"Burn After Reading"
"Happy Go Lucky"
"In Bruges"
"Mamma Mia"
"Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
(Man, I really did not enjoy "Burn After Reading" and from the previews "In Bruges" looked awful. What happened here?)

BEST ACTOR - MUSICAL/COMEDY
Javier Bardem ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona")
Colin Farrell ("In Bruges")
James Franco ("Pineapple Express")
Brendan Gleeson ("In Bruges")
Dustin Hoffman ("Last Chance Harvey")
(Haven't seen "Pineapple Express," so didn't feel right giving Franco a vote, even though I kinda wanted to)

BEST ACTRESS - MUSICAL/COMEDY
Rebecca Hall ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona")
Sally Hawkins ("Happy Go Lucky")
Frances McDormand ("Burn After Reading")
Meryl Streep ("Mamma Mia")
Emma Thompson ("Last Chance Harvey")
(I liked "Mamma Mia" well enough, but not one actor in it was award-winning good. McDormand was the best thing about "Burn After Reading," but that's not saying much)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tom Cruise ("Tropic Thunder")
Robert Downey Jr. ("Tropic Thunder")
Ralph Fiennes ("The Duchess")
Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt")
Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight")
(Yeah, like the rest of the geek world, I want Ledger to win...but Downey was soooooo good)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams ("Doubt")
Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona")
Viola Davis ("Doubt")
Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler")
Kate Winslet ("The Reader")

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"Bolt"
"Kung Fu Panda"
"WALL-E"
(All my friends say "WALL-E" was good)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy ("Slumdog Millionaire")
David Hare ("The Reader")
Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon")
Eric Roth ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button")
John Patrick Shanley ("Doubt")

BEST TELEVISION DRAMA
"Dexter"
"House"
"In Treatment"
"Mad Men"
"True Blood"
(Again, friends)

BEST ACTOR - TELEVISION DRAMA
Gabriel Byrne ("In Treatment")
Michael C. Hall ("Dexter")
Jon Hamm ("Mad Men")
Hugh Laurie ("House")
Jonathan Rhys Meyers ("The Tudors")

BEST ACTRESS - TELEVISION DRAMA
Sally Field ("Brothers & Sisters")
Mariska Hargitay ("Law and Order: Special Victims Unit")
January Jones ("Mad Men")
Anna Paquin ("True Blood")
Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer")
(Sally Field should win this every year until she feels like retiring. I sound like a 40-year old gay man)

BEST TELEVISION MUSICAL/COMEDY
"30 Rock"
"Californication"
"Entourage"
"The Office"
"Weeds"

BEST ACTOR - TELEVISION/COMEDY
Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock")
Steve Carell ("The Office")
Kevin Connolly ("Entourage")
David Duchovny ("Californication")
Tony Shalhoub ("The Monk")

BEST ACTRESS - TELEVISION/COMEDY
Christina Applegate ("Samantha Who?")
America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty")
Tina Fey ("30 Rock")
Debra Messing ("The Starter Wife")
Mary Louise Parker ("Weeds")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - TELEVISION
Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother")
Denis Leary ("Recount")
Jeremy Piven ("Entourage")
Blair Underwood ("In Treatment")
Tom Wilkinson ("John Adams")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - TELEVISION
Eileen Atkins ("Cranford")
Laura Dern ("Recount")
Melissa George ("In Treatment")
Rachel Griffiths ("Brothers & Sisters")
Dianne Wiest ("In Treatment")