2007 Golden Globe Nominee Reactions (Part I)

(Actual nominees are in bold, my predictions are in italics, nominees indicated with stars)

BABEL
BOBBY
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
THE QUEEN

Babel*
The Departed*
Flags of our Fathers
The Queen*
United 93

Three out of Five predicted correctly here. The Departed and The Queen were obvious nominees, with Babel being favored largely due to it's cast. Bobby had been fairly under the radar up until this point but given the huge cast of stars and historical context of the film a Golden Globe nomination isn't surprising although I'm dubious about it's chances for an Oscar nod. I thought that United 93, with a few recent critical awards would slide into the nominations, but instead the nod went to Todd Field's Little Children, one of the best reviewed films of the year. I thought it's disturbing subject mattermight deter it but I'm not particularly surprised to see nab a nomination. Babel was surprisingly the most nominated film at the Golden Globes, but I'd wager that The Departed is the favorite to win given it's box office success and A-list nature.

BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DREAMGIRLS
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan*
The Devil Wears Prada*
Dream Girls*
Little Miss Sunshine*
A Prairie Home Companion

4 out of 5 correct, I neglected to even think about Thank You For Smoking as an alternate, but I'm delighted to see it included. Borat may seem unconventional, but it's a recently released film that made a ton of money and had mostly positive critical reception. The Devil Wears Prada was the big sleeper hit of the summer; an adaptation of a wildly successful book and awards favorite Meryl Streep in the lead. Dream Girls is trying to be the next big musical, and while it hasn't been released to the public yet, the review have been mostly good and I think that given the cast and the release date, it's going to make a TON of money. Little Miss Sunshine was the other big sleeper hit of the year, turning a HUGE profit and garnering favorable reviews and great word of mouth. It's still playing selectively in theaters. The 5th nominee was the only big question mark. I figured that given the recent passing of director Robert Altman that his last film, A Prairie Home Companion would get a sympathy nod. Turns out that Thank You For Smoking, a very well made, wonderfully satirical take on the tobacco industry and it's critics snuck in. I hadn't counted on TYFS due to it being released VERY early in the year but it's a great film with great reviews and frankly deserved the nomination.

CLINT EASTWOOD FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
CLINT EASTWOOD LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
STEPHEN FREARS THE QUEEN
ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ
IѐÁRRITU BABEL
MARTIN SCORSESE THE DEPARTED

Robert Altman, A Prairie Home Companion
Bill Condon, Dream Girls
Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers*
Stephen Frears, The Queen*
Aeljandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, Babel*
Martin Scorsese, The Departed*

4 out of 5 once again. A very surprising list of nominees here. Clint Eastwood is nominated as best director for both of his World War II films, but neither of those is nominated as Best Drama. I hadn't considered Letters From Iwo Jima to be in the running due to it being a foreign film. Not that a director wouldn't be nominated for a foreign film, but I figured that the Hollywood Foreign Press would focus it's attention on the American counterpart film. I'm surprised to not see Bill Condon show up on the list of nominees. I had expected the lavish production and strong cast of Dream Girls to be the most nominated film, and Condon is a well-respected director and screenwriter. Whether or not this damages his chances at an Oscar nomination is hard to say (but probably unlikely). Nice to see Stephen Frears, a very good and criminally underrated director get a nod for the Queen, and while I didn't expect Babel to be the most nominated film I suspected that it's director would get some attention. Eastwood will likely split votes, and Frears and Inarritu would have to be considered long shots; I suspect this award will be Scorsese's for the taking.

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

Leonardo Dicaprio, The Departed*
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness*
Ken Watanabe, Letters from Iwo Jima
Forrest Whittaker, The Last King of Scotland*

Only managed to land 3 out of 5 here, and this is a very surprising list. First of all, it's EXTREMELY rare for one actor to be nominated in one category twice. On top of that, given the critical apathy and bad box office for The Blood Diamong I hadn't even considered his work in the film to be on the radar, but it's been a huge year for Dicaprio regardless and it's possible that his star status carried him to the two nods, but I doubt anybody could have predicted that. I'd say this highly increases his chance at being nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. Everything I had read up until this point indicated that Peter O'Toole was being marketed in the Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy category rather than drama for his work in Venus but he turned up in the drama category. He's pretty much guaranteed for an Oscar nod. Will Smith is a huge A-list star playing against type in the melodramatic, tearjerker The Pursuit of Happyness and while I'm skeptical about the film itself a Golden Globe nomination seemed very likely. Forrest Whitaker has been mostly cleaning up at the critical awards and is probably the favorite to win both this award and the Best Actor Oscar for his work as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. Half Nelson was one of the year's critical darlings and he's gotten a lot of awards attention but it's admittedly a VERY small film. It's also possible that Ken Watanabe's performance in Letters From Iwo Jima hasn't been seen enough.

PENÉLOPE CRUZ VOLVER
JUDI DENCH NOTES ON A SCANDAL
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL SHERRYBABY
HELEN MIRREN THE QUEEN
KATE WINSLET LITTLE CHILDREN

Penelope Cruz, Volver*
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal*
Sienna Miller, Factory Girl
Helen Mirren, The Queen*
Kate Winslet, Little Children*

4 out of 5 here, with it once again being a case of the wrong selection being the toughest. I thought Sienna Miller's role as Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl would lead her to a nomination that would help get her off the ground as an actress (she's young and good-looking, Hollywood loves that) but the film has barely been released at this point and likely wasn't seen. I admittedly don't know much about the film Sherrybaby but it must have been on somebody's radar and Maggie Gylenhaal is certainly a talented actress. I'm fairly sure that the other four nominated actresses will make up four out of the five best actress nominees at the Oscars, with the odds on favorite at this point being Helen Mirren. I don't believe there's been a critical award that Mirren HASN'T won for her work as Queen Elizabeth II yet. Cruz, Dench, Mirren and Winslet are all very strong actresses with work in awards-friendly, critically favored films.

SACHA BARON COHEN BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
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

Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan*
Aaron Eckhart, Thank You For Smoking*
Will Ferrell, Stranger Than Fiction*
Jamie Foxx, Dream Girls
Richard Griffiths, The History Boys
Peter O'Toole, Venus

Three out of Five correct and an INCREDIBLY weak string of nominees here. The only one in this group with a reasonable chance at going on to an Oscar nomination is Eckhart and even that is a slim possibility. Cohen was an obvious choice. His film was a success both financially and critically and his character has rapidly turned into a pop culture icon. Ferrell is the big comedic actor making his gradual transition to drama and getting an obvious nomination. Eckhart is a very good, very underappreciated actor and I expected that his charismatic work in a well-reviewed film would carry him to a nomination in this category despite the early release date. I had suspected that Depp might be nominated for his work in the Pirates of the Carribean sequel. Hell, they nominated him for his atrocious work in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last year but I thought that since it was a sequel (hence, kind of a redundant performance) that better taste would prevail. The Hollywood Foreign Press WILL nominate someone just for the sake of having them show up at the ceremony as is the case here. I don't know anything about Chiwetel Ejiofor and handed read his name or Kinky Boots in anything leading up to these nominations but apparently he did something to get the HFPA's attention. Hard to say who wins here. Eckhart has the best chance to go on to an Oscar nomination (the HFPA loves to look at their ceremony as a precursor) but there is a chance that they give it to either Cohen or Farrell simply for the acceptance speeches.

ANNETTE BENING RUNNING WITH SCISSORS
TONI COLLETTE LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
BEYONCÉ KNOWLES DREAMGIRLS
MERYL STREEP THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
RENEE ZELLWEGER MISS POTTER

Annette Benning, Running With Scissors*
Beyonce Knowles, Dream Girls*
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada*
Julie Walters, Driving Lessons
Renee Zellweger, Miss Potter*

Four out of Five, again with the fifth being the hardest to predict. I had only read that Toni Collette would be considered as a best supporting actor nominee for Little Miss Sunshine but apparently was bumped up at the last minute. I'm surprised to see Collete nominated and not Abigail Breslin, the young girl who frankly brought the most heart and charm to the film. Benning, Streep and Zellweger were all fairly obvious choices. Benning is a fairly big star and her work was well acclaimed (although the film itself received mixed reviews), plus her husband Warren Beatty is being given the Cecil B. Demille award at the Globes this year. Streep pretty much qualifies as a Hollywood legend at this point and her work in the highly-successful Devil Wears Prada playing an evil executive pretty much assured her a nomination. Zellweger is an A-list actress with good credentials playing a real historical character (and from what I've read, classifying Miss Potter as a comedy might be a bit of a stretch). I figured that Knowles would ride the wave of Dream Girls and earn a nod given that she is also a big musical star. With the exception of Collette, all of these actresses stand a chance at an Oscar nomination, but it's a VERY competitive race this year. I'd say that Zellweger stands the best chance given that she's playing a real person, and I've heard that Streep may be pushed as Best Supporting Actress. This award could really go to anybody, and whoever wins will certainly gain a step on the competition for the Oscar nod.

To be continued.....