Golden Globe '07 nominations

So yesterday morning the announcement come out about the nominations for The 64th Annual Golden Globes. As usual I have formed a few opinions on them that I thought I'd share with you. Why? Because I can. I haven't actually seen most of these films, so really don't trust anything I say... then again that should probably be a given with most topics ;) Here are the nominations along with my picks for winner, in RED.


Golden Globe 2007 Nominations

Picture, Drama: Babel, Bobby, The Departed, Little Children, The Queen

Actress, Drama: Penelope Cruz, Volver ; Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal ; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sherrybaby ; Helen Mirren, The Queen ; Kate Winslet, Little Children

Actor, Drama: 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

Picture, Musical or Comedy: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, Thank You for Smoking

Actress, Musical or Comedy: Annette Bening, Running With Scissors ; Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine ; Beyonce Knowles, Dreamgirls ; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada ; Renee Zellweger, Miss Potter

Actor, Musical or Comedy: 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

Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, Babel ; Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal ; Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada ; Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls ; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Supporting Actor: Ben Affleck, Hollywoodland ; Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls ; Jack Nicholson, The Departed ; Brad Pitt, Babel ; Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Director: Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers ; Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima ; Steven Frears, The Queen ; Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel ; Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga, Babel ; Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children ; Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal ; William Monahan, The Departed ; Peter Morgan, The Queen

Foreign Language: Apocalypto, USA; Letters from Iwo Jima, USA/Japan; The Lives of Others, Germany; Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico; Volver Spain

Animated Film: Cars, Happy Feet, Monster House

Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, The Painted Veil ; Clint Mansell, The Fountain ; Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel ; Carlo Siliotto, Nomad ; Hans Zimmer, The Da Vinci Code

Original Song: A Father's Way from The Pursuit of Happyness ; Listen from Dreamgirls ; Never Gonna Break My Faith from Bobby ; The Song of the Heart from Happy Feet ; Try Not to Remember from Home of the Brave

TELEVISION

Series, Drama: 24, Fox; Big Love, HBO; Grey's Anatomy, ABC; Heroes, NBC; Lost, ABC

Actress, Drama: Patricia Arquette, Medium ; Edie Falco, The Sopranos ; Evangeline Lilly, Lost ; Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy ; Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Actor, Drama: Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy ; Michael C. Hall, Dexter ; Hugh Laurie, House ; Bill Paxton, Big Love ; Kiefer Sutherland, 24

Series, Musical or Comedy: Desperate Housewives, ABC; Entourage, HBO; The Office, NBC; Ugly Betty, ABC; Weeds, Showtime

Actress, Musical or Comedy: Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives ; America Ferrera, Ugly Betty ; Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives ; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine ; Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock ; Zach Braff, Scrubs ; Steve Carrell, The Office ; Jason Lee, My Name is Earl ; Tony Shalhoub, Monk

Miniseries or movie: Bleak House, PBS; Broken Trail, AMC; Elizabeth I, HBO; Mrs. Harris, HBO; Prime Suspect: The Final Act, PBS

Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Gillian Anderson, Bleak House ; Annette Bening, Mrs. Harris ; Helen Mirren, Elizabeth I ; Helen Mirren, Prime Suspect: The Final Act ; Sophie Okonedo, Tsunami, The Aftermath

Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Andre Braugher, Thief ; Robert Duvall, Broken Trail ; Michael Ealy, Sleeper Cell: American Terror ; Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tsunami, The Aftermath ; Ben Kingsley, Mrs. Harris ; Bill Nighy, Gideon's Daughter ; Matthew Perry, The Ron Clark Story

Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Emily Blunt, Gideon's Daughter ; Toni Collette, Tsunami, The Aftermath ; Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy ; Sarah Paulson, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ; Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Thomas Haden Church, Broken Trail ; Jeremy Irons, Elizabeth I ; Justin Kirk, Weeds ; Masi Oka, Heroes ; Jeremy Piven, Entourage

So that's it. Most of my picks are just wild guesses, so who knows. Really it's not that I honestly think The Golden Globes are very important. In my mind they're trying to go too far. Not as good on TV as the Emmys, not as good on film as the Oscars. They're the mutant stepchild, the flipper-baby that you keep locked under the stairs... you know what I'm talking about, and don't pretend that you don't... Anyhow, they can be a good precursor for the Oscars though, and at the least its a bit of a shake out, the wheat from the chaff sort of thing. ok, my metaphors are a bit off today, so I'm going to stop now.

One last thing to remember, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association who vote on the Golden Globes is not a body with proper metrics for accountability. There are real concerns, as to their ultimate bias in deciding who wins or not. They are not in my estimation, even as reliable a voting group as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (which obviously has it's own problems, but are at least made up of industry peers), these guys are critics; arguably critics for hire. That said, they're decisions are probably no worse than that of you and your drinking buddies, and it's all in good fun. Just know what it is, before you put all your faith in them.

The Golden Globes will air on NBC on Jan 15th at 8pm EST.