Golden Globes: Film Nominations

Tomorrow is the Golden Globes! And man, I've been seriously lacking awards season coverage this year. Of all years too, since it's been pretty strange and topsy turvy and thus actually exciting. In any case, will the season finally get into focus starting tomorrow? Who knows? I actually hope not. See my thoughts on the TV nominations here.

Best Director

• Todd Haynes, Carol
• Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant
• Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
• George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
• Ridley Scott, The Martian

Carol led all films with 5 nominations and so Haynes should be seen as the favorite... except McCarthy's film is the Oscar front-runner, Miller has garnered the most critic awards (if that means anything), Scott is a beloved veteran, and the Globes may want to award Iñárritu for not picking him last year. Basically, who the hell knows? Wished Ryan Coogler or Lenny Abrahamson had made it in as well.

Will Win: Tom McCarthy
Should Win: George Miller

Best Motion Picture, Drama

• Carol
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Room
• Spotlight

Really thought Brooklyn or Bridge of Spies would've made it in especially with their subject matter, but this just means strong showings for the rest especially the small film Room which makes me happy. As I said above, there's no reason why Spotlight's train will stop here. I wished I loved the film more (I like it very much), but really Carol, Room, or Mad Max would be my pick over it.

Will Win: Spotlight
Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Actor, Drama

• Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
• Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
• Will Smith, Concussion

I don't have any overt complaints as to who they decided to nominate, but I still am saddened to see the lack of precursor love for Michael B. Jordan. It would've also been quite fun to have seen Jacob Tremblay show up. Weirdly enough they decided not to nominate SAG-nominee Johnny Depp. In any case, this is the first real test of DiCaprio. If he wins, this could be game over. But Cranston is coming in strong.

Will Win: Leonardo DiCaprio
Should Win: Michael Fassbender

Best Actress, Drama

• Cate Blanchett, Carol
• Brie Larson, Room
• Rooney Mara, Carol
• Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
• Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

This seems like your Oscar shortlist and I'm quite fine with it give or take Charlotte Rampling as well as whether or not Mara/Vikander would actually be nominated in this right category. Blanchett seems like the easy winner here, but for some reason the narrative seems to be Larson vs. Ronan even though Carol is the more lauded film than either of theirs. There's also the very real threat of how everyone wants to award Vikander for her superb year.

Will Win: Cate Blanchett
Should Win: Brie Larson

Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

• The Big Short
• Joy
• The Martian
• Spy
• Trainwreck

Look, this organization has had some dire Comedy/Musical nods in the past, so this year isn't actually that bad. Of course most of these films being categorized as comedies is quite debatable, but whatever. I had high hopes for Tangerine, but alas. Kind of odd to see them ignore a musical Meryl Streep film (Ricki and the Flash). Spy really should win this, but I'm thinking the more Oscar-friendly The Big Short or The Martian will win.

Will Win: The Big Short
Should Win: Spy

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

• Christian Bale, The Big Short
• Steve Carell, The Big Short
• Matt Damon, The Martian
• Al Pacino, Danny Collins
• Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear

Pacino in what? Ruffalo in what?! I think a lot of people are STILL scratching their heads over these nods. I guess there weren't a lot of choices, but hey how about Bill Hader in Trainwreck and yeah, I don't know what else. As for a front-runner... Damon? Bale?

Will Win: Matt Damon
Should Win: Matt Damon

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

• Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
• Melissa McCarthy, Spy
• Amy Schumer, Trainwreck
• Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van
• Lily Tomlin, Grandma

Again, weird to see Meryl Streep not nominated here even for a movie that wasn't that popular. What I really wished for were the leads in Tangerine, which would've been amazing and well-deserved. I am super duper happy though still for McCarthy since she was fabulous, but sadly I think she'll lose out to either the pure star power of Lawrence or the current It Girl Schumer.

Will Win: Amy Schumer
Should Win: Melissa McCarthy (or Lily Tomlin!)

Best Supporting Actor

• Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
• Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
• Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
• Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
• Sylvester Stallone, Creed

I have no idea why Dano is being campaigned as Supporting since he was so obviously a Lead to me, but here we are. Rylance (the frontrunner), Elba, and Shannon were all SAG nominated so their Oscar spots seems assured as weird as it is for the last two. Stallone is the dark horse. It depends how many people saw Creed and really got emotional (like I did).

Will Win: Mark Rylance
Should Win: Sylvester Stallone

Best Supporting Actress

• Jane Fonda, Youth
• Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
• Helen Mirren, Trumbo
• Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
• Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Who even knows what's happening with this category all season? Leads stuck in Supporting, Mirren defaulting, critic favorite Kristen Stewart and SAG-nom Rachel McAdams nowhere to be seen. It's a damn crap shoot and honestly at this point I hope this mess results in a (surprise?) win for Winslet.

Will Win: Alicia Vikander
Should Win: Kate Winslet

Best Screenplay

• Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, Spotlight
• Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
• Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight
• Emma Donoghue, Room
• Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, The Big Short

Spotlight has been the runaway critics' favorite all season long, but do the Globes has the same taste? Might they want to award the more famous writers like Sorkin and Tarantino? Frankly, I'm rooting for the lone woman nominated.

Will Win: Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, Spotlight
Should Win: Emma Donaghue, Room

Best Foreign Language Film

• The Brand New Testament (Belgium/France/Luxembourg)
• The Club (Chile)
• The Fencer (Finland/Germany/Estonia)
• Mustang (France)
• Son Of Saul (Hungary)

I haven't seen any of these and other than The Club all of these are in the Oscars long list. Son of Saul is everyone's bet to win here and at the Oscars though.

Will Win: Son of Saul
Should Win: N/A

Best Animated Feature Film

• Anomalisa
• The Good Dinosaur
• Inside Out
• The Peanuts Movie
• Shaun the Sheep Movie

I've seen the first three films and all season long it's been Anomalisa vs. Inside Out. I'm thinking the latter is the Oscar favorite, but the Globes might just want to award Charlie Kaufman's latest.

Will Win: Anomalisa
Should Win: Inside Out

Best Original Song

• "Love Me Like You Do," 50 Shades of Grey
• "One Kind of Love," Love and Mercy
• "See You Again," Furious 7
• "Simple Song #3," Youth
• "Writing's on the Wall," Spectre

I've been campaigning for Furious 7's nomination AND win for this category ever since I saw the movie earlier last year and I'm not going to stop now when it's SO CLOSE though I'm perfectly okay if 50 Shades actually wins since the song is good. Basically anything but Sam Smith's lame song from Spectre would be fine.

Will Win: "Writing's on the Wall"
Should Win: "See You Again"

Best Original Score

• Carol
• The Danish Girl
• The Hateful Eight
• Steve Jobs
• The Revenant

Why do the Globes even give out an award for Score? Why not Editing or Cinematography? So weird. Your guess is as good as mine.

Will Win: Carol
Should Win: Steve Jobs