Oscar Beat – Leo, Clint and Borat double up with Golden Globe noms

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 15, 2006

The Golden Globe nominations for this year have been made – it is time to talk about them.

We’ll start with the big winners. Babel took in 7 nominations, including Best Picture (Drama), Best Actor (Brad Pitt) and Best Supporting Actress (Rinko Kikuchi). It is very quickly becoming the odds on favorite, which means that it will most likely get snubbed by the Academy. Mark my words, this one will get screwed.

Along with Babel, Best Picture nominees also included Emilio Estevez’ ensemble flick, and one of my personal favorites of the year Bobby, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, Little Children and The Queen. It excites me to see Bobby getting recognition, as it was not received well by critics – except for me, of course. Rocking out in the Comedy/Musical category were some other spectacular films that, while they may not all be destined for Oscar noms, are also very deserving. Borat strikes again, along with Little Miss Sunshine, The Devil Wears Prada and Dreamgirls. Also making the cut is another favorite of mine, Thank You for Smoking. Containing one of the best comedic performances I have seen all year (Aaron Eckhart), Thank You for Smoking was both smart and sexy, taking the cool factor of smoking to new lows.

Aside from the Best Picture noms, there were plenty of surprises on down the rest of the list. Leo DiCaprio will face off against himself in the Best Actor category, being nominated for both The Departed and Blood Diamond. Clint Eastwood will also have his picture on TV twice when they announce the nominees for Best Director on the night of the ceremony, gaining noms for both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.

The rest of the awards seem to fall in place with most of the buzz that is going around. Forrest Whitaker and Helen Mirren continue their dominance, and will likely keep winning. Though my personal preference would more off-beat nominees like Sacha Baron Cohen or Maggie Gyllenhaal, but I can’t speak for the Academy.

On a whole, the Golden Globes are usually a very good indicator of how things may go for the Oscars, but they are not perfect. Remember last year when everyone thought Brokeback Mountain would run the table, only to be trumped by Crash? So while I wouldn’t discredit the Globes, they aren’t the end-all-be-all Oscar prediction. My thoughts are that this year’s Golden Globes are well diversified, with no one film dominating too much and plenty of surprises to keep us interested.

You can view the entire list of Golden Globe Nominees here.

Keep it locked right here for more Oscar Beat! Until then, cheers…

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