Golden Globe Reactions.

The Golden Globes were handed out on Sunday night and things suddenly became a lot more clear in this year's Oscar race. I will do my best in this blog to make sense of what we learned from Sunday awards.

First let me address the TV award winners. I was all over the place in my TV predictions. But I have learned this: if you are an actor in a new show or simply a new show that has a sufficient amount of buzz, you will win a Golden Globe. The Globes love anything that's new (see this year's big wins for Boardwalk Empire, Steve Buscemi, Katey Segal, & Laura Linney). They always have and I should never believe they would actually reward the truly deserving Elisabeth Moss, 4 seasons deep into Mad Men.
While was thrilled for Chris Colfer's win and I love the fact that he is becoming the standout star of Glee, I will not believe that Glee is the best comedy on TV. 30 Rock and Modern Family are in a different Universe. But I guess it's simply the newest buzz-worthiest comedy on TV. I have almost no faith in the Globe TV awards because new doesn't mean best. Rant over.

Now let's move onto the Oscar race. (I did do very well in my Globe film predictions by the wya, 12 out of 14 correct). Let's talk through each category post Golden Globes.
Best Picture: Critics and Oscar bloggers were saying that The King's Speech still had what it took to win Best Picture if it won at the Globes, however now I think it's safe to say things are a done deal. The Social Network will win Best Picture. It has won everything on the map.
Best Director: David Fincher will win Best Director. Also a done deal. He's well respected and he did great work with The Social Network. I'd be inclined to vote for Christopher Nolan though.
Best Actor: Colin Firth wins Best Actor Drama and cements himself as the front runner over James Franco. It was nice to see Paul Giamatti win for Barney's Version. Being Canadian and loving his love letter speech to my homeland, made me very happy to see this happen. However, Giamatti is a very very long shot to get into the top 5 actor race come Oscar.
Best Actress: I don't think we are any clearer in terms of a clear cut victor in this race, Bening wins in Comedy and Portman wins in Drama. However I did notice an unbelievable amount of support for Portman when her name was announced among the nominees for Best Actress drama. Her speech was absolutely charming and lovely and she looked radiant. I know it sounds trite to say she was charming in her speech and looked pretty, but in terms of the Oscar race these things actually matter. I think Portman is still in the lead. I think people want her to win this Oscar. I think Black Swan has more support overall than The Kids Are All Right (Aronofsky will be among the nominees for director while Lisa Cholodenko will not be). I think the Oscar is Portman's. I would be shocked if Bening won at this point.
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale wins the Globe and will win the Oscar. Geoffrey Rush, Bale's toughest competition, won't be able to trip him up. Plus support for The King's Speech will undoubtedly be thrown in Firth's direction.
Best Supporting Actress: This is the race with the largest question mark in front of it. This year it seems to suffer from the fact that no one really deserves the award. There is a Mo'Nique type performance in the category. It seems to be a category of performances that other years usually fill out a Best Supporting Actress category. Melissa Leo wins the Globe. She also won The Critics choice award but was not even nominated for The BAFTA. Some bloggers have said Helena Bonham Carter could win, but it isn't really a winning performance just nice, solid work. Amy Adams is great in The Fighter, but it's not the role one wins an Oscar for. Hailee Steinfeld (who strangely was not nominated for a Globe) could actually win this category, that is if she's not nominated for Best Actress come Oscar time. If I were to bet right now, I would bet on Melissa Leo. If she wins the SAG, she's pretty much guaranteed an Oscar and it looks like the cards are falling that way.

Oscar noms are less than a week away. It's Oscar fans Xmas morning on Tuesday. Most categories are pretty sewn up in terms of 3 or 4 nominees. But I expect some surprises. Time to get excited!