Golden Globe predictions, 2021

It's the Golden Globes tonight! They screwed up epically last year, awarding Best Screenplay to Tarantino's insufferable Once Upon a Time in Hollywood..., giving that hack another platform to blather on about how great he was. The fact that they rewarded his contrived film over the brilliant Parasite further attests to the Golden Globes' chronic lack of taste, and how they just kiss the more famous person's ass.

(Graciously, the Oscars did it right, crowning Best Original Screenplay and Best Director and Best Film to Parasite over Tarantino's yawnfest, giving me faith that voting bodies do occasionally exercise good judgment!)

Thus, I'm predicting the Golden Globes this year, but I really don't expect anything good from them. They've shown their true colours in the past, time and time again.

I'm still yet to watch quite a few of the nominated titles, but when I have free time, I have been making my way through the films which interest me, that are available on streaming services. Yesterday I watched I Care a Lot, which was Rosamund Pike reprising her streak of Gone Girl-villainy, to very entertaining and thrilling effect! 

Best motion picture - drama: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best actress in a motion picture - drama: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman 

Word on the street is that Best actress drama will be a showdown between Carey Mulligan and Frances McDormand. As McDormand won here just three years previously for Three Billboards, I'm hoping the Golden Globes mix it up here and reward Mulligan for what I feel is her best performance.

Best actor in a motion picture - drama: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Chadwick Boseman is tipped to win a bittersweet posthumous Oscar, so it's likely that the road to that begins with the Golden Globe win tonight.

Best motion picture - musical or comedy: Hamilton 

Hamilton isn't a film, thus shouldn't have been nominated here, and indeed, it's ineligible for the Academy Awards. But the Golden Globes like to do Globes-y things, and I think despite the medium being wrong, it's still of the highest quality in the category.

Best actress in a motion picture - musical or comedy: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm 

My personal pick would be Pike for I Care a Lot, but I won't begrudge Bakalova her win, as she had a lot to do in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and did it very funnily. Furthermore, her character gave the film some emotional heft, when it could have easily descended into farce.

Of these nominees here, Bakalova is the only one who is likely to get nominated for an Oscar (albeit in Best Supporting Actress), which makes predicting her win straightforward.

Best actor in a motion picture - musical or comedy: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

It was between Lin-Manuel Miranda and Sacha Baron Cohen. But I really didn't see Baron Cohen doing anything in the Borat sequel that he didn't do with more aplomb in the first film. So I'm hoping Miranda triumphs here.

Best actress in a supporting role in any motion picture: Amanda Seyfried, Mank 

Best actor in a supporting role in any motion picture: Leslie Odom Jr, One Night in Miami 

So the consensus is that the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor will go to Daniel Kaluuya, which would be absolutely incredible (and the closest his Skins co-star Kaya Scodelario will ever get to an Oscar #shade). And the Golden Globes do often reward the eventual Oscar winner. 

But they also sometimes like to mix it up (rewarding Aaron Taylor-Johnson for Nocturnal Animals when he didn't even get nominated for an Oscar was random but awesome), and I think this seems the apt category to reward Leslie Odom, Jr, for the film he's nominated for, and his exemplary work years before as Aaron Burr in Hamilton.

Best director - motion picture: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Chloe Zhao has been collecting several critics' awards for her directing work in Nomadland, and if the film isn't crowned anywhere else, this would be a good place to. The fact that the Golden Globes nominated three female directors (Regina King and Emerald Fennell being the other two) also suggests they're making a statement. 

Best screenplay - motion picture: The Trial of the Chicago 7 

They love Sorkin. *shrugs* The Trial of the Chicago did have a lot of zippy dialogue, which I'm sure the HPFA will swoon for, although I did find some of said dialogue a bit on the nose and glib. But that won't stop it from winning.

Best motion picture - animated: Soul 

Best motion picture - foreign language: Minari (USA) 

Best original score - motion picture: Soul - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste 

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are also nominated for Mank, but as the music in Soul plays such a big part in it, it makes more sense to reward them for the Pixar film.

Best original song - motion picture: Speak Now - One Night in Miami 

"Speak Now" was performed movingly over the end credits of One Night in Miami, and it packed a punch with the ending, so probably this.

--

I'm much less au fait with what's going on with the TV awards, so the below is pure guesswork (and I predicted Emma Corrin for The Crown out of love for Princess Di):

Best TV series - drama: The Mandalorian 

Best actress in a drama series:  Emma Corrin, The Crown 

Best actor in a drama series: Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul

Best TV series - musical or comedy: Schitt's Creek

Best actress in a TV series - musical or comedy: Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek 

Best actor in a TV series - musical or comedy: Eugene Levy, Schitt's Creek 

Best limited series or TV movie: Small Axe 

Best actress in a limited series or TV movie: Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen's Gambit

 Best actor in a limited series or TV movie Bryan Cranston, Your Honor 

Best actress in a supporting role in a series, limited series or TV movie:  Gillian Anderson, The Crown 

Best actor in a supporting role in a series, limited series or TV movie:  John Boyega, Small Axe