Pointless Predictions 2012: Golden Globes

It's time for bad boy of Brit-Sit-Coms Ricky Gervais to lay into Hollywood royalty once more.  Here's my utterly unscientific predictions for the winners on Sunday night.  I stress that it is highly unlikely I will be right about any of these as I'm just going on other people's predictions and what I've heard.  In green, are the few nominees I've actually seen, in red my predicted winner, and god forbid I've actually seen what I predict will win, then the film will be in blue.  Got it?

BEST PICTURE: DRAMA
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse




BEST PICTURE: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week With Marilyn

BEST DIRECTOR
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
George Clooney, The Ides of March

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

BEST ACTOR: DRAMA
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J.Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS: DRAMA
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin

BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kristin Wiig, Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet, Carnage

BEST ACTOR: COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"A Separation" (Iran)
The Flowers Of War" (China)
"The Kid With The Bike" (Belgium)
"In The Land Of Blood and Honey" (USA)
"The Skin I Live In" (Spain)

BEST SCREENPLAY

The Artist

The Descendants
The Ides of March
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Ludovic Bource - "The Artist"

Abel Korzeniowski - "W.E."
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
Howard Shore - "Hugo"
John Williams - "War Horse"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss In Boots
Rango



So, in summary, I've seen 5 of the 35 nominees in these most major of categories and am therefore a complete failure at being a film fan and blogger.  My predictions are mostly a mash-up of other people's opinions and therefore sit very close to worthless.  You might as well have read the predictions of somebody who had actually seen more than four of the listed films.

While these films have been dazzling cinema audiences across the globe, I've been watching Hobo with a Shotgun, countless found footage horrors that look like they were made by film students with extreme epilepsy, and generally waiting patiently for Lovefilm to send me the DVD/Blu-rays so I don't have to fork out for ridiculously priced cinema tickets.


But, in short;

• I think Hugo doesn't deserve to win much (unless its competitors are not very good) but The Artist deserves to win more than it probably will
• 50/50 and Bridesmaids were great but probably not awards worthy (except perhaps for JGL's acting)
• Rango surely has no competition in the animated category

The Joseph Gordon-Levitt Rises

You might think I just saw a band wagon rushing past.  Is that the 'Loving Joseph Gordon-Levitt' bandwagon I cried as it shot by me bursting at the seams?  Yes it was and though it's been filling up rapidly for years now and picking up speed like it picks up passengers, it's definitely time I jumped on board and yelled his name from the rooftops.

But why now?  Well for me it's less the successes of the last couple of years.  Inception had him scrambling around in a revolving corridor in probably the best fight scene of the decade and 500 Days of Summer had him moping through probably the best romantic comedy I've ever seen.


But JGL's upcoming slate is the real reason I'm getting so excited now.  Nolan's trilogy-closer The Dark Knight Rises is obviously going to be huge but with so much secrecy surrounding it and JGL's character John Blake not being well-known from the comics, it's hard to know how big a role he'll be playing.  With Bane and Catwoman to fight against, and Commisioner Gordon out of action, perhaps JGL's cop will be a vital ally for Batman.  We'll see.  This trailer certainly doesn't have any answers:



Less exciting but still proving his importance and popularity in Hollywood right now is Gordon-Levitt's casting as Abraham Lincoln's son in Spielberg's long-awated biopic.  Lincoln is played by Daniel Day-Lewis and so it should be a huge treat to see these two multi-hyphenates perform together.

But I digress.  The real reason for writing here is that JGL is in two of the most exciting films of 2012.  Rian Johnson's Looper re-teams the star with his director on high-school neo-noir Brick.  This was the film that way back in 2005 really brought JGL to the attention of so many.  Released soon after the grim and critically-acclaimed, but far from mainstream, Mysterious Skin, these films cemented JGL as a new king of cool indie films.



Looper however sees the star and director go mainstream.  With Bruce Willis, time travel and a clever sounding premise that the director has compared to the Terminator films, this ones got me dribbling with anticipation.  The synopsis on IMDB sums it up as 'A killer who works for the mob of the future recognizes one of his targets as his future self.'  A few more details are available over at Dark Horizons.  As soon as there's a trailer, I'll be posting.  There is a pic here.

Then later in the year will be the release of Tarantino's Django Unchained where JGL will be starring with Leo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx.  After Inglorious Basterds and letting the let downs of Kill Bill Vol.2 and Death Proof fade into distant memory, I'm super excited for this.  Tarantino and DiCaprio and now JGL for good measure.  This can't fail surely.  Apparently it's about 'a slave-turned-bounty hunter who sets out to rescue his wife from the brutal Calvin Candie, a Mississippi plantation owner'.  No trailer as yet.

But for those who need a JGL fix sooner, watch out for this one.  50/50 is released in the UK in late November and looks like a very funny but potentially very moving drama.  Starring Seth Rogen and JGL, it's about a young man diagnosed with cancer and given a 50/50 chance of survival.  It could be incredibly bad taste but judging by the trailer, it looks like a great comedy drama with a quality lead performance from Gordon-Levitt.  And here's the trailer:



So 50/50, Looper and Django Unchained.  If the JGL bandwagon has any room left, get on board now before it's too late.  2012's going to be huge.