All showbiz eyes will be on Beverly Hills on Sunday night for the Golden Globes, when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honours the best of the Film and Television worlds. We've already made our predictions in the TV categories, and here's what we think/hope will happen in the Film section.
You can watch the ceremony and red carpet arrivals on RTÉ2 from 9:00pm on Monday January 8.
Best Motion Picture - Drama
The Nominees:
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
The Post (In cinemas January 19)
The Shape of Water (In cinemas February 14)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (In cinemas January 12)
What We Think Will Win: The Shape of Water
What We Think Should Win: Call Me By Your Name
That's some shortlist. The Post is currently the bookies' favourite - just - but we reckon The Shape of Water's creature romance and sense of adventure will play better with the voters. Granted, The Post is about journalists, but The Shape of Water celebrates cinema history like no other nominee this year, and that will tug at plenty of heartstrings. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is in with a real chance, too. In a perfect world the movie we'd love to see take the gong is another love story - Call Me By Your Name. It's the most moving drama of the last 12 months, and would've graced any awards show in any era. Hoping for an upset, but not expecting one.
Best Director - Motion Picture
The Nominees:
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water (In cinemas February 14)
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (In cinemas January 12)
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Ridley Scott, All the Money in the World
Steven Spielberg, The Post (In cinemas January 19)
Who We Think Will Win: Christopher Nolan
Who We Think Should Win: Guillermo del Toro
Dunkirk was the film of the summer for many - a sublime blockbuster that showcased all of Christopher Nolan's gifts as a storyteller, while paying tribute to real-life heroism. He's the favourite to win what would be his first Golden Globe - and it's easy to see why. The romantics are hoping, however, that Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water will have its way with the Golden Globe voters. The Pan's Labyrinth director has crafted a fantasy with as much for the eyes as the heart - modern-day virtuosity-meets-Hollywood's Golden Age in a story that has you smitten from the very first scene.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
The Nominees:
Jessica Chastain, Molly's Game
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water (In cinemas February 14)
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (In cinemas January 12)
Meryl Streep, The Post (In cinemas January 19)
Michelle Williams, All the Money in the World
Who We Think Will Win: Frances McDormand
Who We Think Should Win: Frances McDormand or Sally Hawkins
Any chances of a shared Golden Globe? In a year filled with outstanding female performances and roles, it would make for a great Globes story if Frances McDormand and Sally Hawkins were joint winners on the big night. McDormand's role as the grieving mother in Martin McDonagh's modern western is unforgettable, Hawkins as the mute hero in Guillermo del Toro's creature romance equally so. (If you see two films between now and the spring…) Today we think McDormand will win, tomorrow it'll be Hawkins.
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
The Nominees:
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread (In cinemas February 2)
Tom Hanks, The Post (In cinemas January 19)
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour (In cinemas January 12)
Denzel Washington, Roman J Israel, Esq (In cinemas February 2)
Who We Think Will Win: Gary Oldman
Who We Think Should Win: Gary Oldman
Reckon we're all done here - no intrigue and all the drama left up on the screen. At nearly 60, and after 40 years in the business, Gary Oldman has done arguably his best work in Atonement director Joe Wright's race-against-time biopic. And to think it might not have been because Oldman originally turned down the role of Winston Churchill, only to have second thoughts. You'll see just how much we would've have missed when Darkest Hour opens Friday week. One trip to the cinema may not be enough, such is Oldman's power and depth in the most brilliant of disguises. They might as well start engraving the Best Actor Oscar now while they're at it - one of the character actor greats is getting his leading man due.
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
The Nominees:
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water (In cinemas February 14)
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (In cinemas January 12)
Who We Think Will Win: Willem Dafoe
Who We Think Should Win: Christopher Plummer
Willem Dafoe has been the do-the-double Globes and Oscars favourite for some time for his role as the kindly motel manager in The Florida Project, and recognition in awards season is long overdue. Our own pick of the performances was Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards - until we saw Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World. Apart from the backstory - Plummer coming in at the last minute to replace Kevin Spacey as J Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's finished film - his turn as the billionaire is unforgettable. But will that be enough to sway the journalists with the votes?
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
The Nominees:
Mary J Blige, Mudbound
Hong Chau, Downsizing (In cinemas January 24)
Allison Janney, I, Tonya (In cinemas February 20)
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird (In cinemas February 16)
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water (In cinemas February 14)
Who We Think Will Win: Laurie Metcalf
Who We Think Should Win: Laurie Metcalf
This 'race' is all about the mammies. Both Allison Janney and Laurie Metcalf have won a load of gongs for their performances as long-suffering matriarchs in I, Tonya and Lady Bird, respectively. Janney's accolades include Best Supporting Actress at the Hollywood Film Awards, while Metcalf was honoured by the US' National Board of Review, among numerous others. As usual with the supporting categories, this will all make for the most exciting of envelope openings on Globes night. The bookies are going for Metcalf - we don't think they'll be taking a bath.
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
The Nominees:
The Disaster Artist
Get Out
The Greatest Showman
I, Tonya (In cinemas February 20)
Lady Bird (In cinemas February 16)
What We Think Will Win: Lady Bird
What We Think Should Win: Lady Bird
The love-in for Lady Bird has been lengthy with the Saoirse Ronan-starring coming-of-age story charming pretty much all and sundry since it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in the US last September. To date, it has received over 150 nominations from different organisations and had over 50 wins - and it's not done yet. Get Out and The Disaster Artist are the challengers, but we predict writer-director Greta Gerwig and stars Ronan and Laurie Metcalf will all be among the winners on Sunday night in Beverly Hills.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
The Nominees:
Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul
Helen Mirren, The Leisure Seeker (In cinemas April 13)
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya (In cinemas February 20)
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird (In cinemas February 16)
Emma Stone, Battle of the Sexes
Who We Think Will Win: Saoirse Ronan
Who We Think Should Win: Saoirse Ronan
About time! After Golden Globe nominations for Brooklyn and Atonement in the past, it feels like three will be the charm for Saoirse Ronan with her raves-all-round performance as the rebellious teenager in Lady Bird. If there is to be an upset here, then we look to I, Tonya's Margot Robbie for her portrayal of disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding - another powerhouse performance. Both women's places on the Oscars shortlist are assured. They'll have their work cut out after that, mind.
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
The Nominees:
Steve Carell, Battle of the Sexes
Ansel Elgort, Baby Driver
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Who We Think Will Win: Daniel Kaluuya
Who We Think Should Win: Daniel Kaluuya
Submitted to the Musical or Comedy section to give the film a better chance, Get Out feels too important a film not to win something. And if we take it that Lady Bird will win Best Picture - Musical or Comedy, then Get Out's only other chance is here with Daniel Kaluuya's breakout performance. Sure, there's loads [and loads] of bookie and pundit love for actor-director-producer James Franco's window-into-The-Room, The Disaster Artist, but Get Out's finger-on-the-pulse examination of race in the US - and the fact that it's the foreign press voting - make us think there'll be an upset here.
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
The Nominees:
The Shape of Water (In cinemas February 14)
Lady Bird (In cinemas February 16)
The Post (In cinemas January 19)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (In cinemas January 12)
Molly's Game
What We Think Will Win: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
What We Think Should Win: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Three Billboards' examination of grief, tension and rage in a smalltown feels very of-the-moment for the current climate in the US. But will the Hollywood Foreign Press who vote for the Globes feel the same way, or will the feelgood of Lady Bird or journalistic rigour of The Post win them over? No, we think Martin McDonagh's film is too powerful not to triumph here. And we reckon the Oscars will tell a similar story.
Best Animated Feature Film
The Nominees:
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner (In cinemas May 25)
Coco (In cinemas January 19, previews January 13 and 14)
Ferdinand (In cinemas now)
Loving Vincent
What We Think Will Win: Coco
The critics really have a sweet tooth for Disney's fantasy musical Coco - a Land of the Dead-set adventure that's a dead cert to win. Putting the Irish jersey on, we'd love to see Cartoon Saloon's Afghanistan story The Breadwinner take home the gong, but there'd need to be a big 'M' miracle for it to happen.
Best Foreign Language Film
The Nominees:
A Fantastic Woman (In cinemas March 2)
First They Killed My Father (Available now on Netflix)
In the Fade (Release date TBC)
Loveless (In cinemas February 9)
The Square (In cinemas March 16)
What We Think Will Win: First They Killed My Father
Hand on heart we haven't seen any of them yet, but the pundits are pretty much evenly split between Angelina Jolie's film about the Khmer Rouge regime, First They Killed My Father; and The Square, the Elisabeth Moss-starring satirical drama that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Given the power of the true story, we're going for First They Killed My Father - but it looks like a tight race.
