PGA, Globes, and BAFTA oh my!

These past few days have been interesting to say the least. The Globes gave away their awards which were strange, and expected. The Globes are always a bit crazy. Today the PGA released that Brokeback Mountain took its top prize, which only cements its position as a clear frontrunner. PGA did the same with awarding Wallace and Gromit for Animated film. But lets break it down...

The Globes gave top honors to Brokeback Mountain (duh) and Walk The Line. WTL's award helps it into the fifth BP nomination which it is struggling to secure. It seems that WTL's buzz is fading fast, but the Globe helps to boost it chances. Winning for Best Actress is Reese Witherspoon and Felicity Huffman. Both actresses barely had any competition in their respective categories, which only points out that these two leading ladies are the only ones locked in for a nom. Best Actor was a no brainer as well. Hoffman and Phoenix took home the gold. While both had competition with Ledger and Daniels, the two overcame any challenges they might have had. Jeff Daniels had one chance to upset Phoenix to be a serious contender for the race, but his chances seem very unlikely. Ledger's only chance to set the stage for an upset in March is to win the last MAJOR precursor of the year: the SAG. Though unlikely, it will make things interesting. The Globes decided to mix things up with the Supporting categories instead. Giving the awards to Rachel Weisz and George Clooney, it seems that the HFPA were into giving awards to the contenders many had pegged for second. Clooney's Globe shows that Giamatti is hardly unbeatable and Michelle Williams is hurt seriously with this loss. The SAG could be her savior, but Amy Adams will be hard to beat.

The BAFTA nominees were announced. They were surprisingly stale with one exception: Brokeback Mountain didn't get all the most nominations, but rather, a British film did (surprise). The Constant Gardener had 10 nominations while BBM only had nine. However, TCG received nominations for BOTH Best Picture and Best British Picture. Had BBM been a British film, the two would probably be tied. In other news, Keira got snubbed again while Thandie Newton got a nomination that she SO deserves, I'm hoping Oscar listens. Rachel Weisz was placed in lead for actress, which doesn't hold too much weight.

Updates on predictions to the right. I am prediciting some upsets...so bare with me. These are my FINAL predictions. Nominees are announced in just over a week.

The Guilds Weigh In...

Well the SAG, DGA, PGA, and WGA, have all weighed in on what they think are the best films of the year. In each of their respective categories, the guilds locked nominees and mixed up others. Lets dive in...

Best Picture:
With nominations from all of the guilds, the year seems to belong entirely to Brokeback Mountain. Earning more Globes and Guild nominations than any other picture, it is the undisputed frontrunner. However, the guilds were very good to two small films that were in the "Honorable Mention" category: Crash and Capote. Each film rocketed forward into the top five, while others stumbled. Munich and King Kong are nearly dead in the Best Picture Best Director race. Spielberg managed to grab the DGA nom, but Kong missed on all accounts. With films like Match Point and The New World also getting dropped, the race is getting good.

Actor:
Hoffman, Ledger, Straitharn, and Phoenix all seem to be locked, but who will win the fifth spot. Russel Crowe sneaked into the fifth spot that seems to be the only one up for grabs, ahead of Terrence Howard. Crowe was all but dead in this category, but the fifth spot could be his to lose. Its a coiin flip between the two actors now.

Actress: Well, three spots are pretty locked down now. Huffman, Witherspoon, and Dench seem to be the only definites. Watts and Allen missed out on the Guild nominations while Ziyi Zhang is surprisingly receiving noms for both the Globes and the SAG. Charleze Theron seems to be consistent for her slightly less than Monster performance. Again, the last two spots could go to any of those four women. Don't forget if Bello is placed in the leadign category like the Globes did, same for Laura Linney.

Supporting Actor:
Hmmmm...another fifth spot quandry. Gyllenhaal, Clooney, Giamatti, Dillon, all seem to have locked their first career Oscar nominations, but who will take the fifth spot. Most people seem to believe that fifth spot will go to one of the other Crash men: Terrence Howard or Don Chaedle who received an out of nowhere nom for the SAG. Many other might throw in a career nom for Frank Langella or possibly the beautiful and haunting cameo William Hurt delivered in A history of Violence

Supporting Actress:
What to do what to do? What many considered the weakest category of the year has suddenly become the most confusing. There are many possibilties here, but no real front runner. Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, and possibly Maria Bello might have their locks in, but other actresses are hot on their trail. Gong Li, Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, and Catherine Keener are all threatening. Laura Linney could pull a surprise nom out of the blue as well. This is getting good.

The Guilds certainly helped define the race, but also mudled it up a bit. Updated predictions are reflected on the right.