Any (Side)Way you See It ... GGs, LA & NY Critics Love Payne

Alright, so Super Monday as I like to call it came and went and now for an analysis of the pre-cursor awards. The Golden Globe (GG) nominations, NY Film Critics Online (NYCO), New York Film Critics Circle (NYCC) and LA Film Critics (LAC) awards were announced on Monday. Here is my analysis, I will post the listing of the awards in a seperate post and will post my Globe predictions before the a couple of days before the ceremony hopefully.


Best Picture

And the front-runner for best film is without a shadow of a doubt Alexander Payne's Sideways. It received the most Globe nominations with 7 and won Best Picture in all three critics awards. I personally don't think the film will actually win, not in a year where Martin Scorcese finally gets it right in his bid for Oscar glory (nice try with Gangs of New York though). And momentum can shift at any minute, in 1997 L.A. Confidential won both LA and NY awards yet by Oscar time its momentum had all but died as Titanic swept in and won big. I think Sideways will get multiple nominations, and eventually land the consolitary Best Screenplay award that always goes to the writer/director in these situations (just see Sofia Coppolla, Curtis Hanson).

As well, the Aviator has got to be a favorite in this category. Although it didn't win the two big critics awards, Scorcese was the runner-up best director on the LA Critics list and the film received 6 Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture - Drama. The other heavy favorite that has emerged is Million Dollar Baby, which the NY Critics awarded Best Director to Clint Eastwood and received 5 Golden Globe nods.

The other two spots remain a mystery, any number of films can emerge here. Finding Neverland also registered 5 GG nominations and was named best picture last week by the National Board of Review, same with Closer which received six. And both films directors received Globe nominations. As for surprises, there is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Hotel Rwanda, both nominated in the best picture categories and my have some momentum going for them.