The Golden Globes: Here’s who should win, who will win, and why you shouldn’t watch
This is my version of a peaceful protest. Others, I assume, will join me. Speaking for the masses, I think we’re all kind of tired of the rhetoric, thus I’m not going to watch the Golden Globes telecast. I won’t watch the Oscar telecast this year either. They used to focus on the art of filmmaking and acting. Today, awards shows have become a platform for political rants.
Last year it was Trump. This year it will be Trump and sexual harassment in the industry.
Both topics — while important — can be addressed by celebrities at other venues. We — the public — just want to see who is the best of the best in movies, have a few laughs and maybe shed a tear or two.
I’m not going to watch, but I — like you — am interested in who gets what award.
The Best Motion Picture Drama: My pick is the outrageous and darkly dramatic but very funny Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Guillermo del Toro’s wonderfully creative horror-fantasy, The Shape of Water with its clone of the Creature from the Black Lagoon in a romance, is in shape to be the category’s winner.
The Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: My favorite is a laugh-filled and brilliantly written and edited I, Tonya. A close second is actor/director James Franco’s hilarious The Disaster Artist. Both were better than Lady Bird, but the Golden Globe flies into the hands of that film’s producers.
Best Director: Guillermo del Toro gets the award for The Shape of Water. My pick is Martin McDonagh for the intense but quite funny Three Billboards. Both directors — by the way — wrote their own screenplays.
Best Actress Drama: No one tops Frances McDormand’s work in Three Billboards. She’ll take home the award.
Best Actress Comedy: I liked Margot Robbie’s I, Tonya performance best, but Saoirse Ronan’s acting in Lady Bird gets a deserved win.
Except for the two likely winners, the male acting categories have so-so performances. For drama, Gary Oldman takes home the award for Darkest Hour and a good performance as Winston Churchill. In the lighter category, Franco is the odds-on favorite to get the award for biopic The Disaster Artist. He has an absolute blast with the character and is the best he’s ever been.
In the supporting roles, will someone please — finally — give Sam Rockwell an award? Other than maybe Franco — and it’s a big maybe — the best acting by anyone this year is his work in Three Billboards. The award is probably going to go to an also deserving Willem DaFoe for the little seen The Florida Project.
The supporting actress nods are also very strong. Give Laurie Metcalf the award for Lady Bird, but my favorite performance is the dark character done by Allison Janney in I, Tonya.
The Golden Globes telecast starts at 5 p.m. Sunday on NBC.
This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 1:35 PM with the headline "The Golden Globes: Here’s who should win, who will win, and why you shouldn’t watch."