‘Argo’ Resurges, ‘Les Mis’ and ‘Django’ Shine at 2013 Golden Globes

Best Picture – Drama

• Argo
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Zero Dark Thirty

My Thoughts: When Affleck was named best director and Tarantino given Best Screenplay, it seemed silly for “Zero Dark Thirty” or “Lincoln” to win without one of those major awards. Still, it’s a pleasant surprise that “Argo” won, the best of the films I’ve seen on this list without question. Still, with all the buzz for “Zero Dark Thirty,” this was absolutely a huge boost to the film’s Oscar chances.

Best Picture – Musical/Comedy

• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Les Misérables
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
• Silver Linings Playbook

My Thoughts: When a musical is good it tends to win in this category. The only other possible contender was “Sliver Linings,” which was arguably a better film, but with two other Globes awarded to its actors, “Les Mis” was the clear winner.

Best Director

• Ben Affleck for “Argo”
• Kathryn Bigelow for “Zero Dark Thirty”
• Ang Lee for “Life of Pi”
• Steven Spielberg for “Lincoln”
• Quentin Tarantino for “Django Unchained”

My Thoughts: It was cool to see an astonished and humble Affleck accept this award in a category that included all Oscar winners. Talk about the underdog winning.

Best Actor – Drama

• Daniel Day-Lewis for “Lincoln”
• Richard Gere for “Arbitrage”
• John Hawkes for “The Sessions”
• Joaquin Phoenix for “The Master”
• Denzel Washington for “Flight”

My Thoughts: George Clooney showed no surprise when he read Day-Lewis’ name, and that’s the truth. There were some great performances in on this list, but “Lincoln” deserved to go home with something and if it receives no other Oscar, it should get this one.

Best Actress – Drama

• Jessica Chastain for “Zero Dark Thirty”
• Marion Cotillard for “Rust and Bone”
• Helen Mirren for “Hitchcock”
• Naomi Watts for “The Impossible”
• Rachel Weisz for “The Deep Blue Sea”

My Thoughts: It’s always good to see a Golden Globe mean so much to an actor, even though everyone knows Oscar is film’s true prize. You can tell how much it meant to Chastain to be recognized as a talented actress and with buzz continuing to build for her performance, she could very well ride it to another win.

Best Actor – Musical/Comedy

• Jack Black for “Bernie”
• Bradley Cooper for “Silver Linings Playbook”
• Hugh Jackman for ”Les Misérables”
• Ewan McGregor for “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
• Bill Murray for “Hyde Park on Hudson”

My Thoughts: Jackman pretty cleanly beat Cooper in the battle of the Oscar nominees from this group of actors, and as someone who loved his performance, it’s times like these when you’re glad the Globes distinguished drama from comedy and musical so that more people get a chance to be recognized for great work.

Best Actress – Musical/Comedy

• Emily Blunt for “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
• Judi Dench for “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
• Jennifer Lawrence for “Silver Linings Playbook”
• Maggie Smith for “Quartet”
• Meryl Streep for “Hope Springs”

My Thoughts: Lawrence showed off her funny side accepting this award, the lone Oscar nominee of the five and the obvious choice.

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin for “Argo”
• Leonardo DiCaprio for “Django Unchained”
• Philip Seymour Hoffman for “The Master”
• Tommy Lee Jones for “Lincoln”
• Christoph Waltz for “Django Unchained”

My Thoughts: Waltz is a talented bastard, and the HFPA clearly loved “Django.” His win suggests how wide open this race is this year, but it could just be a byproduct of the aforementioned HFPA love of this film. Waltz did not receive a SAG nomination.

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams for “The Master”
• Sally Field for “Lincoln”
• Anne Hathaway for ”Les Misérables”
• Helen Hunt for “The Sessions”
• Nicole Kidman for “The Paperboy”

My Thoughts: Hathaway has to be considered the favorite for the Oscar at this point. Her biggest competition is Field, whom she gave an incredible thanks to in her speech.

Best Screenplay

• “Argo” – Chris Terrio
• “Django Unchained” – Quentin Tarantino
•  ”Lincoln” – Tony Kushner
• “Silver Linings Playbook” – David O. Russell
• “Zero Dark Thirty”  – Mark Boal

My Thoughts: Tarantino has to be considered a threat for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar at this point even with all the love for “Zero Dark Thirty.” This is pretty thick competition considering the Globes combines original and adapted screenplays into one category.

Best Animated Film

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• Hotel Transylvania
• Rise of the Guardians
• Wreck-It Ralph

My Thoughts: As one of Pixar’s “lesser” efforts, and with “Frankenweenie” winning a lot of critic’s awards, it seemed unlikely that “Brave” would win, but even thought it wasn’t the best animated film of the year in my mind, it was still really exceptionally well-made.

Best Foreign Film

• Amour
• A Royal Affair
• The Intouchables
• Kon-Tiki
• Rust and Bone

My Thoughts: ”Amour” is not your average foreign language film, so it’s not shock to see it atop this list after its five Oscar nominations.

Best Original Song

• “For You” – Monty Powell, Keith Urban (from “Act of Valor”)
• “Not Running Anymore”  – Jon Bon Jovi (from “Stand Up Guys”)
• “Safe and Sound” –  Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett  (from “The Hunger Games”)
• “Skyfall” –  Adele, Paul Epworth (from “Skyfall”)
• “Suddenly” –  Michel-Claude Schonberg, Alain Boublil (from “Les Misérables”)

Best Original Score

• “Anna Karenina” – Dario Marianelli
• “Argo” – Alexandre Desplat
• “Cloud Atlas” – Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Helm, Tom Tykwer
• “Life of Pi” – Mychael Danna
• “Lincoln” – John Williams