GOLDEN GLOBES ANALYSIS: Has ‘The Descendants’ or ‘The Artist’ become the front-runner?

The Golden Globes were wonderfully predictable in most categories. Here at Hollywood Soapbox, we chose the correct winners for almost all of the major awards (although we thought Viola Davis would beat out Meryl Streep). Perhaps the largest surprise of the night was The Descendants winning for Best Picture, Drama.

The movie, directed by Alexander Payne and starring George Clooney, is more than worthy of the top honors. However, conventional wisdom seemed to point toward The Help as the big winner. Octavia Spencer received the Best Supporting Actress award and the film garnered much hype. The fact that Payne’s film pushed it aside has now changed the Oscar race — once again.

It would seem that the boxing match for the Academy Awards will be between The Descendants and The Artist, which won Best Picture Comedy. Both films have cleaned up among critics circles and now they are bona fide winners at the Golden Globes. Their stars are also award-winning: George Clooney will go head to head with Jean Dujardin (although this is Clooney’s award to lose; he gave the best male performance of the year).

Other things the Globes taught us: Streep is edging out Davis for the Best Actress honors, while Spencer looks to be a definite for Best Supporting Actress.

The most competitive category is Best Supporting Actor. Christopher Plummer of Beginners won at the Globes, but Albert Brooks is right on his tails with a wonderful performance in Drive.

Martin Scorsese took home the directorial honors for Hugo, while Woody Allen won Best Screenplay for Midnight in Paris. I’d say this helps their cause for the Oscars, but doesn’t seal the deal. Watch out for The Artist’s Michel Hazanavicius to give them a run for their money.

A Separation continues its dominance in the Best Foreign Language Film category, while The Adventures of Tintin somewhat surprisingly took the Best Animated Feature award away from Rango. Madonna won Best Original Song for W.E. — this is probably one of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s “celebrity” mistakes.

Showtime’s Homeland was the big winner in television, racking up Best Actress (Claire Danes) and Best Series awards. Kelsey Grammar surprisingly won for Boss, while Modern Family nabbed top honors in the comedy category. Other winners: Laura Dern (Enlightened), Matt LeBlanc (Episodes), Downton Abbey, Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce), Idris Elba (Luther), Jessica Lange (American Horror Story) and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones).

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com