Safe to say that this year's Golden Globes are pretty unusual.
We're now 10 days into February and, were it any other year, we would be hip-deep in Awards Season.
Sadly, we're all locked in our homes watching the snow and waiting for cinemas to reopen and life to return to some kind of semblance of normalcy. Still, the work continues and we've got some predictions for this year's Golden Globes.
As ever, we've split the predictions into movies and TV. Overall, it's a tricky year to try and predict anything as quite a few of the nominations have either not been released here in Ireland.
All that said, however, there are more than enough categories that have clear favourites to win based on past performances and overall sentiment.
Let's get to it.
BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA
The nominees are...
'The Father'
'Nomadland'
So, what you have to realise about the Golden Globes is that they're a joke and that the deciding jury in the Golden Globes is also a joke. Really. There's a very good article in the New York Times about how messed up the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is.
The reason why we bring this up is because if there's one thing the Golden Globes loves, it's movies about movies and anything in the vein of 'Mank' is going to be a certain win. Now, when it comes time to the Oscars, will 'Mank' be anywhere? Maybe, but it's not going to win anything. Will it win here? Quite possibly, yes.
WILL WIN: 'Mank', probably
COULD WIN: 'Promising Young Woman'
SHOULD WIN: 'Nomadland'
BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY / MUSICAL
'Hamilton'
'Palm Springs'
'Music'
Let's be clear - the fact that 'The Prom' somehow made it onto the nominations is proof that the Golden Globes are a joke, and just confirms our earlier statements. Anyway, this is actually a pretty good category this year. 'Hamilton' and 'Borat 2' are both strong contenders here, and both equally deserving.
That being said, 'Hamilton' may win out because of two reasons - it's Disney, and the cast of this are all on a hot streak right now. 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm', meanwhile, would be far too mendacious for the Golden Globes to get on board with.
There's another point to this, however, and it's Meryl Streep being in 'The Prom'. The Golden Globes does love a good Streep performance, and America's weird thing for James Corden could also play a factor here too, so it's hard to discount it as an outside shot.
WILL WIN: 'Hamilton'
COULD WIN: 'The Prom'
SHOULD WIN: 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'
BEST PERFORMANCE, ACTRESS - DRAMA
Viola Davis - 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'
Andra Day - 'The United States vs. Billie Holiday'
Vanessa Kirby - 'Pieces Of A Woman'
Frances McDormand - 'Nomadland'
Carey Mulligan - 'Promising Young Woman'
This is a fairly tough category to call for a number of reasons, but it's basically down to three strong contenders - Viola Davis, Frances McDormand, and Carey Mulligan. Viola Davis really underwent a transformation to play Ma Rainey, so that's always a big thing with awards voters.
Carey Mulligan and Frances McDormand, meanwhile, were both in movies that have had a lot of buzz around them for both their topicality and for the way in which they were handled.
WILL WIN: Frances McDormand
COULD WIN: Viola Davis, Carey Mulligan
SHOULD WIN: Frances McDormand
BEST PERFORMANCE, ACTRESS - COMEDY / MUSICAL
Maria Bakalova - 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'
Kate Hudson - 'Music'
Michelle Pfeiffer - 'French Exit'
Rosamund Pike - 'I Care A Lot'
Anya Taylor-Joy - 'Emma'
'Music, 'I Care A Lot' and 'French Exit' haven't been screened for us yet so it's entirely possible that they could be awards-certain performances for all we know. Yet, even if they were, it's hard to think that anyone other than Maria Bakalova not winning here. She was the soul of 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm', and there isn't another person on this list - not even Michelle Pfeiffer - who could do the crazy shit she did.
WILL WIN: Maria Bakalova
COULD WIN: Any of the movies we didn't see, lol
SHOULD WIN: Maria Bakalova
BEST PERFORMANCE, ACTOR - DRAMA
Riz Ahmed - 'The Sound of Metal'
Chadwick Boseman - 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'
Anthony Hopkins - 'The Father'
Gary Oldman - 'Mank'
Tahar Rahim - 'The Mauritanian'
Let's just pause for a moment and point out that Delroy Lindo was utterly and royally screwed out of a nomination here. His performance in 'Da 5 Bloods' was far and away one of the best performances we saw last year, and that the Golden Globes decided to ignore it just goes to show what a joke they really are.
That aside, you're looking at Chadwick Boseman here as a strong contender to win, based on the vivid and compelling performance he gave in 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'. Close second would be Gary Oldman in 'Mank', but that's a real long shot. 'The Father' hasn't been shown to us yet, so it could be Anthony Hopkins' year, but it seems doubtful.
WILL WIN: Chadwick Boseman
COULD WIN: Gary Oldman
SHOULD WIN: Chadwick Boseman
BEST PERFORMANCE, ACTOR - COMEDY / MUSICAL
Sacha Baron Cohen - 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'
James Corden - 'The Prom'
Lin-Manuel Miranda - 'Hamilton'
Dev Patel - 'The Personal History of David Copperfield'
Andy Samberg - 'Palm Springs'
If James Corden wins this category, I will walk into the sea and never be heard from again. In the event that this doesn't happen, the likelihood is that either Sacha Baron Cohen or Lin-Manuel Miranda is going to clinch this. The odds favour Miranda winning and it's not hard to see why. 'Hamilton' was a massive success, and the movie was equally so.
WILL WIN: Lin-Manuel Miranda
COULD WIN: Sacha Baron Cohen
SHOULD WIN: Sacha Baron Cohen
BEST MOTION PICTURE, ANIMATED
'The Croods: A New Age'
'Over The Moon'
Look, even if we weren't an Irish entertainment outlet, we'd still be putting 'Wolfwalkers' out in front as the obvious favourite to win. The odds on 'Wolfwalkers' winning are slashed to basically zero, so it's over and done with. 'Soul', sure, it's a great movie and in any other year, it would be the favourite to win. But it's 'Wolfwalkers' and Cartoon Saloon locked and loaded to clinch it this year.
WILL WIN: 'Wolfwalkers'
COULD WIN: 'Soul'
SHOULD WIN: 'Wolfwalkers'
BEST MOTION PICTURE, FOREIGN LANGUAGE
'Minari'
'Another Round'
'La Llrona'
'The Life Ahead'
'Two Of Us'
'Minari' and 'Another Round', or 'Druk' as its known in Danish, are the two clear favourites to win here, and with good reason - they're both excellent movies. 'Minari' has won a good few nominations outside of the Golden Globes, while 'Another Round' won several critics' awards and film festival awards - so they're evenly paced on that front. As races go, this is one of the tightest in the whole season.
WILL WIN: 'Minari'
COULD WIN: 'Another Round'
SHOULD WIN: 'Another Round'
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sacha Baron Cohen - 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'
Daniel Kaluuya - 'Judas and the Black Messiah'
Jared Leto - 'The Little Things'
Bill Murray - 'On The Rocks'
Leslie Odom Jr. - 'One Night In Miami...'
No doubt about it, Daniel Kaluuya is going to win here for 'Judas and the Black Messiah'. Indeed, it's kind of surprising to see him in the supporting character when he really should have been in the lead. At any rate, this is his to lose. Bill Murray is the next possible contender, but really, this is Daniel Kaluuya's.
WILL WIN: Daniel Kaluuya
COULD WIN: Bill Murray
SHOULD WIN: Daniel Kaluuya
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Glenn Close - 'Hillbilly Elegy'
Olivia Colman - 'The Father'
Jodie Foster - 'The Mauritanian'
Amanda Seyfried - 'Mank'
Helena Zengel - 'News of the World'
Let's start with Glenn Close. She is a brilliant performer, and you only need to look at how utterly robbed she was for 'The Wife' to know that. But, seriously, nominating her for 'Hillbilly Elegy', in this economy? No. Never. Not in a million years. Forget it. Amanda Seyfried is likely to win here, and in doing so, will likely be the only Golden Globe win for 'Mank' - but so what? She was one of the best things about it, so why not?
WILL WIN: Amanda Seyfried
COULD WIN: Glenn Close, lol
SHOULD WIN: Amanda Seyfried
BEST DIRECTOR
Emerald Fennell - 'Promising Young Woman'
Regina King - 'One Night In Miami'
Chloé Zhao - 'Nomadland'
David Fincher - 'Mank'
Aaron Sorkin - 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'
That we have to point out how rare it is for three women to be nominated for Best Director tells you how messed up the whole system really is. The two favourites to win, however, are Chloé Zhao for 'Nomadland' or David Fincher for 'Mank', and the oddsmakers seem to bear this thinking out as well. It's a close race, almost as close as Foreign Language, but our gut says Chloé Zhao is going to win this one.
WILL WIN: Chloé Zhao
COULD WIN: David Fincher
SHOULD WIN: Chloé Zhao
BEST SCREENPLAY
Emerald Fennell - 'Promising Young Woman'
Jack Fincher - 'Mank'
Aaron Sorkin - 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'
Florian Zeller, Christopher Hampton - 'The Father'
Chloé Zhao - 'Nomadland'
Aaron Sorkin is normally a solid favourite to win, but really, Emerald Fennell's script was just better. It was more fiery, more funny, more witty, more everything than anything on this list. If they were handing out awards for casting the likes of McLovin or Schmidt from 'New Girl' as villains, it'd clean up on that front as well.
WILL WIN: Emerald Fennell
COULD WIN: Aaron Sorkin
SHOULD WIN: Emerald Fennell