Under the gun Globe picks

 

With a figurative gun to head, your resident Gold Rusher can pull out a few Golden Globe predictions that just might come to pass, though, by now, everybody's starting to look like they have a clue. It's not that tough to memorize these names: "Slumdog Millionaire," Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, Sean Penn, Heath Ledger.

Earlier this week, during layovers in cities we don't now recall, we had a few minutes to prognosticate on the Globes for a colleague's blog. With the sound of million-mile gate changes barking from the airport loud speaker, we threw the dart at such personal favorites as the Italian mob drama, "Gomorrah," Colin Farrell as a hitman with a troubled heart in "In Bruges," and Marisa Tomei as an "aging" stripper with a killer body and wounded spirit in "The Wrestler."

Yeah, we might want to rethink those.

Truth is, "Waltz with Bashir" looks to have gained incredible momentum in the foreign language race. So much so that "Gomorrah" might no longer be the shoo-in we'd expected it to be. Farrell, as much as we loved that performance, may not be able to withstand the late-in-the-game surge by awards vet Dustin Hoffman (for a role, in our estimation, that was somewhere between stalker and creep, with ick and desperation layered on top. Sorry, can't force ourselves to make that pick, even though it could turn out to be true).

And even though she didn't win the "Critics' Choice" last night, Penelope Cruz is still the odds-on favorite for her psycho-sexy ex-wife in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." We still expect/hope that Tomei will get that Oscar nod.

Here are the nominees and our choices (come back later for the TV categories):

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA 

X "Slumdog Millionaire"

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

"Frost/Nixon"

"The Reader"

"Revolutionary Road"

BEST MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY 

"Burn After Reading"

X "Happy-Go-Lucky"

"In Bruges" 

"Mamma Mia!"

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE 

"The Baader Meinhof Complex" 

"Everlasting Moments" 

"Gomorrah"

"I've Loved You So Long"

X "Waltz With Bashir"

 

BEST DIRECTOR

X Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Stephen Daldry, "The Reader" 

David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"

Sam Mendes, "Revolutionary Road"

 

BEST DRAMATIC ACTOR 

Leonardo DiCaprio, "Revolutionary Road"

Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"

X Sean Penn, "Milk"

Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"

 

BEST DRAMATIC ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"

Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"

Meryl Streep, "Doubt"

X Kristin Scott Thomas, "I've Loved You So Long"

Kate Winslet, "Revolutionary Road"

 

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

X Javier Bardem, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Colin Farrell, "In Bruges" 

James Franco, "Pineapple Express"

Brendan Gleeson, "In Bruges" 

Dustin Hoffman, "Last Chance Harvey"

 

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Rebecca Hall, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" 

X Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky"

Frances McDormand, "Burn After Reading"

Meryl Streep, "Mamma Mia!"

Emma Thompson, "Last Chance Harvey"

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Cruise, "Tropic Thunder" 

Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"

Ralph Fiennes, "The Duchess" 

Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"

X Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams, "Doubt" 

X Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Viola Davis, "Doubt"

Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler"

Kate Winslet, "The Reader"

 

ANIMATED FILM

"Bolt"

"Kung Fu Panda"

X "Wall-E"

 

SCREENPLAY

X Simon Beaufoy, "Slumdog Millionaire"

David Hare, "The Reader" 

Peter Morgan, "Frost/Nixon"

Eric Roth, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

John Patrick Shanley, "Doubt"

 

ORIGINAL SCORE

Alexandre Desplat, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button""

Clint Eastwood, "Changeling"

James Newton Howard, "Defiance" 

Hans Zimmer, "Frost/Nixon"

X A.R. Rahman, "Slumdog Millionaire"

 

SONG

"Down to Earth" (performed by Peter Gabriel, written by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman), "Wall-E"

"Gran Torino" (performed by Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens, lyrics by: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens), "Gran Torino" 

"I Thought I Lost You" (performed by Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, written by Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele), "Bolt"

"Once in a Lifetime" (performed by Beyoncé, written by Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street), "Cadillac Records" 

X "The Wrestler" (performed by Bruce Springsteen, written by Bruce Springsteen), "The Wrestler"