Golden Globes Add More Confusion to Crazy Awards Season

By Katey Rich

There have been so many nominations, awards and top ten lists in the last week that it's impossible to keep track. Who was it that gave Frank Langella Best Actor? Which group was the first one to show any love for The Great Debaters?

With today's Golden Globe nominations, though, the award announcements will quiet down for a little while. And after a week of "best of" and "top ten" and "best in supporting role" declarations, what more do we know about how the Oscar race will turn out?

Not much. The field is looking as wide open as ever, since the Globes nominated seven (yes, seven) films for Best Picture Drama and another five for Best Picture Comedy/Musical, and don't forget that The Kite Runner and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly made it into the Foreign Language category, for which they aren't eligible at the Oscars. (You can see the full list of nominees here) Add that to the top ten list from the Broadcast Film Critics Assocation, a group considered about as mainstream as the Globes and the Oscars, which includes the Globe-snubbed Into the WIld. That leaves us with 15 potential Oscar nominees. I could have given you the same list in October.

That said, some movies did get a leg up today. I was a little surprised to see the love the critics groups showed to There Will Be Blood (it was named Best Picture by the L.A. film critics and the NY online film critics), and figured it couldn't make the same showing with a more mainstream crew. But the fim's Critic's Choice and Globe nominations demonstrate a strength that I never imagined it could have. I've been saying for weeks that there wasn't room in the Oscar Best Picture race for No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, but it's looking increasingly likely that I'll be proven wrong.

Then there's Atonement, which is still safely an Oscar frontrunner even though it was all but ignored by the critic groups. It got the most Golden Globe nominations today, with seven, and attention for its lead actors Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, who were totally snubbed by the Critics Choice group.

Charlie Wilson's War made an impact, which I figure it had to, but a much bigger one that I'd thought after approving but not glowing early reviews. It came away with five nominations, including nods for picture, screenplay and all three of its actors. I feel fine about this, even though I was pretty unmoved by the movie, but Julia Roberts' presence in the supporting actress race is unreal, especially given that she bypassed Vanessa Redgrave to get there. Her Texas accent in the movie is the worst Southern accent I've heard on-screen in years, and even more offensive given that she's from Georgia originally. Her character is little bit of a cipher anyway, but the accent destroyed it for me. But then, maybe that's just me. And the odds of Julia winning the award are slim to nothing, given the battle that's been taking place between Amy Ryan and Cate Blanchett thus far.

The presence of The Great Debaters in the Best Picture Drama category is confusing, though some are chalking it up to Harvey Weinstein's good relationship with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and their desire to give him a little love. Denzel Washington got some of it too, with the Debaters nomination and a nod for his acting in American Gangster.

Finally, there's the strange absence of Into the Wild, especially after it led the Critics Choice nominees with seven nods. Nothing about the movie seems especially unfriendly to the HFPA, except that maybe it's too American? Who knows. I don't think this kills the movie's Oscar chances, but it emphasizes how much shuffling around can be done with the line-up. Turn your back and we'll wind up with Best Picture nominee Reservation Road.

The Carpetbagger interviews Helena Bonham Carter today about her and her partner Tim Burton's nominations for Sweeney Todd (the movie got four overall, including nods for Johnny Depp and Best Picture Musical/Comedy). Carter is as pregnant as it gets-- she's due tomorrow!-- and she and Burton got the phone call telling them about the nominations while they were in the doctor's office. "I'm so huge it's kind of absurd," she said. "In fact like a globe, frankly."

The actress, who gives one of my favorite performances of the year as Mrs. Lovett, has a great perspective on the value of awards. "Also," Ms. Bonham Carter added, "if it means another good part for me, that's all I'm interested in, frankly. I'm a whore for good parts, like most actresses. Awards can raise your profile for a nanosecond. They're like, �Okay, she's still alive�."

The Baguette asked her if she knew whether her child was a boy or girl. "No," Ms. Bonham Carter replied. "As long as it's not a globe. We want a human."