Golden Globe Nominations
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By Stephen Lucas     Published January 8, 2004
I wouldn?t say 2003 was either of the two extremes; with the exception of a handful of films, it?s been a rather okay year...
Awards season rolls around every year, whether the harvest has been good or bad. I wouldn?t say 2003 was either of the two extremes; with the exception of a handful of films, it?s been a rather okay year with most of the crop residing in the middle-of-the-road category. ?Kill Bill? is probably my favorite film of this past year, but I can?t be altogether yet because I haven?t seen some of the more recently released films like ?Cold Mountain,? ?Big Fish? or ?The House of Sand and Fog? ? all three of which seem to have promise.

To kick off the annual festivities, the Golden Globe nominations have been announced. There are a few surprises within, but a lot of the expected came true. ?Cold Mountain? raked in the most number of nominations with eight while smaller films ?Mystic River? and ?Lost in Translation? both earned five nominations apiece. As I looked over the lists of nominees, I realized there have been a few unfair omissions (the best male performance of the year has been ignored!) despite pleasant surprises including Depp, Uma, and Sophia. Stay tuned for both of those lists ? for now, though, check out who stands where in the big races of the year and please, as always, enjoy the show!


Best Picture (Drama)
Cold Mountain (Miramax)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (New Line)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (20th Century Fox, Universal, Miramax)
Mystic River (Warner Brothers)
Seabiscuit (Universal)

With eight nominations feeding the Miramax awards machine, ?Cold Mountain? has an obvious advantage over the other films nominated. The three leads: Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renee Zellweger are all nominated in their specific categories, and Anthony Minghella is nominated for both Best Director and Best Screenplay. We can?t fool ourselves and think this puppy isn?t a strong contender; yet with the presence of ?Return of the King,? things will get interesting.

A question lingering in the minds of moviegoers is if the Globes and other award ceremonies are going to acknowledge the conclusion of the three-movie trilogy, which has been labeled by many as the most accomplished trilogy since The Godfather. The previous two films have been shunned in this category before, which puts a slight damper on hopes of LOTR getting recognition. The first two Godfather films both received an Oscar for Best Picture while the third lost to GoodFellas. It?ll be interesting to see if ?King? will do well this awards season, as if not, controversy will ensue.

Another blockbuster ? the Russell Crowe swashbuckler, ?Master and Commander? ? is nominated for this year?s top dramatic prize. Some claim that the film rehashes great action films before it while others (myself included) feel it?s one of the year?s best films for its excellence; against ?Return of the King,? though, ?Master and Commander? will likely stand in the looming shadow of ?King.? Though a great film, competition is competition and in the action-drama duel here, ?Commander? will be pushed aside.

The biggest wildcard in this category is Clint Eastwood?s ?Mystic River.? The film, which is an ensemble drama lead by Sean Penn, is one of the strongest-reviewed pictures of the year. The performances are all (for the most part) award-worthy (some are nominated for Globes) and the intricate screenplay gives the film an emotionally resonate feeling. ?River? will give the race a ripple effect being as though it?s the most intimate and personal film in contention; some voters may see it as the humblest film of the bunch and reward it accordingly.

All the characters are underdogs in ?Seabiscuit,? including the horse from which the film gets its name. In this category, the most prestigious of all others, the film itself is quite an underdog. Despite positive reviews and stellar box office success, the film seems out of place. Personally, I think the film is a bit too sentimental and cutesy for its own good, even though I enjoyed it overall. The Globes (or the Oscars, for that matter) don?t like cutesy, so we shouldn?t expect ?Seabiscuit? to be that much of a darkhorse in this race.

An epic love story (?Cold Mountain?) and an epic adventure (?Return of the King?) will be the focus of the fight, but there?s a chance ?Mystic River? could pull a surprise win.
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