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For Best Actress in a Drama, the field is pretty much wide open. The nominees are Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria, Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, Helen Mirren in The Last Station, Carey Mulligan in An Education, and Gaboury Sidibe in Precious. My pick for who will win is Mulligan. Though her initial buzz has subsided a bit, she should pick up, at the very least, an Oscar nod in a few weeks. Though Bullock's turn is more popular, this category is very diverse, and she may find more hope at the Oscars, where she's likely to also get nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Mulligan has the advantage of being British, being in a specifically British film, and being a relatively new ingénue. Though they've since discontinued the practice of actually awarding such young stars, I would wager that her spritely lead turn is going to divert any other attention Globe members may have directly to her. The surprise bet here would be Blunt, another younger actress, in a specifically British role. Still, I'm confident that Mulligan should take the win.

For Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, the field is equally wide open. The nominees are Matt Damon in The Informant!, Daniel Day-Lewis in Nine, Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in (500) Days of Summer, and Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious Man. My pick for who will win is Downey, for his populist turn as the famed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sleuth. I realize that the choice is a bit out there, at least in terms of Oscar buzz (of which Downey has zero). However, I see Downey winning as a complementary tie to when Johnny Depp was lauded in awards circles for playing Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. If Depp could get an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and nearly win, I don't see why Downey, already well-loved in the community thanks to his comeback story, couldn't walk away with a Golden Globe. Everyone loves a comeback. That said, should I be wrong (as has happened many a time), the other potential winner is Damon, for his made-up turn as a doofy corporate dunce.

For Best Director, the competition is really between two people, as it will probably pan out at the Oscars: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker and James Cameron for Avatar. That's not to ignore the other three directors nominated at the Globes, as at least two of them are likely to get nominated at the Oscars. Quentin Tarantino and Jason Reitman, for Inglourious Basterds and Up in the Air, respectively, are solid contenders for the Oscar nomination, but it's really between Bigelow and Cameron. Though Cameron's technological prowess is unparalleled, watch for Bigelow to win here, as she may do at the Oscars. Bigelow has brilliantly captured the perils of war in The Hurt Locker, and her film is, unlike Avatar, unblemished by any kind of silly controversy and is generally loved. Cameron, though, is the other serious contender to win. However, if Bigelow wins, maybe she dubs herself Queen of the World. It could happen. Oh, and as for the fifth nominee, Clint Eastwood for Invictus...well, the Globes love their movie stars, but to a point.

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