GOLDEN GLOBE PREDICTIONS 2012!

The glorious leaves splattered around the ground aren't the only reason I love the fall-into-winter season: award's season starts soon!  The Golden Globes will be announced in less than a month, and I'm ready to try my luck at guessing at the major categories, comedy, drama, and animated movie naturally.  This will all unfold soon, but I love taking a crack at what will be a really heated race, though the only definite is Daniel Day-Lewis taking home his third Oscar for portraying Abraham Lincoln!  Let's see!

BEST DRAMA:
This category will be much easier to predict.  Last year there were six, with "The Ides of March" being the only one that didn't pick up a Best Picture nomination in this category:

DiCaprio in "Django Unchained"

• Argo (This one's for certain, and really does deserve all the praise it gets)
• Lincoln (Really strong lauding for the film, and not just Day-Lewis)
• Life of Pi (The buzz on this is massive enough to get a nomination without even being released!  I feel this is one that'll probably get a lot of tech awards like "Hugo" did last year, but no performance nominations because of the unknown leads)
• Django Unchained (Tarantino is an awards favorite, even though other movies buzz like "The Master" and "The Sessions" are just as strong, but in the indie category)
• Zero Dark Thirty (After just recently seeing "Hurt Locker" for the first time I can assure that "ZDT" is going to be a real thrill, all the more real since the target is one of the most hated men of all time)

Now what I did not include were superhero blockbusters "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises."  Personally I think "TDKR" deserves it way more than "Avengers," though I loved both, I sadly can't see "TDKR" getting a nomination, the steam seems to be evaporating from the once unstoppable Oscar train it had going.  But perchance with the 5-10 slot rule it could slip in there!

BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL:

The hilarious comedy "My Week with Marilyn"

Now this category will be difficult to predict, so you'll have to cut me some slack.  I mean, after all, this is the category that included "Burlesque," "The Tourist," and "My Week with Marilyn" as comedies.  The first one was an actual musical, but got treacherous reviews, and the last two were dramas.  DRAMAS.

• Les Miserables (Tom Hooper's adaptation of the musical will be invincible this awards season, featuring an Oscar-friendly cast and coming off his 2010 triumph "The King's Speech")
• Silver Linings Playbook (Even though IMDb is listing this one as both genres, safe to say the loose qualifications will put David O. Russel's dramedy into this category)
• Moonrise Kingdom (The most adorable comedy I've seen in a while just has to pick up some nods, even if it is just for Anderson/Coppola's brilliant screenplay)
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Still remember this old bird from earlier this year?  It's gotten Oscar buzz for a while now, mostly for Maggie Smith's role, and her traction could get this movie a nod, plus Madden's "Shakespeare in Love" experience)
• 21 Jump Street (Opened in March of this year, "21 Jump Street" has been hailed as one of the funniest movies of the year, and declared one of Hill and Tatum's best roles to date; also expect a Best Actor nod for either one of them)

BEST ANIMATED MOVIE:

My personal favorite of the year is "ParaNorman," but another spooky animated stop motion flick that'll certainly be in this race is "Frankenweenie."  So that leaves one more slot to be filled...

• ParaNorman
• Frankenweenie
• Wreck-It Ralph (I'm going to give the last spot to a movie I really do want to see! Box-office wise the movie's a success, and the 85% freshness on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't hurt either!  "Ralph" may lose to "Norman," but a nomination is guaranteed)  If the nominations will be expanded to 5 like they have in some years, I'm going to have to go with
• Brave (Certainly not as its title suggests, "Brave" is decent Pixar fare, not great, but a nom wouldn't not be acceptable) and 
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits (This British stop motion offering came out early this year, but it's positive feedback might jog voter's memories)