Who will (and should) win at the 2023 Golden Globes

Angela Bassett,  Kerry Condon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dolly De Leon, Carey Mulligan, Who will win: Angela BassettAlthough Angela Bassett has yet to win an Oscar, she did receive a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her powerhouse performance as Tina Turner in the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It. So the HFPA clearly likes her. We think they’ll honor her again, as the Globes don’t seem to have any hangups about giving out big awards to genre films, as the Oscars tend to.Who should win: Angela BassettShe’s only gotten better with time, and she brought a level of intensity and pathos to Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that elevated the film whenever she was on screen. Her heart-wrenching performance was one of the best parts of the film, and she should be recognized for it.

Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees Of Inisherin Barry Keoghan, The Banshees Of InisherinBrad Pitt, Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At OnceEddie Redmayne, The Good NurseWho will win: Brendan GleesonThe Banshees of Inisherin was the most popular film among this year’s Golden Globe hopefuls, with nominations in eight categories. We imagine it will walk away with a good number of wins, including Best Supporting Actor for Brendan Gleeson as the curmudgeonly Colm, who goes to extreme lengths to end a lifelong friendship in a small Irish village. Keoghan was also great in the film, but we think Gleeson’s more prominent role will carry him over the finish line.Who should win: Ke Huy QuanIn one of the best cinematic comebacks in recent memory, Ke Huy Quan returned to the screen after nearly three decades and it felt like he never left. In one of the year’s best films, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Quan played several different versions of the same character across multiple universes, each one totally distinct and thoroughly believable.

Cate Blanchett, Olivia Colman, Viola Davis,  Ana de Armas, Michelle Williams, Who will win: Cate BlanchettThis is going to be one of the toughest categories at the Oscars this year, but the Golden Globes offers two opportunities for a Best Actress win due to the way it splits up its categories. People have been talking about Cate Blanchett’s performance as problematic maestro Lydia Tár since the film started screening for critics months ago, and that buzz has catapulted her to front-runner status and will likely translate to a Golden Globe win at this year’s ceremony.Who should win: Cate BlanchettFrom a cynical point of view, you could argue that Tár was engineered as a vehicle to deliver some hardware to its star come awards season, but that doesn’t change the fact that Blanchett gives an incredible performance in the film. Lydia is a complicated character, full of nuance and contradictions—a predator who’s also a victim of her own success, outwardly resolute while her life falls apart. Blanchett allows us to access Lydia’s complex inner world through her unflinching performance, and for that she deserves the recognition she’s bound to get.

Austin Butler, Brendan Fraser,  Hugh Jackman, Bill Nighy, Jeremy Pope, Who will win: Austin ButlerThere are few more solid bets in Hollywood than the star of a musical biopic being in contention in an acting category come awards season. It may not always mean they take home a statue, but there’s no denying that awards voters love to see actors fully immerse themselves in the role of a famous musician. It helps if they have a voice to match the looks, and that little extra star quality that’s hard to define. Austin Butler has the goods, and his performance as The King in Elvis proves it. Or maybe he just looked really good next to Tom Hanks’ Colonel Tom Parker, about whom the less said, the better.Who should win: Brendan FraserIt’s hard not to root for Brendan Fraser, but he’s already announced that this year, and as much as we respect his choice (stemming from his accusations of sexual assault by a former HPFA president), we worry that it may count against him when it comes to choosing a winner. We still think his touching and critically acclaimed performance in The Whale is worth recognizing, though. The film may have its problems, but Fraser’s performance is not one of them.

Lesley Manville,  Margot Robbie, Babylon Anya Taylor-Joy,  Emma Thompson,  Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At OnceWho will win: Michelle YeohWe’re still talking about Michelle Yeoh’s astonishing performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once for a reason. Amidst a cacophony of visual and narrative chaos, and throughout a staggering variety of multiverses, Yeoh capably held the film together as its grounded center. The sci-fi premise may have been way out there, but the emotional stakes felt real, and she gave those moments the resonance needed to achieve something very special.Who should win: Michelle YeohWhile Cate Blanchett may be taking up a lot of oxygen in the early Oscars race, the Globes have an opportunity to recognize Yeoh for her extraordinary work in the parallel category of best performance in a musical or comedy. It’s a different kind of performance, requiring a whole separate skill set, and we’re glad there’s room for both to be awarded for their outstanding achievements this past year.

Diego Calva, Babylon Daniel Craig, Adam Driver,  Colin Farrell, The Banshees Of Inisherin Ralph Fiennes, The MenuWho will win: Colin FarrellIf you’ve seen The Banshees Of Inisherin, Colin Farrell’s performance as a simple Irish herdsman struggling to understand why his best friend suddenly breaks up with him isn’t one you’ll soon forget. We don’t think HFPA voters will forget it either. Farrell brings a tenderness and a boyish quality to Padraic that’s equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. If he’d played it any other way, or if anyone else had played him, the film would not have worked as well as it does.Who should win: Daniel CraigIf we’re talking about the most enjoyable performance of the year, the standout on this list has to be Daniel Craig as famed detective Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion. If we were talking purely in terms of memes and popularity, well, Craig would still win. His initial outing as Blanc in Knives Out was enough to bring us back for another twisty murder mystery, and Craig did not disappoint. The impeccable outfits, the affectations, the accent, the sharp wit, and even sharper intellect—it all adds up to an instantly iconic character we’d be willing to follow anywhere.

James Cameron,  Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Baz Luhrmann, ElvisMartin McDonagh, The Banshees Of Inisherin Steven Spielberg, The FabelmansWho will win: Steven SpielbergThe HFPA passed over Steven Spielberg last year when he was nominated for West Side Story (they honored Jane Campion for The Power Of The Dog, and she went on to win an Oscar), but we don’t think they’ll miss their chance to give him a statue this year. Spielberg has been nominated 13 times for a Golden Globe for Best Director, and won it twice. His semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans has all the qualities HFPA voters love in a film—a feel-good narrative about the power of the movies, loosely based on a true story.Who should win: Daniel Kwan and Daniel ScheinertBefore we get to our pick for who should win, a word on who should have been nominated. Despite some outstanding directing by women this past year, including Sarah Polley for Women Talking and Gina Prince-Bythewood for The Woman King, this list of nominees is strictly made up of men. Having said that, we can’t deny that the Daniels’ spectacular work on Everything Everywhere All At Once merits this award above all the others in contention this year.

Avatar: The Way Of WaterElvisThe FabelmansTár Who will win: TárOnly two of these films were included in the directing category, but we don’t expect either Elvis or The Fabelmans to take home a Best Picture award this year. Instead, we’re predicting it will go to Todd Field’s Tár. In a year when maximalism reigned at the cinema Tár was the rare minimalist film that burrowed deep into your skull and stayed there. It was an immersive experience of light and sound that pulled off the neat trick of tearing down pretensions while simultaneously being a little bit pretentious itself. Golden Globes voters can feel good about themselves for giving this one a win.Who should win: TárAs much as we all enjoyed Top Gun: Maverick (kudos to the HFPA for sneaking that one in there) we can’t say it was the best drama of the year. Same goes for the other entries in this category. Tár stands out on this list for all the reasons stated above.

Babylon The Banshees Of InisherinEverything Everywhere All At OnceGlass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Triangle of SadnessWho will win: The Banshees Of InisherinWe’re playing it safe and predicting that the film with the most Golden Globe nominations will win Best Picture. The HFPA really seems to love The Banshees Of Inisherin, and we figure their affection will take the form of an award for overall achievement in this category.Who should win: Everything Everywhere All At OnceLet’s be real, no other film can compare to Everything Everywhere All At Once in terms of critical and popular success. It came out of nowhere, defying expectations and explanations by ignoring conventional norms. We’d love to see this imaginative and well-rounded film get the recognition it so richly deserves at the Golden Globes, paving the way for more accolades come Oscar time.

 Who will win: Better Call SaulWe don’t expect the HFPA voters to pass up their last chance to honor Better Call Saul after the Breaking Bad prequel ended its illustrious six-year run with a perfect final season. The show has never won a Golden Globe and it’s long overdue.Who should win: Better Call SaulAs much as we’d like to see Apple TV+’s outstanding breakout drama Severance win in its first year, it will be back for another season and have at least one more chance to win (possibly more).

Who will win: HacksThe Golden Globes gave Hacks this award last year and we don’t anticipate they’ll go a different way this year, despite some strong contenders. This season cleverly blew up the relationship between Jean Smart’s Deborah and Hannah Einbinder’s Ava, and then put the pieces back together as the two of them broke in new material on the road.Who should win: The BearIt’s hard for a show to break into awards season in its first year, but if anyone could (and should), it’s The Bear. There’s nothing on TV like it right now. It was one of our favorites of last year, and deserves a whole award just for its single-shot episode alone.

Emma D’Arcy, House Of The DragonLaura Linney, OzarkImelda Staunton, The CrownHilary Swank, Zendaya, Who will win: ZendayaThe HPFA often goes with the buzziest pick in the acting categories, and Zendaya has already won the Emmy twice, so the image of her standing on the podium, award in hand, is already in the minds of voters. She did some great work in the past season in the role of Rue on HBO’s dark teen drama, so she’s not a bad choice. At least, among these nominees.Who should win: Rhea SeehornNot only do we think Rhea Seehorn should have been nominated in this category, we think she deserves to win it. For some inexplicable reason, Seehorn has been consistently shut out of the nominations for her performance as Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul. In a series with a lot of amazing seasons, this final one was Seehorn’s best yet, and it’s a shame she’ll never get recognized for her outstanding work.

Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary Kaley Cuoco,  Selena Gomez, Only Murders In The Building Jenna Ortega, WednesdayJean Smart, HacksWho will win: Jean SmartJean Smart has already won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for her role as Deborah Vance, a standup comedian trying to reinvigorate her career. She was just as good in the second season as she was in the first, so we don’t foresee a shakeup in the category this year.Who should win: Jean SmartSmart is one of the most consistent, and consistently funny, actresses working today. There are some notable rising talents here, but none of them are at her level at this point in their careers. Smart legitimately earned this, and we think she deserves it.

Donald Glover, Bill Hader, Steve Martin, Only Murders In The Building Martin Short, Only Murders In The BuildingJeremy Allen White, The BearWho will win: Bill HaderWithout Ted Lasso in this category, it’s Bill Hader’s Globe to lose. Although Barry isn’t an outwardly comedic role, Hader’s comic background makes him an easy choice for the win here. Glover is always good on Atlanta, but he was absent from a lot of the season, and while we were blown away by Jeremy Allen White’s first season of The Bear, we think his time will come in a future year.Who should win: Bill HaderHader’s dark character study of a skilled assassin who just wants to be an actor and live an average life is anything but average. He perfectly balances Barry’s inner rage with a tender heart and a broken-beyond-repair moral compass that consistently gets him into one outrageous and deadly situation after another. Hader makes it hard to look away from Barry, even when you might want to.