Golden Globes 2010 Predictions: Best Picture – Comedy or Musical

2010 Golden Globes Predictions: Best Picture – Comedy or Musical

The Informant! (above, with Matt Damon), d: Steven Soderbergh; scr: Scott Z. Burns
A pathological liar helps the US government nab a nefarious agribusiness conglomerate.

Julie & Julia (above, with Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci), d & scr: Nora Ephron
Julia Child starts cooking decades ago, while in the early 21st-century blogger Julie Powell decides to boil and broil every single recipe found in Child’s first book.

The Men Who Stare at Goats (above, with Kevin Spacey), d: Grant Heslov; scr: Peter Straughan
US military "intelligence" and its use of paranormal activities.

Nine (above, with Judi Dench, Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Stacy Ferguson, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson), d: Rob Marshall; scr: Michael Tolkin, Anthony [...]

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Actor

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney, Up in the Air
A professional downsizer finds the frequent-flying love of his life while having to come to terms with his long-lost humanity.

Matt Damon, The Informant!
A pathological liar helps the FBI nab his employer, a dishonest agribusiness conglomerate.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine (with Marion Cotillard)
In this musicalized remake of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Daniel Day-Lewis plays the old Marcello Mastroianni role of the Italian film director trying to cope with the women in his life.

Colin Firth, A Single Man
In 1960s Los Angeles, a gay college professor is determined to kill himself after learning that his lover has died in an accident.

Viggo Mortensen, The Road
A man and his son struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

I’d say that four [...]

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Picture

BEST FILM

An Education, d: Lone Scherfig; scr: Nick Hornby
In Swinging (suburban) London, a teenager decides to have her first sexual experience with a man in his thirties.

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow; scr: Mark Boal
An elite unit of the US Army must disarm bombs during combat in an "enemy" city in Iraq.

The Informant!, d: Steven Soderbergh; scr: Scott Z. Burns
A whistle-blower (who also happens to be a pathological liar) helps the US government nab an agribusiness conglomerate.

The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson; scr: Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens
A murdered girl, now a heaven-resident, sees how life has changed in her small Pennsylvania town following her disappearance.

The Men Who Stare at Goats, d: Grant Heslov; scr: Peter Straughan
A journalist gets involved with US [...]

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS Tops Box Office

Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs stormed the North American box office this weekend with a solid $30.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Playing in both 3D and standard format, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s animated adventure scored an average of $9,651 per theater at 3,119 locations. The film follows an inventor who faces the consequences of his latest invention: a device that converts water into food.

Debuting in second place with a decent three-day gross of $10.5 million was Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!, which stars Matt Damon as an exec helping the FBI uncover his company’s price-fixing scheme. The film is showing [...]

Matt Damon in THE INFORMANT Photos

Directed by Steven Soderbergh (above, lower photo) and written by Scott Z. Burns (from Kurt Eichenwald’s book on the true story of executive-turned-whistleblower Mark Whitacre), The Informant! was recently screened out of the competition at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.
Matt Damon, who gained about 30 lbs. for the role (and who still looks nothing like Whitacre), stars as the high-ranking executive informant (and embezzler) who gets agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland in big trouble with the U.S. government.
Also in the Informant! cast: Lucas Carroll, Eddie Jemison, and Rusty Schwimmer.
The Informant! opens in the US on Sept. 18.
Photos: Claudette Barius / ©2008 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.