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LOS ANGELES: The race for Oscar glory begins with the announcement of nominees for the 66th Golden Globes.
At the top of the list are Brad Pitt and Batman, with the former vying for honours for his performance in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", an adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 short story about a man who ages in reverse.
Though it is only slated to open in the United States on Christmas Day, critics and audiences who have caught the sneak previews have given very positive reviews of the show.
Directed by David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" also stars Australian actress Cate Blanchett.
"I think the presumption among pundits right now is that ‘Benjamin Button’ is the front-runner," Tom O’Neil, an awards-season expert with the Los Angeles Times’ theenvelope.com, told AFP.
Long-regarded as an indicator of films likely to vie for top honours at the Oscars, which take place on February 22 next year, the Globes have thrown up a series of red herrings in recent years.
The last movie to achieve the Golden Globes' Best Drama and Academy Awards' Best Picture double was fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" in 2003.
Blockbuster "The Dark Knight" has also proved to be an early favourite with eight nominations for the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s annual awards.
Director Christopher Nolan’s sequel was widely hailed as a masterpiece of movie-making that transcended its superhero genre and has raked in nearly US$1 billion worldwide since its July release.
"The Dark Knight" was also notable for an extraordinary performance from late Australian actor Heath Ledger, who is being strongly tipped to win a posthumous Oscar at next year's Academy Awards for his portrayal of the Joker.
"Whether 'The Dark Knight' was the best movie of the year is a subject of debate, but it was certainly the movie of the year," O'Neil said. "It was the most talked about, the one that mattered most, the one that made the most.”
"And the Globes have an obvious appreciation for blockbusters, the big crowed pleasers."
O'Neil cautioned however that studio films such as Paramount's "Benjamin Button" and Warner Bros' "The Dark Knight" could yet be upset by a crop of smaller budget movies such as "Milk" and "Slumdog Millionaire".
"Slumdog Millionaire", British film-maker Danny Boyle's soaring love story about a boy seeking to escape poverty in Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of TV gameshow "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", was named Best Film of 2008 by the National Board of Review last week.
A slew of other acclaimed films are also tipped to be in contention, including Sam Mendes drama "Revolutionary Road," which sees "Titanic" co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet playing frustrated 1950s suburbanites; "Frost/Nixon", Ron Howard's adaptation of the successful stage play about disgraced former US President Richard Nixon's series of interviews with British journalist Sir David Frost; and "Doubt" which stars Oscar-winner Meryl Streep as a Catholic nun locked in a duel with a priest played by Philip Seymour-Hoffman.
Lew Harris, a consulting editor with the Hollywood.com website, said awards season could be "pretty chopped up" with prizes being evenly spread across several films.
"You've got 'Benjamin Button,' 'Doubt'. I just don't see one big movie emerging," Harris told AFP.
"'The Dark Knight' has the most possibility of doing well across the board. But it's hard to ignore some of the performances in films like 'Frost/Nixon' and 'Milk', I think it's going to be pretty chopped up."
- CNA/jk
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