You forgot, Poland!

David Poland doesn’t often make sloppy mistakes, but on his Oscar prediction chart, he lists both The Sea Inside and The Motorcycle Diaries as potential nominees for The Golden Globes’ Best Picture (Drama) category. The only problem is that the Hollywood Foreign Press has ruled non-English films ineligible for that category. That’s why Crouching Tiger, Life is Beautiful and Il Postino weren’t given any Best Picture love by the Golden Globes (though Crouching Tiger did win for Best Director).

Poland also now goes out on a limb to declare The Phantom of the Opera the new frontrunner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. He has a mixed track record, but he’s usually pretty good at reading the Academy’s voters. While I’m still skeptical, I believe at the very least this means it’s a legitimate contender for a Best Picture nom – something I hardly thought possible back in September (it ranked a lowly number 17 on my list – just above Sideways, which incidentally should also have been much higher, though I still think it will fall short of the Lost in Translation slot).

Phantom will have to sweep the Musical/Comedy categories at the Golden Globes to have a serious shot at The Oscars, though even that didn’t guarantee the last Andrew Lloyd Webber movie musical a seat at the table. I’m not sure which is a greater albatross towards being taken seriously – Madonna or the director of Batman & Robin.