2014 Golden Globes Predictions: Who Will Win?

It's that time of the year again: awards season! It all kicks off Sunday with the 71st Golden Globe Awards (8 ET/5 PT on NBC). Will Breaking Bad finally win a Globe in its last chance ever? Will 12 Years a SlaveorAmerican Hustleemerge as an Oscar front-runner?Check out our predictions below and tell us your picks for the big prizes.
Check out the full list of Golden Globe nominees
TELEVISION
Drama Series
Will win: Breaking Bad
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is all about hot new things, but every now and then it plays catch-up (see: rewarding 30 Rock and Modern Family years after their Emmy wins), and there's no bigger bandwagon for it to jump on than Breaking Bad. The show has never won a Golden Globe, but its deafening buzz for its impeccable final season will be too much for the HFPA to ignore. (The Globes also finally nominated Aaron Paul.) They'll want to join the rest of the world at the party.
Watch out for: House of Cards
The Netflix political chess game, which leads the TV series nods with four, is not only the aforementioned "hot new thing," but it's game-changing television with a prestigious pedigree. Don't think the HFPA won't want to be the first major awards body to coronate an online series.
Comedy/Musical Series
Will win: The Big Bang Theory
No multi-cam sitcom has triumphed since 3rd Rock From the Sun 17 years ago, but without a clear front-runner this year, the trophy is ripe for the taking by TV's biggest comedy.
Watch out for: Brooklyn Nine-Nine
The buddy-cop comedy is the newbie in the group, but unlike past freshman winners Girls, Glee and Desperate Housewives, it hasn't been a high-profile breakout hit.
Drama Actor
Will win: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Fun fact: Though he's won two Oscars for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, respectively, Spacey has never won a Golden Globe (he lost those Globes bouts to Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys and Denzel Washington in The Hurricane, and is 0-6 in total). This is the perfect place for the Globes to finally anoint him and his brilliant, conniving Frank Underwood.
Watch out for: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
A win for either Breaking Bad or Cranston (or both) depends on how much the HFPA wants to embrace the show, but it'd be a shame if Cranston didn't win every major award for his towering, indelible portrayal of Walter White.
Drama Actress
Will win: Kerry Washington, Scandal
With two-time defending champ Claire Danes AWOL, this is Washington's and her White Hat to lose. Plus: The HFPA, which prides itself on being a trend-setter, will want to wipe the egg off its face for not even nominating Washington last year as Scandal commenced its assault on pop culture.
Watch out for: Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Leaving aside Maslany's multi-faceted (literally) performance, she's right up the HFPA's alley: an ingénue on a new show.
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Comedy/Musical Actor
Will win: Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Samberg is the cool, hip choice and would make it three years in a row with a winner from a new show.
Watch out for: Michael J. Fox, The Michael J. Fox Show
A four-time champ, including a hat trick for Spin City, Fox could triumph if the HFPA wants to bestow a "welcome back" prize to an old face.
Comedy/Musical Actress
Will win: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
After back-to-back Emmy wins for Veep, Louis-Dreyfus, who won her first and only Globe 20 years ago, ought to finally prevail at the Globes for her bitingly hilarious, powerful yet powerless V.P. A lack of a series nomination for Veep is slightly worrisome, but JLD is a double nominee with a comedy/musical actress nod for Enough Said, so the HFPA can ensure she doesn't go home empty-handed with a win here.
Watch out for: Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Someone has to start giving Poehler awards, right? Parks and Rec making the series lineup is a good sign and she is co-hosting again. At the very least, we hope Darcy St. Budge finally wins for Dog President.
Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
Will win: Jon Voight, Ray Donovan
No, Voight does not have half the fanfare or reviews of Aaron Paul, Corey Stoll or Josh Charles, but he is, like Spacey, a movie star in a showy, twisted TV role. This would be his first Globe since he won for Coming Home in 1979.
Watch out for: Corey Stoll, House of Cards
Stoll's work as the troubled, doomed congressman Peter Russo was nothing short of spectacular.
Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
Will win: Janet McTeer, The White Queen
McTeer, a four-time nominee and a winner for Tumbleweeds, has the edge in this always wacky race. The HFPA took to the Starz series in a big way (it is a British production after all), handing it three nominations, just one less than House of Cards and Behind the Candelabra.
Watch out for: Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Vergara is on her fourth straight nomination. If she doesn't win, then it's just impressive she's managed to keep her slot in the catch-all category that has massive turnover every year.
FILM
Drama Picture
Will win: Gravity
There's no bigger or shinier film than Alfonso Cuaron's visual magnum opus. Gravity might not have the emotional impact of 12 Years a Slave, but its cautionary message is universal. And while the HFPA loves prestige pieces, it's also not adverse to crowning blockbusters (see: Avatar's win).
Watch out for: 12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen's raw, perfectly crafted film lays bare the brutal realities of slavery and stays with you well after you've left the theater.
Comedy/Musical Picture
Will win: American Hustle
The con caper is not without its flaws, but it boasts A-listers playing dress-up in a throwback romp. HFPA catnip right there. Hustle also co-leads the field with 12 Years a Slave with seven nods each, including in all four acting categories.
Watch out for: The Wolf of Wall Street
The delirious, hedonistic black comedy is Martin Scorsese at his finest, and the recent brouhaha over its content looks to be a minor speed bump.
Drama Actor
Will win: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Alright, alright, alright. McConaughey's incredible career reinvention the past few years has culminated in a mesmerizing, transformative turn in Dallas, and voters won't be able to resist the "movie star becoming a serious actor" narrative. Plus: The HFPA knows it's guaranteed one helluva charming speech.
Watch out for: Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Chiwetel Ejiofor, inspiring and soul-crushing in 12 Years a Slave, is the one nipping at McConaughey's cowboy boots, but Hanks' performance in the final minutes of Phillips is simply stunning and cannot be ignored. He might benefit from Saving Mr. Banks too.
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Drama Actress
Will win: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
This is one of the few locks of the night. Blanchett, who's in a league of her own with her stunning portrait of a woman on the edge, ought to coast to her third Globe. And it doesn't hurt that her director, Woody Allen, is also receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award this year.
Watch out for: Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Gravity is a one-woman show: Bullock commands the screen from beginning to end. Lest we forget, it was at the Golden Globes four years ago where Bullock's unforeseen road to the Oscar started in earnest.
Comedy/Musical Actor
Will win: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
A 10-time nominee and a former winner for The Aviator, DiCaprio is a Globe favorite, and his tour-de-force turn as Wall Street's coked-up bad boy Jordan Belfort is arguably his best performance yet. The notorious Quaaludes sequence alone deserves every single award.
Watch out for: Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Dern's tragicomic rendering of old age is masterful. The veteran actor has also been hitting the campaign trail hard, which helps with a schmooze-happy group like the HFPA.
Comedy/Musical Actress
Will win: Amy Adams, American Hustle
Expertly navigating two personas, Adams has never been more luminous and captivating. This is also her best chance yet to shed her eternal bridesmaid status. (Not counting this nod, she's 0-4 at both the Globes and the Oscars.)
Watch out for: Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Never count out Streep, who's eyeing her ninth Globe on her 28th nomination.
Supporting Actor
Will win: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Heartwarming and heartbreaking, Leto's immersive turn as a transgender AIDS-stricken woman makes us hope he doesn't take another six-year break from acting.
Watch out for: Daniel Bruhl, Rush
Bruhl is excellent as Formula One legend Niki Lauda, and the HFPA is high on the thrilling racing drama, even nominating it for Best Picture.
Supporting Actress
Will win: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Her uneven accent notwithstanding, J. Law steals the movie with her electric performance (pun intended) and she's the undisputed It Girl right now. The HFPA wants her up on that stage two years in a row.
Watch out for: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
The breakthrough performer of the year, Nyong'o is astonishing as 12 Years' heart and soul Patsy. This is also the easiest place for the HFPA to award 12 Years out of its seven nods.
Who do you think will win?