The Golden Globes get it just about right, but when will we all get to see these?

A hearty congrats at the start to who I would have to say was the real surprise winner at last night's Golden Globes, "In Bruges" star Colin Farrell. I would have cast my vote in the Best Actor/Comedy or Musical category for his co-star Brendan Gleeson, but it's still a well-deserved win for a smart role in Martin McDonagh's wickedly funny little flick.

The overall movie winner at the 66th awards show, however, was Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire," and a hearty huzzah to that as well. If that sets him up for a Best Picture (and hopefully that means best director, too, as it did at the Globes) victory, I'd be happy with that, since he made one of the most inventive flicks of the year that tells a warm and engaging tale.

My best five for the year, by the way: "Slumdog Millionaire", "The Wrestler", "Milk", "Let the Right One In" and "Tell No One". If I had to pick a single favorite right now, it would be Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" by just a nose over Gus Van Sant's "Milk".

But, in what might the real predictor, what does the Director's Guild of America have to say? "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" — David Fincher; "The Dark Knight" — Christopher Nolan; "Frost/Nixon" — Ron Howard; "Milk" — Gus Van Sant; "Slumdog Millionaire" — Danny Boyle. I'm still not too confident that "The Dark Knight" really will sneak into the party, and if it doesn't, I'd look for Sam Mendes' "Revolutionary Road" to come crashing in.

In Best Feature Comedy/Musical, I was pulling for dark horse "Happy-Go-Lucky" from Mike Leigh, but I'm also content with a win for Woody Allen's little confection "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." When's the last time a major award win and Woody Allen's name appeared in the same sentence?

In the Actor/Drama category, Mickey Rourke was a well-deserving winner for his portrait of Aronofsky's wounded warrior. Likewise, kudos for the recognition of Sally Hawkins' fairly remarkable turn in "Happy-Go-Lucky" in the Comedy/Musical Actress category, easily my favorite female performance of the year, albeit a hard one to watch.

When it comes to the other actress categories, however, there's just further proof that, in Hollywood, there are apparently only two actresses deemed worthy of recognition: Kate and Cate. I like them both plenty, and will concede I haven't yet seen either "Revolutionary Road" or "The Reader", but did they really have to give Kate Winslet both acting awards? Sheesh. Of the women nominated, I would have voted for Meryl Streep in "Doubt" for the Drama category, and an extremely deserving Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actress in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

A final word about the movie winners before I move on the the greater point (and, yes, there is one buried down here somewhere.) I was extremely happy to see A.R. Rahman's victory in the category of Best Score for his soundtrack to "Slumdog Millionaire." The sweet Spanish guitar sounds that fill the background of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" are a lot of fun too, but you can't do too much better at all than the wildly infectious Indian techno pop that provides the back beat of "Slumdog."

Isn't it time, however, that these movies finally play wide and make what is normally the Hollywood silly season (which I peg at lasting until March 6, when it looks like "Watchmen" will actually manage to come out after all) a bearable time at the multiplex?

I can only assume that the presence of Leo DiCaprio guarantees a "Revolutionary Road" wide run very soon, but having already seen the trailers for "The Wrestler" and "Slumdog Millionaire" playing in my little corner of the world, I have to wonder why they haven't played here yet, and if these wins will indeed be enough to mean they come this week.

Already, this week is shaping up to be a fairly good one for movies. Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing what George Tillman Jr. has come up with for the Biggie Smalls biopic "Notorious." With Biggie's mother as one of the producers I'm a little worried it will be a sugar-coated affair, but with a cast featuring Angela Bassett, Derek Luke, Anthony Mackie and newcomer Jamal Woolard as Biggie himself, I really don't see anyway this one will suck.

I think Edward Zwick's "Defiance" is also widening enough to reach out this far too, but I can't say I'm as excited about that. Is it too much to ask that these (and, I'm afraid, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," "Hotel for Dogs" and " My Bloody Valentine: 3D") be supplemented by two of my favorite movies of 2008 out here in wide-release world?

Well, enough about that. I'll close with this "sneak peek" clip from Pixar's next flick, "Up," introduced by director Pete Docter. It doesn't reveal too much more than the little we've already seen, but there are couple of cool storyboard shots from what I'm sure will be one of my favorite flicks of next summer. Enjoy, and have a perfectly bearable Monday.