RED CARPET OPENS

Hollywood kicks off 2014 awards season with Golden Globes

71st Golden Globe Awards

The Golden Globes are also the opening salvo for red carpet fashion, and this year Hollywood's leading ladies appeared to favor shimmery champagne, silver and gold, along with bright reds and black lace for their gowns.

This 2014 awards season will recognize a very good year for film, both commercially and critically. North American box office receipts totaled a record $10.9 billion in 2013 and top performers went beyond the typical blockbuster action movies to include acclaimed films such as "Gravity."

Sunday night could also boost the fortunes of smaller films that have fared well among critics, including Joel and Ethan Coen's paean to 1960s folk music "Inside Llewyn Davis," Spike Jonze's quirky computer-age romance "Her," and Alexander Payne's homage to the heartland "Nebraska."

The HFPA will honor Woody Allen with the Cecil B DeMille award recognizing outstanding contribution to the entertainment field. Allen, famously averse to awards shows, is not expected to collect the honor, but one of his favorite actresses, Diane Keaton, may stand in for him.