The Golden Globes' return to boozy, teary prime-time glory asked almost as many awards-season questions as it answered. After the jump: Five of our most burning inquiries.

1. Is this Kate Winslet's year, like, for real this time? To the extent we all love to hate the Globes and downplay their implications in the awards-season sweepstakes, the Best Actress winners are reliable-enough indicators of the competition in that Oscar category. Without a Helen Mirren or Reese Witherspoon tear-assing ahead of the pack, we get home-stretch sprints like last year's Julie Christie/Marion Cotillard race — revived this year as Winslet vs. Happy-Go-Lucky's Sally Hawkins. The latter actress has a Globe, Miramax and virtually the entire critical establishment at her back; Winslet has her own Globe, Scott Rudin, and gales of sentimental support at hers — not an unfavorable scenario, except she's only 33, and her movie is deplorable. Despite seven previous losses, the Academy doesn't owe her anything, and it will require a little more convincing than last night's showing to honor Winslet before it's ready. For now, it's still Hawkins's Oscar to lose.

2. Was Sunday night the beginning of the end for Sean Penn? Some observers have noted the HFPA's general distaste for Penn, a 2003 no-show when he won for Mystic River and an absentee loser last night to Mickey Rourke. But narcolepsy-inducing Globes politics aside, it's worth returning to the pre-Milk days, when Rourke was literally everywhere that mattered — Venice, Toronto, New York — stockpiling buzz, and Focus Features, for whatever reason, trickled Penn out with unusual deliberation. Milk's showing at last week's Critics Choice Awards implied Rourke may have peaked too soon, but Rourke's Globe allowed him a riveting onstage moment that the Academy will likely want to one-up.

3. Moreover, will Rourke dress any better to collect his Best Actor statuette next month? We're just saying, if only because that ridiculous wallet chain won't make it through the metal detector.

4. Does Paramount have any 11th-hour tricks up its sleeve for Benjamin Button? Slumdog Millionaire's Globes sweep doesn't portend Oscar supremacy, especially not in the continuing sting of 2007's indie-friendly awardscast backlash. Danny Boyle is all but assured Best Director, but Paramount has a suitcase full of campaign cash holding the Best Picture window open. But how much? Button slipped at the box office this week, but it's still a probable $120 million-grosser by Oscars night, and alongside The Dark Knight, it's the Academy's only hope of studio bone-throwing in a year when someone, anyone is needed to counteract the minimajors. Let the fourth-quarter comeback begin.

5. Wasn't it great to see Harvey Weinstein smile? A Best Picture for Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Winslet's supporting prize for The Reader took us back to the good old pre-suicide-threat/million-dollar-bet-losing days. He'll be at the Oscars with at least Winslet and Penelope Cruz and maybe a couple screenplay nods for their respective films. Baby steps, Harvey, baby steps. 2009 is all yours — we can feel it.