Golden Globe Nominations

BEST PICTURE (Drama)

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• Up in the Air

Oddly the Globes picked only five this year, usually it's six or eight, and this are fine, if expected choices. Good news for Avatar and Inglourious, both are probable looking strong... Precious rebounds with this and the BFCA nominations, as expected. Notably missing The Last Station, Bright Star, An Education, The Lovely Bones, A Serious Man, Invictus...which ones will come back for Oscar. I was hoping for an out of left field shocker like District 9, but that's just my movie love distracting me from award watching....sad!

BEST PICTURE (Musical or Comedy)

• (500) Days of Summer
• The Hangover
• It's Complicated
• Julie & Julia
• Nine

Predictable list, lacking some of the crazy mentions the Globes tend to go here-- I knew Nine would get in, even if was lousy (early word is mixed\bad)-- they love musicals, the Weinsteins, and stars. Snubbed: not much really, but Up, Adventureland, Fantastic Mr. Fox, or Coraline, or even Whip It, easily one of the most enjoyable films of the year-- they've done a lot worse than it before, would have made me happy. I'm gunning for (500) Days of Summer, because, well it's the best.

BEST DIRECTOR

• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron, Avatar
• Clint Eastwood, Invictus
• Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Fairly symmetrical for Globes tastes really, only Clint is the odd man\non best picture nominee...I love that Bigelow and ex-husband Cameron are duking it out for real. Probable Oscar list, with Bigelow and Reitman in the lead for now.

BEST ACTOR (Drama)

• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
• George Clooney, Up in the Air
• Colin Firth, A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman, Invictus
• Tobey Maguire, Brothers

This is why I love this silly group-- the out of nowhere big star love. 4 of these guys will be in it for Oscar, guess who's out-- well the ex-webslinger in the critically panned war film....dumbness right here. Notably absent, and rightfully angry: Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Viggo Mortensen (The Road), Sam Rockwell (Moon), and Sharlto Copley (District 9), all right I know that last one wasn't going to happen, but he was awesome in it, again movie love over award logic.

BEST ACTRESS (Drama)

• Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station
• Carey Mulligan, An Education
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Fairly boring category, which should yield an easy win for Mulligan...odd the HFPA didn't go for An Education besides her (I guess we shared the same problem with the film.) Is the world ready for Sandra Bullock Oscar nominee, it's pretty likely now, I'd say (man I hated that movie.) Snubbed: Abbie Cornish (for Bright Star), Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds), Saorsie Ronan (The Lovely Bones), Tilda Swinton (Julia), and thankfully Hilary Swank (for Amelia.)

BEST ACTOR (Musical or Comedy)

• Matt Damon, The Informant!
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
• Robert Downey, Jr., Sherlock Holmes
  
• Joseph Gordon Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
• Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

Should be an easy win for Levitt, because he's the best one up there, but it will probably go to Day-Lewis or Damon. Fairly solid combo, I like the inclusion of Stuhlberg in the under appreciated A Serious Man, a film that grows on me the more distance I've given it.

BEST ACTRESS (Musical or Comedy)

• Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
• Marion Cotillard, Nine
• Julia Roberts, Duplicity
• Meryl Streep, It's Complicated
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

I get it, Meryl had another good year, but will she cancel herself off by the double nomination, giving the award to another gal with a good year (Bullock.) Category fraud alert: Cotillard is supposedly supporting in Nine, oh them and their misguided musical love. Roberts here for a movie that's almost a year old that no one remembers-- they're star loving again (the Globes are a bit like People Magazine sometimes.) Notably snubbed: Michelle Pfieffer (for Cheri), another big star in a better film, and Zooey Deshannel (for (500) Days of Summer), that would have been awesome. Also Ellen Page for Whip It, even cooler.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Matt Damon, Invictus
• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
• Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
• Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Odd little category-- likely an easy win for Waltz, but I'd prefer a surprise for Harrelson, who's great in The Messenger. Snubbed: Alfred Molina (An Education) and Christian McKay (Me & Orson Welles.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Penelope Cruz, Nine
• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
• Mo'Nique, Precious
• Julianne Moore, A Single Man

Likely Oscar line-up here-- looks like them Up girls will both make it the long haul, which is cool with me, they're both terrific. I need to see A Single Man really badly, but Moore has long been one of my favorites, always glad to see her included here, but really it's all about Mo'Nique in this category-- I doubt very seriously even her on-record "difficulty" will hurt her chances; the performance already seems like the stuff of movie legend. Snubbed: Mariah Carey for Precious, odd sort of since the Globes love stars and have been kind to music\actress types before (Beyonce, Madonna, etc.), and Samantha Morton, wrongly snubbed for The Messenger.

BEST SCREENPLAY

• District 9- Neil Blomkamp & Terri Thatchell
• The Hurt Locker- Mark Boal
• Inglourious Basterds- Quentin Tarantino
• It's Complicated- Nancy Meyers
• Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

They give (awesome District 9 mention) and they take it back (It's Complicated ridiculous citation.) Nothing against the remaining three, but that one hurts by throwing away a nomination to a deserving film that could benefit it greatly, and tossing it off to a silly romantic comedy\older lady porn...boo. You could have surprised us with something awesome: (500) Days of Summer, The Messenger, Where the Wild Things Are, Up, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Precious...the list goes on...

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess & the Frog
• Up

Fine list, fine list...I've been on an animation high all year, one caveat please since I'm sure this will be the eventual Oscar lineup-- let's replace Meatballs with Ponyo, just think about it-- it could be the most deliciously geeky, amazing category ever, with mad movie geek love spread to all spectors of the animated community-- anime, Pixar, Wes Anderson, Henry Selick, and old school Disney-- just think about AMPAS...it might top your 10 best picture list.

BEST FOREIGN FILM

• Baaria
• Broken Embraces
• The Maid
• A Prophet
• The White Ribbon

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• Avatar- James Horner
• The Informant!- Marvin Hamlisch
• A Single Man- Abel Korzeniowski
• Up- Michael Giacchino
• Where the Wild Things Are- Carter Burwell & Karen O

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• "I See You," Avatar
  
• "Winter," Brothers
  
• "The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart
• "(I Want To) Come Home," Everybody's Fine
• "Cinema Italiano," Nine