Golden Globe nominations

Announced this morning - the full list is here, the awards show is Sunday, January 15.  I haven't seen hardly any of this stuff - movies or TV. Kinda sad. Though I hope to see several of these movies and performances in the next few weeks.  (Weirdest thing is that I've seen more movies in the comedy category than the drama category - WTF!)One thing I noticed is Keira Knightley is not nominated for A Dangerous Method and Ryan Gosling was nominated in both comedy (Crazy Stupid Love) and drama (Ides of March)!  So much for over-exposure - didn't seem to hurt him.

In this brief commentary, at E online, they refer to "the big-boy awards" - that must be why women never get nominated in those categories (basically Best Director and Best Picture)!

This from the NY Times:

. . . Golden Globe voters did little to clear up a blurry awards picture in Hollywood early Thursday, giving multiple films – “The Help,” “The Descendants” and “The Artist” — roughly the same number of nominations.

But it was the snubs that will get Hollywood buzzing. Perhaps most notable was the complete shutout of a perceived Oscar front-runner, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” a post-9/11 drama from Stephen Daldry and the producer Scott Rudin. Steven Spielberg also fared poorly, with his old-fashioned “War Horse” only picking up only a pair of nominations and Mr. Spielberg missing from the best director category.

The Golden Globes are not taken seriously as artistic milestones and have a history of voting idiosyncrasies; “True Grit” received no Globe nominationslast year, for instance, but went on to garner 10 nominations at the Academy Awards (albeit winning nothing). Studios have long complained that the group tends to nominate based on star wattage instead of performance in an effort to orchestrate a red-carpet spectacle. Evidence of that this year: multiple nominations for Madonna and her critically drubbed directing debut “W.E.”

Still, the Globes are picked over for clues about the Oscar race. The best picture Oscar has mirrored the association’s choice for best drama or best comedy-musical about two-thirds of the time over the last two decades. (Last year’s big winner at both the Globes and the Oscars was “The King’s Speech.”)

Studios also rely on Globe nominations to fuel ticket sales and lift movies out of the year-end multiplex pile-up. This year pictures like “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “War Horse,” “The Adventures of Tintin” and “The Iron Lady” are all set for release in the days around Christmas.

. . . About 17 million people watched the live Globes telecast last year, on par with the year before. The British comedian Ricky Gervais will return for the third year as host of the show, scheduled for Jan. 15 on NBC. Last year, Mr. Gervais overshadowed the ceremony with a series of barbed remarks about attending celebrities like Robert Downey Jr. and the association itself.

Here is the key categories:

BEST MOTION PICTURE -- DRAMA
THE DESCENDANTS
*THE HELP
*HUGO
THE IDES OF MARCH
*MONEYBALL
WAR HORSE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE -- DRAMA
GLENN CLOSE, ALBERT NOBBS
*VIOLA DAVIS, THE HELP
ROONEY MARA, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
MERYL STREEP, THE IRON LADY
TILDA SWINTON, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE -- DRAMA
GEORGE CLOONEY, THE DESCENDANTS
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, J. EDGAR
MICHAEL FASSBENDER, SHAME
RYAN GOSLING, THE IDES OF MARCH
*BRAD PITT, MONEYBALL

BEST MOTION PICTURE -- COMEDY OR MUSICAL
*50/50
THE ARTIST
*BRIDESMAIDS
*MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
*MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE -- COMEDY ORMUSICAL
JODIE FOSTER, CARNAGE
CHARLIZE THERON, YOUNG ADULT
*KRISTEN WIIG, BRIDESMAIDS
*MICHELLE WILLIAMS, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
KATE WINSLET, CARNAGE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE -- COMEDY OR MUSICAL
JEAN DUJARDIN, THE ARTIST
BRENDAN GLEESON, THE GUARD
*JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, 50/50
*RYAN GOSLING, CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE.
*OWEN WILSON, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

BERENICE BEJO, THE ARTIST
*JESSICA CHASTAIN, THE HELP
JANET MCTEER, ALBERT NOBBS
*OCTAVIA SPENCER, THE HELP
SHAILENE WOODLEY, THE DESCENDANTS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
*KENNETH BRANAGH, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
ALBERT BROOKS, DRIVE
*JONAH HILL, MONEYBALL
VIGGO MORTENSEN, A DANGEROUS METHOD
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, BEGINNERS

BEST DIRECTOR -- MOTION PICTURE
*WOODY ALLEN, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
GEORGE CLOONEY, THE IDES OF MARCH
MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS, THE ARTIST
ALEXANDER PAYNE, THE DESCENDANTS
*MARTIN SCORSESE, HUGO

BEST SCREENPLAY -- MOTION PICTURE
WOODY ALLEN MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
GEORGE CLOONEY, GRANT HESLOV, BEAU WILLIMON - THE IDES OF MARCH
MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS - THE ARTIST
ALEXANDER PAYNE, NAT FAXON, JIM RASH - THE DESCENDANTS
STEVEN ZAILLIAN, AARON SORKIN - MONEYBALL

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS
CARS 2
PUSS IN BOOTS
*RANGO

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
THE FLOWERS OF WAR (CHINA)
IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY (USA)
THE KID WITH A BIKE (BELGIUM)
A SEPARATION (IRAN)
THE SKIN I LIVE IN (SPAIN)