Golden Globes: Film Nominations

There were a couple of double acting nominees and one or two left-field choices, but most of the favorites and front-runners so far this awards season were represented with Up in the Air leading with 6 nominations followed by Nine with 5, and Avatar and Inglourious Basterds with 4.

And the nominees are...

Best Director

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

I'm thinking this might be how the Oscar lineup will look like except Tarantino will be swapped out with Lee Daniels (Precious). The front-runner right now is Bigelow who will be going up against her ex-husband of Avatar fame.

Best Motion Picture, Drama

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

If I made my own predictions, this is what it probably would've looked liked with the exception of Inglourious Basterds which I still need to see. Up in the Air seems to have this all locked up especially since they lead all films with six nominations. But The Hurt Locker seems to be shaping up as the critical favorite while Avatar could very well just be a "game-changer" yet.

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

The Emily Blunt nomination is a bit of a surprise especially since I didn't really think she did anything special with the role. Having said that, Sandra Bullock? She's getting SO MUCH BUZZ lately. I have nothing against her, but seriously? Can anyone who has seen the movie enlighten me please?

Best Actor, Drama

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

I think everyone was a bit shocked to see Tobey Maguire appear on the list, but good for him. And while I'm almost confident HE won't win, it still seems like it's a dogfight amongst the others with Clooney and Bridges are the current front-runners.

Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

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

No big shocks here. Again if I had predictions, I probably would've made the same choices except probably swapping The Hangover with A Serious Man. SO so so happy for the nomination of (500) Days of Summer! Yay!

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

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

Meryl Streep is already the most nominated actor in Golden Globes history. Well she now has two more and is probably the front-runner here even with the possibility of splitting votes. Pretty stoked to see Cotillard and Roberts. Bullock again though. Seriously? The mind boggles.

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

• 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

Oh Robert Downey Jr. Always getting in for the most random things. Remember last year, he was nominated for Tropic Thunder. I'm DELIRIOUSLY happy to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt nominated for the first time. HELL YEAH. No idea who'll win this one. Probably Day-Lewis or Damon, but I'm hoping for Gordon-Levitt to pull off a surprise win.

Best Supporting Actress

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

A pretty impressive lineup of ladies here. The only performance I haven't seen is Penelope Cruz's. Mo'Nique will most likely win as she's the overwhelming frontrunner right now. Hoping Moore or one of the Air ladies get some traction this season, though Kendrick did win at the National Board Reviews.

Best Supporting Actor

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

I haven't seen any of these performances though I plan on seeing the latter three very soon. I'm especially happy to see Tucci since he's just fabulous and even though the movie is getting meh reviews, I'm glad he's still being recognized. Damon follows Bullock and Streep being double-nominated. Waltz is the overwhelming favorite.

Best Animated Film

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

This is most likely your Oscar lineup. And while Up is pretty damn wonderful, this is the year where Pixar is not a 100% surebet for the win. Look out for Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Best Foreign Language Film

• Baaria (Italy)
• Broken Embraces (Spain)
• The Maid (Chile)
• A Prophet (France)
• The White Ribbon (Germany)

I haven't seen any of these films. But it will most likely be between fellow Cannes rivals A Prophet (winner of the Grand Jury Prize) and The White Ribbon (winner of the Golden Palm).

Best Screenplay

• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• It's Complicated
• Up in the Air

Oh sure Golden Globes, split everything up for Comedy and Drama, but don't separate this category for Adapted and Original screenplay? In any case, I'm so happy to see District 9 nominated (it's one and only nom... boo!)! Up in the Air may be a slight front-runner, but really it's anyone's game.

Best Score

• Avatar
• A Single Man
• The Informant
• Up
• Where the Wild Things Are

Probably be Avatar, Up, or Wild Things. How awesome is it though that those three are not the type of films awards are usually bestowed upon: sci-fi, animated, and children's.

Best Song

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

Odd to see Princess and the Frog shut out, but hey we got Leona Lewis, U2, Paul McCartney. And no Miley Cyrus! Awesome.

Click here for my thoughts on the TV nominations.