Golden Globes: Film Nominations

The King's Speech lead with 7 nominations followed by strong showings by prohibiive Oscar front-runner Social Network and underdog The Fighter, both with 6 nominations. In terms of the Academy Awards, most of the favorites were nominated, but the Comedy/Musical section is downright embarrassing.

And so the nominees are...

Best Director

• Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
• David Fincher, The Social Network
• Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
• Christopher Nolan, Inception
• David O. Russell, The Fighter

The top four nominees are definitely the front-runners right now for Oscars with David O. Russell possibly fighting for the fifth spot with Danny Boyle or the Coen Brothers. The Academy could also nominate Lisa Cholodenko. As for who could win? Well, Fincher and his film has dominated the landscape so far, so bet against him if you dare.

Best Motion Picture, Drama

• Black Swan
• Fighter
• Inception
• King's Speech
• Social Network

These five will easily be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards with Social Network the favorite to win as already it's been crowned as the critics' favorite. Still, last year the HFPA were one of the few organizations to go against The Hurt Locker tide so anything is possible.

Best Actor, Drama

• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
• James Franco, 127 Hours
• Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
• Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

The first three should get Oscar nominations especially with how their films and performances have been received so far. The winner will also come from those three with Firth probably the favorite here and at the Oscars. Wahlberg and/or Gosling most likely knocked off Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, or Leonardo DiCaprio for the last two spots. The snub of the latter, so far, is an intriguing, and odd, awards seasons development.

Best Actress, Drama

• Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice
• Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Sure everyone's a bit surprised to see Halle Berry in the mix all of a sudden, but the HFPA do love those stars, probably at a cost for Lesley Manville. It's a testament to Lawrence, that she made it in at all among the big Hollywood names. Very happy for Michelle Williams (and Ryan Gosling up top) especially since ex-Dawson's Creek co-star Katie Holmes had to announce her name this morning! Too awesome for words. Portman is the front-runner here.

Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

• Alice in Wonderland
• Burlesque
• The Kids Are All Right
• Red
• Tourist

Did the HFPA not see enough comedies this year? How about Easy A, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Greenberg, Cyrus, or I Love You Phillip Morris? Instead they give us this embarrassing lineup which wouldn't be half-bad if these were the only films they could nominate. With that said, Kids Are All Right has this one in the bag.

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

• Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
• Johnny Depp, The Tourist
• Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Love & Other Drugs
• Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

Now it's getting silly. I love Johnny Depp, but two nominations and for THESE performances? Ben Stiller, Michael Cera, John C. Reilly and Jim Carrey must be screaming at their agents right now. Plus as much as I love Gyllenhaal, I actually didn't think much of his (or Hathaway's) performance. But their nominations were inevitable.

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

• Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
• Anne Hathaway, Love & Other Drugs
• Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
• Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
• Emma Stone, Easy A

See above about my thoughts on Hathaway and it's difficult to expect the HFPA not to nominate Angelina Jolie, so I won't say anything. However, kudos for nominating Moore alongside her more buzzed about Kids co-star. And FUCK YEAH on nominating Emma Stone. FINALLY a worthy nomination in a sea of WTF MAN? Though again, why ignore her delightful film?

Best Supporting Actor

• Christian Bale, The Fighter
• Michael Douglas, Wall Street 2
• Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
• Jeremy Renner, The Town
• Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Take out Michael Douglas and put in Mark Ruffalo and you probably have the Oscar line-up. Though I guess one can't totally count out Sam Rockwell nor any of the other guys (Hammer? Timberlake?) in Social Network. This race, as is the Oscar, is between Bale and Rush.

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams, The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
• Mila Kunis, Black Swan
• Melissa Leo, The Fighter
• Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Good solid list, especially for the Academy Awards, but one of them may have to go if the Oscars go for Hailee Steinfeld and her film True Grit in a big way, which they might. Weirdly enough Weaver might be in the weakest position since the other ladies will most likely be in Best Picture nominees. Then again Amy Adams shouldn't get too comfy either.

Best Animated Film

• Despicable Me
• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist
• Tangled
• Toy Story 3

If the Academy had five nominations this year, this would've been the five. As it is, we have to get rid of two of these films and most likely Despicable Me, Tangled, and The Illusionist will be fighting for that third spot. Toy Story 3 will still win though, here and at the Oscars. All hail Pixar!

Best Foreign Language Film

• Biutiful (Mexico/Spain)
• The Concert (France)
• The Edge (Russia)
• I Am Love (Italy)
• In A Better World (Denmark)

I've only since I Am Love, which I really liked, so I'll cheer that on. Although if they chose to honor the film, why not the lovely Tilda Swinton as well? Also don't know which films are in the running for Oscars. I wished that whole thing was more transparent.

Best Screenplay

• 127 Hours
• The Kids Are All Right
• Inception
• The King's Speech
• Social Network

The bulk of early awards have gone to Aaron Sorkin's work on The Social Network so that will be the overwhelming favorite. The others, save for 127 Hours, have won at least one award though so they're no slouch. All of these will easily make it into Oscars as they'll be divided int Original and Adapted.

Best Score

• The King's Speech
• Alice in Wonderland
• 127 Hours
• Social Network
• Inception

I'm so not getting the Alice in Wonderland love the HFPA seem to have, but the others should be safe bets for Oscars barring a weird eligibility ruling, which can totally happen. I actually have no idea who is the front-runner year. Let's just say it was a good year for film scores and applaud them all.

Best Song

• “Bound To You” (Burlesque)
• “Coming Home” (Country Strong)
• “I See The Light” (Tangled)
• “There’s a Place For Us” (The Chronicles of Narnia)
• “You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me” (Burlesque)

Too bad these won't be performed. Would have liked to have seen Cher up on stage or even Mandy Moore/Zachary Levi do their Tangled duet. Not sure who sings the others. I'm guessing a few bleached blonde babes... Christina Aguilera, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Carrie Underwood?