Golden Globes: Film Nominations

Another organization, another good day for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. This time it's the Golden Globes bestowing the film a leading 7 nominations followed closely by Argo and Django Unchained with 5 nominations each, the latter finding new life this awards season with this morning's announcement. Though perhaps the most surprising film to do well has to be the little-seen Salmon Fishing in the Yemen netting 3 nominations. Onwards...

Best Director

• Ben Affleck, Argo
• Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
• Ang Lee, Life of Pi
• Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
• Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Bigelow, Spielberg, and probably also Affleck are locks for Oscar. Lee is also up there, but with so many other prominent directors in play like Tarantino, Hooper, Russell, Zeitlin, Anderson, Haneke, Anderson... it's tough to say anything with certainly. As I've said before this is a super competitive category this year. Hooper's non-nomination speaks volumes though I think.

Best Motion Picture, Drama

• Argo
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Zero Dark Thirty

The 100% match-up with Best Director says a lot more notably how these films seem set for Oscars. It also helps that they all were nominated by the BFCA as well. The big losers are unfortunately Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour which were shut out completely today.

Best Actor, Drama

• Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
• Richard Gere, Arbitrage
• John Hawkes, The Sessions
• Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
• Denzel Washington, Flight

I actually thought there was a teeny chance for Logan Lerman to show up here, but Gere pops in for his first notice this awards season. Phoenix showing up here also gives his lowering stock after being snubbed by SAG some lift.

Best Actress, Drama

• Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
• Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone
• Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
• Naomi Watts, The Impossible
• Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

Former Oscar-winners Cotillard and Mirren repeat their unlikely SAG nods with nominations here making their return trip to Oscars that much likelier. Watts is right there with them though she's aiming for her first Oscar nomination. Weisz, on the other hand, finally shows up somewhere else after her unexpected NYFCC win. Again, it was a tough break for Riva and Wallis and my dark horse pick Winsted.

Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Les Miserables
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
• Silver Linings Playbook

People are saying that Best Exotic Marigold could be this year's Midnight in Paris, a modest summer hit aimed for the older crowd. Its notices here certainly helps its cause. But this is Les Miserables category to lose, though its low nomination tally (4) is a bit perplexing. What else is perplexing is the deliberate lack of actual comedic films on the list. No Pitch Perfect, This is 40, Ted, etc.

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

• Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
• Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
• Maggie Smith, Quartet
• Meryl Streep, Hope Springs

As if they were actually going to give Streep a year off. We should all know better. Though I have to admit that seeing Dench vs. Streep vs. Smith makes me a little happy even though this award is probably Lawrence to lose, which is actually a bit unfortunate. If I was voting though, my write-in vote would probably be Anna Kendrick.

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

• Jack Black, Bernie
• Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
• Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
• Bill Murray, Hyde Park on Hudson
• Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Unlike the Oscars, the HFPA have already nominated Ewan McGregor once (for Moulin Rouge), but he gets his second nomination for such an unlikely film. I'm happy for him. This category is Cooper vs. Jackman (the like Oscar nominees), but I'm thinking no one can beat Jackman. He'd win in charm alone I think.

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams, The Master
• Sally Field, Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
• Helen Hunt, The Sessions
• Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

While the rest of the season will go back and forth between Field and Hathaway, I'm just happy that this particular Kidman performance is able to find some footing this awards season. Adams, like her Master co-star, finds good news this morning after getting snubbed by the SAG.

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, Argo
• Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Three men lead the pack in this category and they are all Oscar-winners: Arkin, Hoffman, and Jones. But the more interesting thing about this category are the nominations for DiCaprio and Waltz. Mostly because their traction this season has been iffy. DiCaprio was seen as a frontrunner early on then faded while Waltz was seen as lead until... he wasn't. Deniro, Bardem, and McConaughey are looking in from the outside.

Best Animated Film

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• Hotel Transylvania
• Rise of the Guardians
• Wreck-It Ralph

HULK SMASH! How dare they ignored ParaNorman. I mean, of course, for all intents and purposes all of these films have received some good reviews with the exception of Hotel Transylvania (which was apparently better than many thought), but PARANORMAN IS FANTASTIC. It... just is. Sad face.

Best Foreign Language Film

• Amour
• The Intouchables
• Kon-Tiki
• A Royal Affair
• Rust & Bone

I have plans to see at least three of these within the next few months (Amour, The Intouchables, and Rust & Bone), but since I haven't seen any yet I don't have much to say.


Best Screenplay

• Argo, Chris Terrio
• Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
• Lincoln, Tony Kushner
• Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell
• Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Since the Golden Globes don't divide their Screenplay nominations, I'm confident all of these will be nominated for Oscars. Would've loved to have seen Perks of Being a Wallflower here or even Looper which has been getting some notices this awards season, but alas.

Best Score

• Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
• Argo, Alexandre Desplat
• Cloud Atlas, Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimet & Reinhold Heil
• Life of Pi, Michael Danna
• Lincoln, John Williams

It's refreshing to see a couple of different films here, Anna Karenina and Cloud Atlas. I'm finding that I am liking them more than the general consensus so it's a shame that both have been largely ignored this awards season.

Best Song

• “For You,” Act of Valor
• “Not Running Anymore,” Stand Up Guys
• “Safe and Sound,” The Hunger Games
• “Suddenly,” Les Miserables
• “Skyfall,” Skyfall

I don't really care about this category this year, especially with these nominations so, yeah whatever. But I did hear someone today suggest that the cast of Pitch Perfect should perform these acapella-style. Brilliant idea!

Click here to read my thoughts on the TV nominations.