Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Is it just me or does this year the awards announcement seem to happen on top of one another? Well in any case, all those critic awards are all well and good, but it's the guilds that seem to really reflect where the awards season is going. So this morning when the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nominations were announced, ears were perked. Unfortunately Perks of Being a Wallflower was ignored, but that's a whole other story. Now while getting nominated for a SAG award doesn't automatically translate into an Oscar nomination, getting one doesn't hurt.

Best Ensemble

• Argo
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Les Misérables
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

This season's Oscar frontrunner Zero Dark Thirty tumbled a bit today garnering only one nomination for Actress and none for Ensemble, but it's hard to fault the nominations above especially with their sprawling casts. All but Best Exotic Marigold Hotel are surefire bets for Oscar glory so there's no big surprises here and even Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has some British acting royalty that the actors couldn't seem to deny.

Best Actress

• Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
• Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
• Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
• Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
• Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Chastain and Lawrence was always going to be nominated but Cotillard and Watts have been checking off the right boxes this awards season, first getting BFCA nominations and now SAG ones. It's important to note though that Beasts of the Southern Wild wasn't eligible thus explaining Wallis' absence. Mirren's nomination could be an anomaly (even though she had good notices).

Best Actor

• Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
• John Hawkes, The Sessions
• Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
• Denzel Washington, Flight

The big "snub" here is Joaquin Phoenix and perhaps they just couldn't identify with his character or access the film. With that said, I think the Oscar line-up will be made up of these men including Phoenix. The only question is who will be left out. Hawkes (too small of a film?) or Cooper (newcomer) might be the odd man out in that case.

Best Supporting Actress

• Sally Field, Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
• Helen Hunt, The Sessions
• Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
• Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

This category right now feels a little bit unformed, but the enabled the voters to put in a big name in a polarizing role (Kidman) as well as honor a great dame (Smith). In fact, while Smith was honored with FOUR nominations by SAG, two in film and two in TV. Amy Adams not getting in here hurts her chances, but does it matter since this is Field vs. Hathaway all the way?

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, Argo
• Javier Bardem, Skyfall
• Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

I really thoughts McConaughey was going to make it in, but alas the actors decided to go with a list of nominees that have all won an Oscar before. Has that ever happened? In any case, they all were also nominated at the BFCA including the now not surprising Bardem for his fun work in Skyfall. Could he really be the first Oscar acting nomination for the James Bond series? Djanjo Unchained's supporting men were all snubbed.

Since the Emmys were held a few months ago, these TV nominations always feel like an afterthought, but at least the nominations this year are slightly better, albeit still mindnumbingly dull, than last year...

Best Ensemble, Drama

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Downton Abbey
• Homeland
• Mad Men

Last year, this group ignored Homeland, but seem to be making up for lost time this year giving the show an Ensemble nomination along with noms for its two leads. Downton Abbey also gets its first nomination for Ensemble this year. But to see how unexciting this list is, one just has to compare it to this year's Emmy Awards where the same exact shows (minus Game of Thrones) were nominated.

Best Actress, Drama

• Claire Danes, Homeland
• Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
• Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey

I'm sorry, but American Horror Story can't be a miniseries in one award while a drama series in another. That's just plain rude. The nominees themselves are okay, but what about the Emmy-nommed Anna Gunn, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, and Christine Baranski?

Best Actor, Drama

• Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
• Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
• Jon Hamm, Mad Men
• Damian Lewis, Homeland

I'm not a fan of Daniels and don't watch Boardwalk Empire so I'm slightly side-eying those nominations even if they are worthy. Just can't take this list seriously with the absence of Emmy winner Aaron Paul or his co-star Giancarlo Esposito. And I thought Peter Dinklage should've also gotten in!

Best Ensemble, Comedy

• 30 Rock
• The Big Bang Theory
• Glee
• Modern Family
• Nurse Jackie
• The Office

They decide to nominate six shows and I stillw ant to get rid like almost all of them and replace them with other shows. Glee? Really?! We're still on that? And I know that Carrell's departure has made The Office even MORE of an ensemble show, but NO. How about this year's breakout Girls? Veep? PARKS AND RECREATION? Community? New Girl? This category year in, year out disappoints me.

Best Actress, Comedy

• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
• Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
• Betty White, Hot in Cleveland

Glad that Parks and Recreation gets a nod finally, but Betty White again? Whose naked picture does she own? Probably a lot actually. Kind of just surprised not to see Louis-Dreyfus, Dunham, Deschanel, or Bialik nominated.

Best Actor, Comedy

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Ty Burrell, Modern Family
• Louis CK, Louie
• Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
• Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

This is actually an okay list especially with the lack of anyone from Two and a Half Men making last year's nominations really dreadful. Still, it would benefit them to think more outside the box. How about Greenfield? Wayans, Jr.? OFFERMAN.

Best Actress, Miniseries

• Nicole Kidman, Hemingway & Gellhorn
• Julianne Moore, Game Change
• Charlotte Rampling, Restless
• Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals
• Alfre Woodard, Steel Magnolias

Kidman gets her second nomination this year, but I think Moore will repeat her Emmy win and win this one as well. Glad that Political Animals is getting some awards season notice. Maybe it's enough for them to uncancel the show? Wishful thinking in my part, I'm sure.

Best Actor, Miniseries

• Kevin Costner, Hatfield & McCoys
• Woody Harrelson, Game Change
• Ed Harris, Game Change
• Clive Owen, Hemingway & Gellhorn
• Bill Paxton, Hatfield & McCoys

I've seen a total of none of these performances so I don't know what to tell y'all. This organization certainly didn't feel bad about their tendency to starfuck.

Best Stunt Ensemble, Film

• The Amazing Spider-Man
• The Bourne Legacy
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Les Misérables
• Skyfall

The snub for The Avengers worries me more than it should, but it's interesting to see Les Misérables get in here. If Maggie Smith was in that film, it would've been unstoppable!

Best Stunt Ensemble, TV

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Game of Thrones
• Sons of Anarchy
• The Walking Dead

Yeah, sure I guess. Does Downton Abbey not have a stunt ensemble?