Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Busy day meant I'm only just writing my thoughts down on this morning's SAG nominations even though just a few hours from now everyone will be talking about the nominations for the Golden Globes. That's when you know you're fully entrenched in awards season where there's a different accolade every day to keep track of! In any case, this is one of the big ones as actors is a huge group of industry folk, but unfortunately it also means their choices tend to be fairly conservative and preferential to veterans. That's why the word I would describe today's nominations would be... eh.

BEST ENSEMBLE

• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• August: Osage County
• Dallas Buyers Club
• The Butler

Big sigh of relief from Harvey Weinstein as both August: Osage County and The Butler make it into this shortlist after getting not much love from critics. Of course those two films, with their super starry cast, was tailor-made for this award and should do well in the next couple of months. 12 Years a Slave was the frontrunner and with a leading 4 nominations, it is still the frontrunner. I don't think anyone expected Dallas Buyers Club to be cited here. I was expecting Inside Llewyn Davis or Her and disappointed both came up empty-handed today.

BEST ACTRESS

• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock, Gravity
• Judi Dench, Philomena
• Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
• Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

It's super difficult to actually complain about the nominees here, because I love all of these actresses and the two performances I've seen (Blanchett and Bullock) are phenomenal. But it's also the same names everyone has been predicting give or take a possible Amy Adams spoiler. I feel for the actresses in smaller films like Julie Delpy (still my wishful dark horse), Brie Larson, Greta Gerwig, and Adele Exarchopoulos.

BEST ACTOR

• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Chiwitel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
• Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
• Forest Whitaker, The Butler

Apparently Robert Redford's absence here is pretty shocking, but with a field THIS strong I'm not too disappointed. If anything, I wish they could've found room instead for Oscar Isaac or Michael B. Jordan. I like Forest Whitaker, but I think this was a wasted nominated for him. Chiwetel Ejiofor in the meantime should be the man to beat if I had it my way.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
• Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
• Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
• June Squibb, Nebraska
• Oprah Winfrey, The Butler

Like the lead category, it's hard to actually find fault with the actors cited, but it'd be great if there was a surprise entry like a Margo Martindale or a Melonie Diaz. Or how about Elizabeth Banks for her work on Catching Fire. That's right I said it. Anyways, I'm happy for Nyong'o though who was quite good and I've got to admit that Winfrey was damn fun to watch in her film. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the performances.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
• Daniel Bruhl, Rush
• James Gandolfini, Enough Said
• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
• Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

This is the one category that still feels unformed and yet I wouldn't be too shocked if most (or all) of these men are also Oscar-nominated. Bruhl is the most vulnerable probably with Jonah Hill, Bradley Cooper, and Will Forte trying to crack the category. That said, I'm kind of hoping Gandolfini makes it all the way for a posthumous Oscar. It's sentimental for sure, but not undeserved.

BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE, FILM

• All Is Lost
• Fast and Furious 6
• Lone Survivor
• Rush
• The Wolverine

Kind of shocked not to see Catching Fire, Thor, or Iron Man 3 here. I mean The Wolverine? All Is Lost? What?! Whatever.

And if you thought the film nominees were unexciting, the TV nominees make the film nominees look bold and fresh. Not to say the nominations are bad, but there was such an explosion of great new shows this year and unfortunately you could barely tell with the following nominations.

BEST DRAMA ENSEMBLE

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Downton Abbey
• Game of Thrones
• Homeland

Breaking Bad leads with 4 nominations and it's probably going to win this award and everything else until the Emmys next year for its widely successful final season. Games of Thrones makes a come back after getting snub last year, though in its place is perennial favorite Mad Men, which seems to be losing steam awards-wise of late. As I said, the lack of new shows (Masters of Sex, The Americans, Orphan Black, House of Cards, etc.) sting, but it's also something no one was really expecting anyways.

BEST COMEDY ENSEMBLE

• 30 Rock
• Arrested Development
• Big Bang Theory
• Modern Family
• Veep

Last year this group nominated Glee and The Office, so at least there's nothing that insane happening this year, but even with the fresh inclusion of Veep (and comeback nomination for Arrested Development), it still feels old hat. I thought Girls would make it in and don't get me started of their continuing to ignore Parks and Recreation. For my money this year, Orange is the New Black and Brooklyn Nine-Nine were leagues ahead of most of these shows.

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA

• Claire Danes, Homeland
• Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
• Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
• Kerry Washington, Scandal

ANNA GUNN! God, yes. All the awards to her. But look, I love Maggie Smith and all, but you really don't have to nominate her every single time. It's okay. She's never going to show up any ways. Instead we could've given it to Dockery or Margulies (both nominated last year) or those in new shows like Tatiana Maslany, Robin Wright, Tatiana Maslany, Keri Russell, Tatiana Maslany, Lizzy Caplan, and of course Tatiana Maslany.

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA

• Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
• Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Jeff Daniels, Newsroom
• Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
• Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

Of course, Bryan Cranston. Duh. Give him the award already. But I'm sad about the exclusion of his co-star Aaron Paul. Love me some Dinklage always and Spacey was a no-brainer for this crowd as as the other two even though I again wish for newer blood like Mandy Patinkin, Matthew Rhys, Andrew Lincoln, etc.

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY

• Mayim Bialik, Big Bang Theory
• Julie Bowen, Modern Family
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep

Well at least Betty White was not nominated again and Julia Louis Dreyfus and Mayim Bialik got well-deserved citations. But how you can have this award without Amy Poehler is just confounding. Also shocked to see Lena Dunham come up empty (she also wasn't nominated last year) as well as to see none of the ladies from Orange is the New Black make the list.

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
• Ty Burrell, Modern Family
• Don Cheadle, House of Lies
• Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory

Blah, blah, blah they're all talented and whatever but wow I could probably come up with a list of about a dozen or so actors I'd rather see nominated like Adam Scott, Nick Offerman, Andre Braugher, Adam Driver, Jim Rash, Jake Johnson, etc.

BEST ACTRESS, MINISERIES

• Angela Bassett, Betty & Coretta
• Helena Bonham Carter, Taylor & Burton
• Holly Hunter, Top of the Lake
• Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
• Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake

Nothing too shocking here, except to say that I'm pretty annoyed that Jessica Lange gets to compete in this category at the Emmys and over in Drama for this award. Also was Emmy winner Laura Linney not eligible? In any case, with those two ladies not in the running, it's a good chance for Moss to pick up the win here. I'm rooting for her!

BEST ACTOR, MINISERIES

• Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
• Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
• Jeremy Irons, The Hollow Crown
• Rob Lowe, Killing Kennedy
• Al Pacino, Phil Spector

Interesting to see Emmy nominated Benedict Cumberbatch to not get nominated here despite being in two Best Ensemble films. But no matter who was nominated, the result will be the exact same as the Emmys with Michael Douglas prevailing as it should be.

BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE, TV

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Game of Thrones
• Homeland
• The Walking Dead

This is the same nominees as last year except Homeland replaces Sons of Anarchy. You can also tell that this is pretty much the Best Drama category except The Walking Dead replaces Downton Abbey. In other words... zzz.