69th Golden Globe Nominations Announced

It’s awards season and right bang in the middle is the Golden Globes, which many people consider to be the precursor to the Oscars, and the nominations for this year’s awards have just been announced. There are a number of surprises but one especially surprising one is that, despite being ignored for the majority of the awards season, The Ides of March has been given a big boost here by the Globes, walking away with Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Motion Picture nominations.

The Globes have actually managed to correct some of the SAG Awards shut outs from yesterday, most importantly, for me at least, Michael Fassbender being nominated for Best Actor in a Drama for Shame. Rooney Mara also picked up a nomination for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as did Albert Brooks for his terrific performance in the ultra violent B-picture Drive.

Another surprise but not a wholly unpleasant one is that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has been shut out, which doesn’t surprise me considering all the trailers and clips make the film look absolutely ghastly. War Horse has also only walked away with two nominations for Best Motion Picture and Best Original Score and Leonardo DiCaprio has picked up a Best Actor nomination for the thoroughly rubbish J. Edgar.

Non surprises include The Artist and The Descendents cleaning up the nominations with picks in Best Motion Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. However, The Artist splits the two by being nominated in the Musical/Comedy category. I think these will be the two films that end up battling it out at the Oscars, I think now there is no more competition to be had. They have so far dominated the critics list and each film has pretty much been awarded as much as the other.

In other places, The Help has done brilliantly well receiving 5 nominations with Midnight in Paris picking up 4 as well. But most importantly, they haven’t fudged any of the categories like they did last year by putting in ridiculous nominations for crap movies. All the nominations seem entirely deserved or expected, except for DiCaprio who deserves a kick in the shins.

The big disappointment is the lack of love for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and with the SAG Awards completely shutting it out yesterday it’s sad to say that I think its award season is over. It is up to BAFTA to give the film the awards recognition it deserves.

In terms of TV nominations, it’s simply not as interesting. You have the obligatory nods for Mildred Pierce and Downton Abbey in the miniseries category, despite the fact that Downton Abbey IS NOT a miniseries, it is a continuing drama with its second season just having finished broadcasting in the UK. Also sad to see if the TV Drama Series category shutting out Breaking Bad entirely, despite it being the best TV of the year by miles. Although, Bryan Cranston is nominated and should waltz to the stage.

Read the full list of nominees below:

BEST PICTURE, DRAMA
The Descendents
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse

BEST PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn

BEST DIRECTOR
Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendents
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
George Clooney, The Descendents
Leonardo DiCaprio, J Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet, Carnage

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain , The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendents

BEST SCREENPLAY
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
The Ides of March, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
Moneyball, Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Flowers of War
In The Land of Blood and Honey
The Kid WIth The Bike
A Separation
The Skin I Live In

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
W.E., Abel Korzeniowski
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Hugo, Howard Shore
War Horse, John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Lay Your Head Down,” Albert Nobbs
“Hello Hello,” Gnomeo and Juliet
“The Living Proof,” The Help
“The Keeper,” Machine Gun Preacher
“Masterpiece,” W.E.

BEST TV SERIES, DRAMA
American Horror Story
Boardwalk
Boss
Game of Thrones
Homeland

BEST TV SERIES, COMEDY
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
Modern Family
New Girl

BEST MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Mildred Pierce
Too Big Too Fail
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Hour

BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Kelsey Grammer, Boss
Jeremy Irons, The Borgias
Damien Lewis, Homeland

BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA
Claire Danes, Homeland
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Madeleine Stowe, Revenge
Callie Thorne, Necessary Roughness

BEST ACTOR, TV COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
David Duchovny, Californication
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Thomas Jane, Hung
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

BEST ACTRESS, TV COMEDY
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
William Hurt, Too Big Too Fail
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Idris Elba, Luther
Bill Nighy, Page Eight
Dominic West, Appropriate Adult

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Romola Garai, The Hour
Diane Lane, Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey
Emily Watson, Appropriate Adult
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Paul Giamatti, Too Big Too Fail
Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce
Tim Robbins, Cinema Verite
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Kelly McDonald, Boardwalk Empire
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce