Globey Dick

The nominees for the 67th Golden Globes were announced yesterday and upon reading the list, film critics worldwide have had the same reaction `WTF?’ Seriously, WTF? There are some truly, well-deserved nominees on this list but there others where it’s clear selectors have gone “shit, we’ve only got three nominees and we need five, ahhh lets throw her in there, him over there and give that one a nod too.”

Considered a `sort-of, not really' indicator of which direction the Oscars are heading, below is a breakdown of the nominees in the most important categories. I've placed a star next to the ones which, in a perfect world, I would like to win and have included what I think are the major oversight's in each category.

Best Motion Picture -- Drama

Avatar *
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air
Oversight: Moon, The Lovely Bones, Balibo

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -- Drama

Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria *
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sadibe, Precious *
Oversight: Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture -- Drama

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus *
Tobey Maguire, Brothers
Oversight: Sam Rockwell, Moon!!! Sharlto Copley, District 9, Oscar Isaac, Balibo, Russel Crowe, State Of Play

Best Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy

(500) Days of Summer *
The Hangover
It's Complicated
Julie & Julia
Nine
Oversight: The Brothers Bloom, Black Dynamite

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy

Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
Marion Cotillard, Nine
Meryl Streep, It's Complicated
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia *
Julia Roberts, Duplicity
Oversight: Rachel Weisz, The Brothers Bloom

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy

Matt Damon, The Informant
Daniel Day Lewis, Nine
Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes
Joseph Gordon Levitt, (500) Days of Summer *
Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man
Oversight: Mark Ruffalo, The Brothers Bloom, Michael Jai White, Black Dynmaite

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Mo-Nique, Precious *
Julianne Moore, A Single Man
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Oversight: Susan Sarandon, The Lovely Bones

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Matt Damon, Invictus
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones *
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Christopher Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Oversight: Woody Harrelson, Zombieland, John Goodman, In The Electric Mist

Best Animated Feature Film

Coraline *
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
The Princess and the Frog
Up
Oversight: Mary & Max

Best Foreign Language Film

Barria
Broken Embraces
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
The Maid
Oversight: Let The Right One In

Best Director -- Motion Picture

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar *
Clint Eastwood, Invictus
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds
Oversight: Duncan Jones, Moon

Best Screenplay -- Motion Picture

Up in the Air
It's Complicated
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds *
Oversights: Peter Jackson, Phillipa Boyens, Fran Walsh, The Lovely Bones, Duncan Jones, Moon, Rian Johnson Brothers Bloom

Best Original Score -- Motion Picture

Michael Giacchino, Up
Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant
James Horner, Avatar
Abel Krozeniowski, A Single Man
Karen O. and Carter Burwell, Where the Wild Things Are *
Oversight: Bruno Coulais, Coraline

Best Original Song -- Motion Picture

"I Will See You," Avatar
"The Weary Kind," The Crazy Heart
"Winter," Brothers
"Cinema Italiano," Nine *
"I Want to Come Home," Everybody's Fine
Oversight: "Possibility", Lykke Li, The Twilight Saga: New Moon

There have been so many spanners' thrown in here, I don't even know where to start analysing some of these nominations. I'll launch with Avatar though, which is looking like a promising front runner for the Oscars and it's nice to see it getting the critical acclaim it deserves for literally revolutionising filmmaking and the cinema experience we've come to know. Plenty of nods for Inglorious Basterds too, wahoo, and if Stanley Tucci hadn't been so incredibly brilliant as the serial killer in The Lovely Bones I'd say Christopher Waltz would be a shoe-in for best supporting actor. He probably still is.

But WTF happened to Moon? Yeah, remember that amazing sci-fi slice of excellence which had one of the best performances of the year from Sam Rockwell who's the only actor in the whole friggin' thing! Massive oversight and I really hope the Oscar crew have a deeper field of vision than the Golden Globe douches who are so busy getting moist for Nine and Bullock (The Proposal, really?) that they skim over a bunch of five star offerings. Sigh.

I really could rant on forever, but at the end of the day I only have a passing interest in the globes because there are so many extended categories that fail to exist at the Oscars a lot of the nominees don't matter. Like good ol' Woody Allen says, awards don't mean anything, they don't take away or add to the enjoyment of a film for the audience and just because something gets a shiny, gold statue that doesn't mean it's superior in the scheme of filmmaking. So there *insert tongue poking here*.

I will say this though, the widened field of ten best picture nominees at the Oscars next year is going to make things very interesting (FYI if I had a moustache I'd be stroking it right now). The 67th Golden Globe awards will air on Monday, Jan 17 for us Aussies and Oscar nom's are announced shortly before then.

Oh, and HOORAY FOR JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT! GO SON! His first of what should have been MANY Golden Globe nominations but it's cool, he's got one now and hopefully his award winning cycle shall begin.