Golden Globes 2012 Nominations

After the all the critics awards are doled out, we Oscar watchers look in great part to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for clarity, and while much is delivered, all the more is always blurred.

Here are the film nominees for the 2012 Golden Globes and my thoughts on them. Silent film “The Artist” tops the list of total nominations with six. “The Descendants” and “The Help” were right behind with five a piece. A surprise resurfacing occurred here for “The Ides of March” with four nominations, but we don’t seem to have any egregious gun-jumping errors like last year with “The Tourist” and Halle Berry in “Frankie and Alice.”

Best Picture – Drama

• The Descendants
• The Help
• Hugo
• The Ides of March
• Moneyball
• War Horse

My Thoughts: All of us had assumed “The Ides of March” could make the list — back over the summer. George Clooney’s film seemed to fade out of the picture as November/December rolled around, but here it is and in the place of a film such as “The Tree of Life” or “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” though I’m beginning to think the latter must be just okay if it got no recognition from the HFPA. This category has one more nominee than last year.

Best Picture – Musical/Comedy

• 50/50
• The Artist
• Bridesmaids
• Carnage*
• Midnight in Paris
• My Week with Marilyn

My Thoughts: Ah, the all-inclusive spirit of the Globes. This category is much larger than laster year (and better) though I’m not sure how “Marilyn” ended up on. *”Carnage” was included on the HFPA website but not announced this morning, so expect a formal correction either way. This is a classy category this year and suggests comedy has a place at the Oscars, at least in its traditional definition.

Best Director

• Woody Allen for “Midnight in Paris”
• George Clooney for “The Ides of March”
• Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist”
• Alexander Payne for “The Descendants”
• Martin Scorsese for “Hugo”

My Thoughts: Considering this is the Globes, no Terrence Malick makes perfect sense as his film was far from a crowd pleaser. All the rest are deserving though Clooney is a stretch. I would’ve predicted the voters of the HFPA to get Steven Spielberg in there instead. The other three should be Oscar locks.

Best Actor – Drama

• George Clooney for “The Descendants”
• Leonardo DiCaprio for “J. Edgar”
• Michael Fassbender for “Shame”
• Ryan Gosling for “The Ides of March”
• Brad Pitt for “Moneyball”

My Thoughts: If I’m a lady, consider my panties dropped. Damned if this isn’t a popularity contest. Fassbender keeps his Oscar hopes alive after a snubbing from the Screen Actors Guild. The biggest omission here would be critic favorite Michael Shannon. Gosling arguably deserved the nomination for “Drive,” but obviously the HFPA likes “Ides” a lot this year.

Best Actress – Drama

• Glenn Close for “Albert Nobbs”
• Viola Davis for “The Help”
• Rooney Mara for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
• Meryl Streep for “The Iron Lady”
• Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

My Thoughts: Pretty spot-on, with Rooney Mara able to sneak in thanks to Michelle Williams counting for Best Actress – Musical/Comedy. Mara must feel pretty humbled/honored to be in a category with these incredible women though.

Best Actor – Musical/Comedy

• Jean Dujardin for “The Artist”
• Brendan Gleeson for “The Guard”
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt for “50/50”
• Ryan Gosling for “Crazy, Stupid, Love”
• Owen Wilson for “Midnight in Paris”

My Thoughts: So much better than having two nominations for bad Johnny Depp movies. The last three picks are popularity ones, but all good performances anyway, so it can’t even be considered that much of a stretch.

Best Actress – Musical/Comedy

• Jodie Foster for “Carnage”
• Charlize Theron for “Young Adult”
• Kristen Wiig for “Bridesmaids”
• Michelle Williams for “My Week with Marilyn”
• Kate Winslet for “Carnage”

My Thoughts: Some love here for actresses in films not competing with the top dogs such as “Young Adult” and “Carnage,” though Williams seems the only likely candidate for an Oscar nomination of the bunch. Wiig is way out of her territory, which wouldn’t be a problem if co-star Melissa McCarthy hadn’t been snubbed in Best Supporting Actress.

Best Supporting Actor

• Kenneth Branagh for “My Week with Marilyn”
• Albert Brooks for “Drive”
• Jonah Hill for “Moneyball”
• Viggo Mortensen for “A Dangerous Method”
• Christopher Plummer for “Beginners”

My Thoughts: Jonah Hill now has a vote from the Screen Actors Guild and the HFPA. Could he get an Oscar nod? Sure seems possible though I’m not sure he’s worthy, especially with someone like Nick Nolte left out. Mortensen was also down and out until this one for playing Sigmund Freud. The other three seem destined for a chance at the Oscar statuette.

Best Supporting Actress

• Bérénice Bejo for “The Artist”
• Jessica Chastain for “The Help”
• Janet McTeer for “Albert Nobbs”
• Octavia Spencer for “The Help”
• Shailene Woodley for “The Descendants”

My Thoughts: Melissa McCarthy? She’d been sweeping awards and nominations until now, and you’d think the Globes of all ceremonies would include her over Woodley. Otherwise, I think we are looking at almost the exact ballot for the Academy Awards.

Best Screenplay

• “The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
•  “The Ides of March” – Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• “Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen
• “Moneyball”  – Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian

My Thoughts: Once again, “Ides” surprises, though with the Oscars splitting original and adapted, you can guarantee the other screenplays a spot on the Academy lists. Sorkin deserves to be on the list again with another revered writer in Zaillian and Allen gave us one of his best with “Paris.”

Best Animated Film

• The Adventures of Tintin
• Arthur Christmas
• Cars 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

My Thoughts: I haven’t gotten to some of these later-year animated films yet, but “Cars 2” seems like the only disappointment that made the list. To see it there over “Rio” or “Kung Fu Panda 2” is surprising, but DreamWorks got its nod with “Puss” and Disney had not other love.

Best Foreign Film

• The Flowers of War
• In the Land of Blood and Honey
• The Kid with a Bike
• A Separation
• The Skin I Live In

My Thoughts: Big films to note are Angelina Jolie’s “Blood and Honey” though it was produced in America … go figure. The revered Pedro Almodovar gets recognition for “Skin.” Christian Bale’s Chinese adventure “Flowers” also got recognized. “A Separation” comes from Iran of all places and “Bike” from Belgium.

Best Original Song

• “Lay Your Head Down – Brian Byrne and Glenn Close (from “Albert Nobbs”)
• “Hello Hello”  – Elton John and Bernie Taupin (from “Gnomeo & Juliet”)
• “The Living Proof” –  Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas (from “The Help”)
• “The Keeper” –  Chris Cornell (from “Machine Gun Preacher”)
• “Masterpiece” –  Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry (from “W.E.”)

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