GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED, THE ARTIST LEADS WITH 6 NOMINATIONS!

Having been a great admirer of the film awards in recent years, I have eagerly anticipated this period in the film calender for a long time and in the space of a few weeks, the storm of various critic awards has poured in and suddenly this year's Oscar race has become very exciting with nominations all over the place.

The Golden Globes which is one of my favourite film awards of the year have finally announced their nominations with thankfully not as many surprises as there were last year *cough* The Tourist *cough*. Classical Hollywood musical The Artist is the frontrunner with a tidy six nominations including Best Picture Comedy Musical, a directing nod for Michel Hazanavicius and acting noms for foreign duo Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo. A film I MUST get round to seeing. The Descendants starring George Clooney and civil rights drama The Help also did well with five nominations each( I'm especially pleased for the latter). There were also a lot of attention for the likes of Hugo, Moneyball, Midnight In Paris, The Ides Of March and War Horse (though no Spielberg nomination!).

Inspiring nomination choices also include Brad Pitt for Moneyball (with Angelina nominated for her Bosnian epic In The Land Of Blood and Honey in Best Foreign Film), Tilda Swinton for We Need To Talk About Kevin, Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh for My Week With Marilyn, Adventures of Tin Tin for Animated Film and three women from The Help also garnering acting recognition. Sadly no Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close mention, no Gary Oldman, no Nick Nolte, no Keira Knightley and not a single mention for The Muppets OR for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two! And although I haven't seen Bridesmaids, surprise critical darling Melissa McCarthy missed out on a Supporting Actress nod for her boisterous role!

The nominations for the film categories are below....

Best Picture Drama

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

Best Director

• Woody Allen - Midnight In Paris
• George Clooney - The Ides Of March
• Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
• Alexander Payne - The Descendants
• Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Best Actress in a 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 Picture Comedy/Musical

• 50/50
• The Artist
• Bridesmaids
• Midnight In Paris
• My Week with Marilyn

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 Descendants

Best Actress In a Comedy/Musical

• Jodie Foster - Carnage
• Charlize Theron - Young Adult
• Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids
• Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
• Kate Winslet - Carnage

Best Actor In a Comedy/Musical

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

Best Screenplay

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• The Ides Of March
• Midnight In Paris
• Moneyball

Best Original Score

• The Artist
• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• War Horse 
• W.E

Best Animated Film

• The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn
• Arthur Christmas
• Cars 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

Best Original Song

• Hello Hello – Gnomeo & Juliet – Elton John
• Lay Your Head Down – Albert Nobbs – Sinead O’Connor
• The Living Proof – The Help – Mary J. Blige
• The Keeper – Machine Gun Preacher – Gerard Butler
• Masterpiece – W.E. – Madonna

The Golden Globes Awards will be presented on January 15th at a star-studded ceremony hosted again by Ricky Gervais, looking forward to it already!