Golden Globe Nominations 2013

Awards season has officially begun. Yesterday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association revealed its nominations for the Golden Globes ceremony in January. As usual, the choices are a mix of predictable safe bets and mystifying oddballs.

As announced by presenters Jessica Alba, Megan Fox and Ed Helms, Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ received the most love with seven nominations in all. Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ also fared well in the eyes of the HFPA, with five nominations.

You can find the full list of nominees on the official Golden Globes web site. I won’t go through them all here, but these are some of the big categories.

Best Picture – Drama
  • ‘Argo’
  • ‘Django Unchained’
  • ‘Life of Pi’
  • Lincoln’
  • ‘Zero Dark Thirty’

No huge surprises here, but (based on early buzz) I doubt that ‘Django Unchained’ will make the cut for the eventual Oscar short-list.

Best Actress – Drama
  • Jessica Chastain, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
  • Marion Cotiallard, ‘Rust and Bone’
  • Helen Mirren, ‘Hitchcock’
  • Naomi Watts, ‘The Impossible’
  • Rachel Weisz, ‘The Deep Blue Sea’

Although Helen Mirren was singled out as the best part of it, that ‘Hitchcock’ biopic received almost universally scathing reviews. I’d be surprised to see it nominated, but this is the Golden Globes, where normal rules of logic and taste don’t apply. I have no idea what ‘Rust and Bone’ is.

Best Actor – Drama
  • Daniel Day-Lewis, ‘Lincoln’
  • Richard Gere, ‘Arbitrage’
  • John Hawkes, ‘The Sessions’
  • Joaquin Phoenix, ‘The Master’
  • Denzel Washington, ‘Flight’

‘Arbitrage’? Someone remembered that? Huh.

Best Picture – Comedy or Musical
  • ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’
  • ‘Les Miserables’
  • ‘Moonrise Kingdom’
  • ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’
  • ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
Best Actress – Comedy or Musical
  • Emily Blunt, ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’
  • Judi Dench, ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’
  • Jennifer Lawrence, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
  • Maggie Smith, ‘Quartet’
  • Meryl Streep, ‘Hope Springs’
Best Actor – Comedy or Musical
  • Jack Black, ‘Bernie’
  • Bradley Cooper, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
  • Hugh Jackman, ‘Les Miserables’
  • Ewan McGregor, ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’
  • Bill Murray, ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’

‘Les Mis’ was a guaranteed Golden Globe nominee before anyone saw a frame of it, and ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ was the indie comedy (really more of a dramedy) of the year. ‘Marigold Hotel’ is the sort of feel-good, middlebrow production that HFPA voters go for, and I don’t think ‘Silver Linings’ will come as a shock to too many.

However, what’s with the adoration for the forgettable and poorly-reviewed ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’? In addition to a Best Picture nomination, it also locked down nods for the main acting categories. Is that this year’s ‘The Tourist’?

Best Television Series – Drama
  • ‘Breaking Bad’
  • ‘Boardwalk Empire’
  • ‘Downton Abbey’
  • ‘Homeland’
  • ‘The Newsroom’
Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical
  • ‘The Big Bang Theory’
  • ‘Episodes’
  • ‘Girls’
  • ‘Modern Family’
  • ‘Smash’

The TV categories don’t contain any shockers. I don’t personally feel that ‘The Newsroom’ deserves to be in contention, but the talent behind it was enough to lock down a nomination no matter how mediocre and misguided it turned out to be.

It should go without saying that the Golden Globe awards are considered a joke in the industry, and are completely meaningless. The only thing the ceremony is good for is the telecast itself, in which celebrities are encouraged to drink and have a good time (unlike the overly serious Oscars).

For the complete list of nominations, see the official Golden Globes web site.

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