The nominations for the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles.  Voted on by the  90-odd members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, it marks the second largest stop in the awards season and a bellwether of where the Oscar may go.  It’s been a busy week, as goes the last few weeks of the year, with countless awards contenders coming out in a mad rush, and right on the heels of yesterdays announcement of the Screen Actors Guild nominations. 

The nominations were a mix of the expected as well as the surprising.  12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen’s sobering slavery drama and American Hustle, David O. Russell’s 70s-era con film ruled the nominations, scoring seven nods apiece.  Other players like Nebraska, Gravity, Captain Phillips, Her and Inside Llewyn Davis all got HFPA approval with multiple nods, including inclusion in one of the two Best Picture slots – the Globes offer two categories, one for drama and the other for musical or comedies offering a wider assortment of films.  Films such as Philomena, Rush and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom also got a big boost, perhaps due to their European roots, an appeal factor for the voting panel consisting of non-Americans, while films like Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Saving Mr. Banks and August: Osage County were mostly absent, perhaps due to their Americana roots. The Butler came across as a particular snub, given its great showing at SAG the other day. Lee Daniels’ race relations epic was completely ignored, including Oprah Winfrey’s much buzzed about performance.

One thing of particular note in this year’s slate occurs in the Best Picture: Musical or Comedy field where a wide array of awards contenders, from American Hustle to The Wolf of Wall Street to Nebraska, will be competing.  While the field is certainly less suspect than some of past years (the HFPA has some history nominating films and performances of questionable merit, perhaps more on the hopes that it will attract a starrier ceremony – see the Johnny Depp-Angelina Jolie bomb The Tourist received multiple nods a few years ago), to call the nominees musicals or comedies may be a bit of a stretch.

THE NOMINEES ARE:

BEST PICTURE (Drama)

• 12 Years a Slave
• Captain Phillips
  
• Gravity
• Philomena
• Rush

BEST PICTURE (Musical or Comedy)

• American Hustle
• Her
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Nebraska
• The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR

• Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
• Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
• Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
• Alexander Payne, Nebraska
• David O. Russell, American Hustle

BEST ACTOR (Drama)

• Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• Idris Elba, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
• Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
• Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
• Robert Redford, All is Lost

BEST ACTRESS (Drama)

• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock, Gravity
• Judi Dench, Philomena
• Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
• Kate Winslet, Labor Day

BEST ACTOR (Musical or Comedy)

• Christian Bale, American Hustle
• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
• Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
• Joaquin Phoenix, Her

BEST ACTRESS (Musical or Comedy)

• Amy Adams, American Hustle
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Enough Said
• Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
• Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha
• Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
• Daniel Bruhl, Rush
• Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
• Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
• Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
• Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
• June Squibb, Nebraska

BEST SCREENPLAY

• 12 Years a Slave– written by John Ridley
• American Hustle– written by Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell
• Her– written by Spike Jonze
• Nebraska– written by Bob Nelson
• Philomena– written by Jeff Pope & Steve Coogan

BEST ANIMATED FILM

• The Croods
• Despicable Me 2
• Frozen

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Blue is the Warmest Color (France)
• The Great Beauty (Italy)
• The Hunt (Denmark)
• The Past (Iran)
• The Wind Rises (Japan)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• 12 Years a Slave– Hans Zimmer
• All is Lost– Alex Ebert
• The Book Thief– John Williams
• Gravity– Steven Price
• Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom– Alex Heffes

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “Let it Go”- Frozen
• “Atlas”- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• “Please Mr. Kennedy”- Inside Llewyn Davis
• “Ordinary Love”- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
• “Sweeter Than Fiction”- One Chance

The Golden Globes will be handed out on January 12, 2014.  Last years’ lauded hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will again emcee the preceedings.