Golden Globes 2012 Nominees Announced - THE ARTIST Leads With Six Nominations!

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association have announced their annual Golden Globe nominations and on the backs of yesterday's SAG nominations, momentum definitely seems to be building for the black and white silent movie masterpiece The Artist which took a whopping six nominations. Alexander Payne's The Descendants and Tate Taylor's The Help both took five, and then a surprise resurgence for George Clooney's brilliant, 70's inspired political thriller The Ides of March which was nominated for Best Drama and Best Director and took four overall. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and the baseball drama Moneyball also took four. Two movies I haven't yet seen but am dying too; Albert Nobbs and My Week With Marilyn took three nods along with Martin Scorsese's Hugo. The nominees were announced by as strange a foursome as you are ever likely to see together in Woody Harrelson, Gerard Butler, Rashida Jones and Sofia Vergara. Here's the main film categories; Best Picture - Drama "The Descendants" "The Help" "Hugo" "The Ides Of March" "Moneyball" "War Horse" Best Picture - Comedy/Musical "50/50" "The Artist" "Bridesmaids" "Midnight In Paris" "My Week With Marilyn" As Best Director is limited to five picks overall (which also happens at the Oscars which has a 10 film pool) you get to find out which five films they really thought were the crowning achievements of the year and which weren't. So we are left with the following five as the big five... Best Director Woody Allen - "Midnight In Paris" George Clooney - "The Ides of March" Michel Hazavinicius - "The Artist" Alexander Payne - "The Descendants" Martin Scorsese - "Hugo" In the acting categories, Joseph Gordon-Levitt picked up Best Actor nom (Comedy/Musical) for 50/50 in a category whose only other surprise (though pleasant) was Brendon Gleeson being nominated for The Guard. For Best Actress (Comedy/Musical) Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster were both nominated for turns in Roman Polanski's Carnage but that seems to be an anomaly. Best Actor - Comedy/Musical Jean Dujardin - "The Artist" Brendan Gleeson - "The Guard" Joseph Gordon-Levitt - "50/50" Ryan Gosling - "Crazy, Stupid, Love" Owen Wilson - "Midnight In Paris" Best Actress - Comedy/Musical Jodie Foster - "Carnage" Charlize Theron - "Young Adult" Kristin Wiig - "Bridesmaids" Michelle Williams - "My Week With Marilyn" Kate Winslet - "Carnage" In the Drama category, Michael Fassbender's career best (so far!) turn in Shame is back on the Oscar campaign after the actor picked up a nomination after losing out at the SAGs yesterday. Ryan Gosling was nominated as Best Actor for The Ides of March which backs up his Best Actor (Comedy/Musical) for Crazy Stupid Love. No love for Drive, however. Tilda Swinton is a lock for Best Actress for her harrowing and emotional turn in We Need To Talk About Kevin. As it happens, I have not yet seen the other films in this category though after Shaun's review of The Iron Lady, it's unlikely Meryl Streep is as strong a contender as she once was, especially as we approach Oscar season. Academy doesn't usually like to award acting gongs to modestly successful or average films. Best Actress - 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 Actor - Drama George Clooney - "The Descendants" Leonardo DiCaprio - "J. Edgar" Michael Fassbender - "Shame" Ryan Gosling - "The Ides of March" Brad Pitt - "Moneyball" The rest of the nominations are below. Pains me to say that there were no awards IN ANY CATEGORY for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which for me, alongside The Artist, is the crowning achievement of cinema this year. 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 Bérénice Bejo, "The Artist" Jessica Chastain - "The Help" Janet McTeer - "Albert Nobbs" Octavia Spencer, "The Help" Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants" Best Screenplay Michel Hazavanicius - "The Artist" Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne - "The Descendants" George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon - "The Ides of March" Woody Allen - "Midnight In Paris" Aaron Sorkin, Steve Zaillian - "Moneyball" Best Animated Film "The Adventures Of Tintin" "Arthur Christmas" "Cars 2" "Puss In Boots" "Rango" Best Foreign-Language Film "A Separation" (Iran) The Flowers Of War" (China) "The Kid With The Bike" (Belgium) "In The Land Of Blood and Honey" (USA) "The Skin I Live In" (Spain) Best Original Score Ludovic Bource - "The Artist" Abel Korzeniowski - "W.E." Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Howard Shore - "Hugo" John Williams - "War Horse" 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