GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS

Best Picture – Drama

Argo (Warner Bros. Pictures, GK Films, Smokehouse Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures)
Django Unchained (The Weinstein Company, Columbia Pictures; The Weinstein Company/Sony Pictures Releasing)
Life of Pi (Fox 2000 Pictures; Twentieth Century Fox)
Lincoln (DreamWorks Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox; Touchstone Pictures)
Zero Dark Thirty (Columbia Pictures and Annapurna Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing)

Best Picture – Musical or Comedy

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Blueprint Pictures / Participant Media; Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Les Misérables (Universal Pictures, A Working Title Films / Cameron Mackintosh Productions; Universal Pictures)
Moonrise Kingdom (Indian Paintbrush; Focus Features)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (CBS Films; CBS Films)
Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company; The Weinstein Company)

Best Director

Ben Affleck (Argo)

Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)

Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Drama

Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Richard Gere (Arbitrage)

John Hawkes (The Sessions)

Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

Denzel Washington (Flight)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy

Jack Black (Bernie)

Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)

Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables)

Ewan McGregor (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen)

Bill Murray (Hyde Park on Hudson)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – Drama

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone)

Helen Mirren (Hitchcock)

Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

Rachel Weisz (The Deep Blue Sea)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy

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 Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin (Argo)

Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams (The Master)

Sally Field (Lincoln)

Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Helen Hunt (The Sessions)

Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy)

Best Screenplay

Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty)

Tony Kushner (Lincoln)

David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)

Chris Terrio (Argo)

Best Original Score

Mychael Danna (Life of Pi)

Alexandre Desplat (Argo)

Reinhold Hiel, Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer (Cloud Atlas)

Dario Marianelli (Anna Karenina)

John Williams (Lincoln)

Best Original Song

Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth – ‘Skyfall’ (Skyfall)

Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg – ‘Suddenly’ (Les Misérables)

T-Bone Burnett, Taylor Swift, John Paul White and Joy Williams – ‘Safe & Sound’ (The Hunger Games)

Jon Bon Jovi – ‘Not Running Anymore’ (Stand Up Guys)

Monty Powell and Keith Urban – ‘For You’ (Act of Valour)

Best Animated Film

Brave (Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios; Walt Disney Pictures)
Frankenweenie (Walt Disney Pictures; Walt Disney Pictures)
Hotel Transylvania (Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Animation; Sony Pictures Releasing)
Rise of the Guardians (DreamWorks Animation LLC; Paramount Pictures)
Wreck-It Ralph (Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios; Walt Disney Pictures)

Best Foreign Language Film

Amour – Austria (Les Films Du Losange, X Filme Creative Pool, Wega Film; Sony Pictures Classics)
The Intouchables – France (The Weinsten Company, Quad Productions, Gaumont, TF1 Films Production, Ten Films, Chaocorp; The Weinstein Company)
Kon-Tiki – Denmark / Norway / UK (Nordisk Film Production, Recorded Picture Company)
A Royal Affair – Denmark (Zentropa Entertainment; Magnolia Pictures)
Rust and Bone – France (Page 114, Why Not Productions; Sony Pictures Classics)

The Golden Globes take a lot of flack from a lot of people, but this year, their choices are, generally, too good for me to criticise them on the whole. Nominations for Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman and Emily Blunt are sure to endear me to any association, as is a Best Director line-up that shuns David O. Russell and Tom Hooper (I had thought that at least one Musical or Comedy director would be represented, as that adds credibility to the category division, but the Best Director slate matches the Best Picture - Drama). Lincoln leads with seven - not a very big surprise. Django Unchained takes another step forward, proving also that Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz can indeed share the same ballot. Life of Pi also proves that its early season wobble was only temporary. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel shows up too; it misses out on a nomination for Maggie Smith (who received a SAG nomination, unlike Judi Dench, nominated here instead), although Smith is nominated for Quartet anyway. The Master bounces back a little, with acting nominations for all three of its leads, although no more. Moonrise Kingdom only gets the one nomination, but it is for Best Picture. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was obviously a favourite of the HFPA - I wonder if there's more to that than meets the eye... My biggest gripe comes in the form of the ParaNorman snub in Best Animated Film, and perhaps in the lack of love for Amour outside of Best Foreign Language Film, but these are minor gripes only.