While most of the West Coast was still asleep on Thursday morning, the Hollywood Foreign Press was announcing its nominees for the Golden Globe Awards, which will air in a telecast hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey on Jan. 13. (Read the full list of Golden Globe nominees at E! Online.) Though the end of the year is crowded with awards shows and critics' best-of lists, the Golden Globes are widely regarded as the greatest predictor of the Academy Awards — and not without reason, notes Brooks Barnes at the New York Times. The Academy Award for Best Picture has gone to the Globes' choice for Best Drama or Best Comedy roughly-two thirds of the time over the past 20 years. Still, there are key differences between the two awards shows. For instance, the Golden Globes distinguish between dramas and comedies/musicals, so unlike the Oscars, presumptive nominees Zero Dark Thirty and Les Miserables won't be going head-to-head. And the Golden Globes, unlike the Academy Awards, honor the best in television in addition to the best in film. With that in mind, who are the biggest winners and losers in the nominees for the 70th annual Golden Globes Awards?
WINNERS:
Lincoln
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Steven Spielberg's Lincoln leads the field with seven nominations: Best Drama, Best Director (Spielberg), Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones), Best Supporting Actress (Sally Field), Best Screenplay (Tony Kushner), and Best Original Score (John Williams).
Django Unchained
After being completely shut out at yesterday's SAG nominations, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, which arrives in theaters on Christmas Day, is likely to get a boost from a slew of high-profile nominations: Best Supporting Actor nods for Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz; Quentin Tarantino for both Best Director and Best Screenplay; and a slot in the Best Drama category.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
The division between drama and comedy/musical at the Golden Globes generally leads to at least one very darkhorse earning recognition in the comedy/musical category — a slot that has, in previous years, gone to little-loved movies like The Tourist and Burlesque. This year's beneficiary is the generally well-received (but all-but-forgotten) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which also scored a Best Actress nomination for Emily Blunt and a Best Actor nomination for Ewan McGregor.
HBO's new shows
After a single season, Lena Dunham's buzzy HBO dramedy has proven to be a serious contender, with nods for both Best Comedy Series and Best Actress in a Comedy for Dunham. And despite a relatively tepid critical reception, HBO's freshman series The Newsroom also scored two major nominations: Best Drama, and Best Actor for leading man Jeff Daniels.
LOSERS:
Tom Hooper
Les Miserables cleaned up fairly well in Golden Globe nominations, with nods in Best Comedy/Musical, Best Actor (Hugh Jackman), and Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway). But there was one glaring omission: A Best Director nomination for Hooper. Since Best Director and Best Picture tend to go hand-in-hand at the Academy Awards, Hooper's snub could be an early sign of trouble for Les Miserables' aggressive awards-show campaign.
Matthew McConaughey
2012 has been a big year for McConaughey, who impressed critics with eccentric performances in Killer Joe and Magic Mike. But the actor was shut out in favor of recognizing performers from more conventional awards show fare like Argo, The Master, and Lincoln.
AMC
The TV drama categories have become an increasingly crowded field, and this year, AMC took the hardest hit. Though Breaking Bad earned its first-ever Golden Globe nomination for Drama Series, it came at the expense of Mad Men, which was shut out of the category, and The Walking Dead, which didn't earn a single nomination.
Game of Thrones
HBO's critically acclaimed fantasy series was also shut out from both Best Drama and any acting category — which is particularly disappointing since Peter Dinklage actually won Best Supporting Actor last year. Between snubs for Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and True Blood, it's clear that the Hollywood Foreign Press doesn't have much time for genre fare.
