Dissecting the Golden Globes

Earlier this week, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced its annual Golden Globe Award Nominations. The Globes, which will air on Sunday January 13th, always seem to play the peacekeeping mother role on the long road to the Oscars. Offering five Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress Nominations in both the drama and comedy/musical genres, the Globes make sure that just about everyone gets a little recognition. For a full and lengthy list of nominees in both television and film, click here (courtesy of IMDB). While we still have a month until the winners are announced, let's take a moment to dissect these nominations and ponder their effect on the mighty Oscar races. Here's four eye-opening revelations from the Hollywood Foreign Press and their Golden Globe Nominations:

1. Django Unchained is a REAL contender

After receiving an astounding five nominations including Best Picture (Drama), Best Director (Quentin Tarantino), Best Screenplay and two for Best Supporting Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz), Django Unchained has claimed itself a legitimate contender for the Oscars. Although the Academy is very unpredictable when it comes to Quentin Tarantino, strong critic reviews and a hearty box office could propel Django Unchained deep into the Best Picture race.

2. Best Director is an overly crowded race

This year's Best Director field is huge and, unfortunately, a few big-name filmmakers will have to be left out of the top five. With the way the precursors have been shaping up, it appears as though Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master) is the first major contender to fall from the pack. Keeping in mind that it's always too early to talk Best Director before the Directors Guild of America makes their selections, Anderson couldn't find his way into the Critics' Choice Award's top six or the Golden Globe's top five. 

3. Nicole Kidman isn't going away

I was completely blown away when I heard about Nicole Kidman's SAG Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Not because of her talent, but because of the lack of enthusiasm for the film The Paperboy. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival back in May, Lee Daniels' follow up to the 2010 Best Picture Nominee Precious left critics and audiences craving a better result. Although I haven't seen The Paperboy, it's becoming evident that Kidman is a strong candidate for Best Supporting Actress. However, we said the same thing after Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) received nominations from the SAG and Golden Globes last year, only to be left out of the Best Actress category by the Academy. 

4. De Niro may not be a "sure thing" nominee

Being from the Philadelphia area, it's a given that I loved David O. Russell's mental illness comedy Silver Linings Playbook. The laugh out loud affair had its moment in the spotlight and is all but assured a Best Picture nomination from the Academy (but a win is very unlikely at this point). Outside of its leading pair, Robert De Niro garnered massive amounts of praise for his heartfelt supporting role. Therefore, I was shocked to see him miss out on a Golden Globe nomination for his onscreen work. This omission left me thinking about the Best Supporting Actor race and wondering if there's a possibility that the category could be crowded enough to dismiss De Niro. With a highly valuable SAG Nomination in his grasp, I find his exclusion from the Oscars to be unlikely. Yet this Golden Globe snub is surprising enough to throw caution to the wind and make me think twice about where De Niro actually stands in the race.