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The "usual suspects" were evident at the announcement of the 2011 Golden Globe Awards by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Both the historical biopic THE KING'S SPEECH and the zeitgeist drama THE SOCIAL NETWORK received the most nominations, with such celebrated films as BLACK SWAN, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, INCEPTION, BLUE VALENTINE and THE FIGHTER making strong showings.

THE KING'S SPEECH has to be considered the current frontrunner, capping seven nominations including best drama, best director, best screenplay, best musical score, as well as acting nominations for Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush. Not far behind were THE SOCIAL NETWORK, which was nominated for best director, best picture and best actor (go Jesse Eisenberg).

However, as usual, there were a number of snubs and surprises in today's announcement.  Biggest surprise was the strong showing for the boxing drama THE FIGHTER, which opened to great reviews this past week. The film, directed by David O. Russell, who received his first Best Director nomination, was a bit of a sleeper without a lot of advance press. It was not shown at the Toronto or New York film festivals earlier this Fall, a usual jumping off point for awards consideration. A nice surprise was the nominations for all 4 leading cast members, including Amy Adams and Melissa Leo now going toe-to-toe in the Best Supporting Actress race, as well as nominations for Christian Bale (supporting actor) and Mark Wahlberg (lead actor). The film, which also was nominated for Best Picture, is poised to be the possible upset film in THE KING'S SPEECH versus THE SOCIAL NETWORK battle for top dog.

Another nice surprise was the nomination of both Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams for their incendiary work in the drama BLUE VALENTINE. The film, which premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival and has yet to open theatrically, has been rather slow to the gate, although the industry has been aware of the strong performances by the leads in this intense relationship-comes-apart drama. Today's nods make it clear that both actors are now strong contenders in the Oscar race.

Surprising snubs included 127 HOURS, the experiental thriller by Danny Boyle, which did secure a Best Actor nom for James Franco and a Best Screenplay nod; TRUE GRIT, the nouveau western by Joel & Ethan Coen that did not secure one nomination despite strong reviews; ANOTHER YEAR, UK director Mike Leigh's latest drama confection which also did not secure a single nomination; THE GHOST WRITER, Roman Polanski's political thriller that was the major winner at last week's European Film Awards; THE TOWN, actor/director Ben Affleck's well received crime drama which only secured one nod for supporting actor Jeremy Renner; the indie it film, WINTER'S BONE, which was bypassed in all the major categories, save its Best Actress nomination for Jennifer Lawrence; and RABBIT HOLE, an intense drama based on the award-winning Broadway show, which gave Nicole Kidman her latest Golden Globe nod but snubbed fellow cast member Aaron Eckhart, as well as the film's writer/director John Cameron Mitchell.  

Also missing from the acting nods (based on the earlier buzz) were such talents as Robert Duvall (“Get Low”), Tilda Swinton (“I Am Love”), Hilary Swank ("Conviction"), Mark Ruffalo (“The Kids Are All Right”), Sam Rockwell (“Conviction”), Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon ("True Grit"), Javier Bardem (“Biutiful” ) Edgar Ramirez ("Carlos"), Helen Mirren ("The Tempest"), Justin Timberlake ("The Social Network"), and Lesley Manville (“Another Year”).  A big shocker was the inclusion of Halle Berry in the Best Actress race for her role as a schizophrena survivor who finds redemption by going into her past in the drama "Frankie And Alice", a low budget Canadian film that will not get its theatrical release until February 2011. No one I know has even seen the film, so its surprise nomination will certainly create a swell of attention for the film and its Oscar-winning lead actress.

The Golden Globes ceremony, to be hosted by Ricky Gervais, will be broadcast live on Sunday, January 16, 2011 from The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. 

Sandy Mandelberger, Awards Watch Editor

BEST PICTURE: DRAMA
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

BEST PICTURE: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

BEST ACTOR: DRAMA
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

BEST ACTRESS: DRAMA
Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway, Love & Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone, Easy A

BEST ACTOR: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love & Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Michael Douglas, Wall Street 2
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
The Concert
The Edge
I Am Love
In a Better World

BEST SCREENPLAY
127 Hours
The Kids Are All Right
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The King’s Speech
Alice in Wonderland
127 Hours
The Social Network
Inception

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Despicable Me
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Bound To You” (Burlesque)
“Coming Home” (Country Strong)
“I See The Light” (Tangled)
“There’s a Place For Us” (The Chronicles of Narnia)
“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me”  (Burlesque)