Golden Globe Nominees for 2009

To me, with the exception of one or two movies, 2009 has been one of the weaker years for great film. There have been some solid good films. You could even call some of the movies listed below, "absolute bores." You could call some of them, "intriguing." But, whether or not any of them will stand out in years to come is up to future historians.

Avatar may be the one unforgettable film of 2009 - perhaps, the entire decade. It has changed the way I look at movies, truly exceeding my expectations, living up to the unbelievable hype surrounding it. And, I think the sci-fi / fantasy adventure film is a front-runner for Best Picture. But, the Foreign Press Association has hardly ever awarded such a prestigious award to a film like Avatar. Also, it may not be easy for Avatar to win, since it wasn't nominated for Best Screenplay.

Up In The Air is one of those solid good films. It is also a front-runner. It deals with some great political issues that we're facing today, including cut-backs and unemployment. Then, the film also tells the story of a man who seemingly cares more about himself and his work more than other people. It's a very clever screenplay. There are some great laughs from almost every character. There are some very well-thought out philosophies expressed in the script. So, I wouldn't be surprised or unhappy if it won Best Screenplay.

Inglourious Basterds marks Quentin Tarantino's return to great filmmaking. This is another extremely smart screenplay, while it doesn't feature the "Basterds." The villain of the film, played by Christoph Waltz is most definitely effective in keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. He most definitely deserves the Best Supporting Actor nomination he received. Tarantino's directing style has never been more potent. He really gave the film some great style and substance. Whether or not it can beat Avatar or Up In The Air or even The Hurt Locker is another story. It's a good film, but it's not really great.

Other contenders that have a good chance of winning this year include Morgan Freeman for his amazing performance in Invictus and Meryl Streep in two comedies nominated, Julie & Julia and It's Complicated.

Best Director may actually boil down to Avatar's James Cameron and The Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow. It's interesting to note that these two accomplished filmmakers were once married. I'm gunning for James Cameron myself. What the man did in Avatar is above and beyond for any filmmaker.

As far as Best Animated Feature Film, I loved almost every nominee. The real winner in this category is going to be Up. Pixar has not failed to make a great film since Toy Story. Up is no exception. But, I must add that Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and Coraline are very good movies, definitely worthy of nominations.

Nominees for Best Motion Picture - Drama

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Saphhire

Up In The Air

Nominees for Best Director - Motion Picture

Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker

James Cameron for Avatar

Clint Eastwood for Invictus

Jason Reitman for Up In The Air

Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds

Nominees for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart

George Clooney in Up In The Air

Colin Firth in A Single Man

Morgan Freeman in Invictus

Tobey Maguire in Brothers

Nominees for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria

Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side

Helen Mirren in The Last Station

Carey Mulligan in An Education

Gabourey Sidibe in Precious: Based On The Novel Push by Sapphire

Nominees for Best Picture - Musical/Comedy

(500) Days of Summer

The Hangover

It's Complicated

Julie & Julia

Nine

Nominees for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy

Matt Damon in The Informant

Daniel Day-Lewis in Nine

Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in (500) Days of Summer

Michael Stulbarg in A Serious Man

Nominees for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy

Sandra Bullock in The Proposal

Marion Cotillard in Nine

Julia Roberts in Duplicity

Meryl Streep in It's Complicated

Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia

Nominees for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

Matt Damon in Invictus

Woody Harrelson in The Messenger

Christopher Plummer in The Last Station

Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones

Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

Nominees for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Penelope Cruz in Nine

Vera Farmiga in Up In The Air

Anna Kendrick in Up In The Air

Mo'nique in Precious: Based On The Novel Push by Sapphire

Julianne Moore in A Single Man

Nominees for Best Animated Feature Film

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Coraline

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Princess and The Frog

Up

Nominees for Best Foreign Language Film

Baaria from Italy

Broken Embraces from Spain

The Maid (La Nana) from Chile

A Prophet (Uh Prophete) from France

The White Ribbon from Germany

Nominees for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

District 9 - Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell

The Hurt Locker - Mark Boal

Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino

It's Complicated - Nancy Meyers

Up In The Air - Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

Nominees for Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Up composed by Michael Giacchino

The Informant composed by Marvin Hamlisch

Avatar composed by James Horner

A Single Man composed by Abel Korzeniowski

Where The Wild Things Are composed by Karen O and Carter Burwell

Nominees for Best Original Song - Motion Picture

"Cinema Italiano" from Nine

"I See You" from Avatar

"I Want to Come Home" from Everybody's Fine

"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from Crazy Heart

"Winter" from Brothers

Best Television Series - Drama

Dexter

House

Big Love

Mad Men

True Blood

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama

Glenn Close - Damages

January Jones - Mad Men

Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife

Anna Paquin - True Blood

Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama

Simon Baker - The Mentalist

Michael C. Hall - Dexter

Hugh Laurie - House

Bill Paxton - Big Love

Jon Hamm - Mad Men

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

30 Rock

Entourage

Glee

Modern Family

The Office

Best Performance by An Actress in a Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

Toni Collette - United States of Tara

Courteney Cox - Cougar Town

Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie

Tina Fey - 30 Rock

Lea Michele - Glee

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comed

Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock

Steve Carell - The Office

David Duchovny - Californication

Thomas Jane - Hung

Matthew Morrison - Glee

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television

Georgia O'Keeffe

Grey Gardens

Into The Storm

Little Dorrit

Taking Chance

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Joan Allen - Georgia O'Keeffe

Drew Barrymore - Grey Gardens

Jessica Lange - Grey Gardens

Anna Paquin - The Courageous Heart of Irena

Sigourney Weaver - Prayers for Bobby

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Kevin Bacon - Taking Chance

Kenneth Branagh - Wallander: One Step Behind

Chiwetel Ejiofor - Endgame

Brendan Gleeson - Into The Storm

Jeremy Irons - Georgia O'Keeffe

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Jane Adams - Hung

Rose Byrne - Damages

Jane Lynch - Glee

Janet McTeer - Into The Storm

Chlo Sevigny - Big Love

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Michael Emerson - Lost

Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother

William Hurt - Damages

John Lithgow - Dexter

Jeremy Piven - Entourage