Jeremy Renner in THE HURT LOCKER

It happens every year.....key performances, outstanding films and worthy indies and international titles that seem primed for awards consideration are inexplicably ignored. This has happened again with the announcement last week of the Golden Globe Award nominations, considered second only to the Oscars.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group of 80 international film critics and journalists who vote for the prizes, is known for favoring big stars over lesser known performers. This unfortunately was played out with some surprising snubs of quality performances from somewhat smaller films. Both Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie were conspicuously left out of the running in the Iraq war drama THE HURT LOCKER. Alfred Molina, who has generated the best reviews of his career as the disapproving father in AN EDUCATION was also ignored. Samantha Morton, an Oscar nominee for Woody Allen's SWEET AND LOWDOWN, was snubbed for her role as the grieving widow of an Army captain in the indie drama THE MESSENGER.

For Best Picture honors, two films that received some of the strongest reviews of the year, Lone Scherfig’s 1960s-set AN EDUCATION and Clint Eastwood’s history lesson/rousing sports drama INVICTUS failed to make the cut in the Best Drama category. Joel and Ethan Coen’s A SERIOUS MAN was overlooked in the comedy or musical category. Although their films were nominated, directors Lee Daniels (PRECIOUS) and Rob Marshall (NINE) were absent from the list.

The Golden Globes are also notorious for their surprise picks and this year, heads wagged at the news that Julia Roberts was picked for the middling caper comedy DUPLICITY and Tobey Maguire, Spiderman himself, was chosen for his histrionic performance in BROTHERS. For several lead actors, this year's nominations came in twin size, with double nods for  Sandra Bullock (THE PROPOSAL and THE BLIND SIDE), Meryl Streep (JULIE AND JULIA and IT'S COMPLICATED) and  Matt Damon (INVICTUS and THE INFORMANT).

The Golden Globes will be handed out at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 17 in Los Angeles, in a live telecast ceremony hosted by the British comedian Ricky Gervais.

Richard Meinking, Awards Watch

2009 GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS

BEST PICTURE: DRAMA
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”
“Up in the Air”

BEST PICTURE: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
“500 Days of Summer”
“The Hangover”
“It’s Complicated”
“Julie & Julia”
“Nine”

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
James Cameron, “Avatar”
Clint Eastwood, “Invictus”
Jason Reitman, “Up in the AIr”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”

BEST ACTOR: DRAMA
Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”
Tobey Maguire, “Brothers”

BEST ACTRESS: DRAMA
Emily Blunt, “The Young Victoria”
Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan, “An Education”
Gabourey Sibide, “Precious”

BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Sandra Bullock, “The Proposal”
Marion Cotillard, “Nine”
Julia Roberts, “Duplicity”
Mery Streep, “It’s Complicated”
Meryl Streep “Julie & Julia”

BEST ACTOR: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Matt Damon, “The Informant”
Daniel Day Lewis, “Nine”
Robert Downey, Jr., “Sherlock Holmes”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “500 Days of Summer”
Michael Stuhlbarg, “A Serious Man”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, “Nine”
Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique, “Precious”
Julianne Moore, “A Single Man”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci, “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“A Prophet”
“Baaria”
“Broken Embraces”
“The Maid”
“The White Ribbon”

BEST SCREENPLAY
“District 9”
“The Hurt Locker”
“It’s Complicated”
“Up in the Air”
“Inglourious Basterds”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Michael Giacchino, “Up”
Marvin Hamlisch, “The Informant”
James Horner, “Avatar”
Abel Krozeniowski, “A Single Man”
Karen O. and Carter Burwell, “Where the Wild Things Are”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“Up”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Cinema Italiano” from “Nine”
“I Want to Come Home” from “Everybody’s Fine”
“I Will See You” from “Avatar”
“The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”
“Winter” from “Brothers”