The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has officially announced its nominations for the 2012 Golden Globes show - and, just like any year, there are many obvious selections, a few surprises, and more than a handful of choices that are bound to rub moviegoers of all shades the wrong (or, in some cases, the right)

They run into an interesting cast of characters in town including the tough and beautiful pregnant woman who owns the hotel where they're staying, a beautiful drug-dealing young woman who catches Ray's eye, and a midget (sorry, dwarf) who has a taste for prostitu

In terms of the awards themselves, the biggest change came with the number of nominees for the most important category, Best Picture. Instead of the usual 5 nominees which always ended in negative feedback due to the non-inclusion of major hits such as The Dark Knight at last year's presentation, the academy saw fit to bump the number of nominees up to 10 rather than improve the selection process. So now, we're left with a few legitimate contenders and a bunch of filler movies that would never have been nominated in previous ye

Hamm won a Golden Globe for his career-making performance as Don Draper back in 2008 and has been nominated four times since (including this year). He finally took home a much-deserved and overdue Emmy earlier this year, and with 2015 bringing about the end of Mad Men (and the show's surprising absence from the Globes in any other category), this feels like a good time to recognize the series one last t

Director Todd Haynes' period drama about the love affair between two women has earned more than its fair share of critical acclaim for everything from its leads' performances to its art direction, yet Carol remains a dark horse candidate when it comes to the overall awards season race. The movie has been recognized by the Toronto and Austin film critic circles and racked up multiple nominations at events like the Independent Spirit Awards, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that it could sneak it and take the Best Drama prize at the Golden Glo

On the TV side: the mini-series Mildred Pierce landed four nods, including acting nominations for stars Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, and Evan Rachel Wood. Showtime's Homeland , HBO's Boardwalk Empire , and ABC's Modern Family each landed three nods, while HBO's hit fantasy series Game of Thrones and FX's successful spooky romp American Horror Story also managed to secure two nominations (including, in the coveted Best Dramatic Television Series category). Sadly, AMC's critical smash, Breaking Bad , only landed a Best Actor

From Melissa Leo's F-bomb, Kirk Douglas' never-ending jokes and womanizing to Hathaway's fun anti-Wolverine solo and Christian Bale actually shedding a tear, it was another long night at the Oscars defined by its little moments scattered through

There's not a clear front-runner in the awards season race (culminating with Oscar night) in 2016 like there has been in some years past, but Tom McCarthy's docudrama on the Boston Globe's investigation of the Catholic Church's sex abuse coverup has gained momentum of late. The HFPA's own Best Drama selections generally aren't too surprising (with recent winners including Boyhood and 12 Years a Slave ) and McCarthy's film boasts that perfect combination of topical subject matter and critical darling status that suggests it will take home the big prize (and maybe then some) at the Golden Glo

I'm not a fan of the desperate attempts at bringing out celebrities like Taylor Lautner and Miley Cyrus for the sole reason of bringing their fanbases in for ratings rather than their accomplishments. There were quite Moviefestivalhub published a blog post few shots of Lautner sitting near the front when he wasn't nominated for anything (like we saw with Rob Pattinson last year). He has a better seat than those who were nominated or even winners of other categor

Several indie and lesser-known critical-darlings received little-to-no love from the Hollywood Foreign Press, including titles like The Tree of Life , Warrior , Drive , Martha Marcy May Marlene , and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy . Similarly, there were more than a few surprising snubs (no Best Director nod for David Fincher on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ? No Winnie the Pooh for Best Animated Feature?) and certain films fared far better than anticipated (namely, The Ides of March ). However, there were also more than a few no-brainers (ex. Meryl Streep being nominated for The Iron Lady ) and some rather unexpected choices (ex. Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Lov

The stage at the back of the audience was utilized for the geeky cool actors to present the ten best pic nominees throughout the evening. They included Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pine, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeff Bridges, Charlize Theron and Keanu Ree

There were also many very funny moments in the film including one scene where Farrell decks a guy he thinks is an American and right afterwards says: "That's for John Lennon." But then part way through the movie the tone changes abruptly into a much darker and tragic mode. Humor is still sprinkled throughout after this turn, but when you laugh at this point it's almost more like nervous laughter, just to release the tension of what you're watch