Oscar Nominations Are In!

There was a time when I looked forward to getting up at 7:30 am Central time just to see the Oscar nominations announced. This is not that time.

But this morning, whether I was watching or not, actor Chris Hemsworth and Cheryl Boone, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, showed up at 5:30 Pacific time to tell us who's in and therefore who's out and who has been egregiously overlooked among the 2013 crop of movies.

Who's in? The slippery Abscam pic American Hustle and space adventure Gravity, with ten nominations each. American Hustle managed the nifty trick of scoring nominations in seven of the top categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress and Original Screenplay. That gives American Hustle a chance to join It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Silence of the Lambs as a "Big Five" winner, a category reserved for those rare films that can win the Best Pic, actor, actress, director and screenplay awards. It's a tough row to hoe. Annie Hall managed four of the five (no Best Actor for you, Woody Allen), as did Mrs. Miniver and Gone With the Wind, who also missed out on Best Actor wins, while American Beauty got everything but Best Actress. Can American Hustle win Best Picture, for Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and for its screenplay? Unlikely.

Gravity and 12 Years a Slave are the current Best Picture frontrunners, with Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Nebraska, Philomena and The Wolf of Wall Street also nominated.

Contenders for Best Actor include Christian Bale as the sleazy guy with the comb-over in American Hustle, Bruce Dern as the grizzled oldster looking for lottery winnings in Nebraska, Leonard DiCaprio as the corrupt stockbroker in The Wolf of Wall Street, Chiwetel Ejiofor as the man captured and sold into slavery in 12 Years a Slave, and Matthew McConaughey as the feisty HIV positive patient in Dallas Buyers Club who isn't taking no for an answer when it comes to possible treatments. Who will win? That is one jam-packed category.

The Best Actress nominees are also an impressive bunch. Cate Blanchett is at the top of the list for her role as a depressed Blanche Dubois type in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. She is joined by Amy Adams, a slinky con woman forced to work for the Feds in American Hustle, Sandra Bullock as an astronaut lost in space in Gravity, Judi Dench as Philomena, a mother looking for her son, and Meryl Streep as a different sort of mother, one with a drug problem and a vicious tongue in August: Osage County.

Who's left out? Robert Redford for All Is Lost, Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips and Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks are the most obviously overlooked, while the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis is the biggest snub for Best Picture.

The Supporting Actor category consists of Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club), with Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave), Julia Roberts (August: Osage County) and June Squibb (Nebraska) contending for Best Supporting Actress.

Golden Globe winning director Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) will take on Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), David O. Russell (American Hustle), and Martin Scorsese (Wolf of Wall Street) for Best Director honors.

If you want to see the complete list of nominees, including trailers for their movies, click here for the official Oscar site. As you can tell by the poster at the top of this post, Ellen DeGeneres will host the 2014 Oscar ceremony, which will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday, March 2.

Oh Those Crazy Globes!

I made predictions for the Golden Globes last week, knowing full well that the 90-ish voters in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are the very definition of unpredictable, so it was no surprise that I went 9-for-20, or just under 50 per cent. I am going to count that as a victory, actually. There is no way in the world anyone would've predicted Jacqueline Bisset would win in the Globes' weird Supporting Actress category, where mini-series, TV movies, TV comedies and TV dramas are all lumped together. Ditto Andy Samberg and Brooklyn Nine Nine. Well, actually, I probably should've figured that one, given the Golden Globes voters' tendency to go for the new and shiny the first year a show is out. See: Girls last year.

Amy Poehler on the red carpet

Even if my crystal ball was a bit murky, I'm pleased as punch that Amy Poehler won finally for Parks and Recreation, and Robin Wright was singled out for her brittle, brilliant performance in House of Cards on Netflix. I said I would cheer loudly if Poehler won, and I did, and I said I would be happy whoever won in the crowded Best Actress in a Drama category. And I was.

What did I get right? Breaking Bad and Bryan Cranston, Behind the Candelabra and Michael Douglas, Alfonso Cuaran winning Best Director for Gravity while 12 Years a Slave got the Best Picture prize, Jared Leto's drag in The Dallas Buyers' Club taking Best Supporting Actor, American Hustle picking up the comedy film prize, and, of course, Cate Blanchett winning Best Actress in a Drama for Blue Jasmine. But everybody knew that was going to happen.

I am considering giving myself half credit for Jon Voight, since I pointed out that he is exactly the kind of performer the Globe voters love, and Amy Poehler, since I said I would cheer if she won. Ah well. Better luck next year.

Best Dressed? Lupita Nyong'o

Biggest oversights? That Lupita Nyong'o didn't win for 12 Years a Slave, that Aaron Paul and Corey Stoll were shut out in the mega Supporting Actor on TV arena, and that Leonardo DiCaprio beat out Bruce Dern as the Best Actor in a Drama.

The good news is that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler established themselves as the best hosts of anything ever, even if I could've done without the DiCaprio/supermodel's vagina joke. But the opening monologue, Fey's son Randy from a previous relationship, and the crack about George Clooney preferring deep space to spending time with a woman his own age were loopy and wonderful.

Juliana Margulies

The big question is always who wore what best. Nobody really blew it big time, although Sandra Bullock's multicolored Prabal Gurung dress wasn't very flattering, and Jennifer Lawrence's Dior gown looked more like a couple of kitchen-size trashbags with handy twist ties.

Lupita Nyong'o and her regal Ralph Lauren gown took top honors for me, followed by Juliana Margulies in a smashing black and gold Andrew Gn design that looked perfectly comfy and perfectly pretty at the same time. I loved the fact that it had pockets, plus the not-too-huge princess shape was perfect for her.

Amy Adams

I also liked Amy Adams' snazzy halter dress -- she's been wearing a lot of those to stay in that American Hustle mood -- in a red-on-red color combo that was different and yet arresting. That the gown came from Valentino makes it even more 70s inspired.

And Kerry Washington gets special mention for a beautiful cream-colored Balenciaga that showed off her pregnancy in style, as you can see below. Drew Barrymore and Olivia Wilde also came to the event clad in maternity wear, but Washington was the class of the class in pregnancy fashion.

Kerry Washington

Meanwhile, Emma Thompson told much of the fashion story when she took off her shoes and then tossed them over her shoulder when she was presenting. How do the lady stars stay upright in those things, anyway? Thompson brought her martini glass with her, illustrating the other theme of the Golden Globes. Keep the liquor flowing and the acceptance speeches will be as wacky as Jackie Bisset all night long.

It was a strange and silly night, as the Golden Globes usually are. Some righteous winners, a few oddities and upsets, everybody taking forever to get to the stage, bizarre hairdos (on male winners this time), lame bits for presenters, jokes that aimed under the belt... Yep. That's the Golden Globes all right.

All That Glitters: Golden Globes This Weekend

You can't deny that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, all 93 members strong, puts on a good party with its annual Golden Globe Awards. They started out as film awards in 1943 and then -- in what I consider a genius move -- added television to the mix in 1956, so that the stars of the two media, who didn't necessarily hobnob all that much at the time, could celebrate together.

Throwing in the kitschy idea of a Miss (or Mr) Golden Globes, so that somebody attractive with Hollywood ties would grace the stage all night, also helped form the Golden Globes identity. Keeping the drinks flowing and the party atmosphere front and center didn't hurt, either.

This year's Miss Golden Globes is Sosie Bacon, the daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. She is probably hoping her appearance as Miss GG will jumpstart her career. It certainly didn't hurt the likes of Golden children past like Linda Evans, Melanie Griffith, Laura Dern, Freddie Prinze Jr, and Rumer Willis. If you have a Hollywood mom or dad, you get a step up. That's just the way it is.

The charming and entertaining Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will return as hosts, another smart move from the HFPA. Fey and Poehler were colleagues at Saturday Night Live, they've both fronted sitcoms on NBC, and they've both been nominated for Golden Globes. Fey won twice, while Poehler is nominated again as Best Actress in a comedy or musical TV series. They're hilarious and smart and they can't be hosts often enough to suit me.

So who will win at the 71st annual Golden Globes? It's hard to predict, given the whole 93 voters thing. To my mind, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association seems to favor British and European actors, which you will notice in their nominations. Also note that they have more categories than most and what they do cannot be seen as a barometer for the Oscars, no matter how much they try to spin it that way. Let's look at the contenders:

12 Years a Slave and Gravity are the favorites right now to win as Best Drama film, with other nominees Captain Phillips, Philomena and Rush relegated to the sidelines. Over on the comedy side, I look to American Hustle to prevail, with Her, Nebraska and The Wolf of Wall Street back in the pack and the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis as a major longshot.

And even though I think 12 Years a Slave will edge out Gravity in the Best Picture race, I'm predicting Gravity's Alfonso Cuaron will win as Best Director over 12 Years' Steve McQueen.

Pretty much everyone expects Cate Blanchett to take the Best Actress in a Drama prize for Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, although Sandra Bullock's performance in Gravity certainly has fans. Judi Dench (Philomena), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) and Kate Winslet (Labor Day) are much less likely. This category shows just how much the HFPA loves non-Americans, with an Australian and three British ladies competing against Sandra Bullock.

The Best Actress race is much tighter for actresses in comedy films, with Meryl Streep (August: Osage County), Amy Adams (American Hustle) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Enough Said) all potential winners. So who among them will take home the statuette? Gold Derby says the odds are with Amy Adams, but I say never bet against Meryl Streep.

Among the actors nominated for drama films, Robert Redford stands alone in All Is Lost and Matthew McConaughey made a huge impression in The Dallas Buyers Club. I still think this Globe is Chiwetel Ejiofor's to lose. His character went through endless cycles of hell in 12 Years a Slave, and Ejiofor made that feel personal.

Comedy/musical actors are more tightly bunched. The Golden Globes love them some Leonardo DiCaprio -- he's been nominated ten times and won for The Aviator -- but audiences have been turned off by the wretched excess in The Wolf of Wall Street. Bruce Dern has the older-star patina and his performance in Nebraska has been getting a lot of notice, including winning Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. Is that enough to impress the Globers? Or will they prefer Christian Bale in American Hustle, Oscar Isaac breaking out in Inside Llewyn Davis, or Joaquin Phoenix acting with Scarlett Johansson's voice in Her? I think it will be Dern.

I also think Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) will beat out Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave) for supporting actor honors, but I'm hoping Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave) can hold off Jennifer Lawrence, the It Girl whose American Hustle performance isn't really all that special.

In the television drama category, Breaking Bad's explosive finale season should push it ahead of House of Cards from Netflix and Showtime's Masters of Sex, with Downton Abbey from PBS and The Good Wife from CBS, the only Big 4 network represented, looking on. The only comedy series I like among the nominees is Parks and Recreation, although newcomer Brooklyn Nine-Nine would also be acceptable. But I'm thinking a perennial contender like The Big Bang Theory or Modern Family will win. Please, Foreign Press people, do not give another award to Girls. I'm begging you!

That goes double for Lena Dunham as Best Actress in a Comedy for Girls, but I think Julia Louis-Dreyfus will pull it out for Veep, anyway. On the other hand, if it were to be Amy Poehler at long last, I would be cheering loudly. The TV drama actress category is a lot more interesting this year without last year's winner, Claire Danes from Homeland, even nominated. It's terrific that Tatiana Maslany got a nod for Orphan Black, but I am rooting for Kerry Washington, who continues to carry Scandal and its fabulously soapy goings-on. Juliana Margulies (The Good Wife), Taylor Schilling (Orange Is the New Black) and Robin Wright (House of Cards) are also worthy, however, making this one category where it's good news whoever gets the gold.

Among drama actors, I want Bryan Cranston to win for Breaking Bad's swan song, and I think he will. Still, Michael Sheen (Masters of Sex) and Kevin Spacey (House of Cards) have an outside chance, and James Spader (Blacklist) is weird enough to attract some votes. I don't think Liev Schrieber (Ray Donovan) is a serious threat, however.

For me, the comedy actor race is wide open, but the Gold Derby people think the odds are in Michael J. Fox's favor. I wouldn't count out Jim Parsons, who keeps on winning for The Big Bang Theory, but I also wouldn't count on Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Don Cheadle (House of Lies) or Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).

Behind the Candelabra and lead actor Michael Douglas, who played Liberace in it, should coast to victory in the mini-series categories, as should Helena Bonham Carter, who packs the double punch of being British and playing a real person (Elizabeth Taylor) in Burton and Taylor.

The Golden Globes stick all the TV supporting actors together, meaning you have people like dramatic powerhouse Janet McTeer (The White Queen) competing against comedy siren Sofia Vergara (Modern Family). But I think Monica Potter deserves the award for her stellar year on Parenthood, so I'm going to pick her.

Among the men, it's hard to overlook Aaron Paul and his amazing run on Breaking Bad, although film actor Jon Voight (Ray Donovan) is just the kind of guy the Foreign Press likes, and Corey Stoll (House of Cards) and Rob Lowe (Behind the Candelabra) gave terrific performances that should not be overlooked. Josh Charles also had a standout year on The Good Wife. Still, I think it will go to Aaron Paul when all is said and done.

We'll see how I do when the Golden Globes air Sunday at 7 Central time on NBC.

SAG Award Nominations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Nominations are in for the first two big awards shows of the seasons. The Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes give out their awards to movie and television excellence, making them fun for the people who do one, the other, or both. They may share that trait, and they almost always have some nominees in common, but they couldn't be more different in terms of their tone and general outlook. After all, SAG is inside and industry, while the Foreign Press Association runs a sillier, boozier affair with their Golden Globes.

First up: The Screen Actors Guild nominations. So who is included in the wealth this time out? Who's egregiously overlooked?

As you might expect, the Screen Actors Guild focuses on acting, and their award for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" serves as the equivalent of Best Picture. Their nominations recognize 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, August: Osage County, Dallas Buyers Club and Lee Daniels' The Butler. If you're keeping track, that's four films based on real events and one piece of absolute fiction. August: Osage County, based on the Tracy Letts' play, is the fictional one.

Overlooked? Captain Phillips, Fruitvale Station, Gravity, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Saving Mr. Banks, The Wolf of Wall Street and the Coen Brothers' newest, Inside Llewyn Davis, all expected to vie for Oscar recognition.

Chiwetel Ejiofo, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o, the hero, villain and love interest in 12 Years a Slave, are also nominated in individual categories as lead actor, supporting actor and supporting actress, putting their film at the top of the list for SAG awards.

Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts were nominated for their roles as a mother and daughter (Meryl as lead and Julia as supporting) in August: Osage County, while Lee Daniels' The Butler got  nods for lead actor Forest Whitaker and supporting actress Oprah Winfrey and Alexander Payne's low-key road picture Nebraska scored nominations for lead Bruce Dern and supporting actress June Squibb.

Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi are both in the race for their performances as the captain and the pirate in Captain Phillips, joining Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, who play two very different men affected by AIDS in Dallas Buyers Club.

Joining Streep in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role category are Cate Blanchett as a woman on the edge in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, Sandra Bullock as an unmoored astronaut in Gravity, Judi Dench as a mother looking for the son taken away from her in Philomena, and Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks, the Walt Disney/Mary Poppins story.

The late James Gandolfini has been honored for his supporting role in Enough Said, with German actor Daniel Brühl rounding out the supporting actor category for his role in Rush, and American Hustle's lone individual nominee, Jennifer Lawrence, finishing up the supporting actress category.

Among the actors who didn't get a look are Christian Bale (American Hustle), Chris Cooper (August: Osage County), Leonardo DiCaprio (Wolf of Wall Street), Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) and Robert Redford (All Is Lost), with Amy Adams (American Hustle), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Enough Said), Naomie Harris (Mandela), Octavia Spencer (Fruitvale Station) and Kate Winslet (Labor Day) also shut out.

The remaining nominations for movies are for their stunt crews, with All Is Lost, Fast & Furious 6, Lone Survivor, Rush and The Wolverine included.

And what about the television side of the aisle? Let's just say there was no love for Mad Men or Parks and Recreation and leave it at that.

Drama ensembles nominated include the casts of shoot 'em up Boardwalk Empire from HBO, AMC's addictive Breaking Bad, high-toned Downton Abbey from PBS, swords-and-sex potboiler Game of Thrones, also on HBO, and Showtime's dark spy epic Homeland. Whither Mad Men, The Good Wife and Scandal? You may very well ask that question.

The major broadcast networks did better with comedies, as NBC's 30 Rock, ABC's Modern Family and CBS's Big Bang Theory all scored nominations for their casts. HBO sneaked in one more nod with Veep, along with Arrested Development, reborn on Netflix. I'd put Parks and Recreation ahead of all of them, thank you very much. But it was certainly a good day for Tony Hale, who appears in both Arrested Development and Veep and is thus double nominated.

The five actors individually nominated for their performances in dramas were Boardwalk Empire's Steve Buscemi, Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad, Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones, Kevin Spacey for the Netflix drama House of Cards, and inexplicably, Jeff Daniels for the really-pretty-terrible Newsroom on HBO. That's two twisted crime lords, two twisted power brokers and one namby pamby misogynist newsman.

The actresses nominated for dramas play characters who are, for the most part, less evil than their male counterparts. For the most part. There's Jessica Lange as a "Supreme" witch in American Horror Story: Coven, Anna Gunn as the desperate wife of the meth mastermind in Breaking Bad, Maggie Smith as the dowager countess with the withering putdowns in Downton Abbey, Claire Danes as a bipolar CIA analyst in Homeland, and Kerry Washington as the ultimate Washington insider trying to balance her career as a fixer with a very messy personal life in Scandal.

No, I can't believe they didn't nominate The Good Wife's Juliana Margulies or Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany, either.

Comedy actors include old favorite (cough*enough already*cough) Alec Baldwin from 30 Rock, Jason Bateman for Arrested Development, Don Cheadle in House of Lies, Ty Burrell in Modern Family and ultimate nerd Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory.

Mayim Bialik (Big Bang Theory), Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Edie Falcon (Nurse Jackie), Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep) are the women nominated for comedies. Nothing to say there but same old/same old and what is Amy Poehler, chopped liver?

SAG also hands out awards for miniseries or TV movies, with familiar names like Matt Damon and Michael Douglas, both nominated for Behind the Candelabra, Jeremy Irons ( Henry IV in The Hollow Crown), Rob Lowe (Killing Kennedy) and Al Pacino (Phil Spector) on the male side and Angela Bassett (Betty & Coretta), Helena Bonham Carter (Burton and Taylor), Helen Mirren (Phil Spector), and Holly Hunter and Elisabeth Moss (both in Top of the Lake) nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries.

Oddly, the TV stunt nominees are much the same as the "best ensemble" nominees, even though there was no crossover like that with movies. That means Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Homeland all show up as stunt crew nominees, along with The Walking Dead. It also means that the Screen Actors Guild likes television shows with plenty of violence and action, since those are the ones you need stunt crews for.

Watch out for Blacklist next time up. That show out-violences and out-actions all of 'em.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will be broadcast on Saturday, January 18,  at 7 pm Central time on both TNT and TBS.