"Previously on The Precursors..." Gotham, Spirit, OFCS, NBR, NYFCC, LAFCA, BSFC, SAG
The shiny round fun began at 8:00 AM for the Globes annual film and television party with the nominees split, sometimes ungracefully, into Comedy/Musical and Drama categories. Except those pesky supporting actors! They have to share everything because who needs character actors (see also rampant category fraud every year plus SAG's unfortunate Ensemble rules) . America Ferrerra, Angela Bassett, Chloe Moretz and Dennis Quaid were on hand to read the nominations aloud.
Ready? Clicking on any of the names or titles will take you to previous articles about them. We are happy to report that director Todd Haynes' latest masterpiece (dude is a genius if you haven't heard) Carol led the nominations with 5 in total.
Full nomination list with commentary after the jump...
COMEDY/MUSICAL FILMS
SPY won two well earned comedy nominations
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
The Big Short
Joy
The Martian
Spy
Trainwreck
Though armchair pundits tend to decry the labelling of anything not strictly going for laughs as "comedy" we don't mind so much. Consider it the classic definition which is something closer to "of light and humorous character" so The Martian is just fine here though it's probably a poor strategy since nominations for Drama would have helped the Oscar quest more.
What's Missing? The year's absolute best comedy (we'll-accept-no-argument-otherwise) Sean Baker's Tangerine.
You know I'm not flying to LA for the ceremony, right?
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Melissa McCarthy, Spy
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck
Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van
Lily Tomlin, Grandma
This category could have gone a great many ways but this is a strong lineup. Especially happy to see Lily Tomlin here as huge fans of Grandma and hope against hope that she sneaks a win though Schumer is probably the juggernaut given her year.
Who's missing? For the first time in Earth's 4.5 billion year history, the Globes have snubbed Meryl Streep. But Ricki & The Flash didn't make much of an impact and they also steered clear of Sandra Bullock's flop Our Brand is Crisis.
Mark Ruffalo was a surprise nominee. But weirdly no actors from Spotlight were nominated FOR Spotlight.
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Steve Carrell, The Big Short
Matt Damon, The Martian
Al Pacino, Danny Collins
Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear
Having seen The Big Short at AFI we're rather stunned by how well it's going over between the Globes and SAG. It's an awfully scattered movie but I guess the anger over the subject, along with the megawatt cast and the comic distance (Margot Robbie in a bathtub), really helps it connect with people. Still this feels like a strange quintet does it not? Or is that just because we weren't too fond of Infinitely Polar Bear which got the "lowest profile / surprise" slot.
Who's missing? Joaquin Phoenix (Irrational Man) Bill Hader (Trainwreck), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Robert De Niro (The Intern) all seemed feasible in what has been a strangely weak year for male leads
Best Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
The Good Dinosaur
Inside Out
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie
The only category in which my predictions went 100% but that's easy because only Oscar goes for the foreign films in the animated category and there are so few films in the running this year that we might not even get a full five as nominees over there.
DRAMA FILMS
Best Motion Picture, Drama
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
With the drama category always being so competitive it was really difficult to detect what they might or might not love. I whiffed on my predictions expecting love for Brooklyn & Bridge of Spies but am thrilled to see Mad Max Fury Road continue on its berzerker spree toward the awards finish line. I'm still so nervous about its Oscar chances because what precedent is there for it? Maybe only The Dark Knight and Skyfall (as umpteenth film in a genre series that is suddenly taken seriously)
What's missing: Brooklyn is the most glaring one, especially since it's about building your life in a new country with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association knows more than a little something about.
Best Director – Motion Picture
Todd Haynes, Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Todd McCarthy, Spotlight
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott, The Martian
Last year the Globe lineup for this category was much stronger than what Oscar came up with. Given the wealth of talent they chose this year they might beat Oscar for taste again this year. At least in this category.
Who's missing: Lenny Abrahamson is the only director of a Drama nominated picture that wasn't included but he still has a good shot at an Oscar nom.
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Rooney Mara, Carol
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Three cheers again for the Globes for denying Category Fraud this year and forcing Mara & Vikander to compete here. And they made it. We always thought they would with Oscar if campaigned that way too. At least previously. Now the confusion stirred up with showing up in different places at different precursors could spell trouble.
Who's missing: Charlotte Rampling and Carey Mulligan both could have used the boost here.
Will LEO win gold for suffering?
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redymane, The Danish Girl
Will Smith, Concussion
The only mild surprise here was Will Smith though that shouldn't have been surprising at all given the HFPA's love of mega stars. Also he's good in the movie. Also what the hell is going on with Trumbo. No one seemed enthused about it even 48 hours ago (and it's been screening for a long time) and now it's swimming in nominations here and at SAG.
Who's missing: Though the Globes are very very fond of fresh meat in TV they can sometimes be resistant to new stars in movies. Notice the absence of Michael B Jordan for Creed.
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Jane Fonda, Youth
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Helen Mirren, Trumbo
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Jennifer Jason Leigh's horrifically ugly murderess started with a bang at the NBR and now the Globes throw another spotlight on her. Will Oscar bite? They never have with JJL and this is a really in your face star turn. Usually they need women to be a touch more likeable, even if they're "bad". We'll see. We'll also see on Jane Fonda. The Globes love mega-celebrities and she qualifies and she's been campaigning. But given all the attention paid to leading roles in the supporting categories these days it's tougher and tougher to get in for something small.
Who's missing: Who isn't? There are always a wealth of candidates for supporting categories without having to pull in from lead.
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Paul Dano, Love and Mercy
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Elba, Rylance, and Shannon transfer over from SAG. Dano and Stallone seem like good bets for Oscar. This might actually match 5/5 with Oscar unless fans of Room's Jacob Tremblay or The Revenant's Tom Hardy rally.
Who's missing? What keeps happening to the Spotlight guys??? First a SAG shut out (except for ensemble) and now this? Are there just too many of them with no consensus around who is the MVP? I'll help: it's Michael Keaton.
A Hateful rehearsal... somehow they didn't cut the fat from its 3 hour running time.
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Emma Donoghue, Room
Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight
Charles Randolph, Adam McKay, The Big Short
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight
The absence of Phyllis Nagy's treatment of Carol will make us crazy so we have to zoom past this category as if we never saw it.
Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Carter Burwell, Carol
Alexandre Desplat, The Danish Girl
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs
Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto, Bryce Dessner, The Revenant
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
"Love Me Like You Do," Fifty Shades of Grey
"One Kind of Love," Love and Mercy
"See You Again," Furious 7
"Simple Song #3," Youth
"Writings on the Wall," Spectre
"One Kind of Love" and "Simple Song #3" seem like extraordinarily good bets for Oscar play. The rest. Hmmmm...
The Fencer is Estonia according to the Globes but it's repping Finland for the Oscars
Best Foreign Language Film
The Brand New Testament, Belgium, France and Luxembourg
The Club, Chile
The Fencer, Estonia
Mustang, Colombia
Son of Saul, Hungary
All of these films are eligible for Oscar consideration in the same category which isn't always true of Globe foreign nominees. But I'd be surprised if the emotionally ugly & brutal The Club finds its way to Oscar.
TV COMEDY/MUSICAL
Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy
Casual, Hulu
Mozart in the Jungle, Amazon Video
Orange Is the New Black, Netflix
Silicon Valley, HBO
Transparent, Amazon Video
Veep, HBO
One thing that is very very true of the Globes is that when it comes to TV they are way more interested in freshman work than the Emmys are.
Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Jamie Lee Curtis, Scream Queens
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie
Fun fun fun category, don't you think?
Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy
Aziz Ansari, Master of None
Gael García Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Rob Lowe, The Grinder
Patrick Stewart, Blunt Talk
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
It's Tambor's to lose.
TV DRAMA
The Globes took a long lascivious look at OUTLANDER. They liked what they saw
Best TV Series, Drama
Empire, Fox
Game of Thrones, HBO
Mr. Robot, USA Network
Narcos, Netflix
Outlander, Starz
They've strayed far from Emmy territory so good on them. There is so very much television on so very many different channels that it doesn't make sense for every group to honor the same shows. 
Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Wagner Moura, Narcos
Bob Odenkirk, Better Caul Saul
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Just thrilled to see Rami Malek make a showing for Mr Robot which also landed in best series. He somehow makes that impenetrable character endearing despite his dislike of everyone and his social awkwardness
Eva Green does bravura stylized work in "Penny Dreadful" - an absolutely worthy nominee
Best Actress in a TV Series, Drama
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Eva Green, Penny Dreadful
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Robin Wright, House of Cards
Now we're talking. What an amazing set of actresses. Balfe and Green are both brilliant on their shows and have not been given the industry credit for it yet. This is so infinitely superior to the SAG lineup it's ridiculous.
TV MINISERIES & SUPPORTING CATEGORIES (COVERING EVERYTHING)
Best TV Movie or Limited-Series
American Crime, ABC
American Horror Story: Hotel, FX
Fargo, FX
Flesh and Bone, Starz
Wolf Hall, PBS
Best Actress in a Limited-Series or TV Movie
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo
Lady Gaga, American Horror Story: Hotel
Sarah Hay, Flesh and Bone
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Queen Latifah, Bessie
We knew Lady Gaga would happen and the Globes do love Ryan Murphy shows. But it still feels weird to see it in print.
Best Actor in a Limited-Series or TV Movie
Idris Elba, Luther
Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
Patrick Wilson, Fargo
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Limited-Series or TV Movie
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Joanne Froggat, Downton Abbey
Regina King, American Crime
Judith Light, Transparent
Maura Tierney, The Affair
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited-Series or TV Movie
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Damien Lewis, Wolf Hall
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Tobias Menzies, Outlander
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
WHICH ARE YOUR FAVORITE NOMINATIONS? Who are you most sad missed out today?