2010 Golden Globe Nominees Announced

Awards season is now in full swing, and there’s no turning back.

Released early this morning were the 2010 Golden Globe nominations, and like every year there are surprises, well-deserved nominees and, of course, snubs.

Voted on by the Hollywood Foreign Press, the awards usually are a good barometer for predicting the Academy Awards, but can sometimes miss out on some well-received performances.

The Best Picture for Drama category is solid, with "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Precious" and "Up in the Air" receiving nominations, but I find a few snubs here a bit glaring. I was hoping to see a film like “District 9” or “A Single Man” slide in for a nomination, but that spot seemed to have been taken by “Avatar.” “The Hurt Locker" has some momentum coming off its victories of the New York and L.A. film critics in recent days, but any of the other films could win this award.

In Best Picture for Musical/Comedy, I’m surprised the Coen brothers’ "A Serious Man" was left out, but it's wonderful to see “The Hangover” nominated. Say what you will about the film, but I think it’s one of the freshest, funniest comedies to come out of Hollywood in recent memory. Also great to see "(500) Days of Summer" nominated. The quirky romantic comedy was original, and had some great acting performances by Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

The Best Actor (Drama) race appears to be a close contest between Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart") and George Clooney ("Up in the Air"). There's an outside chance we could see an upset by Colin Firth ("A Single Man") or Morgan Freeman ("Invictus"), but Tobey Maguire ("Brothers") is out of it. Two of the year’s finest acting performances were left out, Viggo Mortensen in "The Road" and Jeremy Renner for "The Hurt Locker." Both actors give the performances of a lifetime, and it’s crazy that neither got nominated.

One of the most interesting races is in the Best Director category, which finds James Cameron (“Avatar”) and his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), vying for the same award. The two are nominated along with Clint Eastwood (“Invictus”), Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”), and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”). Female directors are far and few between in Hollywood, especially in action films. I’ll be pulling for Bigelow, who did an amazing job with “The Hurt Locker.”

There are so many categories, I could argue about them all day, so here are some snippets about a few of the other major categories:

It’s great that Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Best Actor (Musical/Comedy) for “Sherlock Holmes," but if he got a nom, where’s Bradley Cooper's for “The Hangover”?

Best Screenplay has full list of quality nominees, including Neill Blomkamp (“District 9”), Mark Boal (“The Hurt Locker”), and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”). I loved Tarantino’s script, but I’m hoping Blomkamp gets some award love for his inventive science-fiction script.

On the television side of things, “Modern Family” picked up a nomination for Best Comedy, helping solidify it as one of the best new shows on television. But “Entourage”? I love that show, but this season wasn’t good enough, in my opinion, to warrant a nomination over shows such as “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother.” Thankfully, “The Office” scored yet another nomination, as did lead actor Steve Carell, who is nothing short of genius on the show.

One thing awards do is spark debate, so what did you think? Who were the biggest snubs? Who are the favorites? We’ll find out the answers on January 17, 2010, when the Golden Globes will be awarded.