Best Motion Picture -- Drama
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air
Most of these were totally expected, with Avatar being the late, on-the-fence arrival that could have gone either way. However, it looks like the Titanic director hasn't lost his touch in the intervening 12 years, since it recently scored some incredibly positive reviews, although we doubt it'll go all the way, given its sci-fi theme. Up in the Air has buzz, timeliness and that new-movie smell on its side, but it might be too light-hearted for the Globes, whereas The Hurt Locker and Precious bring the darkness. Hopefully, the Association will split the difference and finally give one to Quentin Tarantino (or rather, the Weinsteins) for Basterds. Notably absent is Clint Eastwood's Invictus, which scored three other nominations, including Best Director, but was no-go for the big show. We can kinda see why, but it's definitely the most high-profile snub.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -- Drama
Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria)
Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Gabourey Sadibe (Precious)
A queen, a devoted mother, an eccentric wife and two teenagers who are growing up too fast? Sounds like an awards category waiting to happen.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture -- Drama
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
George Clooney (Up in the Air)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
Tobey Maguire (Brothers)
Nothing much to say about that crop of performances. Bridges inhabits the role of drunken country singer Bad Blake, and Freeman channels Nelson Mandela admirably. But it might be Maguire's post-traumatic stressed-out Iraq war vet who has the edge here -- the dude freaked us out in the commercials alone.

Best Motion Picture -- Comedy or Musical
500 Days of Summer
The Hangover
It's Complicated
Julie & Julia
Nine
Who would have thought we'd see the day that a raunchy comedy about a drunken night in Las Vegas would get nominated for a Golden Globe. We bet Todd Phillips didn't see this coming when he was directing Old School. We're not sure how you're going to compare it to Nine, of course, but oh, well. We'd comment on Meryl Streep's two movies going up against each other, but the next category raises the ante on that particular competition.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -- Comedy or Musical
Sandra Bullock (The Proposal)
Marion Cotillard (Nine)
Julia Roberts (Duplicity)
Meryl Streep (It's Complicated)
Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
That's right, Meryl Streep is fighting herself. We're pretty sure this has happened before, but she's been a multiple-category nominee so many years now we really can't keep track. The fact that Sandra Bullock is now a multi-category nominee as well is still blowing our minds. And boy, the foreign press sure loves Julia Roberts, huh?

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture -- 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)
Only two hyphenated last names in this category? All five would have been much funnier, Golden Globes.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Mo'Nique (Precious)
Julianne Moore (A Single Man)
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
Penelope Cruz (Nine)
Up in the Air gets a two-fer! Vera Farmiga must be glad that The Orphan wasn't her only movie of the year now. And Kendrick getting nominated is the next best thing to Twilight: New Moon taking the whole shebang. Not that either of them is going to beat Mo'nique.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Matt Damon (Invictus)
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Bastards)
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
If looking confused and speaking in a funny accent for two hours gets you a nomination, then we challenge Matt Damon to an accent-off. We don't even have to go to the gym!

Best Director -- Motion Picture
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
James Cameron (Avatar)
Clint Eastwood (Invictus)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
Finally, some love for Bigelow -- we were always bummed Point Break got snubbed in '91.

Best Screenplay -- Motion Picture
Neil Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell (District 9 )
Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker)
Nancy Meyers (It's Complicated)
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
Tarantino should be disqualified for plagiarism and poor spelling, just for the title of his movie alone.

Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
The Princess and the Frog
Up
We're torn between the one about the old man who hates kids and the fox who's a kleptomaniac.

Best Foreign Language Film
Baaria (Italy)
Broken Embraces (Spain)
The Maid (Chile)
A Prophet (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
Wait, so the foreign press comes to America, tells us which of our movies they think are the best, then honors their own movies, as well? Don't you people have your own awards ceremonies back home you can go to?

Best Original Score -- Motion Picture
Michael Giacchino (Up)
Marvin Hamlisch (The Informant!)
James Horner (Avatar)
Abel Korzeniowski (A Single Man)
Karen O. and Carter Burwell (Where the Wild Things Are)
C'mon, Globes -- you've gotta give Wild Things SOMETHING. They worked so hard!

Best Original Song -- Motion Picture
"I Will See You" (James Horner, Simon Franglen and Kuk Harrell; Avatar)
"The Weary Kind" (Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett; Crazy Heart)
"Winter" (U2 and Bono; Brothers)
"Cinema Italiano" (Maury Yeston; Nine)
"(I Want to) Come Home" (Paul McCartney, Everybody's Fine)
If we have to hear the theme from Avatar one more time, we're transplanting our minds into whatever alien race doesn't have ears.

What do you think of these nominees? Who do you think got the shaft? Nominate your missing faves below.