69th Annual Golden Globes Award Nominations

Gerard Butler, Woody Harrelson, Rashida Jones, and Sofia Vergara got up extra early this morning to announce the nominations for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's 69th Golden Globes Awards, which will be televised on January 15, 2012.

Returning host Ricky Gervais (called a "naughty, naughty schoolboy" this morning by Aida Takla-O' Reilly, the president of the HFPA) will likely be the main attraction of that broadcast, but the Globes do get attention for the awards doled out each year, if only for the way that the organization targets films with big stars to show up at the ceremony. How else to explain multiple nominations for Madonna's W.E.? Sure, her Best Song nomination could have gone to a tune from The Muppets, but why would the HFPA want anyone from that film at the ceremony?

The Artist, Midnight in Paris and The Help are the big nominees. Check out the full list below.

Woody Harrelson killed me at the announcements, as he mentioned his film Rampart when starting to read off the Best Picture announcement — "there's a lot of things left off here" — before reading the actual announcement list, in which Rampart was not included. And while I suppose it is nice to see some of the people get nominated here who didn't make the SAG nominations, it's still the Golden Globes. Remember that before getting too wound up about what was left off.

Personally, I'm surprised that We Bought a Zoo didn't make the list and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close got zip — I'd have thought that Sandra Bullock was a sure thing for a Best Supporting Actress nod here.

Look at the list of nominations below and notice that, while there are some good choices, there are also more than a few 'WTF' picks:

BEST PICTURE: DRAMAThe Descendants

The Help

Hugo

The Ides of March

Moneyball

War Horse

BEST PICTURE: COMEDY OR MUSICAL50/50

The Artist

Bridesmaids

Carnage*

Midnight in Paris

My Week With Marilyn

(*Carnage was not named at the live announcement this AM, but showed up on a list posted at the HFPA site. That list is now gone, so I'm not sure if Carnage is really nominated or not. We'll update as the HFPA does.)

BEST DIRECTOR

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

George Clooney, The Ides of March

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY/MUSICAL

Jodie Foster, Carnage

Charlize Theron, Young AdultKristin Wiig, BridesmaidsMichelle Williams, My Week With MarilynKate Winslet, CarnageBEST ACTOR: COMEDY/MUSICAL

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Brendan Gleeson, The GuardJoseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, LoveOwen Wilson, Midnight In ParisBEST ACTRESS: DRAMA

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis, The HelpRooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon TattooMeryl Streep, The Iron LadyTilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About KevinBEST ACTOR: DRAMA

George Clooney, The Descendants

Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar

Michael Fassbender, Shame

Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March

Brad Pitt, MoneyballBEST SUPPORTING ACTORKenneth Branagh, My Week With MarilynAlbert Brooks, Drive

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

Christopher Plummer, BeginnersBEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Bérénice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain,  The Help

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

BEST SCREENPLAY

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants

George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, The Ides of March

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, Moneyball

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMThe Flowers of War

In the Land of Blood and Honey

The Kid With a Bike

A Separation

The Skin I Live In

BEST ANIMATED FEATUREThe Adventures of Tintin

Arthur Christmas

Cars 2

Puss in Boots

RangoBEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Ludovic Bource, The Artist

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Howard Shore, Hugo

John Williams, War Horse

Abel Korzeniowski, W.E.BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Lay Your Head Down," Albert Nobbs

"Hello Hello," Gnomeo and Juliet

"The Living Proof," The Help

"The Keeper," Machine Gun Preacher

"Masterpiece," W.E.

And the television nominations:

Best Comedy TV Series

Enlightened

Episodes

Glee

Modern Family

New Girl

Best Actor, TV Comedy Series

Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"

David Duchovny "Californiacation"

Johnny Galecki "Big Bang Theory"

Thomas Jane "Hung"

Matt LeBlanc "Episodes"

Best Actress, TV Comedy Series

Laura Dern, "Enlightened"

Tina Fey "30 Rock"

Laura Linney "The C Word"

Amy Poehler "Parks and Recreation"

Zooey Deschanel "The New Girl"

Best Drama TV Series

"American Horror Story"

"Boardwalk Empire"

"Boss"

"Game of Thrones"

"Homeland"

Best Actor, TV Drama Series

Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"

Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"

Kelsey Grammer, "Boss"

Jeremy Irons, "The Borgias"

Damian Lewis, "Homeland"

Best Actress, TV Drama Series

Claire Danes "Homeland"

Mireille Enos "The Killing"

Julianna Margulies "The Good Wife"

Madeleine Stowe, "Revenge"

Callie Thorne, "Necessary Roughness"

Best Television Series – Miniseries/Movie

"Cinema Verite"

"Downtown Abbey"

"The Hour"

"Mildred Pierce"

"Too Big to Fail"

Best Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Hugh Bonneville, "Downtown Abbey"

Idris Elba, "Luther"

William Hurt, "Too Big to Fail"

Bill Nighy, "Page Eight"

Dominic West, "The Hour"

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Peter Dinklage, "Game of Thrones"

Paul Giamatti, "Too Big to Fail"

Guy Pearce, "Mildred Piece"

Tim Robbins, "Cineme Verite"

Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"

Best Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Romola Garai, "The Hour"

Diane Lane, "Cinema Verite"

Elizabeth McGovern, "Downtown Abbey"

Emily Watson, "Appropriate Adult"

Kate Winslet, "Mildred Pierce"

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-series or TV Movie:

Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story"

Kelly Macdonald "Boardwalk Empire"

Maggie Smith, "Downtown Abby"

Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"

Evan Rachel Wood, "Mildred Pierce"