That shadowy group of disreputable foreign entertainment "journalists" has spoken: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, David Fincher's sprawling adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages backwards, and Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard's take on the Peter Morgan play about the famously revealing interview between David Frost and Richard Nixon, collected five nods apiece to lead the Golden Globe nominations, which were announced this morning. In addition to their Best Picture (Drama) nominations, Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon are present in several other major categories, including Best Actor (Brad Pitt for Button, Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon), Best Director, and Best Screenplay. Rounding out the Best Picture (Drama) nominees are The Reader, Revolutionary Road, and Slumdog Millionaire. Biggest snub: Milk, which just won the New York Film Critics Circle award yesterday, and appears to be a strong contender for the Oscars in February.
In the Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) category, Woody Allen's latest comeback Vicky Cristina Barcelona looks like a possible frontrunner, facing its only serious competition in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, and a collection of also-rans in Burn After Reading, In Bruges, and—shudder—Mamma Mia! Other interesting nominations on the film side: There's James Franco for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) in Pineapple Express, Tom Cruise joining his castmate Robert Downey Jr. for Supporting Actor (Musical or Comedy) in Tropic Thunder, and a Supporting Actress (Drama) nomination for Viola Davis in Doubt, which is worth noting because she only appears (and does extraordinary work) in one scene.
In the television realm, you'll forgive your Newswire poster for skipping past the objective run-down and angrily noting that Kevin Connelly, who plays the noxious and useless "E" on Entourage, has scored a Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) nomination. What. The Fuck. And as with the Emmys, voters just couldn't get enough of the floundering inside-showbiz comedy, also nominating it for Television Series and Jeremy Piven's smarmy supporting turn. Meanwhile, two of the greatest dramas in television history, The Wire and The Shield, collectively received one fewer nomination than "E," while chaff like HBO's True Blood found its way into the Television Series (Drama) category in its debut season. Total insanity. In any case, it was a good year for Showtime, which continued making inroads against HBO by scoring nominations for Dexter, The Tudors, Californication, and Weeds, and hey, Neil Patrick Harris is in there for How I Met Your Mother, so it's not all terrible.
The full list of nominations can be found here. If you're looking to be depressed by something non-Blagojevich related, click away.