This morning, nominations for the 2011 Golden Globe nominations were announced and there were very few surprises.

Here is the list of nominees

Here is the categories that I’m interested in:

Best Motion Picture Drama:
I haven’t seen The Fighter yet but am salivating at the mouth to once it comes out on Friday. The Social Network, while a great movie, is a tad overrated. I haven’t had much desire to see either Black Swan or The King’s Speech but will most likely do so (although, probably not before awards season concludes) but far and away the best movie I saw this year was Inception as I saw it twice in the theaters. Add to it that Christopher Nolan is my favorite director, I hope this one takes it. P.S. Mom, if you're reading this, Santa better bring me Inception in Blu-Ray.

Best Performance by and Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama:
If anyone knows anything about me, they know I’m obsessed with Ryan Gosling. I haven’t seen Blue Valentine yet, but have been looking forward to it before they even started filming which was almost three years ago (the film was delayed for almost a year while Michelle Williams mourned the death of Heath Ledger.)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Drama:
I’ve always loved Christian Bale and look forward to seeing him in The Fighter and both Andrew Garfield and Jeremy Renner put on exceptional performances in The Social Network and The Town. I would assume Michael Douglas doesn’t stand a chance in this category for a movie that was panned by critics and I haven’t seen The King’s Speech but it’s getting the most award recognition so Geoffrey Rush may have a leg up on the competition.

Best Director - Motion Picture:
I think I’ve already somewhat answered this. Nolan, to me, is the best director of his generation.

 Best TV Series - Drama:
Considering Dexter may be my favorite show of all-time, I want this to win, but let’s be brutally frank here, as long as Mad Men is on the air, it’s going to win every year. I tried watching Boardwalk Empire for a few weeks and while not a bad show by any means, it just didn’t keep me coming back. I’ll probably catch up with it someday when I get bored.

Best Actor in a TV Series - Drama:
Again, I would hope it goes to Michael C. Hall, which it did last year, but I still have to believe Jon Hamm would be the front-runner. It’s somewhat laughable that Steve Buscemi is nominated. I like Buscemi a lot and think he’s a great actor, but he’s one of the main reasons I couldn’t really take Boardwalk Empire that serious.

Surprises: This is the first year that I can remember that Entourage wasn’t nominated for anything and True Grit, an upcoming film by the Coen Brothers with stars such as Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin was completely shut out. Many considered this to be a huge Oscar contender.

By Nick Carrabine
NCarrabine@News-Herald.com