Golden Globe Nominations Favor Up in The Air, Hurt Locker

Movie awards fever proceeds apace with the Golden Globes nominations. The once-derided Hollywood Foreign Press Association prizes are now considered legit and a predictor of Oscar behavior, so the Best Motion Picture - Drama nominees -- NY/LA Critics' laureate The Hurt Locker , along with Avatar, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, and Up in the Air -- fuel, as they say, speculation. Hurt Locker's streak is seen as propitious, as are Up in the Air's field-leading six nods (including screenplay, director, George Clooney. and Supporting Actresses Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick).

(The HFPA also have a Comedy or Musical category -- (500) Days of Summer, The Hangover, It's Complicated, Julie & Julia, and Nine contend -- but the Academy is considered too classy to take account of comedies, though this year's expanded Oscar nomination lists may squeeze a few in.)

Highlights for prize sniffers: Jeff Bridges gets more love for his Crazy Heart performance, as do Mo'Nique and Chirstoph Waltz. Meryl Streep, Matt Damon, and Sandra Bullock have two nominations apiece -- Streep's are in the same category.T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton were not nominated for their Crazy Heart score (laureled by the LA Critics), though one of their songs made it. And congratulations to Bed-Stuy's own Gabourey Sidibe for her Precious Best Actress nomination.

They have TV nominations, too. The LA Times' Gold Derby has a list of sore-on-behalf-of losers.