"Carol," "Spotlight" and "The Big Short" lead Golden Globes nominees
"Carol" swept up five nominations, leading the pack this year for Golden Globe Awards nominations. The film picked up nods for Best Picture and Best Actress for both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.
Young actresses dominated the Best Actress - Drama category, with Cate Blanchett as the only true veteran of the field; other nominees were Blanchett's co-star, Mara, Brie Larson for "Room," Saoirse Ronan for "Brooklyn" and Alicia Vikander for "The Danish Girl."
Also surging was Adam McKay's finance farce "The Big Short," which earned four nominations, including Best Picture - Comedy.
Alejandro Inarritu's follow-up to his Oscar-winning "Birdman" picked up four nods, as well: the frontier epic "The Revenant," which was nominated for best picture, drama, and best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio. Tied with four is the Aaron Sorkin-scripted "Steve Jobs," though it failed to join the best picture nominees. Along with "Carol" and "The Revenant," they are: "Mad Max: Fury Road," ''Room" and "Spotlight."
In an awards season that has so far seen honors spread around, Tom McCarthy's "Spotlight" came into the Globe nominations as the Oscar favorite. While it took three top Globe nominations Thursday, including best director for McCarthy and best screenplay, its ensemble cast is failing to stand out from the pack.
After the Screen Actors Guild passed over Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo, the Globes did, too. Ruffalo, however, was nominated for best actor in a comedy for his performance as a bipolar father in "Infinitely Polar Bear."
Most of the expected contenders came away with something to show from the nominations, including the scientific space adventure "The Martian" (including nods for star Matt Damon and director Ridley Scott) and David O. Russell's matriarch portrait "Joy" (best picture, comedy and best actress Jennifer Lawrence).
Left largely on the outside were Steven Spielberg's Cold War thriller "Bridge of Spies," which was only nominated for Mark Rylance's supporting performance; the Irish immigrant drama "Brooklyn," nominated only for Saoirse Ronan's leading performance; and "Straight Outta Compton," the popular N.W.A biopic, which landed no awards.
Will Smith, whose upcoming "Concussion" has drawn headlines for its depiction of head trauma in football, joined the best actor, drama, nominees. Also nominated were Michael Fassbender ("Steve Jobs"), Eddie Redmayne ("The Danish Girl"), DiCaprio and Bryan Cranston ("Trumbo").
A number of performers came away with multiple nods. This year was a huge breakout for Swedish newcomer Alicia Vikander, who also picked up a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a robot in "Ex Machina." The actress was relatively unknown in the U.S. until the release of "Ex Machina" in April.
Rylance added a second for his TV role on the costume drama "Wolf Hall." Idris Elba also spanned both film and TV with nods for his West African rebel commander in "Beasts of No Nation," as well as the British crime series "Luther."
TV shows from streaming video services did well this year, picking up several Best Television Series awards; contenders included Netflix shows "Narcos" and "Orange is the New Black," Amazon Prime shows "Transparent" and "Mozart in the Jungle" and Hulu's "Casual."
Though "American Horror Story" fans were upset after Jessica Lange left as a stalwart and Lady Gaga stepped in as the lead, the Globes gave the pop star her first Best Actress nomination.
Ricky Gervais will return as host for the Globes on Jan. 10. His third time in the gig follows three straight years of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as hosts. Last year's NBC telecast dipped slightly from 2013's 10-year high, drawing 19.3 million viewers. Best drama went to Richard Linklater's "Boyhood," while Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" captured the comedy category.