Golden Globes: As usual, wacky celebrity picks abound

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The 81 voters of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. always have showered inordinate attention on famous celebrities to pack the Golden Globes broadcast with A-list names, even if their movies were not that highly regarded. And Thursday’s nominations for the awards continued the star-gazing tradition, putting Madonna, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet into the running in categories that would probably surprise a lot of critics.

Although Clooney’s lead performance in the family drama ‘The Descendants’ has been widely praised, he is also up for two other, unexpected Golden Globes: for co-writing the political thriller ‘Ides of March,’ and for directing it. Ryan Gosling, who stars in the film, was picked in the best dramatic actor race for ‘Ides.’

Madonna had ties to two nominations for her critically panned love story ‘W.E.’ The film was nominated for original score and for the song ‘Masterpiece,’ which Madonna co-wrote. Jolie, a longtime Golden Globe favorite (she has six previous nominations, with three wins) was nominated in the foreign language feature race for her directorial debut, ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey,’ a Balkan war story that was considered a long shot.

Foster and Winslet were nominated for the same film, ‘Carnage.’ Up until now, Roman Polanski’s adaptation of the stage play ‘God of Carnage’ has not collected many awards or nominations. Foster and Winslet (who, as expected, was nominated for her television miniseries, ‘Mildred Pierce’) will face each other in the lead actress in a musical or comedy race.

‘I think the nominations are so strong and deserved that we’re going to have a great show,’ said Barry Adelman, an executive with show presenter Dick Clark Productions. ‘And you throw in [host] Ricky Gervais into the mix and this isn’t a show you’re going to want to miss -- Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, [‘Shame’s’ Michael] Fassbender ... the icons and the newcomers all in one mix. I mean, this is a show I want to see! I don’t know who would want to miss it!’

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-- John Horn and Jasmine Elist