Amy Schumer, Jennifer Lawrence Face Off At Golden Globes

Early Thursday morning, the nominations for the 2016 Golden Globe Awards were announced. Along with “Carol” and “The Revenant”, they are: “Mad Max: Fury Road”, “Room” and “Spotlight”.

Another Globe favorite, Johnny Depp, was also overlooked for his spot-on role as Whitey Bulger in “Black Mass”, which was also shut out.

How did the other video streaming providers do for the Golden Globes nominations this year? While Christian Bale and Steve Carell are both supporting actors in that movie, I won’t complain about their Best Actor nods. But while many were bucking for Ruffalo to get recognized for his passionate performance playing a Boston Globe reporter, it was his endearing, high-wire tour de force as a bipolar father in the flawed but good “Infinitely Polar Bear” that got nominated.

David O. Russell, director of best comedy movie nominee “Joy”: “I am grateful to the HFPA for recognising “Joy” and the picture’s leading light, Jennifer (Lawrence), who has taken new risks, across the lifespan story of this picture that can spread inspiration to everyone who has a dream that might have been forgotten”. Out of 30 slots, only two went to an actor of color (drama lead Will Smith, in “Concussion”, and supporting actor Idris Elba, in “Beasts of No Nation”).

The movie to beat: “Spotlight” earns nods for Best Picture, Drama, Best Director (Tom McCarthy) and Best Screenplay (Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer).

Most of the expected contenders came away with something to show from the Globes, including the science-nerd space adventure “The Martian”. And ideally the Oscars will agree with the Screen Actors Guild and recognize what the Globes failed to: that young Vancouver actor Jacob Tremblay deserves a nomination just as much as Larson. The third nom for that film, by the way, was for Ridley Scott as Best Director – Motion Picture. She earned a nod for best actress in a drama for her outstanding performance as a supportive wife in “The Danish Girl”, AND for playing a robot facing an existential crisis of sorts in “Ex-/ Machina”.

Steven Spielberg’s well-regarded Cold War thriller “Bridge of Spies” received only one nomination for Mark Rylance’s supporting performance as a Soviet spy.

“So few people I know have seen ‘The Revenant, ‘” Barker says.

Also worth noting is comedian Amy Schumer’s newly-crowned status as the queen of comedy, with two nominations for Trainwreck for Best Actress In A Motion Picture, Comedy as well as Best Motion Picture, Comedy. “I never get such great news while making my son’s lunch in the morning!!” In addition to two nominations for limited series “Flesh and Bone”, Starz earned two for the feminist historical epic “Outlander”; USA, formerly a place for popular, critic-proof programming and reruns of old broadcast series, broke out with nominations for Best Drama and Best Actor Rami Malek for the acclaimed “Mr. Robot”. Meanwhile, Rachel Bloom (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”), the Hulu show “Casual” and the entertaining “Mozart on the Jungle” all startled with nominations.

Timothy Gray, awards editor at industry magazine Variety, said the nominations reflected the cross-section of films in the running for this year’s prizes. “In the best animated film category, the Charlie Kauffman-scripted, stop-motion drama “Anomalisa” slotted in alongside a quartet of more family-friendly releases: “Inside Out”, “The Good Dinosaur”, “The Peanuts Movie” and “Shaun the Sheep Movie.”Ricky Gervais will return as host for the Globes on January 10”.