Well, the votes are in and the nominations are out. This year, the Golden Globes race is led by none other than Jason Reitman's excellent Up in the Air - and deservedly so. It's a pleasure to see such an intelligent, entertaining and well-made drama leading the pack, picking up nods for Clooney (a shoe-in for Best Actor), alongside both ladies and Reitman's screenplay and top-notch direction.

Right behind him is Rob Marshall's Nine. No surprises there, given the additional room for musicals in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's stables. What is a shock, though, is the attention given to Cameron's commercial behemoth Avatar, which has equalled Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds with 4 nominations apiece (the first chance in many years for Quentin to get some solo credit). A special mention at this point must go to Christoph Waltz, the man of the year for many a moviegoer. This guy will clearly get Best Supporting Actor. If not, I'll eat Hans Landa's pipe myself.

Still, the great stuff comes in the form of the more independent talent, with the hard-hitting Iraq masterpiece The Hurt Locker notching up 5 nods, and (500) Days of Summer mustering up 2 (you go, Gordon-Levitt!). Even Carey Mulligan gets some attention for An Education - my pick for Best Actress at the moment - which is wonderful to see. But what I don't understand is why fellow British flick In the Loop is missing out. The former deserves a screenplay nod at the very least, if not a nomination for Malcolm Tucker's Best Swearing.

So, an interesting bag of contenders (including District 9's screenplay, randomly). Who will win? Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis or the big blue Ewoks? And does this indicate anything about the Oscars? (No is the answer to that one, but more on that in the coming weeks.) Read on for the full list of nominees.