The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced its nominees for the Golden Globe Awards this morning. The Golden Globes are probably the best predictors of the Oscars you can find. In the last 23 years, 17--or about three quarters--of all best picture winners took home the Globe first. So let's look at the nominees and see what they mean for the awards season ahead.

The best picture nominees for a drama are "American Gangster," "Atonement," "Eastern Promises," "The Great Debaters," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will be Blood."  The fact that there are seven nominees shows how competitive a year it is.

In the musical/comedy category, "Sweeney Todd" is the expected winner opposite "Across the Universe," "Charlie Wilson's War," "Hairspray" and "Juno."

The best director nominees are Tim Burton ("Sweeney Todd"), the Coen brothers ("No Country For Old Men"), Julian Schnabel ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), Ridley Scott ("American Gangster") and Joe Wright ("Atonement").

Daniel Day-Lewis will probably win best actor in a drama for his powerhouse performance in "There Will Be Blood." He's up against George Clooney for "Michael Clayton," James McAvoy in "Atonement," Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises" and Denzel Washington in "American Gangster."

The nominees for best actress in a drama are Cate Blanchett for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," Julie Christie, who will win for her performance in "Away From Her," Jodie Foster for "The Brave One," Angelina Jolie for her underappreciated work in "A Mighty Heart," and Keira Knightley for "Atonement."   

Bet on Johnny Depp for "Sweeney Todd" in best actor in a musical/comedy--he and Day-Lewis are going to battle it out for the Oscar. But at the Globes, Depp is up against  Tom Hanks ("Charlie Wilson's War"), John C. Reilly ("Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("The Savages") and Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl").

The best actress in a musical/comedy category is the year's most competitive. In any other year, all five of the nominees could probably win. This year, it's a toss up between Amy Adams ("Enchanted"), Nikki Blonsky ("Hairspray"), Helena-Bonham Carter ("Sweeney Todd"), Marion Cotillard ("La Vie En Rose") and Ellen Page ("Juno"). Laura Linney was surprisingly left out for one of the best performances of the year in "The Savages."

Best supporting actor is race between Casey Affleck ("The Assassination of Jesse James"), Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Charlie Wilson's War"), who received two nominations, John Travolta ("Hairspray") and Tom Wilkinson ("Michael Clayton"). 

Best supporting actress: Cate Blanchett ("I'm Not There"), who was also nominated twice, Julia Roberts ("Charlie Wilson's War"), Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement"), Amy Ryan ("Gone Baby Gone") and Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton").

Best screenplay: "Juno," "No Country For Old Men," "Atonement," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and "Charlie Wilson's War."  

The nominees for best foreign language are "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" (Romania), "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (France), "The Kite Runner" (Afghanistan), "Lust Caution" (Hong Kong), "Persepolis" (France).

Best score: "Into the Wild," "Grace is Gone," "Kite Runner," "Atonement" and "Eastern Promises."

Best original song: "Love in the Time of Cholera," "Grace is Gone," "Into the Wild," "Enchanted" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." 

In the animated film category: "Bee Movie," "Ratatouille" and "The Simpsons Movie."

The 65th annual Golden Globes will be broadcast on January 12, 2008.