AWARDS FORECAST: SAG AND GOLDEN GLOBE NOMS

It begins. The 2015 awards season took its first major steps forward last week, following several weeks of various critics associations making their top picks, with the announcement of nominees for this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globes.

The nominees for the 21st SAG awards were announced Wednesday morning and are as follows for film:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Naomi Watts, St. Vincent

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything

Meanwhile, the nominees for this year's Golden Globes were announced the following morning. Here are the nominees pertaining to film:

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore is earning raves for her role in Still Alice. 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
David Oyelowo, Selma
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
Pride
St. Vincent

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Quvenzhane Wallis, Annie

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes

Best Animated Feature Film
Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Birdman swept the Globes with seven nominations.

Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Director – Motion Picture
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ava DuVernay, Selma
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Gone Girl
Antonio Sanchez, Birdman
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Big Eyes” – Big Eyes, Music and Lyrics by: Lana Del Rey
“Glory” – Selma, Music by: John Legend, Common, Lyrics by: John Legend, Common
“Mercy Is” – Noah, Music by: Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Lyrics by: Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye
“Opportunity” – Annie, Music by: Greg Kurstin, Sia Furler, Will Gluck, Lyrics by: Greg Kurstin, Sia Furler, Will Gluck
“Yellow Flicker Beat” – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Music and Lyrics by: Lorde

What does it all mean? Well, as with any race, there are some surprises to be had, and a significant showing from films that have emerged as frontrunners. Let's take a look.

Perennial favorites Birdman, Boyhood, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything showed that they are here to stay for the rest of the season and are basically locks in the Oscars' Best Picture race. Each film is up for Best Ensemble at SAG with no less than two actors from each film recognized in the individual acting categories; a similar story unfolded with the Golden Globes, as each film garnered multiple nominations (Birdman has the most at seven).

There was a time when Foxcatcher's chances at awards gold seemed to be drifting away, what with its very limited run and good-not-great reception (supposedly, it's a hard movie to love). This week's announcements put it back in the ring. Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo have solidified themselves as contenders, while Channing Tatum is essentially out of consideration. In addition to Carell and Ruffalo coming out on top, the SAG and GG noms for best picture keep it well within the running.

Apparently the GG voters for Best Drama are high on biographical stories, as every nominee -- barring Boyhood -- is based on true historical events and people.

One of those films, Selma, won't see wide release for several more weeks but has gained a lot of traction within the last month or two. Chronicling Dr. Martin Luther King's march from Selma, Ala. to Montgomery, the film was left off SAG's nominees but found favor with the Golden Globes, as did its star, David Oyelowo and director Ava DuVernay. If more nods arise for DuVernay, she could become the first black woman to win a Best Director statue, much less garner continual nods.

Two yet-to-be-released titles that were predicted to be award darlings were noticeably absent from the proceedings: Clint Eastwood's war biopic, American Sniper, and Angelina Jolie's adversity-overcoming, sports drama, survival story, POW spiritual endurance story, Unbroken. The Oscars are known to split from the GGs on their picks but the early mixed/tepid response to the two might have done them in early. At best, expect just one of the two to proceed.

You know who was not done in, despite everyone expecting it to be? The Grand Budapest Hotel. Given the film's very early release in the year, many were sure the limited memory of the various guilds would play against the film's chances -- after all, there wasn't a single Best Picture nominee at last year's Oscars that was released before October. Last week's announcements blew away all doubts that Wes Anderson's whimsical, multi-narrative tale will be a contender (with signs pointing to the director himself placing well in the running). Not only has room been made for GBH at the nominee table, star Ralph Fiennes is also getting noticed for his hilarious role as M. Gustave.

Grand Budapest is a success story in keeping interest going that puts other movies of its ilk to shame -- movies that were released much closer to awards season. Several recent releases that were gunning to be top contenders seemed to have slipped in overall favor but are still getting nods in the areas they deserve praise for.

Gone Girl wasn't present in the Best Drama list but still took nods for Rosamund Pike's standout performance, Gillian Flynn's whipsmart screenplay and David Fincher's skilled direction.

Likewise, Dan Gilroy's media thriller Nightcrawler probably won't see much notice but Jake Gyllenhaal's transformative role in the film as the slimy Lou Bloom did not go unnoticed by both SAG and GG.

Like Nightcrawler and Foxcatcher, Whiplash is another film that hasn't found its box office stride (despite the fact that it is amazing). While that might have kept it from entering the forefront of voter consciousness, J.K. Simmons is still getting due attention in the Best Supporting Actor categories as a strong frontrunner.

As expected, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar didn't make a splash with voters (more like a thud) and was absent from any acting, directing and writing categories here. I see no reason to expect any less from the Academy. However, Hans Zimmer's score did make the cut at the GGs, and with Antonio Sanchez's score for Birdman unable to qualify for the Oscar, that makes it something of a frontrunner come Oscar time.

As stated, Interstellar just won't see any love from Oscardaddy in the major categories, despite Paramount's plans to pursue it -- mixed reactions and whatnot. That said, it would be foolish to not think the film will be everywhere come time for the technical awards to appear, especially visual effects and cinematography.

And finally, while it seemed pretty clear that The Weinstein Company would push The Imitation Game all the way in the drama side of the race, one surprise was in how far they bought campaigned for St. Vincent into the running. While it wasn't predicted to gain notice (like, at all), the film still picked up a SAG nom for Naomi Watts, and two Golden Globe nods; one for the film and one for Bill Murray. Could we have a dark horse on our hands? Another The Artist situation? Probably not. Hopefully not.

We'll just have to see where the wind takes us on this one.

The 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted again by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, take place first on Jan. 11, 2015 live on NBC.

The 21st Annual SAG Awards follow on Jan. 25, 2015 and can be seen on TBS.