It's officially awards season now that the secretive geniuses at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have announced the nominees for the Golden Globes, Hollywood's self-love and booze fest. The Artist appears to be the big winner, but that's not surprising at all. However there are some shocks to be had.

The Artist, the black and white silent movie that's way better than you think it will be, lead the pack with six nominations, the most of any film. Both The Descendants and The Help each scored five. Most of the other nominated films have all been tossed around as awards bait since before they came out, so everything seemed standard. Well, that The Help was considered a drama and My Week with Marilyn was considered a comedy I will never figure out. Also curious is how Bridesmaids was nominated for best comedy and Kristin Wiig for best comedic actress but Melissa McCarthy was shut out.

The television categories are also a little wonky. Breaking Bad is on the top of every critic's best of 2011 list, but didn't get mentioned except for perpetual winner Bryan Cranston in the best actor category. It's also a little surprising to see American Horror Story as best drama, not because it's bad (it's Ryan Murphy's best show on TV) but because it's not the usual awards fare. Also strange is the inclusion of critically panned Enlightened and Episodes as best comedy (though Laura Dern totally deserves the acting trophy).

But the best surprises are always at the unruly awards ceremony, so you know we're going to be waiting anxiously by our sets on January 15. Here are all of the nominees.

Best Picture, Drama
 War Horse
The Ides of March
The Help
Moneyball
Hugo

Best Picture, Comedy
 The Artist
50/50
Bridesmaids
My Week With Marilyn
Midnight in Paris

Best Actor, Drama
 George Clooney in The Descendants
 Brad Pitt in Moneyball
 Leonardo DiCaprio in J.Edgar
 Ryan Gosling in The Ides of March
 Michael Fassbender in Shame

Best Actress, Drama
 Viola Davis in The Help
 Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady
 Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin
 Rooney Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
 Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs

Best Actor, Comedy
 Jean Dujardin in The Artist
 Brendan Gleeson in The Guard
 Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris
 Joseph Gorden-Levitt in 50/50
 Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love

Best Actress, Comedy
 Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
 Jodie Foster, Carnage
 Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
 Charlize Theron, Young Adult
 Kate Winslet, Carnage

Best Supporting Actor
 Albert Brooks, Drive
 Christopher Plummer, Beginners
 Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
 Jonah Hill, Moneyball
 Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

Best Supporting Actress
 Berenice Bejo, The Artist
 Octavia Spencer, The Help
 Jessica Chastain, The Help
 Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
 Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Best Director
 Martin Scorsese, Hugo
 George Clooney, The Ides of March
 Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
 Alexander Payne, The Descendants
 Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Best TV Series, Drama
 American Horror Story
Boardwalk Empire
Boss
Game of Thrones
Homeland

Best Comedy Series
 New Girl
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
Modern Family

Best Actor, Drama
 Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
 Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
 Kelsey Grammer, Boss
 Jeremy Irons, The Borgias
 Damian Lewis, Homeland

Best Actress, Drama
 Claire Danes, Homeland
 Mireille Enos, The Killing
 Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
 Madeleine Stowe, Revenge
 Callie Thorne, Necessary Roughness

Best Actor, Comedy
 Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
 David Duchovny, Californication
 Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
 Thomas Jane, Hung
 Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Best Actress, Comedy
 Tina Fey, 30 Rock
 Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
 Laura Dern, Enlightened
 Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
 Laura Linney, The Big C

Best TV-Movie or Miniseries
 Mildred Pierce
Too Big Too Fail
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Hour

Best Actor, TV-Movie or Miniseries
 William Hurt, Too Big Too Fail
 Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
 Idris Elba, Luther
 Bill Nighy, Page Eight
 Dominic West, Appropriate Adult

Supporting Actor, TV-Movie or Miniseries
 Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
 Paul Giamatti, Too Big To Fail
 Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce
 Tim Robbins, Cinema Verite
 Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Supporting Actress, TV-Movie or Miniseries
 Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
 Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
 Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
 Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
 Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce

Best Screenplay
 Midnight in Paris
The Ides of March
The Artist
The Descendants
Moneyball

Best Animated Feature
 Rango
The Adventures of Tintin
Puss in Boots
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2

Best Foreign Film
 In the Land of Blood and Honey
Flowers of War
The Skin I Live In
The Kid With a Bike
A Separation

Best Original Song
 W.E.
The Help
Albert Nobbs
Machine Gun Preacher
Gnomeo and Juliet

Best Score
 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
War Horse
The Artist
W.E.

[Images via Getty]