After I posted the award nominees from the St. Louis Film Critics, a reader noted they were virtually the same as other critics’ groups. Well, yes. Through the awards season, consensus builds, and when Oscar nominations are announced in mid-January, there are few surprises.

One big bellwether is the Golden Globes. Those nominations were announced today. The nominees for best drama are:

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“Frost/Nixon”

“The Reader”

“Revolutionary Road”

“Slumdog Millionaire”

No big surprises here. Although three of those movies won’t open in St. Louis until Christmas Day (”Slumdog” opens tomorrow and “Revolutionary Road” opens on Jan. 16), I’ve seen them all, and they’re worthy nominees. “Milk” seems to have been the odd man out. “Doubt” got four acting nominations but nothing for the film itself. Maryl Streep was nominated as best actress for that religious drama as well as for her role in the musical “Mamma Mia!”

I think the nominees for best actor in a drama are the same five guys who will compete for the Oscar: Leonardo di Caprio in “Revolutionary Road,” Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon,” Sean Penn in “Milk,” Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and Mickey Rourke.”

Among the supporting performers, I’m cheering for Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” and “Heath Ledger” in “The Dark Knight.” But supporting nominations for Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”, and another for James Franco in “The Pineapple Express? Those are funny movies, but three such nominations in a category that also includes dramatic performances (i.e., Phillip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”)? Quite a mixed bag.

The Golden Globes are presented by a small organization with a dubious reputation–the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), comprising 85 foreign reporters who cover film. In the past, they’ve been easily swayed by generous producers or box-office success.  But one useful thing that the Globes do is segregate comedies from dramas in the best-picture and best-lead-performance categories, which means there are more nominees for us to talk about. So it gladdens my heart that one of the nominees for best actress in a comedy is Sally Hawkins in “Happy-Go-Lucky,” a movie that some of my peers in the St. Louis Critics Group hadn’t yet seen. It’s about a London schoolteacher who keeps her sunny side up. It’s still playing at Plaza Frontenac, and I hope it sticks around until January, when I’m betting Hawkins will get an Oscar nomination and multiplex dwellers will wonder “Who the heck is that?”

The complete list of Golden Globes nominess is at the Web site of the HFPA.