Sideways and The Aviator lead Golden Globe nominees

LOS ANGELES (US): The quirky road movie "Sideways" and the Howard Hughes biopic "The Aviator" grabbed the top Golden Globe nominations Monday, as Hollywood launched its annual awards season and countdown to the Oscars.

"Sideways," which follows two old friends on a wine-tasting tour through the vineyards of California, led the field with seven nominations, including best musical or comedy film and a best director nod for Alexander Payne.

"The Aviator" picked up six nominations, including best drama film and nods for director Scorcese, and lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Other contenders for the best drama feature were "Closer" an acidic take on sexual politics, "Finding Neverland," the story of Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie, "Kinsey," the biopic of sexual studies pioneer Alfred Kinsey, "Hotel Rwanda" about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and the female boxing movie "Million Dollar Baby."

The Golden Globes, organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are Tinsletown's second most prestigious awards and seen as a potential bellwether for films which could dominate the Academy Award nominations.

The Globes winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on January-16.

Joining DiCaprio in the best actor in a drama category were Don Cheadle for "Hotel Rwanda," Johnny Depp for "Finding Neverland," Liam Neeson for "Kinsey" and Javier Bardem for "The Sea Inside," a Spanish-language film about Ramon Sampedro who fought a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life.

"I was shooting in Spain, in Spanish and I didn't know it (the movie) was going to be received that well," Bardem told the "E!" entertainment network.

The Spanish actor said he had celebrated his nomination with his family and a bottle of champagne.

Along with "Sideways," the best musical or comedy nominees were the offbeat romance "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," the Pixar animated feature "The Incredibles," the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," and "Ray," the story of blues legend Ray Charles.

It was a big day for Jamie Foxx, who picked up a best actor nomination for "Ray" and a best supporting actor nod for his role as a hijacked taxi driver in the Michael Mann thriller "Collateral."

Joining Foxx in the best actor in a musical or comedy category were "Sideways" star Paul Giamatti, Jim Carrey for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," Kevin Kline as composer Cole Porter in "De-Lovely" and Kevin Spacey as singer Bobby Darin in "Beyond the Sea."

The nominations mark the first major event in Hollywood's crowded and highly competitive annual awards season which culminate in the Oscars ceremony on February-27.

Last year's Globes awards predicted all the major Oscar winners, including best film, best director and the four main acting gongs.

Best dramatic actress nominees this year were Scarlett Johansson who discovers a surrogate family in "A Love Song for Bobby Long," Nicole Kidman in the psycho-thriller "Birth," Imelda Staunton as a back-alley abortionist in "Vera Drake," Hilary Swank as a boxer in "Million Dollar Baby" and Uma Thurman as
an avenging angel in "Kill Bill - Vol. 2."

Musical or comedy actress nods went to Annette Bening as an aging actress in "Being Julia," Ashley Judd as Porter's wife in "De-Lovely," Emmy Rossum for "The Phantom of the Opera," Kate Winslet for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and Renee Zellweger as everyone's favourite singleton in "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason."

As well as Payne and Scorcese, best director nominations went to Clint Eastwood for "Million Dollar Baby," Marc Foster for "Finding Neverland," and Mike Nichols for "Closer."●