Everything's coming up golden for Michel Hazanavicius' black-and-white gem, with The Artist leading the Golden Globes 2012 nominations list with a solid six. That's not bad for a silent film. In fact, it's flipping fantastic, earning nods for Best Director, Actor, Screenplay, Music, Supporting Actress and Best Picture - expect all those Musical or Comedy appendices to fully convert to straight nods at the Oscars - after its wins from the Boston and New York Critics, The Artist is now definitely an awards front-runner. Even more so than War Horse, which galloped into the Best Picture, Drama category as expected.

The only thing more predictable for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was its undying love for George Clooney, with both The Ides of March and The Descendants getting their fair share of nominations. 

Surprises came in the form of Bridesmaids getting a Best Picture nod alongside My Week with Marilyn in the Musical or Comedy category - let's be honest, these subdivisions make even less sense now than they ever did before. Other nods, like Leonardo DiCaprio for J Edgar (reportedly a bit of a dud), are bizarre, especially when Ryan Gosling gets a nod for Crazy, Stupid, Love and not for Drive. (Apparently that bit with the hammer wasn't hilarious enough for Best Actor, Musical or Comedy.) 

More exciting than that is Kristen Wiig's Best Actress nomination. It's always nice to see my future wife doing well. Even better news is Brendan Gleeson's nod for The Guard - the kind of thing that I was relying on BAFTA to support, alongside Tyrannosaur. Could it be the start of some serious Gleeson awards momentum? Not that it matters, because Michael Fassbender is looking increasingly like the acting alpha male.

Otherwise, it's nice to see The Help get some attention and Rango easily deserves its animated nom (no Kung Fu Panda 2?), while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's soundtrack nod is a promising sign that Fincher's superb adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel isn't completely out of the awards circuit.

But there are worse snubs. Take Shelter, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Tree of Life and Coriolanus all got left out, and you wonder why exactly th-- hey look, it's a tap dancing dog!

It's lovely to see that The Artist is top dog (sadly there's no Golden Globe award for Best Dog) in a competition that, along with Hugo's raft of HFPA adoration, is celebrating the old-school magic of cinema. But if period brilliance is the trendy thing right now, where are the nominations for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? 

And don't even get me started on why The Muppets haven't been nominated for Best Song.

Read on for the full list of 2012 Golden Globes nominations.

Best Picture, Drama

The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides Of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy

50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight In Paris
My Week With Marilyn

Best Actor, Drama

George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonard DiCaprio, J Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides Of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Actress, Drama

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Director

Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris
George Clooney, The Ides Of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy

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

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy

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

Best Supporting Actor

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

Best Supporting Actress

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

Best Foreign Language Picture

The Flowers of War
In the Land Of Blood And Honey
The Kid With A Bike
A Separation
The Skin I Live In

Best Animated Picture

The Adventures Of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss In Boots
Rango

Best Screenplay

Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris
George Clooney, Grand Heslov
Beau Willimon, The Ides Of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxwon, Jim Rash, The Descendants
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball

Best Original Score

Ludovic Bource, The Artist
Abel Korzeniowski, W.E.
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Howard Shore, Hugo
John Williams, War Horse

Best Original Song

Hello Hello (music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin), Gnomeo & Juliet
The Keeper (music and lyrics by Chris Cornell) Machine Gun Preacher
Lay Your Head Down (music by Brian Byrne, lyrics by Glenn Close), Albert Nobbs
The Living Proof (music by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr., lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas), The Help

Masterpiece (music and lyrics by Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry), W.E.