The Golden Globe nominations are out, and yet again it’s the dark comedy of Birdman that leads the way with nods in seven categories in total. The surreal drama-comedy, by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, has been nominated for best picture in the comedy / musical category.

Michael Keaton
Michael Keaton's starring role in Birdman has had the critics purring since its release in October

Michael Keaton, whose flagging career was revitalised by the film, has been selected for the best actor category, and supporting actor Edward Norton and supporting actress Emma Stone have been given the nod in those respective lists. The other three nominations it attracted were best director, screenplay and score.

Birdman was the recipient of a great deal of critical praise when it was unveiled at the Venice International Film Festival back in August, and the public followed suit upon its general release in October.

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In other categories, the pair of British-directed biopics The Imitation Game, which tells the story of WW2 codebreaker Alan Turing, and The Theory of Everything, which tells the life story of Stephen Hawking, received nominations in five and four categories respectively. The recent box office steamroller Gone Girl scooped four nominations, including Rosamund Pike for best actress.

The most eye-catching exclusion was Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken, which failed to score in any category, just like it was ignored by the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations yesterday.

The Golden Globes are an indication of what the Foreign Press Association thinks, and as such serves as a bellwether for the Academy Award nominations which are due in just over a month’s time.

A full list of nominations for the Golden Globes is available here.

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