There was a time in Hollywood, when voters for the Golden Globe, helped narrow the list for the Oscar contenders, however, this time round, the opposite seems to hold true after Thursday’s Globe nominations.

The battle is on between Frost / Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with each film getting five nominations i.e. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Score.  In the drama category, The Reader, Revolutionary Road and Slumdog Millionaire got four mentions each.

Doubt, a feature film wound up with five nominations, mostly in the acting categories with Meryl Streep being nominated for Best Actress, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Best Supporting Actor, Amy Adams and Viola Davis for Best Supporting Actress, including a nomination for Best Screenplay.

To be nominated in the Best Comedy-musical category were: Mamma Mia!, Burn After Reading, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges and Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which drew four nominations, with three for In Bruges and two apiece for the others.

 For Best Actress in a film drama, we have  veteran Meryl Streep (Doubt) competing with Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) and Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long).

As for nominees for Best Dramatic Actor, there will be a close fought battle between top performers like Sean Penn (Milk), Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), Brad Pitt (Benjamin Button), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler).

Edging past Jack Lemmon’s 22-nominations, Streep landing another nomination for her musical Mamma Mia, a double recognition that takes her nominations to 23, makes her the Globe record holder.

Another actress to receive two acting nominations is Kate Winslet: Best Dramatic Actress (Revolutionary Road) and Best Supporting Actress (The Reader).

A contender in the Best Foreign Film category, we have French entry I’ve Loved You So Long, whose star Kristin Scott Thomas has also been nominated in the Best Actress category.

Surprisingly, in nothing short of a snub, we have Cate Blanchett missing from the Best Dramatic Actress race for her role in Benjamin Button.  Among other surprises, Milk and The Dark Knight have only received one nomination each.  Dashing epic drama Australia’s hope for an Oscar, its star - Nicole Kidman, long a Globes darling, did not receive any nomination this year.

Clint Eastwood, despite being a contender for the Best Director and Best Actor, had to settle for being nominated for Best Original Score (Changeling) and Best Original Song (Gran Torino).

While, Oscars allow cartoons to compete in the Animation and Best Picture categories, HFPA keeps them separate, which means Wall-E, Bolt and Kung Fu Panda, all Globe contenders will be kept out of the comedy-film race.

The Golden Globe Awards, given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in January, are a major awards show that bring the media spotlight to films and give them momentum in the race for the Oscars, given out in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Trophies are awarded 11th January, one day before the close of Oscar nominations.