In its Golden Globe nominations, the Hollywood Foreign Press ignored last year’s best movie Win Win.

The always excellent Paul Giamatti has never been better and should have been nominated as best actor and co-star Amy Ryan best supporting actress. In my nominations, writer/director Tom McCarthy’s film is a shoo-in best screenplay and it’s a no-brainer for best picture.

The film is that good and most critics — and those of you that caught it — agree. Yet, to date, no nominations from any of the award givers. Not one. And all that is left is the Oscar picks.

Another miss. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Stunning and complicated, it’s a piece of work that certainly qualifies for best director. Best cinematography would be another category of emphasis.

Award pickers, it appears, have short memories and these days only pick the films studios release for the holidays and at year’s end. Some — like Carnage which opens in Tri-Cities this week — are released in L.A. and New York just so they’ll be eligible for awards. That means critics in smaller venues such as Tri-Cities don’t get a shot at seeing those films until after the telecast.

This year a large percentage of the Golden Globe nominations haven’t been to Tri-Cities but will be soon. Others won’t get here at all.

And do you, the average moviegoer really care about what the foreign press, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Screen Actors Guild or any of the industry organizations think about movies anyway? Their broadcasts tank in the ratings while those looking at the favorites of the “people” do very well.

The People’s Choice Awards telecast was held Wednesday night. When you compare the Golden Globe nominations — for example — to the People’s Choice Awards nominations, it’s apples and oranges. It leads to a question. Do the nominations of the industry groups have enough mass appeal?

Let’s look.

Golden Globes — Best Motion Picture Drama:

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

The People Choice Awards Nominations — Favorite Drama Movie:

The Adjustment Bureau
The Help
Limitless
Moneyball
Water for Elephants

Both lists have two films in common: Moneyball and The Help. Neither of which has a shot of winning at a Golden Globe. Two films — Limitless and The Adjustment Bureau could be defined as science-fiction. Water for Elephants is a chick flick with Hollywood heartthrob Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. The two are among the choices the people had for favorite actor and actress.

Neither won, but you get the point.

Looking at the comedy and musical category. The Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical:

50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn

The People’s Choice Awards Nominations — Favorite Comedy Movie:

Bad Teacher
Bridesmaids
Crazy Stupid Love
Friends With Benefits
The Hangover Part II

Both lists have one movie in common. Bridesmaids. It won best comedy and Water for Elephants got picked for the best drama. Meanwhile, Bridesmaids has zero chance of picking up a Golden Globe for best comedy.

Digging a bit deeper. The People’s Choice Awards has two other categories:

Favorite Movie

Bridesmaids
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Help
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Favorite Action Movie

Fast Five
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Thor
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
X-Men: First Class

Harry Potter won favorite movie, and it was picked as the best action movie. It also topped box office income last year and many of the films on the People’s Choice list were huge at the box office.

When considering relevance, actors and actresses figure into the mix, too. The People’s Choice actor category is titled Favorite Movie Actor:

Daniel Radcliffe
Hugh Jackman
Johnny Depp
Robert Pattinson
Ryan Reynolds

Here are the 10 Golden Globe nominations starting with the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama:

George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical:

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

Compare the list. And also look at who drew at the box office. None on the Golden Globe list can count their films in the top 10 biggest grossing movies of 2011.

Johnny Depp is the people’s favorite actor.

The People’s Choice Awards Favorite Movie Actress category:

Anne Hathaway
Emma Stone
Jennifer Aniston
Julia Roberts
Reese Witherspoon

The Golden Globe nominations starting with the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, 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 Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical:

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

Other than Bridesmaids and The Help, have you heard of or seen any of these movies? By the way, Emma Stone was the pick as the people’s favorite actress. She’s the star of The Help.

The people and the movie industry — at least when it comes to awards — seem to be on different planets. The box office tells you that. Here are the top-grossing films of 2011:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 — $378.2 million
Transformers: Dark of the Moon — $352 million
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 $259.4 million
The Hangover II — $252 million
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides — $237.4 million

Is there a Golden Globe or a Screen Actors Guild award nominated film on that list? Nope.

While obviously not relevant to most of us, the Golden Globes are relevant to the industry and, like the Oscars, do have status. As a critic, I must note that most of the People’s Choice Awards movies aren’t that good when compared to the Golden Globe list.

The same can be said for the actors. Robert Pattinson is on the list of favorite actors. So is Ryan Reynolds. While you can argue that Reynolds has some talent, Pattinson has none.

When it comes to actresses, the people have much better taste. The ladies on the list are all fabulous actresses and are loaded with talent.

Enough. On to the Golden Globes. I’ve always liked the separation of categories and the chances for more films and performances to be recognized. So here we go:

Best Motion Picture Drama has six nominations. Five are deserved.

War Horse doesn’t belong. Three of the six would have been on my list. The Descendants, The Ides of March and Hugo. The Help is not a best picture. Not even close. It’s a good movie, but the pick is purely for the politically correct.

The winner: The Descendants. It is by far the best of the bunch and has so many relevant to daily life dimensions and some of the year’s best acting.

Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical

There are some great films in this category including Woody Allen’s best in a decade, Midnight in Paris. I also loved Bridesmaids — as did the People’s Choice Awards — 50/50 and Moneyball. The very clever black and white, silent movie, The Artist takes home the award.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama

Meryl Streep doing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady and Viola Davis in The Help are the two to watch. Both are great. In the end, the Globe goes to Streep. She’s marvelous when playing Thatcher as an old lady battling dementia and just so-so when doing the the prime minister in her prime.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Drama

Give this one to George Clooney for an exceptional performance in The Descendants. His flaw is he’s always Clooney first and the character second. But Clooney first really works here.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical

Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn. No other performance comes close. Williams didn’t just play Marilyn Monroe. She was Marilyn Monroe from voice and mannerisms to the legendary giggle and wiggle.

The Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture or Comedy

The charismatic Jean Dujardin is electric in The Artist. He has one line. Yet with the best smile this side of Jack Nicholson, Dujardin says more with facial expressions and body language than most actors can say with multiple pages of dialogue.

Best Animated Feature — The Adventures of Tintin.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

This category has the best acting of the year. It’s hard not to love Berenice Bejo in The Artist. She’s girl-next-door beautiful, sweet and vulnerable, however the best work of the year goes to Jessica Chastain, who steals every scene she’s part of in The Help.

Indeed, Chastian is my pick, but the foreign press picks Bejo.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting role

Albert Brooks is the only reason to see Drive. No one else in this category comes close to being that good.

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist is the year’s best picture. Hands down. His black and white effects and silent film look took some technical wizardry to accomplish.