The 2009 Golden Globe Nominations have been officially announced and it looks like The Dark Knight has been almost totally snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

That’s right folks, The Dark Knight received just one nomination: a Best Supporting Actor nod for Heath Ledger’s groundbreaking (and freaky) turn as The Joker. No Best Director nomination for Chris Nolan; no Best Screenplay nomination for Chris and Jonathan Nolan; no Best Original Score nomination (although Dark Knight composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard are both nominated in that category for work on two other films).

By Vic Holtreman

Short version: While the individual parts of the movie satisfy, In Bruges doesn’t really come together as a whole.

Back in November I posted the trailer to In Bruges and commented that it looked like a movie that would not be a hit with mainstream audiences but those that like indie movies would probably love it. Well I just watched it and I’m more certain than ever that my first reaction will turn out to be accurate.

Right from the opening frame of the movie it seems that the director is intent on keeping the audience off-balance. The camera pans across various landmarks and streets in the beautiful town of Bruges, Belgium with music that sounds like it comes from some French romance movie. But as this is happening, we get quick cuts to the two main characters, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) making funny comments profusely laced with the F-bomb.

It wasn’t the F-word or the humor that struck me as odd, heck, I thought Superbad was really funny – it was the incongruity of the scenery and music against what the actors were saying and doing. On a side note, if profanity in films bothers you, this is SO not the movie for you…

This past weekend I saw the trailer for In Bruges with No Country for Old Men. It looked very funny and I suppose you’d have to categorize it under Quirky Black Comedy. The film will open the Sundance Film Festival a little over a month from now, so I found it odd to see a trailer for it at a movie theater. Generally trailers are only shown for movies that are “coming soon to a theater near you” but after some checking I see that this has already been picked up by Focus Features for at least a limited release in February ‘08.

I don’t think this will be a big hit with mainstream audiences, but it looks like one of those little indie flicks that might end up being considered an undiscovered gem.