(Image source from: 71st Annual Golden Globes Nominations out})

It's that time of the year again - the time to recognize and felicitate this year's superlative movies and movie stars! And what better way to forecast the frontrunners for the Big Daddy of awards shows - the Oscars - than the Golden Globe Awards 2014.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association declared the 71st Annual Golden Globes nominations on Thursday morning with movies like "12 Years a Slave" and "American Hustle" emerging as the front-runners with seven nominations each while "Captain Phillips" and “Gravity” cinched four nominations each. The nominations were announced by Aziz Ansari, Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde at the Beverly Hilton Hotel here.

Here is the big picture on the nominations:

The five best motion picture drama nominees are “12 Years a Slave,” “Captain Phillips,” “Gravity,” “Philomena” and “Rush”.

In competition for the best motion picture (comedy or musical) title are “American Hustle", "Her”, “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Nebraska” and “The Wolf Of Wall Street”.

The nominations for best actor in a motion picture (drama) award are Chiwetel Ejiofor ("12 Years A Slave"), Idris Elba ("Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"), Tom Hanks ("Captain Phillips"), Matthew McConaughey ("Dallas Buyers Club") and Robert Redford ("All Is Lost").

The actresses competing in the same category are Cate Blanchett ("Blue Jasmine"), Sandra Bullock ("Gravity"), Judi Dench ("Philomena"), Emma Thompson ("Saving Mr. Banks") and Kate Winslet ("Labor Day")

Those in the run for the best director's trophy are Alfonso Cuarón ("Gravity"), Paul Greengrass ("Captain Phillips"), Steve McQueen ("12 Years A Slave"), Alexander Payne ("Nebraska") and David O. Russell ("American Hustle").

The 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards will be broadcasted on Jan 12, 2014. The award event will be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury