The nominations for the Golden Globe awards have just been announced with a few surprises thrown up.

Kate Winslet 'extremely surprised' by Golden Globe nod

Chou Yun-fat & Nicholas Tse lead 'The Man from Macau'

Leading the pack are historical epic "12 Years a Slave" and con-artists caper "American Hustle" with seven nominations a piece.

The former has been hailed by critics as the most unblinking portrait of slavery to date and is based on the 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery.

The other film, "American Hustle" tells the outlandish tale of a con-man employed by the FBI and forced to infiltrate the mafia during the late 1970's.

Many of the experts were shocked by the lack of nominations for "The Butler" which has been completely over looked by the Hollywood foreign press association though Ramzy Malouki from Canal Plus France said he could understand that:

"No nominations for 'The Butler.' That could surprise a lot of people, but I'm not really surprised, because the movie went out a long time ago, and in the meantime there was a lot of buzz about (other films with black actors such as) '12 Years a Slave' and 'Mandela.' And, especially, the last few days, as you know, the members of the Golden Globes had to give their vote on Dec 11. And, basically, the fact that Nelson Mandela died completely changed the whole perspective."

Also for the first time in a long time there are no dramas from HBO that made the cut, while a surprise INCLUSION was Rush about the rivalry between Nikki Lauda and James Hunt.

The 71st annual Golden Globe Awards is set for 12 January 2014 in Beverly Hills, California.

"Dallas Buyers Club" done well again.

Disney's making-of "Mary Poppins" tale "Saving Mr. Banks," fared poorly, earning only a nomination for Emma Thompson's lead performance as "Poppins" author P.L. Travers.

Robert Redford, who hasn't ever won an acting Oscar, was nominated by the Globes for best actor in his nearly unspoken performance as a man shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean in "All Is Lost."

Kate Winslet has been nominated for her performance in Jason Reitman's "Labor Day" just days after giving birth to a son.