When last week’s Globe and SAG nominations were announced, the blogosphere was thick with talk of who had been “snubbed.” It’s a word we’re all guilty of misusing, implying as it does calculated group-think impossible with large voting bodies. (Film writer Nick Davis summed up the misconception with this tweet: “Whenever I order off a restaurant menu, I look at everything I didn’t order, even the dish I almost chose, and I think, ‘I’m snubbing them!'”) Screen International editor (and HFPA voter) Mike Goodridge reminds us that voters can only vote for contenders, not against them; in a crowded field, omissions are inevitable, but who’s to say they were pointedly ignored? Proving that a group like the HFPA is a hive of conflicting opinions, not the collective Globes mentality we often refer to, his own favorite film of the year is “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” [Screen Daily] 

Mark Harris is happy enough that Brad Pitt’s performance in “Moneyball” is headed for an Oscar nod, but believes he deserves one for “The Tree of Life” even more. [Grantland] 

Madonna reveals in an interview that asked both her filmmaker ex-husbands, Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie, for advice on “W.E.” I smell sabotage. [The Telegraph]

On “The Artist,” and how it references later Hollywood talkies more than it does the golden age of silent cinema. [The L]

Nathaniel Rogers rounds up the year in LGBT characters on screen, including folks from “Weekend,” “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”… and “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.” [Towleroad]

Charlie Lyne takes issue with the eye-for-an-eye approach to sexual abuse in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” [Ultra Culture]

Not having seen the film, I’m neither endorsing nor resisting her view, but Manohla Dargis is at the peak of her powers in this “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” review. [New York Times]

Why Michael Fassbender is the man of the year. (Not that most people need much convincing.) [The Playlist] 

Finally, bringing it back home, a nicely balanced Top 10 from our HitFix colleague Drew McWeeny. [Motion Captured]