Golden Globe Nominees: Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

My predictions: 3/5, picking Crowe and De Niro over Arkin and Waltz
Who’s missing? Russell Crowe (Les Miserables), Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook), Dwight Henry (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

You can usually count on this category to be relatively interesting. After a complete shut-out yesterday, likely due to SAG voters not having had the chance to see the film, “Django Unchained” struck back with two nominations, for Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained) and Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained). I had the chance to see the film on Tuesday night, and I’m pleased to report that they’re both terrific. Alan Arkin (Argo) solidifies his Oscar chances as the lone acting nominee from his film both yesterday and today, and Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) has also vaulted ahead of the pack as the only supporting male from his very crowded movie to be honored. Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), a SAG nominee yesterday, is in better company today with his costars Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams also nominated. While Javier Bardem’s omission is hardly surprising, the big shock is the absence of Robert De Niro, who was expected to earn his first nomination in eleven years. It stings more since his film performed quite well. Don’t count him out of the Oscar race just yet. I’ve seen all the nominees in this category, and I think it’s a solid, highly competitive race.

Who could win? It could be DiCaprio, but I’ll hedge my bets on Jones.