Oscar Nominees: Best Actress in a Leading Role

My predictions: 3/5, picking Thompson and Exarchupoulos over Adams and Streep
My ballot: Come back in February!
The nominees: Amy Adams (American Hustle), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Judi Dench (Philomena), Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

So much for this category being interesting. I do like Adams but I don’t feel this was one of her strongest performances, even in a David O. Russell film. Her announcement alphabetically first was a signal that the wonderful Adèle Exarchupoulos would likely not join this list, and, predictably, that film was entirely shut out. Blanchett, whose film scored two other nods but missed out for Best Picture, just won the Golden Globe, and she’ll once again face off against Bullock, whose film performed very well. Dench is in decent company with her film, and she may actually have delivered my favorite performance in this group. I’m disappointed to see Streep here since I firmly believe she shouldn’t be nominated for everything, and this was not one of her best. The surprise snub is that of Emma Thompson, who was a sure thing up until now and must now contend with a lone Best Original Score nod for her film.

My current bet to win: This doesn’t change much – probably Blanchett.