Oscar Nominees: Best Actress in a Leading Role

My predictions: 4/5, picking Aniston over Cotillard
My ballot: Come back in February!
The nominees: Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night), Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

It happens every year that at least one actress who gets Globe and SAG nominations and seems like a sure thing misses out, and it’s so interesting to me that Marion Cotillard, who was a victim of that two years ago, did it this year to Jennifer Aniston. Their roles aren’t that far apart, interestingly, and I don’t feel too strongly about either one, though I think Cotillard deserved a nomination more for “Rust and Bone” in 2012. Jones is sitting pretty with her film’s five nominations, while Moore is representing her film solo. Unexpectedly, Pike is doing the same thing since her film didn’t seem to land with voters. Witherspoon’s film got snubbed for Best Adapted Screenplay but she got a nice gift in its place: costar Laura Dern is nominated too. This race I’ve had the least problem with from the start, and my list doesn’t look all that different.

My current bet to win: Cotillard has already won, so stick with Moore to win.