Oscar Nominees: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

My predictions: 4/5, picking Stewart over McAdams
My ballot: Come back in February!
The nominees: Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), Rooney Mara (Carol), Rachel McAdams (Spotlight), Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

So much for Kristen Stewart being nominated. It’s a shame to see McAdams earn her first Oscar nomination for a film that I loved but didn’t find her to be particularly excellent in, but I guess it’s something. Mara and Vikander, despite all the category unknowns, made the cut here as most had initially expected. Winslet survived too even though her film barely showed up anywhere. The same goes even more for Leigh, whose film managed Best Original Score and Best Cinematography nominations but nothing else. Helen Mirren, who had all the precursors, fell out as I had expected, which happened already in Best Actress in 2012. She already has an Oscar though, and it’s nice to see new names joining Winslet and one-time nominee Mara.

My current bet to win: This is actually a pretty serious three-way competition between Leigh, Mara, and Winslet. I think the edge goes to Mara but none of them have the strength of their films to fall back on given the paltry nominations for them today.