Oscar Nominees: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

My predictions: 4/5, picking Holly Hunter over Manville
My ballot: Come back in February!
The nominees: Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird), Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water)

Well, I didn’t see this surprise nominee coming at all, though I am impressed that Nathaniel from The Film Experienced called it perfectly. I was rooting for Manville to be nominated back in 2010 for “Another Year,” and I do think that this was a superb turn; I was just expecting the enthusiasm to come for Vicky Krieps if anyone from the film earned an unexpected nomination (which multiple people involved did). Manville knocked out Hong Chau, which is a shame given that she was great in a very underrated and bizarrely hated film, and, more unexpectedly, Holly Hunter. I loved “The Big Sick” but would have nominated Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan far ahead of her, so I suppose it will have to settle for its lone nomination for screenplay. I still don’t get why everyone loves Blige, who wasn’t the best player in her film either (that would be Jason Mitchell, followed by Garrett Hedlund). I’m happy for Spencer, who rebounded from a SAG snub, joining the unbeatable Janney and Metcalf, who I had thought would be the awards season frontrunner but seems to have taken a backseat to her fellow overbearing mother. If Chau was here instead of Blige, I’d be perfectly happy with this lineup.

My current bet to win: It looks like Janney is unstoppable.