Oscar Nominees: Best Actress in a Leading Role

My predictions: 5/5
My ballot: Come back in February!
The nominees: Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Glenn Close (The Wife), Olivia Colman (The Favourite), Lady Gaga (A Star is Born), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

This is my second year in a row with a perfect score in this category. I knew there wasn’t any way that Yalitza Aparicio (Roma) wasn’t making it in when her costar showed up with a surprising bid, and her film managed to tie as the nominations leader with that of another nominee here, Olivia Colman (The Favourite). Emily Blunt might eventually be nominated for an Oscar, but this wasn’t her year despite two high-profile performances that ended up netting her films a grand combined total of five nominations. Glenn Close (The Wife) and Lady Gaga (A Star is Born) still look good as rivals for Best Actress, and, despite early concerns about her omission from this category, Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) arrives with her film carrying exactly the nominations everyone always expected it would.

My current bet to win: For the moment, I’m actually going to lean Colman, but we’ll see how SAG plays out.