Oscars Preview Acting Awards

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

• Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine - Not to be ignored while Blanchett is acting all over you
• Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle - The most memorable character on film
• Lupita Nyung'o - 12 Years a Slave - The most memorable character on paper
• Julia Roberts - August:Osage County - What's more awkward than a major movie star doing one of these Harvey Weinstein sanctioned "nominate me" roles in a bad "nominate me" movie? Not being any good in it.
• June Squibb - Nebraska - Every year we forget - It's not acting if you're just playing yourself. 

WILL WIN: Lupita Nyong'o

SHOULD WIN: Jennifer Lawrence

WORST NOMINATION NOMINEE: Julia Roberts

SNUBS:  Scarlett Johanssen - Her/Don Jon, Margot Robbie - The Wolf of Wall Street, Rooney Mara - Side Effects

To be honest, I'd almost say Margot Robbie should win it but she's barely got any scenes. Still, she's the source of my annual favorite moment of living in a place with a lot of vocal audience members. Out she comes from the bathroom, stark naked, and one guy in front of me shouts, "DAMNNNNNNNNN!" and his buddy next to him, "Mmm. Mmm, mmm, mmm." 

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN (RIP) AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

• Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips - Abdi's inclusion, and most of the Captain Phillips love, is a mystery to me. Not that he's bad; indeed, I sort of love the notion that you can pull a cab driver off the streets of Minneapolis and declare him a movie star. It tweaks the whole notion of acting as a skill. Abdi feels natural because he's playing a Somali fish-out-of-water, which is probably just how a Somali immigrant cab driver feels making a movie.
• Bradley Cooper - American Hustle - The most interesting and difficult character in a movie full of great characters and great perofrmances
• Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave - Terrific as always, but a bit of a one-trick villain
• Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street - At least he earned it this time.
• Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club - He never felt natural in this character to me. 

WILL WIN: Jared Leto

SHOULD WIN: Bradley Cooper

SNUBS: Daniel Bruhl - Rush, Benedict Cumberbatch - The Hobbit 2, Joel Edgerton - The Great Gatsby, Fred Melamed - In a World, Tom Hiddleston - Thor: The Dark World

Always the most competitive category, this year is no different. What does it for me is the scene where Cooper's aping a mopey Louis C. Kay - my favorite all year. My snubs list is long, but a special honor should be reserved for Hiddleston. Marvel loved his Loki so that it made of him it's only recurring villain. 

MERYL STREEP AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS

• Amy Adams - American Hustle - I usually don't like her, but this time I really did.
• Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine - I always like her, but this time, her character was Raging Bull-repulsive
• Sandra Bullock - Gravity - The full range of zero-G survival on display
• Judi Dench - Philomena - Too posh to play Irish June Squibb.
• Meryl Streep - August: Osage County - After all, the award is named after her...

WILL WIN: Cate Blanchett

SHOULD WIN: Cate Blanchett

WORST NOMINATION NOMINEES: Judi Dench, Meryl Streep

BIGGEST SNUBS: Adele Exarchopoulos - Blue is the Warmest Color - Every year, it seems we get an actress nominee from a steamy French semi-pornographic art house pic. That's how we ended up with Marion Cotillard being the dullest of all of Nolan's lifeless Batman love interests. Anyhow, Exarchopoulos goes one further by playing one in a Cannes award winning movie about lesbians. And she's incredible! 

...but at this rate we might have to name it after Cate Blanchett. 

DANIEL DAY LEWIS AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR

• Christian Bale - American Hustle - Watch out DDL. Bale is pulling into range.
• Bruce Dern - Nebraska - Also playing himself
• Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street - We can only assume the death by plane crash of the cabal of anonymous Academy voters who have decided to consistently nominate everyone in everything he's been in except Leo himself.
• Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club - Bale did the losing weight thing before it was "the thing actors do to show they're serious"
• Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave - The commanding performance we expected from Idris Elba as Mandela and Forrest Whitaker as Forrest Gump. The scene where he's on his tip-toes with the noose on his neck - wow. 

WILL WIN: Matthew McConaughey

SHOULD WIN: Leonardo DiCaprio

BIGGEST SNUBS: Leonardo DiCaprio - The Great Gatsby, Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix - Her

McConaughey knits the film together even as the script veers from interesting to unprofessional. But Leo is way overdue, he should get bonus points for being our best Gatsby, and brings the house down on at least 5 occasions, from his non-resignation speech to the epic cerebral palsy walk.