Twelve Days of Oscars, Day 7: Lead Actor and Supporting Actress

The Academy Awards are nigh, my Twelve Days of Oscars are passing quickly, and it's time to face facts: I might not get to every single flick before Sunday. I'm still trying my best, as any true awards-season-obsessive-with-a-checklist would do, but in one of the categories we'll examine today, I have not seen all five of the nominees. Shocking, I know! 

Supporting Actress: 

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Lead Actor: 

Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom ThreadDaniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

The movie I have not yet seen is Roman J. Israel, Esq. I'm going to, seriously. Netflix is going to help me out here. This week, I hope, before the ceremony. But I haven't yet. And with sincere apologies to Denzel, who gave an absolute master class in acting with his nominated performance in Flight a few years ago, when he lost to Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, really the only contenders this year are Day-Lewis and Gary Oldman. Everyone wants Gary Oldman to win his Oscar and he totally Churchill jowl and bark and sputter and leadershipped it up to do so. But Daniel Day-Lewis is "quitting acting" and people might want to give him one last Oscar. SO. 

Who deserves it? Hmmm. I mean, the performance by Gary Oldman is a tour-de-force. You are drawn into Darkest Hour and along you go, totally buying in to the drama, even though you know what's going to happen. On the other hand, Phantom Thread and specifically Daniel Day-Lewis' character in it are all kinds of weird. I don't know that it's his best work nor the best of the nominees this year. Timothee Chalamet and Daniel Kaluuya both did great, but I think their movies and roles were so well written and made that they didn't have as hard of a job, not that that strictly makes sense, but just as a tiny factor. Without having seen Denzel, I hate to pick in this category -- I like to know all the competition even when one is widely agreed to just have been honored to be nominated. 

I've seen all the Supporting Actress performances, though. Loved everything about Mudbound, including Mary J. Blige's performance. Enjoyed Allison Janney and Laurie Metcalf, who are the two that everyone has agreed are the actual competitors here. I love Allison Janney - love her - if I could see into my future to make the movie of my entire life right now I'd want her to play the future older version of me. And I thought Laurie Metcalf was great, but, once again, I don't understand Lady Bird to be revelatory in the way that everyone else understands it to be. Does that mean I'm pulling for Janney here? Maybe... I'm not pulling for Octavia Spencer in the weird weird weird The Shape of Water although I will say I liked her better in this than in many other roles I've seen her in (don't even get me started on how god awful The Help was). You know who was totally awesome? Who did what everyone says Laurie Metcalf did, subtly and powerfully pulling off her role? Lesley Manville, that's who. I really didn't care for Phantom Thread - like, at all - but if I'm rooting for one aspect of it, and that's Lesley Manville. Most of her role was performed sitting at dinner/breakfast tables, and yet she delivered this incredible and absolutely fully realized character. It was phenomenal. 

Supporting Actress: My pick is Lesley Manville, but I think it will be Allison Janney. 

Lead Actor: My pick is -- don't know -- maybe Oldman -- and I think it will be Oldman. 

**when I see Roman J. Israel, Esq. I will come update this blog entry as necessary **