Cynthia Erivo as Harriet and the *next* Best Actress Race

That was quick. There are only four spots left in the next Best Actress Oscar race.

We kid, we kid. Academy Award nomination races aren't sewn up half as quickly as the internet always pretends they are. Nevertheless it's hard to deny that on paper Cynthia Erivo playing Harriett Tubman (there's your first still above) reads just right for major Oscar attention.

There are so many ways in which this seems likely without seeing a single clip. Let us count them...

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Who will win SAG tomorrow?

by Nathaniel R

Is the Oscar race as locked up as we think, or will SAG hold some surprises? Care to conjecture about what will win? I'll confess, perhaps foolishly, that I think we could be in for some surprises. Conventional wisdom will tell you that Close, Bale, Ali, and Adams will be the winners... though conventional wisdom will not solve the case of "who wins Outstanding Cast?" since the arguable Best Picture frontrunner Green Book and two most Oscar-nominated pictures Roma and The Favourite are not nominated in that category. With three heavy-hitters out, and Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is Born, and BlacKkKlansman as the nominees, that prize is something of a mystery...

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Adams / Weisz + Oscar

by Murtada Elfadl

Weisz and Adams at their first Oscars as nominees

This year marks the second time Rachel Weisz & Amy Adams have been nominated together in the supporting actress category: Weisz for The Favourite, Adams for Vice. The first time they did so was for their first nominations, thirteen years ago for The Constant Gardener and Junebug respectively. They are linked together in my mind -and possibly for some of you - because of that. Adams’ performance in Junebug is my favorite of her nominated performances and I've always said that if she had won that year we wouldn’t be talking about overdue status for years on end. 

Since that time their Oscar careers have diverged...

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Final Predictions: Supporting Actress, Foreign Film, and Sound Categories

by Nathaniel R

Expecting a high nomination count for "First Man" even if it misses Best PictureRunning out of time we are! So here are the final predictions for six more categories!

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
We've been over and over this one in our brains, trying to figure out that fifth spot (we don't believe, as some panicky folks do, that Regina King is in any danger of missing for Beale Street). In the end we're defaulting to Claire Foy in First Man who's been there all along. Primarily because she's been there all along and these things have a way of sticking if you're considered solidly in for months, even if you start losing steam toward the end of the season. We expect First Man to have a high nomination count despite predicting it to miss Best Picture and Claire Foy has remained visible all season. Sorry, Margot Robbie...

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43 Days 'til Oscar

The countdown is progressing. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences only have 3 more days to turn in their nomination ballots. We're getting worried about a really uninspiring Supporting Actress race made up of mostly leading roles. Voters, there are so many great women that are not leads to choose from, you know? You never ever ever need to cheat and shove leading roles in there. If you love a leading lady you're supposed to vote for her in Best Actress, not Supporting.

Since 43 is the number of the day, our minds are thrown back to the Smackdown of 1943. That was so much fun and yours truly fell so hard for Paulette Godard. Your favourite series will return next month. We begin with the 2018 Smackdown in February (we're just waiting to find out who the nominees are!) and then the new season kicks off with the long delayed 1972 episode. Dates TBA.