One Category at a Time: Actor

There will be plenty of suspense leading up to the opening of this envelope on Oscar night. The writing seemed to be on the wall early in the season, but a turning point at the SAG Awards had signaled a tight two-horse race (one made a little less tight by the BAFTAs this past Sunday). The other three nominees will have to sit back and enjoy the show. At least a couple of them can can count themselves lucky that they managed to squeak into the slate when high profile hopefuls Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender were somewhat surprisingly shut out along with the films they represented.

SAG nominees

So the first big guild to weigh in is the Screen Actors Guild, who have singled out what they deem the year's best performances. Following a busy four days of critics groups who have mostly been falling into their old 'group think' habits, it's encouraging to see the industry itself offer up some more original awards options (whether you agree with them or not).

Damien Bichir, whose critically acclaimed lead turn in A Better Life was thought to be largely forgotten, resurfaced with a Best Actor nomination. Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) rectified a weak precursor showing with a tip of the hat for Best Actress, along with costar Janet McTeer in Supporting.

Speaking of Supporting Actress, Melissa McCarthy, of Bridesmaids' allegedly hilarious cast, continues to have a surprisingly strong precursor season, finding room for a nomination here to compliment her three critics awards and BFCA nomination. More to come for the comedienne? The whole cast also got cited for Best Ensemble.

The real puzzling category is Supporting Actor. With only Albert Brooks of Drive and Christopher Plummer of Beginners winning critics awards so far (and both of them terrific performances, by the way), those other three slots have been ripe for the plucking. Nick Nolte of Warrior follows up his BFCA nod with one from SAG, and surprise nominations went to Jonah Hill for Moneyball and Armie Hammer for J. Edgar. Did not see either of those coming. Nor did I see coming the snub of Albert Brooks, although I remain optimistic of his Oscar chances.

See all the nominees after the cut