Rooney Mara, Charlize Theron, Elizabeth Olsen and (surprisingly, if not mostly) Kristen Wiig deserves nominations for their performances. Unfortunately it seems like none of them will get in.

Plus Kirsten Dunst, Felicity Jones, and Saoirse Ronan.

This category could be so much cooler this year.

I would shit in a sink with excitement if Kristen Wiig somehow got nominated.

Octavia Spencer would scoop your shit out and prepare a pie. Crowd pleasing! Winning!

Bridesmaids and The Help: making poop cool again.

So who do you guys see winning?

I kind of want to see The Iron Lady just to see if Streep's performance is even worth winning but the reviews are meh.

They should open up the acting categories to a possible 10 nominations . I hate that so many great performances end up overlooked due to the limited spots.

Why don't they just give everyone Oscars? Then nobody's overlooked!

It would be interesting to see an expanded list. Just for curiosity.

Obviously this category will be Streep, Davis, Williams, Close, and Swinton (or Mara). Set in stone. But it would be cool to see where, say, Kirsten Dunst ended up in the extended ranking.

People complain the Oscar nominations are terrible almost every year. But try to expand any category and suddenly those same people are, halleluiah, born-again Oscar purists bitching an expanded field ruins the "specialness."

Vera Farmiga should have been in the Oscar race this season. She's superb in Higher Ground. I honestly bet she would have been much more in the discussion if she'd worn prosthetics .

Mike, you can't love another movie this year. (The signature.)

If I do I'll change something out .

I think Mara is ready to move ahead in the race. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is now definitely a Top 6 player and is doing well with the guilds. Mara could replace Swinton or Close.

Agreed.

I feel she's going to replace Swinton, whose film is SO tiny, and, considering the director, I'm sure very tough and atmospheric and unsettling.

Close will still get in, I bet. She's campaigning so damn hard and has the whole "I fought for decades to bring this story to the screen" narrative.

lolol

I KNOW.

Davis or Williams better win this. I don't know if I can take Streep winning for such an awful film.

I think it's down to Davis or Streep, though I'm rooting for Williams.

Great speech by Davis tonight, and I think she is pulling ahead now.

Davis was good in The Help, but if she wins then it has been quite a weak year, I suppose. She wasn't terrific.

I like this (incredibly patronizing) argument made by multiple people on this forum alone that the success of The Help is only due to "white guilt," not that people actually liked the movie on its own terms or anything.

I think if Streep wins this year it'll be regarded as an "unworthy" win for years to come...as a win that resulted out of over 10+ nominations in a row without an award. Somewhat akin to Al Pacino's Oscar (except that Streep has won before).

I'm just eager to see if Mara can kick Swinton or Close out.

Probably yes. Not sure whom, though.

I don't think so. I think the Academy knows that awarding her a nomination is award enough. It'll probably go to Viola or Michelle Williams.

I doubt Streep even desires to win another Oscar anyway though she'd certainly not deny it.