After breaking down the Best Picture category, the Best Actor category, and the Best Actress category at this year's Oscars, it's time to turn our attention to who will win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The 2018 nominees for Best Supporting Actress provide a good mix of up-and-coming actresses and a few who have already made an appearance at the Oscars. Here's how I rank this year's nominees:
Mary J. Blige, 'Mudbound'
"Mudbound" was one of my favorite films of the year, and it should've received a nomination for Best Picture. However, I think Mary J.
Blige played a pretty small role and I was surprised to see her name listed in this category. Blige also received an Oscar nomination for an original song included in the film, and that may have helped her candidacy for Best Supporting Actress. Blige was a contributor to one of the best movies of the year, but her performance didn't really stand out to me.
Octavia Spencer, 'The Shape of Water'
Octavia Spencer already has one Academy Award in her trophy case and she will be a staple at the Oscars for years to come, but I don't think her performance in "The Shape of Water" will win her another Oscar. Spencer was given a difficult role in having to speak for a mute main character for most of the film, and she was definitely deserving of a nomination in this category.
However, I don't think she'll be on stage for another epic acceptance speech this year.
Lesley Manville, 'Phantom Thread'
"Phantom Thread" is a film that needed an incredible connection between the two main characters. Daniel Day-Lewis and Lesley Manville provided exactly that. Day-Lewis and Manville's fight scene when her character tries to surprise her lover with a birthday dinner was one of the most captivating scenes of the year.
The marriage proposal scene was also very well-done where Manville's character's hesitation in saying yes was perfectly timed. It takes a special actress to play Day-Lewis' love interest in a film as heavy as "Phantom Thread," and Manville did a fantastic job.
Laurie Metcalf, 'Lady Bird'
The top two actresses in this category played similar roles as mothers who employed some extreme tough love tactics in what they thought was best for raising their daughter.
Laurie Metcalf's character in "Lady Bird" truly loves her daughter, but she often has a difficult time expressing it and she's easily frustrated by her child's wild personality. Metcalf's chemistry with Saoirse Ronan was sublime, and it was a major reason why "Lady Bird" has a great shot to take home the hardware for Best Picture. Metcalf was outshined by one actress in this category, but she gave a memorable performance in one of the best movies of the year.
Allison Janney, 'I, Tonya'
This one was a no-brainer. Allison Janney was gifted a fantastic character in playing Tonya Harding's mother in "I, Tonya," and she ran with it. LaVona Harding took tough love to a whole new level, but she thought it was necessary to make her daughter's figure skating dreams come true.
She worked extremely hard and devoted everything she had to Tonya's career, but LaVona never gave her daughter the love that she desperately needed.
The most influential scene in this movie is when LaVona enters Tonya's house in the middle of the media circus that surrounded her daughter. It looked like she was finally providing some much-needed comfort to Tonya in her time of need, but Harding finds a tape recorder in her mother's pocket and is devastated.
Janney and Margot Robbie have plenty of intense scenes in this film that needed to be executed perfectly to make a strong movie, and they were each incredible from start to finish. Janney played the best villain in any movie this year, but you can also see that she wanted what was best for her daughter. I expect that Janney will win the first Oscar of her career on Sunday night, and it will be well-deserved.
