85th Academy Awards

Best Actress

Best Sup. Actor

Best Actor

Jessica Chastain

Zero Dark Thirty

Chastain doesn’t give a star performance but something braver and less ego-driven. Maya’s a heroic functionary, struggling to see the long game and retain her ideals (which include patriotism) while navigating a mapless post-9/11 universe.
– Ty Burr

Jennifer Lawrence

Silver Linings Playbook

You’re initially wary that Lawrence has been cast because sexy ingénues like her are what happens when straight men take their fantasies out on us. But you realize that she’s just in need of more parts as full as her figure.
– Wesley Morris

Emmanuelle Riva

Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts

The Impossible

Ty Burr says ...

Lawrence had a stellar year — a great performance in “Playbook” and a blockbuster hit with “The Hunger Games” — and she has the momentum. Still, don’t discount the Academy’s love of aging movie icons, even when they’re French. Quvenzhané Wallis may have been six 6 when she made “Beasts,” but it’s a real performance; Watts, by contrast, delivers a triumph of technique that, like much else in “The Impossible,” has trouble touching the heart.

Will win
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Should win
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Shouldn't be here
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Was robbed
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone

Janice Page says ...

Jessica Chastain’s “Zero Dark Thirty” swagger might have some pull here. But Lawrence has the clear momentum, not to mention a knack for delightful acceptance speeches. If age plays a factor, it would be something to see Riva collect a well-earned Oscar (on her 86th birthday, no less) for her harrowing portrait of dementia.

Will win
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Should win
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Shouldn't be here
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Was robbed
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea