85th Academy Awards

Best Supporting Actor

Best Sup. Actress

Best Actress

Alan Arkin

Argo

Robert De Niro

Silver Linings Playbook

What a relief to see De Niro invested again in the highs and lows of a character. It's initially bizarre to see this famous New Yorker rooting for the Eagles, but he's so committed to Pat Sr.'s obsessive-compulsive disorder that it might not matter what team the character bets one. He just needs to gamble.
– Wesley Morris

Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Master

Hoffman ... puffs himself full of insinuating bluster. If [Joaquin] Phoenix’s approach to performing is like a car flying off the road, Hoffman remains sane enough to slow down at yellow lights and stop at reds, even in the moments that Dodd breaks character, even when Hoffman’s doing Methody showboating.
– Wesley Morris

Tommy Lee Jones

Lincoln

Christoph Waltz

Django Unchained

Ty Burr says ...

A gathering of old pros. Every actor in this category has won before, each is beloved to one degree or another, so it’s just a matter of where the sentiment will land. Jones and Alan Arkin are neck and neck: The latter’s seedy Hollywood producer is a great inside joke but the former’s Thaddeus Stevens is a great performance, a great part, and great history, and it channels the actor’s legendary crankiness in delightfully fresh ways.

Will win
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Should win
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Shouldn't be here
None
Was robbed
None

Janice Page says ...

Sure, Tommy Lee Jones could take home a trophy for trademark cantankerousness (bewigged this time). Or Waltz could extend his debt to Quentin Tarantino. But I’m betting that voters will reward De Niro for reversing decades of bad movie choices by turning in just one performance that indicates he still cares, kind of. Jackson, who’s at least as deserving as Waltz, should be sitting in Arkin’s spot.

Will win
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Should win
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Shouldn't be here
Alan Arkin, Argo
Was robbed
Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained