Best Performances from the 2018 Oscar Best Supporting Actress Nominees

This year’s Best Supporting Actress nominees is the most unique and diverse I have ever seen.  We got two actresses who made their name on T.V., an R&B star, a character actor, and an actress who seems to be nominated every year now.  It’s a great group and they all have given great performances at some point in their careers.  Here are my choices for the best performances from this year’s Best Supporting Actress nominees.

MARY J. BLIGE

BEST PERFORMANCE – MUDBOUND (Dee Rees, 2017)

I saw Mudbound at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.  Like most movies at Sundance, I don’t know much about the film, generally just the synopsis and some of the cast.  It took my half of the movie to realize that Mary J. Blige was in Mudbound.  She vanishes into her performance, both physically and emotionally.  For someone who hasn’t had a role like this ever, let alone a big role in a before, Blige dives into performance head first and gives one of the finest performances from a musician I have ever seen.

ALLISON JANNEY

BEST PERFORMANCE – I, TONYA (Craig Gillespie, 2017)

Janney’s best performance is actually her performance as C.J. Gregg in Aaron Sorkin’s T.V. masterpiece, The West Wing, but this is a movie website and we talk about movies and Janney has never been better in a movie than this year in I, Tonya.  As the foul mouthed, hard-nosed, tough-loving mother of Tonya Harding, Janney adds layers to a character that would typically be one note.  Janney delivers some great comedic one-liners and mixes that with sheer intensity.  The diner confrontation with her daughter is extraordinary, as Janney explains why she is the way that she is to Tonya.  It is a powerful scene and Janney crushes it.  I expect Janney to take the Oscar home this year, and it is a well-earned win.

LESLEY MANVILLE

BEST PERFORMANCE – PHANTOM THREAD (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

Manville has been acting for over 40 years, yet is easily the least known actress in this group.  Manville’s nomination for Paul Thomas Anderson’s was a surprise, but a worthy one.  As sister to a strict, methodical dress maker, Manville goes toe-to-toe with the legendary Daniel Day-Lewis and matches him scene for scene.  It is a chilling performance, as Manville never cracks from her steely, emotionless ways and makes sure to keep her brothers in check as well.  I loved this nomination and though it probably won’t win, I hope this gets Manville’s name out there so other can appreciate her talent.

LAURIE METCALF (Nominated for Lady Bird)

BEST PERFORMANCE – SCREAM 2 (Wes Craven, 1997)

Look, I loved Metcalf in Lady Bird, and this she would win the Oscar this year for it, as it’s really the only thing I like about the movie.  But man, she kills in Scream 2 as Debbie Salt, or should I say, Mrs. Loomis.  What starts as a performance as a lowly news reporter obsessed with Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) turns into a great twist as we find out Debbie Salt is actually Mrs. Loomis, the second killer and the mother of Billy Loomis, the killer from before.  Metcalf is great as Salt, but even better as Loomis, as she turns into a psychopath within one scene.  It’s one of the great horror movie performances in the last 25 years.

OCTAVIA SPENCER (Nominated for The Shape of Water)

BEST PERFORMANCE – THE HELP (Tate Taylor, 2011)

The Help was a sleeper hit in 2011 that ended up with a stellar box office and being nominated for a number of Oscars, including Best Picture.  A lot of the film’s success is due to it’s great cast of Oscar nominees Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, and the Best Supporting Actress winner of that year, Octavia Spencer.  As one of our rebellious housemaids, Spencer is a tough, sassy, no-nonsense kind of gal full of heart and pride.  She has some of the best lines in the movie and is responsible for the most memorable scene involving a “chocolate” pie.  This is a performance that placed a long-time character actress into the Hollywood elite.