Vera Farmiga, Emily Watson, Jean-Pierre Jeunet: London 2009

Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, two potential best supporting actress Oscar nominees, attend the Up in the Air photocall during the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival at the Mayfair Hotel on October 18.

Emily Watson at the premiere of Cold Souls, starring Paul Giamatti, at the Vue West End on October 18.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet arrives for the premiere of MICMACS at the Vue West End on October 18.

Vera Farmiga, Jason Reitman, Anna Kendrick: London ‘09

Vera Farmiga arrives for the premiere of Up in the Air, a potential Oscar nominee, during the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival at the Vue West End on October 18.
Photos: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

Anna Kendrick, Jason Reitman, Vera Farmiga

Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick at the Up in the Air photocall

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actress

Penélope Cruz, Nine
A film director’s seductive mistress (if she’s half as tantalizing in the film as she is in the above photo, Cruz deserves not only a nod but the golden statuette itself)

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
A professional downsizer’s trainee

Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
A pregnant, illiterate teen’s Mom from Hell

Julianne Moore, A Single Man (with Colin Firth)
A married alcoholic pining for an English professor — who just happens to be both gay and suicidal

Emma Thompson, An Education
A school headmistress in 1960s London

The most disputed acting category in the 2010 Oscar race. In addition to the aforementioned five actresses, five others who could easily land a nomination (in case their movies open [...]

Toronto 2009: IndieWIRE’s Critics’ Poll

Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious Man (top); Joel and Ethan Coen (bottom)

Peter Knegt reports that an indieWIRE poll of "more than 25" film critics and bloggers (blogging film critics?) shows that the overwhelmingly favorite film screened at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival was Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man (not to be confused with Tom Ford’s A Single Man or the Michael Douglas vehicle Solitary Man), a black comedy about a suburbanite (Michael Stuhlbarg) whose life suddenly unravels after his wife asks for a divorce. A Serious Man hits US theaters on Oct. 2.

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore in A Single Man

The best performance was delivered by Colin Firth in A Single Man (not to be confused with either [...]