A month is a long time to wait...

The nominations were announced last Tuesday, but we still have just under a month to go before the envelopes are opened.

At the very least, this means that there's still time for voters to change their minds. For the past three months, the acting categories have settled into four frontrunners—Bridges, Bullock, Waltz, and Mo'Nique.

It's probable that they won't budge, but backlash is already underway, especially for Sandra Bullock. Voters will actually see the movies, and when a performance doesn't live up to the hype, the frontrunner might lose some votes. And when they don't want to just vote with the general consensus, they tend to vote from the underdog pile. Perhaps they love an upset just like the rest of us.

If you're eager to find an upset like I certainly am, I'll direct you to the two lead acting categories:

Bridges appears to have the support of everyone in the business right now. You might have noticed that he was the only winner at the Critic's Choice, the Globes, and at the SAGs to receive standing ovations. Not to mention, with four unsuccessful nominations under his belt, the man is painfully overdue by Academy standards. But for some reason, something just doesn't feel right here. For one, Crazy Heart did not receive a Best Picture nomination. And with the fast moving Hurt Locker train of support, I'm wondering if Jeremy Renner might be able to pull off an Adrien Brody-like upset. The Academy loves a newcomer, and Renner has had their support from the beginning.

And if you're already cursing Sandra Bullock for what might be one of the most controversial Best Actress wins in Oscar history, don't get worked up just yet. There's no doubt that the actors have shown their support for her in a big way leading up to the nominations. They even nominated her movie for Best Picture. But again, something feels off. Her advantage over Meryl Streep is her SAG award, but does anyone remember that Streep just won last year for Doubt? Perhaps SAG just didn't like the idea of a followup award? And again, there's still time for the voting community to actually see The Blind Side.


It's still very likely that the Academy will go 4/4 with the current frontrunners, but a month is quite a long time for voters to change their minds.

Today the final ballots were mailed out to Academy members. Who would you like them to vote for?