As the banner above makes colorfully clear, this particular annual post is better-suited to make an appearance on Sunday, but that’s reserved for one of our beloved exercises in counting backwards. So instead, we’ll use it as a wrap-up to the extended retrospective on the best cinematic offerings of the calendar year not-so-recently completed. I’ve already rattled off my choices for the ten best films of the year, and here are the performances I’d celebrate if I had the privilege of filling out a nominating ballot issued to a member Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences acting branch, ranked in order as per instructions.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Amy Adams, American Hustle
2. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
3. Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha
4. Sandra Bullock, Gravity
5. Brie Larson, Short Term 12

Like most, I think Blanchett delivers extraordinary work in Woody Allen’s latest. However, I think Adams gives the best overall performance of the year, regardless of category, in American Hustle. It may be my preference showing, but I think Adams has a strong chance of upsetting longtime favorite Blanchett on Sunday night given that its her fifth nomination without a prior win and the timing of the latest round of ugliness involving Allen hitting at just the right time to dissuade enough voters from casting a vote that would see the auteur thanked from the stage. Everyone one of the other performances in this group got ample digital ink when I went through the top ten films. Just as I think Adams gives the strongest overall performance of the year, I think this is the strongest category by a significant margin. It pained me to leave Amy Acker off this list for her sterling turn in Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Joaquin Phoenix, Her
2. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
3. Christian Bale, American Hustle
4. Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
5. Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

Ejiofor is powerful, Bale is vibrantly inventive, Hanks is strong until a late film turn wherein he’s devastating, and Isaac somehow makes stern solemnity deeply emotive. They’re all great. I think Phoenix is even better, tapping into something deep inside his character that gives the odd, almost abstract emotions of Spike Jonze’s masterful film a deep poignancy. As with Gene Hackman in The Conversation, years from now Phoenix’s omission from the Best Actor race is going to be unfathomable to discerning film fans. I’m sure Matthew McConaughey will win for Dallas Buyers Club, and it will be a fine choice (he just missed my cut), but his work is ultimately a little more conventional and therefore less exciting than the five I put ahead of him.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
2. Amy Adams, Her
3. Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
4. Carey Mulligan, Inside Llewyn Davis
5. June Squibb, Nebraska

Once again, the actress category is stronger than the equivalent for the boys. And once again, I wish I could expand to six names to include a certain strong, attention-getting performance. I’m thrilled that Sally Hawkins was included among the Oscar nods for her crucial work in Blue Jasmine as much as I’m baffled that there wasn’t more support for Adams and Mulligan in their critically-adored films released in the heart of Oscar season. I’m tempted to elevate Adams to the top to emphasize how good I think she’s been this past year (to be fair, I lack a viewing of Man of Steel to presumably dent my enthusiasm), but the ferocious power of Nyong’o can’t be denied. I suspect Oscar voters will feel the same way, if only because there’s no way they’re going to give her toughest competition, Jennifer Lawrence, back-to-back Oscar wins, especially this early in her career.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
2. John Goodman, Inside Llewyn Davis
3. Jeremy Renner, American Hustle
4. James Gandolfini, Enough Said
5. Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

And here’s the weakest category of the year. It’s not like I had to populate it with bad performances, but I had to stretch a bit to come up with a quintet. I can’t believe I’m advocating Leto for an acting award, but does give a very nice performance. I’m sure he’ll win the trophy, and I will think again of my favorite social media response to his Golden Globes win. It will be a nice moment for both of us.