Supporting actress -- Covert's tipsheet

In her favor: Adams casts off her mantle of daintiness as a brawling, hard-drinking, tramp-stamped barmaid. It's one of those against-type roles that make actors salivate.

Then again: Such a dirty mouth on this girl.

In her favor: As the steadfast wife of a king, she plays quite a different sort of royalty from the Red Queen of last summer. There's range for you. I really mean it.

Then again: Other than setting up her husband's appointments and saying "There, there," she doesn't get much to do.

In her favor: As a Sam's Club Lady Macbeth who pushes her boxer son into dangerous but lucrative fights, she's outrageous, scary and hilarious.

Then again: With the blond bouffant, skintight jeans, cigarette and can of Bud in a foam sleeve, this performance is overaccessorized.

In her favor: She plays a young girl who is a starchy schoolmarm in the making, yet vengeful and occasionally romantic. And she handles the tricky dialogue like a champ.

In her favor: As the Machiavellian matriarch of an Australian crime family, she raises goosebumps with a toxic cocktail of ice-cold calculation and false affection.

Then again: In a year when populist films are garnering top nominations, hers is the least visible.

Why she deserved it: She's playing a projection of the lead character's delusions, so she gets to be evilly seductive one moment and an encouraging friend the next.