Best Actress contender Isabelle Huppert has changed the chemistry of the race by recently nabbing trophies from the Gotham Awards and New York Film Critics Circle. Now the question is when presumed La La Land front-runner Emma Stone will actually win something from a major critics group. LAFCA, Boston, National Society of Film Critics, BFCA…anyone? I’m presuming that Jackie‘s Natalie Portman has the #2 slot on the strength of her fine performance plus the fact that she and director Pablo Larrain have been making the rounds like ribboned showhorses. Besides her 20th Century Women performance being regarded as her best since The Kids Are All Right, Annette Bening‘s advantage is that she’s been collecting acting nominations since 1990 (Valmont, The Grifters, The American President, American Beauty, Open Range, Being Julia, et. al.). You could definitely argue that “she’s due.”