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Every year there’s a kerfuffle or two about some of the Oscar nominees, and 2012 is no exception.

While admiring Meryl Streep’s portrayal of former Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” some of Thatcher’s friends and colleagues lashed out at the film for focusing too much on her later years, with numerous scenes in which a doddering Thatcher converses with the ghost of her dead husband.

Another Best Actress nominee: Michelle Williams for “My Week with Marilyn.” Many doubt the veracity of the storyline, which is based on Colin Clark’s memoirs of a supposed affair with Marilyn Monroe while Clark worked as an assistant on “The Prince and the Showgirl” in 1956. (Note to the disgruntled: “My Week with Marilyn” isn’t up for Best Documentary. It’s drama. As in fiction. As in mostly made up.)

Appearing at Chicago State University a couple of weeks ago, Spike Lee noted that some 70 years after Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for playing a maid in “Gone With the Wind,” two black actresses, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, are nominated for playing maids in “The Help.”

“In 1940, our first great actress is a slave maid,” said Lee. “In 2012, we have two maids. The difference? Not slaves. Progress?”

First, as Lee of course knows, “The Help” is set in the early 1960s, in Jackson, Miss. It’s not about black maids in 2012. And the characters portrayed by Spencer and Davis are the heroines of the movie — women who make great sacrifices each day as they lovingly raise the children of privileged white women and fight against the ugly racism that dominated the day.

So yes, they’re playing maids. They’re also portraying historical role models.

And the winners will be...

One of the stranger quirks of the notoriously bizarre Academy voting process is the preponderance of rules governing some categories, such as Best Documentary ­— and the utter lack rules for the acting categories. Essentially, there’s no distinction between the lead and supporting categories. As the Academy rules put it, “A performance by an actor or actress in any role shall be eligible for nomination either for the leading role or supporting role categories.” 

This is how Anthony Hopkins was nominated (and won) Best Actor for “The Silence of the Lambs,” even though he’s onscreen for only about 16 minutes — less than 10 percent of the film’s total running time. Hopkins’ performance was so powerful he dominated the viewing experience even when he was offscreen — but his was NOT a lead performance.

When I first saw “The Help” I figured Viola Davis was a lock for a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Emma Stone is clearly the lead in the film, but Davis has a substantial and pivotal supporting role, and she knocks it out of the park.

Surprise. Davis is up for Best Actress — and she’s probably going to win. That also clears the way for Spencer to win in the Supporting category.

I’ll have my predictions in all 24 categories tomorrow. Remember: just about everyone will correctly predict more than half the winners of the major awards. The way to win your Oscar bracket is to come up with a healthy percentage of winners in the categories such as Best Animated Short and Best Sound Mixing, which is not the same as Best Sound Editing, as everyone knows. Well, everyone who works in sound mixing or sound editing, that is.

The view from here

If you’d like to watch the Oscars with me and support a terrific cause, there’s a viewing party at Rockit Bar & Grill. A portion of the proceeds will benefit After School Matters, the non-profit founded by the late Maggie Daley. They offer high school teenagers out-of-school programs in the arts, sciences, technology and sports.

To purchase tickets, go to:

www.rockitbarandgrill.com <http://www.rockitbarandgrill.com>

Hope to see you Sunday. Even though “Drive” got snubbed.