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My new favorite Best Actress nominees

I've decided to post a picture of each of my favorite Best Actress nominees. These will be new favorites, not the nominees I've already stated are my favorites.

Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas

My picks for Best Supporting Actress

I have decided to post my choices on who should have won Best Supporting Actress. It will be only for the 2000s for now, since I still have a lot of films to see in the 90's , the 80's, and so on. So here it is. 2000:Frances Mcdormand as Elaine Miller in Almost Famous. 2001: Marisa Tomei as Natalie Strout in In The Bedroom. 2002: Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelly in Chicago. Holly Hunter as Melanie 'Mel' Freeland in Thirteen. 2004: Virginia Madsen as Maya Randall in Sideways. 2005: Rachel Weisz as Tessa Quayle in The Constant Gardener. 2006: Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko in Babel. 2007: Amy Ryan as Helene McCready in Gone Baby Gone. 2008: Marisa Tomei as Pam/Cassidy in The Wrestler. This is just my opinion, so don't be too harsh. Comment and tell me who your choices are! P.s I'll make a new list my choices for the 90's as soon as I see more films.

Films I've seen recently

Bullets Over Broadway: I'm a fan of Woody Allen films and I enjoyed this one. Good performances and very entertaining. A Bright Star: I saw this HORRIBLE movie last saturday and I hated it from start to finish. Too bad that Jane Campion, the director and screenwriter of The Piano which was a brilliant film, was the person behind this disaster of a movie. Boogie Nights: Really liked this movie. It faded a bit in the 2nd half, but the screenplay was brilliant and the entire cast was exceptional, especially Julianne Moore. The Fabulous Baker Boys: Felt like a big cliche movie at times, but Pfeiffer's dynamic performance elevated the entire film. I need to watch Driving Miss Daisy again to decide between Pfeiffer and Jessica Tandy for my Best Actress pick though. Tel me your thoughts on these movies!

Afterthoughts on last post

Swinton is one of my favorite winners ever in this category. Although I don't feel she was the best of the nominees, it's still a great performance. The first time I saw Michael Clayton I wasn't that impressed with Swinton, but after repeated viewings, I've become a fan of the performance. My ranking: 1. Amy Ryan 2. Saorise Ronan 3. Tilda Swinton 4. Cate Blanchett 5. Ruby Dee. I never saw I'm Not There, but I watched Blanchett's performance on youtube which was posted by the Weinstein Company. Since her performance is one whole section of the film with no cuts, I think it counts. I didn't see American Gangster either, but Dee's performance is so short I think that should count as well. If you comment, could tell me who's your pick and why? I would really like to know.

Recall The Gold: Did Tilda Swinton Deserve her oscar?

The 2007 Best Supporting Actress race was the most unpredictable category of the night at the 80th Annual Academy Awards. All of the nominees (with the exception of Saorise Ronan) all were predicted to win and in the end Tilda Swinton managed to pull off a surprise (to most people anyway) win for her bravura performance as a nerve wracked corporate business woman who orders her head lawyer killed in Michael Clayton. Swinton was a longshot for most of the oscar season, but after her upset win at the baftas and the fact that Michael Clayton was probably going to go empty handed on oscar night led some award pundits to predict her win. That said, it's understandable that she was considered a dark horse given her fierce competition. Cate Blanchett had won the golden globe and several critics awards for her genderbending performance as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. However, having honored Blanchett for The Aviator so recently I don't think voters were inclined to give her another oscar so soon. Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)had won the most critics awards (15 in total) and looked like a sure thing but her globe loss to Blanchett and her SAG loss to Dee hurt her chances. Ruby Dee was the sentimental favorite and had managed to beat out early frontrunners Blanchett and Ryan. But the performance was still incredibly brief and the fact that American Gangster didn't get any other major nominations didn't help either. The only person out of the running was 13 year old Saorise Ronan whose character was probably too unlikeable and that child performances are usually undeservedly scorned probably kept her from a win. So, readers do you think that Swinton still deserves her oscar? Comment!

My picks for the 73rd oscars

Note: Unlike, my previous picks posts, I will be doing a post that includes my choice and why I chose it for the top 8 categories. Best Picture: Traffic. I'm really torn, because I think Crouching Tiger is an amazing movie. But I give a slight edge to Traffic. It was a complex, fascinating film. Best Director: Steven Soderbergh for Traffic. Hist storytelling skills are top notch and the movie is brilliantly made. Best Actor: I'm not going to do this category, because I've only seen two nominees. But right now, my choice is Ed Harris. Best Actress: Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For A Dream. I love Laura Linney in You Can Count On Me, but after watching RFAD last night, Burstn's haunting, devastating performance gets my vote. Best Supporting Actor: Benico Del Toro in Traffic. An excellent performance in a great cast. Best Supporting Actress: Frances Mcdormand in Almost Famous. Another difficult choice, where I could have easily gone with Kate Hudson or Marcia Gay Harden. But I love Frances Mdcormand and this is one of her best performances. Best Original Screenplay: Almost Famous. A great movie and Crowe's script was perfect. You Can Count On Me was a very close second. Best Adapted Screenplay: Traffic. The fact that they manged to make the story so involving and unconfusing was great achievement. If you do comment, could you tell me what your choices are? You don't have to go into great detail.

My thoughts on my favorite Best Actress nominees part 2

Judi Dench in Notes On A Scandal: Might very well be the best performance of Dench's career. Laura Linney in You Can Count On Me and The Savages: I really can't decide which performance is better. Is it Linney's beautifully nuanced work in You Can Count On Me or is it her bitingly funny, yet compassionate performance in The Savages? I really don't care. Both are great. Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: Winslet's amazing performance is one of my all time favorites. Glenn Close in Dangerous Liasons: Absolutely brilliant. Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada: A performance which gets better and better with repeated viewings. Her best work this decade for me. Diane Lane in Unfaithful: A superb, subtle portrayal of an adulterous wife. Very complex and real and that train scene! Just wow. So that's all. But, believe me, I have a lot of favorite losing nominees, but these (and the performances from part 1) rank highest on my list. If you do comment, could tell me which ones you like or don't like? I'd really like to know.

Most overrated films and performances:

I know Twister published a post like this, but I wanted to make my own because I feel that these films and performances are incredibly overrated. Singing In The Rain: When I read the part of Sage's worst to best Supporting Actress review when she said that Singing In the Rain is perhaps the most overrated movie of all time, I completely agreed with what she said. It's a fun, entertaining musical, but is it the greatest movie musical of all time? The 10th best film ever made? No! Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose: A excellent performance and my 2nd choice for Best Actress that year, but Cotillard's performance is WAY overpraised. She was called by one youtube user as one of the top 5 best Best Actress winners of all time and she is actually number 2 on a "greatest performances of all time" video. Cotillard doesn't even come close these descriptions and another reason I have a problem with this win is because it fits right in to the academy's love of honoring biopic performances. Not to say all the actors who won for real people performances weren't deserving, but I get sick of actors always winning for playing real people and Cotillard is a prime example of that. Casablanca: You'll probably want to tie me up, shoot me, and throw me of a bridge for this, but I didn't find this film to be that great. Yes, it has a good script, but I think that this movie is quite dated. I also think that the reason why it is so loved is because it was one of the first films to combine so many genre's sucesfully (drama, romance, mystery, war film, ect). Please comment and tell me if you agree or disagree with my choices.

Worst Supporting Actress Winners

Note: I didn't see The Bad And The Beautiful, Harvey, Rosemary's Baby, or Sayonara, but I watched their performances on youtube. Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby: Completely agree with Twister on this. This is an incredibly bland and one-note performance. In fact, I don't even find it creepy. Minnie is pushy, nosy, and noisy but she didn't scare me at all. This performance is a miscalculation of both Gordon and the filmmakers. Josephine Hull in Harvey: Has it's funny moments, but it's overdone and not award-worthy. Renee Zellweger in Cold Mountain: She makes Cold Mountain interesting and it's sort of a guilty pleasure, but it's WAY over the top and her competion was far more deserving. Jessica Lane in Tootsie: A sleep-walking performance which was just a consolation win. Teri Garr was much better. Gloria Grahame in The Bad And The Beautiful: BORING and one-note. Miyoshi Umeki in Sayonara: You know, when I watched this I couldn't stop laughing because it was SO bad. Kim Basinger in L.A confidential: Flat out awful. Jenniffer Hudson in Dreamgirls: A performance so overblown she practically brings the house down (not in a good way). Jenniffer Conelly in A Beautiful Mind: Now at number 1. What can I say that I haven't said before about this travesty? So, what do you think? Which ones do you disagree or agree with?

My thoughts on my favorite Best Actress nominees part 1

Holly Hunter in Broadcast News: One of my favorite actresses is absolutely great in this film. Debra Winger in Terms Of Endearment: You know, I just can't decide between Winger and Maclaine for the win that year. But I can salute Winger's fantastic nominated performance. Bette Davis in All About Eve: A performance for the ages. Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven: As you are probably already aware of, I love this film and Moore is brilliant in the lead. Can you imagine anyone else in the part? Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: A towering, yet subtle portrayal of the great monarch. Angelica Huston in The Grifters: Huston nails the role of Lily and manages to make her human. Ellen Page in Juno: A soon to be iconic performance. Like Moore in Far From Heaven, could anyone else have played this character? Well, that's all for now. Please comment and my 2nd post will be up soon!

Films I've seen recently

A few days ago, I decided to watch Jerry Maguire. Earlier in the year, I had watched many films that were nominated for the 1996 awards (Fargo, The English Patient, Secrets And Lies, Shine, Sling Blade), but I never got around to watching Jerry Maguire. I thought it was entertaining, but I had several problems with it. First of all, the movie dragged towards the end and I thought there needed to be more explanation (spoiler alert!)about why Jerry and Dorothy split up before they got back together at the end. Another problem I had is that the entertainment weekly critics in their "critics choices" article were saying that this film is some sort of meditation on corporate values. But I don't feel that it does that at all, nor does it aim to do that. The performances were, overall, quite good. Tom Cruise was great and has wonderful chemistry with the excellent Zellweger. Cuba Gooding J.R's performance seems universally hated, but I didn't hate it. I just thought it was sub-par and not oscar worthy. That said, I enjoyed this movie. Another movie that I saw was The Crucible, another 1996 film. At first, I didn't like it and it has some HORRIBLE acting, but it grew on me towards the end. Despite what I said about the acting, I was very impressed by Joan Allen's performance. She was superb as Elizabeth Proctor and was the soul of the film.

My thoughts on my favorite Supporting Actress nominees part 2

Amy Adams in Junebug: Adams inhabits the soul of her character beautifully and is incredibly funny and entertaining. Olivia Dehavilland in Gone With The Wind: She's in GWTW for God sake! Enough said. Thelma Ritter in All About Eve: Incredibly brief screen time, but pitch perfect and totally memorable. Marisa Tomei in In The Bedroom: One of my favorite actresses works at the top of her game in this unjustly underrated film. Ellen Burstyn in The Last Picture Show: A great, impeccable performance in one of the best films of the 70's. Frances Mcdormand in Almost Famous: Hilarious warm, and wonderful. Kate Winslet in Iris: Vibrant and rewarding portrayal. Joan Allen in Nixon: In a muddled mess of a film, Allen comes through with a fierce, totally believable depiction of a woman who feels unloved and taken for granted by her husband. Note: I decided to add Allen on the list because I was obviously very impressed by her performance and I wanted to add one extra nominee. Please comment and tell me what you think!

Worst supporting actor winners

Kevin Kline in A fish Called Wanda: I know a lot of people like this performance, but I DESPISE it. He takes it WAY over the top and its incredibly annoying. George Chakiris in West Side Story: I love this movie, but Chakiris really doesn't do anything special here. I would have nominated Russ Tamblyn (who played Riff) instead. Jim Broadbent in Iris: A cringe-worthy performance in which I thought Broadbent was trying to channel Geoffrey Rush in Shine, another awful performance. Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men: A lifeless caricature in which Bardem adds nothing special to. Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show: I didn't hate this by any means, but it's not an oscar-worthy performance by any sense, especially since Johnson's more worthier co-star Jeff Bridges was also nominated. Well, that's all I could come up with right now. Please comment! Note: Not in any order.

Dangerous Liasons review

Today, I decided to sit down and watch Dangerous Liasons. And, boy, I was impressed. The script was brilliant, the direction excellent, and the acting (with the exception of Michelle Pfeiffer) was exceptional. John Malkovich was robbed of a best actor nomination for his performance and Glenn Close was brilliant. But Pfeiffer didn't impress me. I agree with supporting actress smackdown people that she relied to much on her appearence and she's unable to sell her character's emotions and torments. That said, I really liked this movie.

My thoughts on my favorite supporting actress nominees part 1

Since my first post failed, I'm going to post them in parts.. Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich: Keener manages to avoid one note scenery chewing and delivers a deliciously bitchy, unique, and three dimensional star turn that is a driving force behind Being John Malkovich. No small feat. Chloe Sevigny in Boy's Don't Cry: This performance seems to have a lot of fans these days (Shoutout to Twister!) and I'm glad to count myself as one of them. Her understated,heartbreaking portrayal was searingly authentic. Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler: A gut wrenching, raw performance. The fact that she managed to avoid "The hooker/stripper with a heart of gold" cliche is quite impressive. Holly Hunter in Thirteen: In a gritty, unflichingly realistic movie, Hunter shows us why she's one of our most talented and underrated actresses working today. Joan Cusack in In & Out: Hilarious and she also brings a lot of depth to the part. Shohreh Aghdashloo in House Of Sand And Fog: Aghdashloo conveys her character's sadness, anger, and love for her family wonderfully and her beautiful presence helps support and ground the film. Patricia Clarkson in Pieces Of April: Funny and heartbreaking. Marianne Jean-Baptise in Secrets And Lies: A subtle, detailed performance. It's weird that she now stars on Without A Trace. Please comment and my the 2nd part will be up soon.

My favorite supporting actress nominees

In no order (I don't believe in ranking nominees by personal preference): Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich, Ellen Burstyn in The Last Picture Show, Joan Cusack in In & Out, Holly Hunter in Thirteen, Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler, Patricia Clarkson in Pieces Of April, Olivia Dehavilland in Gone With The Wind, Chloe Sevigny in Boy's Don't Cry, Shoreh Aghdashloo in House Of Sand And Fog, Marisa Tomei in In The Bedroom, Kate Winslet in Iris, Frances Mddormand in Almost Famous, Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone, Thelma Ritter in All About Eve, Amy Adams in Junebug, and Marianne Jean-Baptise in Secrets And Lies. Please comment and tell me what you think! I have many more, but these are the ones who I've decided to post for now.