Last movie seen: An Education

I saw this film for the first time,like four or five months ago, and I was underwhelmed. The movie seemed rather average and if you remember from my first review of the film, I said that Mulligan was good, but in my opinion, overrated and not Oscar-worthy. But I've been thinking more and more about her performance and I wanted to take another look at the film. So I did and I was completely won over by Mulligan's performance. The depth and subtle detail she gives to the performance is beautiful and she is so real and funny as well. My feelings for the film itself have also grown, though I still think there are flaws (The parents relationship with Mulligan's suitor) and Alfred Molina was a little better then the first time,but not by much. I have not seen The Last Station yet, but I can say that Gabourey Sidibe and Mulligan are way ahead of both Streep and Bullock and would both be very worthy winners, but it seems unlikely that they will be able to win. So, what do you think? Were you impressed by Mulligan? P.S Please comment Andrew, I know you love the film!

82nd Oscar predictions

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Avatar could win, but I think that The Hurt Locker will walk away with this one. Inglorious Bastards has a slight chance, but probably won't pull off a win. Precious and Up In The Air are the also-rans in the Top 5 contenders, and the other nominees have no chance.

Best Director: Kathyrn Bigelow

James Cameron has a good shot at winning, but Bigelow will probably take this home. Yay! I haven't seen it yet, but it'll great to see a female director finally honored.

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges

He pretty much has this in the bag. In my opinion, he was good, but not as good as people say. I was much more impressed by Colin Firth's performance and I hope he can pull off an upset.

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
This is the only exciting category of the year. Let's do it by process of elimination. Mirren is out of the running, Sidibe could surprise, but it's unlikely since she hasn't won anything big. Mulligan has the critic's on her side, plus the BAFTA which helps, but I think she's lost too much momentum. Meryl has the sentiment factor and it is a very possible winner, but I think we all know what will happen. Sandra Bullock will be winning this year. With the SAG, Golden Globe, and the Critic's choice (Tied with Meryl). Plus, she's a popular actor and the film managed to get a surprise Best Picture nomination, which puts her over the edge.

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Waltz

A lock. Moving on.........

Best Supporting Actress: Monique

It seems as if the backlash (Wasn't much of a big one really), has faded away and looks like Monique is a shoo-in this year. Some are saying Gyllenhaal could pull off an upset (I'll break the T.V if she does), but no.

Best Original Screenplay: Inglorious Bastards

A tough one. It could easily go to The Hurt Locker, but I think that the Academy will go with Tarantino here.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Up In The Air

A close to a sure thing. It's only competition is Precious, but I think that this is the way they will honor Up In The Air.

So, what are your predictions? Do you think any upsets will happen?

Best Actress winners I have seen so far

I've decided to re-post this, since I'm going to start seeing the winners again. So, here we go. />1937: Luise Rainer in The Good Earth 1939: Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind
1944: Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight
1945: Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce
1949: Olivia Dehavilland in The Heiress
1950: Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday
1951: Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
1952: Shirley Booth in Come Back,Little Sheba
1953: Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday
1954: Grace Kelly in The Country Girl
1955: Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo
1956: Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia
1957: Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces Of Eve
1958: Susan Hayward in I Want To Live!
1959: Simone Signoret in A Room At The Top
1960: Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8
1961: Sophia Loren in Two Women
1962: Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker
1963: Patricia Neal in Hud
1964: Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins
1965: Julie Christie in Darling
1966: Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf?
1967: Katherine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?
1968: Katharine Hepburn in The Lion In Winter
1968: Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl
1969: Maggie Smith in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie
1971: Jane Fonda in Klute
1972: Liza Minelli in Cabaret
1974: Ellen Burstyn in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
1975: Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest
1976: Faye Dunaway in Network
1977: Diane Keaton in Annie Hall
1979: Sally Field in Norma Rae
1981: Katherine Hepburn in On Golden Pond
1982: Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice
1983: Shirley Maclaine Terms Of Endearment
1984: Sally Field in Places In The Heart
1985: Geraldine Page in The Trip To Bountiful
1986: Marlee Matlin in Children Of A Lesser God 1987: Cher in Moonstruck
1988: Jodie Foster in The Accused
1989: Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy
1990: Kathy Bates in Misery
1991: Jodie Foster in The Silence Of The Lambs
1992: Emma Thompson in Howard's End
1993; Holly Hunter in The Piano
1994: Jessica Lange in Blue Sky
1995: Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking
1996: Frances Mcdormand in Fargo
1997: Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets
1998: Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare In Love
1999: Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry
2000: Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich
2001: Halle Berry in Monsters Ball
2002: Nicole Kidman in The Hours
2003: Charlize Theron in Monster
2004: Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
2005: Reese Witherspoon in Walk The Line
2006: Helen Mirren in The Queen
2007: Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose
2008: Kate Winslet in The Reader

I will continually update this page as I see more winners. If you care to, you can check this post and see if there's an update and if you want to know what I thought about the updated performance, you can ask in the comments. So,what do you think? How many winners have you seen? Any winners you want me to see soon?

Best Actress 1996

1. Emily Watson as Bess McNeill in Breaking The Waves: Sage has covered plenty of Oscar mistakes in her rankings, but I haven't covered that many. Well, here's my first one! Emily Watson's performance is easily one of the best I've ever seen.It is so real. She completely stripped her real self away and was committed to her character 100%. It's a shattering portrayal of an emotionally desperate woman that is unforgettable. Grade: 5 stars.

2. Frances Mcdormand as Marge Olmstead-Gunderson in Fargo: Frances Mcdormand is hysterically funny and just wonderful in Fargo, which is a great movie. She adds a lot of depth to the film and to her character. A worthy winner. Grade: 4, 5 stars.

3. Brenda Blethyn as Cynthia Rose Purley in Secrets And Lies: Blethyn is fantastic in this film which is also great. It's a heartbreaking and very realistic performance. Grade: 4,5 stars.

4. Diane Keaton as Bessie in Marvin's Room: I usually love Diane Keaton, but this performance was a mixed bag. She was good and enjoyable, but, like Fritz said in his review of her, is there any depth? But it's not bad. But Meryl Streep was the standout for me. Grade: 2 stars

5. Kristin Scott-Thomas as Katherine Clifton in The English Patient: I didn't hate this, but was there anything truly exceptional about it? I couldn't see anyone playing this role, but it just wasn't very impressive to me. And I personally feel that Juliette Binoche had a larger role (And not to mention the better performance in my opinion), so why couldn't she have been in supporting? Grade: 2 stars

What are your thoughts on this year? Who was your pick to win?
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My new favorite Best Supporting Actress nominees

I'm combining both of the posts I did before and adding some new nominees in as well and giving my ratings for all of them. So here we go:

1939: Olivia Dehavilland in Gone With The Wind: 4,5/5
1940: Judith Anderson in Rebecca: 5/5
1945: Anne Blyth in Mildred Pierce: 4/5
1945: Eve Arden in Mildred Pierce: 3,5/5
1950: Hope Emerson in Caged: 4,5/5
1950: Thelma Ritter in All About Eve: 4/5/5
1950: Celeste Holm in All About Eve: 3,5/5
1952: Jean Hagen in Singing In The Rain: 4/5/5
1969: Catherine Burns in Last Summer: 4/5
1971: Ellen Burstyn in The Last Picture Show: 5/5
1975: Ronee Blakely in Nashville: 4,5/5
1976: Piper Laurie in Carrie: 4/5
1979: Mariel Hemmingway in Manhattan: 4/5
1982: Terri Gar in Tootsie: 4,5/5
1985: Margaret Avery in The Color Purple: 4/5
1988: Frances Mcdormand in Mississippi Burning: 4/5
1988: Signourney Weaver in Working Girl: 4/5
1994: Jennifer Tilly in Bullets Over Broadway: 4,5/5
1994: Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction: 3,5/5
1995: Mare Winningham in Georgia: 4,5/5
1995: Joan Allen in Nixon: 4,5/5
1995: Kate Winslet in Sense And Sensibility: 4/5
1996: Marianne Jean-Baptise in Secrets And Lies: 4,5/5
1996: Joan Allen in The Crucible: 4/5
1997: Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights: 5/5
1997: Joan Cusack in In & Out: 5/5
1997: Gloria Stuart in Titanic: 4/5
1999: Chloe Sevigny in Boys Don't Cry: 5/5
1999: Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich: 4,5/5
2000: Frances Mcdormand in Almost Famous: 4,5/5
2000: Kate Hudson in Almost Famous: 4,5/5
2001: Marisa Tomei in In The Bedroom: 5/5
2001: Kate Winslet in Iris: 4,5/5
2003: Holly Hunter in Thirteen: 5/5
2003: Shoreh Aghdashloo in House Of Sand And Fog: 5/5
2003: Patricia Clarkson in Pieces Of April: 4,5/5
2003: Marcia Gay-Harden in Mystic River: 3,5/5
2004: Virginia Madsen in Sideways: 5/5
2005: Amy Adams in Junebug: 5/5


2006: Rinko Kikuchi in Babel: 5/5
2006: Cate Blanchett in Notes On A Scandal: 5/5
2006: Adrianna Barazza in Babel: 4/5
2007: Amy Ryan in Gone,Baby Gone: 5/5
2008: Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler: 5/5
2008: Amy Adams in Doubt: 5/5
2008: Viola Davis in Doubt: 4/5

So, what do you think? Any nominees you didn't like? Any ones you want to see on here?

2009 Best Supporting Actress ranking

1. Monique as Mary Jones in Precious: Wow, what a performance! Monique delivers a powerful, incredibly realistic performance that humanizes a cruel, unsympathetic character. Not sure what else to say. Simply amazing!

2. Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener in Up In The Air: Kendrick is perfectly cast in the role of Natalie Keener, an uptight, neurotic young woman who discovers more about herself and about life. She's funny, annoying, and all around great!

3. Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran in Up In The Air: The second time I saw Up In The Air, I was little underwhelmed by this performance, but it's still good. She adds a lot to the film and has great chemistry with George Clooney. Brilliant monolgue scene as well.

4. Penelope Cruz as Carla in Nine: The best performance in the entire film! I love Penelope and she steals every scene she's in. Perhaps a nomination is too much, but still wonderful.

5. Maggie as Jean Craddock in Crazy Heart: I'm happy that she came out of nowhere and got a nomination, but this felt off to me. Her role is a stock role and at times she feels to abrupt, but I give her credit for being very natural and having great chemistry with Jeff Bridges.

What are your thoughts?

My new favorite Best Actress nominees

This is pretty much the same list as I did two months ago, but I'm including my number ratings for each nominee. So, here we go:

1941: Bette Davis in The Little Foxes: 4,5/5
1950: Bette Davis in All About Eve: 5/5
1950: Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard: 5/5
1950: Anne Baxter in All About Eve: 4, 5/5
1954: Judy Garland in A Star Is Born: 5/5
1965: Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music: 5/5
1967: Anne Bancroft in The Graduate: 5/5
1967: Faye Dunaway in Bonnie And Clyde: 4,5/5
1968: Patricia Neal in The Subject Was Roses: 4,5/5
1974: Faye Dunaway in Chinatown: 4/5
1976: Sissy Spacek in Carrie: 4,5/5
1977: Marsha Mason in The Goodbye Girl: 4/5
1978: Jill Clayburgh in An Unmarried Woman: 5/5
1983: Debra Winger in Terms Of Endearment: 5/5
1985: Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple: 4, 5/5
1987: Holly Hunter in Broadcast News: 4,5/5
1988: Glenn Close in Dangerous Liasons: 4,5/5
1989: Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys: 3, 5/5
1990: Angelica Huston in The Grifters: 4/5
1991: Geena Davis in Thelma And Louise: 5/5
1991: Susan Sarandon in Thelma And Louise: 5/5
1994: Winona Ryder in Little Women: 4/5
1995: Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas: 5/5
1996: Emily Watson in Breaking The Waves: 5/5
1996: Brenda Blethyn in Secrets And Lies: 4,5/5
1997: Helena Bonham-Carter in The Wings Of The Dove: 4,5/5
1997: Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown: 4/5
1997: Kate Winslet in Titanic: 3, 5/5
1998: Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: 4,5/5
1999: Annette Benning in American Beauty: 4,5/5
2000: Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For A Dream: 4,5/5
2000: Laura Linney in You Can Count On Me: 4,5/5
2001: Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge: 4,5/5
2001: Sissy Spacek in In The Bedroom: 4,5/5
2001: Renee Zellweger in Bridget's Jones's Diary: 4/5
2002: Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven: 5/5
2002: Diane Lane in Unfaithful: 4,5/5
2002: Renee Zellweger in Chicago: 4/5
2004: Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: 5/5
2004: Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake: 4,5/5
2005: Felicity Huffman in Transamerica: 5/5
2006: Judi Dench in Notes On A Scandal: 5/5
2006: Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada: 5/5
2006: Kate Winslet in Little Children: 5/5
2006: Penelope Cruz in Volver: 5/5
2007: Ellen Page in Juno: 5/5
2007: Laura Linney in The Savages: 4,5/5
2008: Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married: 5/5
2008: Melissa Leo in Frozen River: 4,5/5

I will update this page as I see more Best Actress films. Your thoughts? Any ones you like that you see? Don't like? Any nominees you want to see on here?

Best Actress winners of the 90's

10. Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare In Love: 2/5 (Need to re-watch her performance though)

9. Kathy Bates in Misery: 2/5

8. Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets: 3/5

7. Emma Thompson in Howard's End: 4/5

6. Frances Mcdormand in Fargo: 4, 5/5

5. Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry: 4,5/5

4. Jessica Lange in Blue Sky: 4, 5/5

3. Jodie Foster in The Silence Of The Lambs: 5/5

2. Holly Hunter in The Piano: 5/5

1. Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking: 5/5

So what do you think? Any winners ranked/rated too high or too low?

Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

Let's just get this out of the way. I refuse to rewatch G.W.C.T.D? since I saw it recently and I don't think I could stand another viewing of it. So, here we go: Hepburn plays Christina Drayton who is happily married to Matt Drayton(Spencer Tracy) and has a daughter named Joanna (Katherine Laughton in a terrible performance. Christina finds out that her daughter is engaged to a black man named Dr. John Prentice. Christina and her husband are both incredibly surprised and the rest of the film is about how they plan to deal with this issue. To put it simply, G.W.C.T.D? is just a terrible film. It is hasn't aged well at all and it feels so overbearing and plodding. And, unfortunately, the role of Christina Drayton is a horribly underwritten, thin role. While Kate isn't bad, the problem with her performance is that her performance never feels like a real person. Just more of a supportive character and , acting-wise, feels like a backup to Tracy's performance. That said, Hepburn has two good scenes (Don't speak, Hilary! Just go! and the confrontation scene in the bathroom with her and Tracy), but, still, there is no depth to her character in those scenes either. So, overall, it isn't flat out horrible, but nowhere near Oscar caliber. Grade: Half a star. Your thoughts?

Best Actress winners of the 1950's

10. Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia: 0/5

9. Judy Holiday in Born Yesterday: 2/5

8. Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday: 2 and a half/5

7. Shirley Booth in Come Back Little Sheba: 4,5/5

6. Simone Signoret in A Room At The Top: 4, 5/5

5. Grace Kelly in The Country Girl: 4, 5/5

4. Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces Of Eve: 4,5/5

3. Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo: 5/5

2. Susan Hayward in I Want To Live!: 5/5

1. Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire : 5/5

So, how would you rank them? Any winners who you think are rated/ranked too high or too low?

Best Actress winners of the 1960's

Here is how I would rank them:

11. Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8: 0/5

10. Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? : 1/2/5

9. Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins: 3/5

8. Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl: 4,5/5

7. Patricia Neal in Hud: 4,5/5

6. Sophia Loren in Two Women: 4,5/5

5. Julie Christie in Darling: 4,5/5

4. Maggie Smith in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie: 4, 5/5

3. Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker: 5/5

2. Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf?: 5/5

1. Katharine Hepburn in The Lion In Winter: 5/5

So, how would you rank them? Any winners that you think are rated/ranked too high or too low?

Best Actress 1967

Kate's profile will be up soon.

Thoughts on Oscar nominations

Okay, why the HELL did The Blind Side get a nomination? Well, this makes Bullock the frontrunner, not because that nominees from Best Picture nominees win often, but because it shows strong support for her movie, which will give her enough momentum to edge out Streep. So happy that Maggie Gyllenhalll got a nomination! Haven't seen Crazy Heart yet, but what a great surprise! Also pleased that Precious and Up In The Air got six nominations, but I'm surprised that 500 Days Of Summer didn't a Best Original Screenplay nomination. Well, I didn't like it that much, so I can't say I'm sad. Best Actor looks like Jeff Bridges and Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress are both locks for Christopher Waltz and Monique. Oh, and I finished all of the 50's and 60's Best Actress winners! I'll make a post on how I'd rank the winners each decade soon. So, I'll be taking a break from seeing the winners. But I might a Best Actress profile though and it'll be either for 1940,1962,1967, 1988, or 2006. Which ones out of those years do you want me to do?