Categories One-by-One: Actress

1998 through 2007
Hustler
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Post by Hustler »

Reese is a good actress but her oscar was undeserved.
paperboy
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Post by paperboy »

I watched Walk The Line for the first time recently and throughout I was thinking "Well....Reese is good, but this is an Oscar winning part?"

And then the 'Jackson' scene happened and it all made sense. Talk about an Oscar winning scene.
rudeboy
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Post by rudeboy »

I watched Walk the Line again last night, with my mother and sister, who both love it. It really is a very thin film - a by the numbers biopic of the first order - but seeing it on the small screen, the two lead performances really do grab you. I'm not that familiar with June Carter so I was able to overlook the criticisms mentioned by Damien, that Reece portrays her as a "cartoonish goofball". But she's a joy to watch. It's not as smart and original as her work in Election or even Legally Blonde - but she's never less than great fun, and in a notably weak field she probably did deserve the oscar (although I haven't seen North Country). She lights up the screen, which is more than you can say for the coasting Dench, the OK but gimmicky Huffman and the hopeless Knightley (who's only remotely credible performance, in my mind, is in the excellent but little-seen British movie Pure).
Big Magilla
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Post by Big Magilla »

Pamela-Marie wrote:
Big Magilla wrote:Watching the Lifetime Channel is a fate worse than death. Maybe that's why its highest demographic is terminally ill women.

Is that a specific or accidental crack at me?
Actually I was thinking of my 85 year-old mother who basically naps through most of the films. God help anyone who changes the channel while she's snoring away.
Pamela-Marie
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Post by Pamela-Marie »

Big Magilla wrote:Watching the Lifetime Channel is a fate worse than death. Maybe that's why its highest demographic is terminally ill women.

Is that a specific or accidental crack at me?

Anyway, I can't help but root for Felicity. Even though I honestly feel William should have an Oscar long before her. I adore Reese, but good god is her career going in the wrong direction (the Julia Roberts road) and I think it would serve her right to be forced to do Election work to earn that Oscar (now that she's on the Academy's radar) and put her back on track. Not to mention, I really can't fathom them giving it to her and ignoring Joaquin. I know he's got a tougher group to contend with, but seriously. In comparison to his work, it really is a crime.

Plus, on a shallow celebrity obession note, young pairings do horribly after an Oscar win. In fact only couples who have been together plus ten years like Frances, Jessica, and Susan are still together (last time a young couple stayed together after an Oscar win, Meryl Streep). And heck, I really like Reese and Ryan and they're pretty much swimming against the tide as it is, so I'd hate her to continue the trend.

But I'll take Reese if it means Hoffman loses, really ...
-- "Say I was Tom Cruise, where would you seat me?"
-- "In acting class."
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Eric
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Post by Eric »

Which only stresses the lack of gender parity among leading performances.
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Post by Penelope »

Compare that to the Supporting Performance winners list, where 6 of the top 10--and 4 of the top 5--are women, and many have argued that the top 3 could be considered Lead performances.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

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Eric
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Post by Eric »

Big Magilla wrote:Despite the paucity of strong best actress candidates, they did manage to nominate four of the best performances out there, not that that's saying a whole lot.
I was going to post a bunch of names taken from the Village Voice critics' poll to indicate that there are certainly more names out there than Oscar lets on (Emmanuelle Devos, Vera Farmiga, Dina Korzun... Rachel McAdams). But then I noticed, and for the first time since seeing these results, that there was only but one female in their top ten rankings! How did I miss that before?
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Post by Big Magilla »

Watching the Lifetime Channel is a fate worse than death. Maybe that's why its highest demographic is terminally ill women.

Despite the paucity of strong best actress candidates, they did manage to nominate four of the best performances out there, not that that's saying a whole lot.

While Reese Witherspoon does not convey much of the real June Carter, she is charming in her own right. Charlize Theron is convincing in a role that any good actress could have carried off. Judi Dench is commanding as only Judi Dench can be. Felicity Huffman carried off a difficult role with nary a false note. Only Keira Knightley is an embarassment among the nominees.

I've vascillated between Witherspoon and Huffman, but have finally decided on Huffman. It would be nice if the Academy did the same, but I think they'll stick with Witherspoon, the true film star they've watched grow up.
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Post by Damien »

Eric wrote:
Penelope wrote:What's frustrating to me about Best Actress--especially this year, but, really every year in this modern era--is the seeming inability of Hollywood to create truly classic women's pictures.

Brokeback Mountain?
Bitch.
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Eric
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Post by Eric »

Penelope wrote:What's frustrating to me about Best Actress--especially this year, but, really every year in this modern era--is the seeming inability of Hollywood to create truly classic women's pictures.
Brokeback Mountain?
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Post by mashari »

Penelope wrote:
The Original BJ wrote:I think at the SAG Awards (or was it the BAFTAS?) whoever presented this category made a comment about the number of great roles for women this year. I know they want to flatter the nominees, but sheesh! Denial is denial.

There were great performances in roles that ranged from great to merely ok-but-lifted-up-by-the-actress; Witherspoon is a distinct example of the latter, and so is Judi Dench (ok, so, yeah, she could play this role in her sleep, but, apparently, even a sleepwalking Judi Dench knows her way around a snappy quip).

What's frustrating to me about Best Actress--especially this year, but, really every year in this modern era--is the seeming inability of Hollywood to create truly classic women's pictures. Where are today's Mildred Pierce, Now Voyager, Random Harvest, Letter from an Unknown Woman, To Each His Own, Imitation of Life, Julia, etc.?
And don't forget The Women, Penelope! LOL, I recall hearing that that film along with the great Mildred Pierce were both being remade at MGM, before the recent Sony acquisition. Julia Roberts was rumored to be in the Crawford-Crystal role in the former film. This was around the time that some Roberts documentary was airing, comparing her career with that of the great Crawford. Ah, well.
"The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes... only sooner."--Tallulah Bankhead
Mister Tee
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Post by Mister Tee »

I especially love their Sunday "Women Who Killed Their Husbands Who Damn Well Deserved It" marathons.
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Post by flipp525 »

Damien wrote:On the Lifetime Channel?

a.k.a. The Battered Women's Channel
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Penelope
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Post by Penelope »

Damien wrote:On the Lifetime Channel?
I don't watch the Lifetime Channel, but I was always under the impression that those movies were essentially low-rent versions of Ashley Judd thrillers.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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