Chcolat wasn't a very good movie, but there were some very good things in it including the work of one of our prolific posters from 1998-2000, a 1999 Oscar nominee who promised to give us a shout-out if he won (he didn't), but who sadly stopped posting here after the drubbing his UAADB "friends" gave the film he worked so hard on.
I always felt bad about that, which is why I try not to come down too hard on any film.
I feel bad about that also. It's been almost ten years since Editman's been here. He clearly now has a healthy relationship with director Lasse Hallstrom, having edited An Unfinished Life, The Hoax, Chocolat, and The Shipping News. And another quick peruse on imdb shows that he was Second Unit Director on The Shipping News, The Sixth Sense, To Wong Foo, She-Devil, and the wonderful Running on Empty.
Chcolat wasn't a very good movie, but there were some very good things in it including the work of one of our prolific posters from 1998-2000, a 1999 Oscar nominee who promised to give us a shout-out if he won (he didn't), but who sadly stopped posting here after the drubbing his UAADB "friends" gave the film he worked so hard on.
I always felt bad about that, which is why I try not to come down too hard on any film.
A somewhat bipolar year for me -- some really special performances, but also some total place-fillers.
Judi Dench falls firmly in the latter category. I actually thought, after her SAG win, that if anyone could upset Kate Hudson, it would be her, and prepared myself for that nightmare possibility. Delightfully, we were spared that. Chocolat was like a cockroach that kept infesting award categories all season long, and I found Dench's work in it completely undistinguished. I think this is the worst of her six nominations.
I don't think much of Julie Walters here, either. I was actually surprised that her campaign took off the way it did, though, of course, by nomination morning her slot was assured. I didn't find her character (or her film) particularly interesting, and found her strong precursor showing puzzling.
In retrospect, given where her career has gone, I'm glad Kate Hudson didn't win the award nearly everyone thought she would. At the time she seemed like a promising performer, and although the commercial success came, the quality work certainly didn't. But I still think she was splendid in her breakthrough role. Penny Lane is an absolutely luminous personality, and the actress's charm, sense of humor, and dramatic sensitivity all contributed to a well-rounded, hugely appealing character. By this point, I don't much expect her to ever impress me as much as she did here, but I can't deny that her work in Almost Famous really touched me. Still, even at the time, I wasn't rooting for her over the two terrific character actresses on the ballot.
I let out an audible cheer after Marcia Gay Harden's triumph for her sensational performance in Pollock. Lee Krasner offered Harden an explosive role -- certainly the most commanding and dominant of these nominees. And the actress's prickly, complicated work transcended any suffering-wife-in-a-bio cliches and made Mrs. Jackson Pollock a fascinating character in her own right. And there was something so pleasing about this award this year -- it didn't go to the actress who'd been a de facto favorite with the precursors, nor the actress in the most popular movie, nor even the hot actress of the moment. The prize went to a hard-working talent who just gave a great performance, and for that, I cheer her win with Oscar and, perhaps, here.
But Harden's role is fairly large, and I think Frances McDormand makes just as strong an impression, and shows even more range, with a whole lot less. And so, in the spirit of this category, I give her my vote. Her performance is filled with so many wonderful moments I can recall vividly -- her humorous dismissal of her daughter's choice in music ("They're on pot"), her hilarious reaction to hearing that her son gets called a narc, the "Don't take drugs!" outburst, her heartfelt phone call to her son (and then the beat of her sadly throwing down the phone in frustration), clapping proudly at her son's graduation, her first encounter with Billy Crudup at film's end ("There's hope for you, Russell"). Harden's work is probably more dramatically impressive, but McDormand is both really funny and really touching and manages to create a rich portrait of motherhood with fairly limited screen time. She was my choice at the time, and her performance has definitely stuck with me over the past decade. Though her victory wouldn't be by a landslide, I'm happy to cast my vote in her direction.
Uri wrote:Poor Julie Walters. Here she was, basking in the glory of her post menopause state, knowing that finely, at 51, she'd be eligible for the greatest trophy of them all. And then, at the last moment, that professional grand old lady, dame J, came charging from behind and grubbed the Magilla trophy right out of her hands. I hope, for her sake, that for the last decade all she was doing was trying on black maid uniforms in front of the mirror and working on an Irish accent.
Very funny.
Julie Walters has actually been busier than Judi Dench in the last decade, making all those Harry Potter movies, Calendar Girls, Mamma Mia! and numerous other films.
Her best role in the last few years was as the eccentric actress in the British Harold and Maude, 2006's Driving Lessons opposite her Harry Potter son, Rupert Grint. Laura Linney played his mother in that one, which, alas, nobody saw, not that Walters could have won over Helen Mirren's Queen, anyway.
Had it been a supporting performance she would have been a viable alternative to Jennifer Hudson.
Poor Julie Walters. Here she was, basking in the glory of her post menopause state, knowing that finely, at 51, she'd be eligible for the greatest trophy of them all. And then, at the last moment, that professional grand old lady, dame J, came charging from behind and grubbed the Magilla trophy right out of her hands. I hope, for her sake, that for the last decade all she was doing was trying on black maid uniforms in front of the mirror and working on an Irish accent.
Frances McDormand, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon won as leads for borderline (at best) supporting turns. Emma Thompson, Helen Hunt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Kate Winslet won for smaller roles than Harden's. There was nothing of the supporting in her performance other than the nature of the part (the caring spouse) and the lower place Lee Krasner occupies in American art hierarchy, compared with her husband. A co-lead if ever there was one. (And a very good one – in my book second only to Linney). So unfortunately she's out.
Hudson was young, fresh and giggly and she reminds everyone of another young, fresh and giggly blond of a previous generation. Nothing less, nothing more.
There may have been worse films nominated for best picture, but still Chocolat is one of the most dismissible ever, and nothing in it came even close to being a saving grace. The only fun I had, even remotely connected with Dench's mechanical turn, was calculating the exact date of her character's birth – probably the same as Adolph Hitler's, who was born the day before Easter 1889. For some reason I found this bit, while watching the movie, very entertaining.
So that leaves me having to choose between Walters and MacDormand, two actresses I like enormously, giving very good performances – the former in a movie I enjoyed a lot, regardless of its triviality, the latter in one I didn't really care for – so based on this, and the actual resonance of acting, I'd go with Walters. Then again, this is the only time, out of her nominated performances, I have a chance to award MacDormand, an actress who should have been a multi awards winner, but on other occasions. So - eeny, meeny, miny, moe – Walters.
Marcia Gay Harden was not a bad choice, but her winning when Ed Harris did not is as silly as Reese Witherspoon's being victorious while Joaquin Phoenix went home empty-handed (and both Harris and Phoenix were far superior to the two clowns who beat them).
None of the other three nominees had any business being anywhere but home on Oscar night.
My Own Top 5:
1. Siobhan Fallon in Dancer In The Dark
2. Kate Winslet in Quills
3. Joan Cusack in High Fidelity
4. Catherine O'Hara in Best In Show
5. Chloe Sevigney in American Psycho
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Walters and Dench pretty much phone it in. They're fine. I'm something of an Almost Famous groupie myself, but Kate Hudson fails to inspire the infatuation required by her role. I think this is the role Zooey Deschanel was born for. There is a soulmate link missing from the film and it's there. I could go back and forth between Harden (who is a lead) and McDormand, but Frances McDormand was also such an outstanding presence in Wonder Boys. She gets my vote.
1. Jennifer Connelly, Requiem for a Dream
2. Frances McDormand, Wonder Boys
3. Samantha Morton, Jesus' Son
4. Frances McDormand, Almost Famous
5. Lupe Ontiveros, Chuck & Buck
Aside from Harden this is a most uninspired lineup. I nulled my vote. Whilst I thought Harden was good in Pollock, far better than Harris in the title role and gave a better performance then the turgid film deserved I didn't feel she was award worthy.
My choices:
1. Elaine May for Small Time Crooks
2. Catherine O'Hara for Best in Show
3. Josiane Balasko for La Libertin
4. Siobhan Fallon for Dancer in the Dark
5. Sandra Oh for Dancing at the Blue Iguana
Also of note were Jennifer Coolidge in Best in Show, Fernanda Montenegro in A Dog's Will and Lupe Ontiveros in Chuck & Buck.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Harden should have been in lead (although I agree, this isn't blatant), and Hudson is a charming and engaging. Dench and Walters do nothing for me in these roles, in movies I don't much care for.
Lots of overlooked gems, though: Elaine May in Small Time Crooks, Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream (the film's one great performance) and Erika Christensen in Traffic.
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
- Minor Myers, Jr.
Although I put her in Lead for my awards, I can see the argument for Marcia Gay Harden in Support. I don't think it's a clear-cut case like Casey Affleck or Jamie Foxx were.
I think she's so far above the others that there's not much point in discussing it.
My picks for 2000:
1- Siobhan Fallon, Dancer in the Dark
2- Molly Parker, Wonderland
3- Diane Venora, Hamlet
4- Laura Linney, The House of Mirth
5- Ellen Burstyn, The Yards
Marcia Gay Harden would not have won if she had been nominated as Lead. It'd be very difficult to defeat a big movie star who many see as due for a win.
That said, it's odd that she's still the one person from this lineup I haven't seen.
As for the others, I did not like Chocolat that much and Judi Dench is just doing what Judi Dench does best. So she's out.
Kate Hudson was very appealing in her star-making performance in Almost Famous but I think her performance is somewhat overrated and her subsequent career has soured my opinion on her over the years.
I think for now, I'd be split between Julie Walters and Frances McDormand. Walters was a scene-stealer as the ballet teacher, very foul-mouthed and commanding of the screen. However, Frances McDormand's smallish role as the conservative, overprotective mother in Almost Famous is a tiny miracle. She manages to make her tough but sympathetic and leaves an impression on you when it could've easily have been either nothing role or an over-the-top unpleasant cartoonish role. She gets my vote.
This was one of Oscar's strongest line-ups, but it was somewhat unfair.
I was glad to see Marcia Gay Harden win for her terrific performance as Lee Krasner, the artist who gave up her own career to marry and care for the mentally unstable Jackson Pollock in Pollock, over presumed winner Kate Hudson as a groupie in Almost Famous. But I was also a bit taken aback.
The problem was that Harden's was not a supporting performance. The irony is that one of the major contenders for her supporting slot was Amy Madigan, director/star Ed Harris' wife who also gave a terrific, albeit clearly supporting one, as legendary art collector Peggy Guggenheim.
Also shut out of the race was Kate Winslet, who gave one of her best performances as the tragic laundress in Quills.
Blame it on the New York Film Critics who got the ball rolling by awarding Harden in the supporting category. It wasn't that there wasn't room in the lead category. Along with NYFC Best Actress winner Laura Linney in You Can Count on Me and Oscar favorite Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, the only other major contender was Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream. Harden's role was considerably larger than Burstyn's.
It wasn't as though she were an unknown like Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. Harden was a highly respected actress with more two decades of exemplary work in the theatre, in film and on TV behind her.
I would have considered Harden in lead along with Linney, Roberts, Burstyn (my pick for the win), Gillian Anderson in The House of Mirth, Renee Zellweger in Nurse Betty and Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, in which case should would probably have come up short, that's where she more fittingly belongs IMO.
I was in total agreement with the Golden Globes and SAG in the supporting actress category in which they both included Winslet along with Oscar nominees Judi Dench in Chocolat, Julie Walters in Billy Elliot and Frances McDormand and the aforementioned Kate Hudson in Almost Famous.
McDormand's hilarious portrayal of the overprotective mother in Almost Famous might have gotten my vote if I hadn't voted for her in Fargo a mere four years earlier.
It came down to a choice between Julie Walters as the inspirational ballet teacher in Billy Elliot and Judi Dench as the grumpy old lady in Chocolat. Walters' is the easily more likable performance, but Dench's is the tougher one, especially since the film she was in wasn't very good aside from her performance and a few others - Lena Olin in particular.
I went with Dench since I kind of "owed" her one from two years earlier.
