Best Supporting Actress 2004

[bizarre]

My choices:

1. Rosamund Pike, in "The Libertine"
2. Kirsten Dunst, in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
3. Lynn Redgrave, in "Kinsey"
4. Daryl Hannah, in "Kill Bill: Vol. 2"
5. Anne Heche, in "Birth"
ALT: Amanda Seyfried & Rachel McAdams, in "Mean Girls"

[rudeboy]

Went with Linney's wonderful performance.

[Hustler]

I was so delighted with Blanchett´s portrayal of the legendary Kate in which she was able to show her versatility and her wide range of resources. She gets my vote.

[Uri]

Like many other here, I think it's between Linney and Madsen with Blanchet in third place for her entertaining but skin deep portrayal, Okonedo sympathetic forth and Portman a lame fifth. Now, does one go for a constantly great performer, who's very good in a, ahm, partly successful film but was even better elsewhere, or for the one who uncharacteristically shines in what is an unquestionable career pick? Whether it was the better quality of the film she was in, the sympathetic nature of the character she was playing or her actual acting ability, Madsen was such a pleasant surprise in Sideways she gets my vote.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was probably the film I enjoyed the most that year and I liked both Blanchet and Anjelica Huston enough for them to be on my list, alongside Linney and Madsen. Dogville on the other hand was a film I had huge issues with, but Patricia Clarkson was definitely not one of them. She wiped the (bare) floor with whatshername who was playing the lead there. And since I've been loking for a chance to honor her, this may be as good an opportunity as I'll ever have.

[Big Magilla]

This is the closest race we've seen in some time. If the trend continues it will end in a three-way tie. Blacnhett, Linney and Madsen all have 8 votes each at the moment.

It's been pretty much that way all along. All three have been in the lead at one point or another only to have the other two catch up. Fascinating.

[Kova]

Madsen vs. Linney for me. It was a crushing shame that Linney was Kinsey's only nomination. She's pretty wonderful in the role, but Madsen is so perfectly cast in Sideways that it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime performance. Madsen gets my vote.

Cate Blanchett--like Kate Winslet--won her Oscar for one of her least riveting roles. Her win is not as tragic, however, since she at least manages to be marginally entertaining. She plays up Hepburn's daffy assertiveness delightfully in her opening scenes.

Closer is such a misconceived mess--Nichols never decides whether or not to take his characters seriously, and Law, Roberts, and Portman are all ridiculously miscast. I didn't buy Portman as a stripper for a second, despite her commitment to the role.

Sophie Okonedo can be an electric screen presence (see Dirty Pretty Things) but she doesn't get to do anything beyond cry and worry, worry and cry in the hopelessly limp Hotel Rwanda. I'm hoping she'll eventually get a vehicle worthy of her talent, though.

[Okri]

Blanchett is far and away the best for me.

[Mister Tee]

I don't think there's anything I'm going to say that hasn't already been articulated by someone or other in this thread.

I'd have nominated Portman, but for Garden State, where she did what she does best -- expressed an aching vulnerability. She's utterly miscast in Closer, and looks throughout like a young girl playing dress-up.

Sophie Okenedo doesn't have that much to do, but she's the most genuine presence in a film that otherwise mostly rings false.

I guess I'm happy Cate Blanchett has an Oscar, but there are later nominations for which I'd have far more supported a win. She does a good approximation of Hepburn, but I don't see that as such an overwhelming achievement.

My reaction to Virginia Madsen is not dissimilar to the one I had to Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas. I'd been told I would see a revelatory advance from an actress who'd up till then not been impressive. In each case, I did like the actress more than I ever had before but 1) not at such a level as to change my mind permanently about her, and 2) it seemed the quality of the material rather than anything in particular the performer was offering that accounted for the difference. Madsen is very solid in a movie I like a great deal, but she's not now and has never been more than a mid-range actress.

Laura Linney is a far better actress in general, and in Kinsey she's wonderful. There's an early bedroom scene with Liam Neeson where her humor and enthusiasm for life (and for Kinsey) comes through so fully it makes the rest of her journey perfectly believable: she's so in love and enthused about this man she'll stick to him despite his unorthodox (and society-upsetting) actions/methods. A skeptical-but-let's-try-it-out spirit runs through everything she does, which does more to humanize the subject matter than anything that happens in the labs or interviews. Linney has often been good, but this is where I felt she really ought to have been an Oscar winner.

[Sabin]

I haven't seen Kinsey since its release in 2004, but I recall Linney being something of a co-lead in the film. If she is supporting, then she gets my vote for the year. At this point, Linney may never win an Oscar, but she certainly deserved one here. I remember thinking it would be nice though if Madsen won, as her likelihood of getting another role this good were minimal. She's very good as well.

Cate Blanchett is good, but I don't think anyone will remember The Aviator as her finest hour. Sophie Okonedo does well with what she's given, though what she's given is limited. And Natalie Portman is just out of her league in Closer, a truly lousy film.

My picks:
1. Laura Linney, Kinsey
2. Cate Blanchett, Coffee & Cigarettes
3. Virginia Madsen, Sideways
4. Maggie Cheung, Hero
5. Naomi Watts, I (heart) Huckabees

[anonymous1980]

Haven't seen Okenedo's film but I did like the clip they've shown that's probably the one that help clinch her the nomination.

No to Portman. I agree with the person here who said she acts like she's playing a stripper rather than being a stripper, very artificial. I disliked Closer in general with only Clive Owen coming across unscathed.

The other three ladies are a close race. I loved Virginia Madsen's speech about her love for wine and Laura Linney is luminous as Kinsey's wife in Kinsey but I would have to give this to Cate Blanchett who, IMO, not only does Katharine Hepburn impression but brings her to life as a full character in Howard Hughes' life. I agree with the Oscar win. She gets my vote.

[Snick's Guy]

My vote is the same today as it was in 2004 -- Madsen all the way!

[ITALIANO]

Closer is an excercise in frigidity that wasn't even very challenging from an intellectual point of view. Natalie Portman is an actress who can certainly be interesting, but here, despite a showy role, she wasn't very impressive.

Cate Blanchett also wasn't at her best in The Aviator, but playing Katharine Hepburn is a bit like playing Gandhi - the Academy will honor you AND, through you, the real-life person you represented on-screen. This was Blanchett's first Oscar and Hepburn's fifth.

Sophie Okonedo is an actress with an expressive, open face and an undeniable talent, so I was glad that she was nominated, though I'll be the first to admit that in Hotel Rwanda she didn't have much more to do than looking worried or terrified.

Kinsey is Bill Condon's best movie, and it's not a complete disaster. It's wrong in many ways, including a crucial one that The Original BJ correctly pointed out: for "a film ostensibly about sex... it's really about love". True, but it still SHOULD be about sex, and sex, as not only we Europeans but, most importantly, Americans like Kinsey himself know well, isn't and shouldn't be considered an "inferior subject". It's simply not daring as it should be, yet I remember my father's reaction after he saw it - he said to me "It's not a good movie but it's good that they finally made a movie about him". They took decades but they finally did and - what I am going to say is for once completely subjective - I will always prefer to see a movie about Kinsey than a movie about the creators of Facebook. Plus, Laura Linney is good in it.

But Virginia Madsen, an actress I had never even thought of before, was a revelation in Sideways. Not only the famous - and very well written - monologue, but in general her performance, her portrayal of a woman who's sad but not yet defeated, represent one of the most believable depiction of ageing in recent American cinema. It's quiet but powerful acting, and despite the fact that she hasn't done much else after this movie, my personal Oscar goes to her.

[FilmFan720]

I agree with the growing majority that Laura Linney is the best vote here. Kinsey gives her one of her greatest roles on film, and she nails every moment of it.

The only other person here I would have nominated is Sophie Okenedo, who brings a real warmth to her film. Madsen is excellent but gets overshadowed in Sideways, Blanchett is a fine imitation but not much else (and is an actress who I rarely call for) and Portman is a slight embarassment in a role that is completely over her head.

My top 5:
1. Laura Linney, Kinsey
2. Maggie Cheung, Hero
3. Sophie Okenedo, Hotel Rwanda
4. Kirsten Dunst, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
5. Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls
Other mentions: Kim Basinger, The Door in the Floor; Virginia Madsen, Sideways; Sandra Oh, Sideways

[mlrg]

Natalie Portman - Closer

[Damien]

Except for Blanchett who, to me, was just a waxworks Katharine Hepburn, this is an exceedingly strong lineup, even though I can't stand Madsen's and Portman's movies. I'm voting for Laura Linney, for her fascinating amalgam of vulnerability, wry humor, intelligence and steely resolve. I do, though, think she is a co-lead in Kinsey and was in the wrong category, the same way that Walter Pidgeon was up for Best Actor, not Supporting in Mrs. Miniver and Madame Curie.

My Own Top 5:
1. Laura Linney in Kinsey
2. Scarlett Johansson in In Good Company
3. Joan Allen in The Notebook.
4. Amanda Seyfried in Mean Girls
5. Chloe Sevigney in Dogville
(With Linney in lead, the 5th spot would go to Mandy Moore in Saved.)



Edited By Damien on 1291738806