Best Actress 2004

1998 through 2007

Best Actress 2004

Annette Bening - Being Julia
8
11%
Catalina Sandino Moreno - Maria Full of Grace
8
11%
Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
13
18%
Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
11
15%
Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
34
46%
 
Total votes: 74

mojoe92
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Re: Best Actress 2004

Post by mojoe92 »

ksrymy wrote:Missed the ballot-stuffing for Moreno.
Did you ever think it was due to people liking her performance? You really are a debbie downer on here
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Re: Best Actress 2004

Post by ksrymy »

Missed the ballot-stuffing for Moreno.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
bizarre
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Re: Best Actress 2004

Post by bizarre »

mayukh wrote:So lovely to see someone cite Jennifer Garner. She also makes my ballot this year – it's a very charming performance.
Yeah, I love her in that film. There are some problems with the way she plays versus the way the actress playing her as a young girl acts (the two styles don't really gel) but the performance is so fresh, intuitive and guileless. I think if Amy Adams could get some Oscar traction for 'Enchanted' than Jennifer Garner should have gotten some for this.
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Re: Best Actress 2004

Post by mayukh »

bizarre wrote:My choices:

1. Kate Winslet, in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
2. Norma Aleandro, in "Live-in Maid"
3. Yū Aoi, in "Hana & Alice"
4. Jennifer Garner, in "13 Going on 30"
5. Jeanette Brox, in "Wilderness Survival for Girls"
ALT: Samantha Morton, in "The Libertine"
So lovely to see someone cite Jennifer Garner. She also makes my ballot this year – it's a very charming performance.

Voted for Moreno here. Her emotional transparency was, quite simply, very affecting.
bizarre
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Re: Best Actress 2004

Post by bizarre »

My choices:

1. Kate Winslet, in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
2. Norma Aleandro, in "Live-in Maid"
3. Yū Aoi, in "Hana & Alice"
4. Jennifer Garner, in "13 Going on 30"
5. Jeanette Brox, in "Wilderness Survival for Girls"
ALT: Samantha Morton, in "The Libertine"
Okri
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Post by Okri »

Eh - what bugs Damien about Mike Leigh films is so clearly delineated in Vera Drake I doubt he'd enjoy it very much.
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Post by Reza »

Voted for Swank.

My top 5:

Hillary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake
Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace
Annette Bening, Being Julia
Kate Winslet, Finding Neverland

Damien...........you should check out Vera Drake (for Staunton's performance) even if it is a Mike Leigh film.
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Post by Okri »

Winslet and Staunton are the only great choices. This isn't a terrible line-up by any means, and when compared to what happened in the bookending years, it's hard to get the churlish. But on it's own, its rather listless. Voted Winslet for the more interesting characterization in the better film. Moreno's nomination is worthy. Bening's fun but shallow; Swank's just shallow, but very few performers could overcome a Haggis screenplay.
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Post by Snick's Guy »

Not a big Swank fan overall, but she absolutely nailed this role, and was very deserving of Oscar #2.
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Post by Damien »

The greatest film actress of her generation gave another unforgettable performance, so how is it possible to vote for anyone but the magical Hilary Swank?

Moreno would be second -- quietly devastating.

As for the others, Bening was completely miscast and completely unconvincing in that forgettable little movie.

Winslet was ridiculous in that hideous waste of celluloid. Worst movie of 2004. I get palpitations just thinking about having sat through it.

Didn't see Staunton -- by this point I had wised up enough not to subject myself to enduring a Mike Leigh movie ever again.

My Own Top 5:
1. Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
2. Sylvie Testud in Fear And Trembling
3. Julie Delpy in Before Sunset
4. Tracey Ullman in A Dirty Shame
5. Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full Of Grace




Edited By Damien on 1269327538
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Post by Hustler »

Benning was completely dominant, energetic and funny in that role



Edited By Hustler on 1269295739
The Original BJ
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Post by The Original BJ »

Mister Tee wrote:BJ, you're scaring me now. It's like we had a simultaneous mind-meld.
I'm sort of looking forward to us violently disagreeing on something one of these days.
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Post by Mister Tee »

BJ, you're scaring me now. It's like we had a simultaneous mind-meld.
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Post by Mister Tee »

Like many here, Magilla, I'm staggered you could single this field out as weak, when to me it's clearly superior to the years just before and just after. Everyone here was at least nomination worthy -- Bening has never been a favorite of mine, and she runs fifth, but I like her more in Being Julia than in either of her previous nominations.

Moreno, too, is solid, if not win-worthy.

Swank doesn't match her Boys Don't Cry work, but this is as close as she's come since. A strong, moving lead female performance.

Winslet displays, yet again, remarkable range, and emotionally carries her film (a necessity, given Carrey's recessive character). This is clearly far better than her later winning performance. But I don't think it's quite enough to merit the win...

...in a field that includes Imelda Staunton's glorious performance. I'm on record declaring Moore in Far from Heaven the decade's best, but Staunton and Christie in '07 provide her strongest competition. The purity of Staunton's work is incredible...she's a simple woman, doing what she feels she needs to do, but with full knowledge of what its consequences may be forher entire life. It's an amazing feat, and an easy choice for me.
The Original BJ
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Post by The Original BJ »

Dreary? I think this is the finest Best Actress lineup this decade. (Though I agree with Sabin: Julie Delpy and Nicole Kidman -- in both of her performances -- were excellent as well.)

Annette Bening is the weak link for me, but even she was pretty entertaining in a full-bodied, deliciously theatrical role. The movie is a bit of a trifle, though, especially compared to these other films.

I was thrilled Catalina Sandino Moreno scored this recognition for her wrenching performance in Maria Full of Grace. But her competition is so good I'd barely even consider picking her. (Had she been nominated in '05, she'd have had my vote outright.)

I think Hilary Swank is terrific in Million Dollar Baby -- endearing, vulnerable, and really heartbreaking. (During the "I've seen the world...I've been in magazines" monologue I just about lost it). No, she's not really an actress who deserves two Oscars, and my vote goes elsewhere, but she's pretty great here, and I don't have much of a problem with her victory.

Eternal Sunshine is probably Kate Winslet's best performance, maybe because it's such an against-type role for her. She has the really difficult task of creating a complex character that exists mostly within another character's memory. And she's hilarious, to boot. Had she won, she would have been the best Best Actress winner this decade.

But no film in '04 relied as much on the strength of its lead performance as Vera Drake. Imelda Staunton is so warm and lovable in the film's early sequences that when her character begins to fall, it's that much more devastating. And in these scenes she's astonishing. The moment I will never forget: when the police first enter the Drakes' apartment, and Staunton's face just drops, knowing exactly why they're there and what it will mean for her. It's a miraculous acting moment, and that's just the beginning of the sensational interrogation and trial scenes that follow. I would have been happy with any of a number of performances this year winning the Oscar, but Imelda Staunton's headlining role is at the top of the pack, and gets my vote.
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