Best Actress 2019

[criddic3]

Loved the work of Zellweger, Ronan and Johansson.
Would replace Erivo and Theron with Lupita N'Yongo and Jessie Buckley,
who should have been in the conversation for Wild Rose.

[Sabin]

Not a great lineup and not for lack of options:
* Adèle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
* Noémie Merlant, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
* Elisabeth Moss, Her Smell
* Lupita Nyong'o, Us
* Mary Kay Place, Diane
* Florence Pugh, Midsommar

Among many others. Surprisingly, Lupita Nyong'o got a SAG nomination for Us over Saoirse Ronan. Little Women was a bust there but I'd imagine it might have something to do with late in the game screeners. Or not! Maybe they just really liked Us more. Either way, Nyong'o would have been an incredible choice in this field.

I went with Saoirse Ronan for Little Women although Renee Zellweger isn't a bad winner. What she's doing in Judy isn't pale imitation work. She goes deeper and finds something beyond impression. I'm not really a Judy Garland aficionado but I've read enough takes at this point to see/hear what she's doing right and wrong. I think she deserves praise for doing her own thing, turning Judy Garland into a human being, as well as finding something that at least seems personal in her pain. This doesn't feel like giving it to Jamie Foxx in Ray. But she also benefits from an outstanding role. We get to see Judy Garland go through so much in this film: she finds love, she loses love, she makes a comeback, she sabotages herself, she meets fans, her spirits inflate and deflate. The part is better written than the movie and Zellweger makes the most of it.

There's not a lot to say about the other performances. Bombshell and Harriet aren't very good movies. Charlize Theron looks identical to Megyn Kelly. It's an unnerving impression. But I still think Bombshell is a confused film that doesn't totally know what to do with Megyn Kelly's arc and she spends most of the film waiting to make a decision. I agree with Magilla's take on Harriet. It's just not a very good film. I'm quite a fan of Scarlett Johansson in general and I think her performance in Jojo Rabbit is precisely the kind of performance she would give that wouldn't be honored by the Academy while her work in Marriage Story is the kind of performance that would, even though I was skeptical of her chances until the end. The film clearly sides more with Adam Driver's character emotionally in that it just gives him more to do as it goes on. I wasn't sure if the Academy would like Marriage Story enough or find enough merit in what she has to work with to warrant a nomination: I was wrong on both counts. Her early monologue was enough. Either way, I'm not sure I would put Marriage Story on a list of my twenty favorite Scarlett Johansson performances.

This is the second time I would vote for Saoirse Ronan. If I had to choose between her two collaborations with Gerwig, I would stick with Lady Bird but it's the best film of the bunch, and she knows exactly how to act in a Greta Gerwig film making every moment count to create the fullest character of the bunch and that amazing final scene doesn't hurt. I can't help but wonder if "Saoirse Ronan as Jo March in Little Women by Greta Gerwig" is a bit of a layup for Ronan, but in a field like this, why fight it?

[CalWilliam]

Scarlett Johansson gets my vote, with Saoirse Ronan a close second. Zellweger is good, but Judy is a mediocre, forgettable film, but even more so Harriet and Bombshell. Pretty lackluster year for leading women.

[Reza]

1. Renée Zellweger, Judy
2. Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
3. Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
4. Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
5. Charlize Theron, Bombshell

[Big Magilla]

I agreed with all the nominees in a not very impressive year for actresses, and I agreed with the winner.

Renée Zellweger is an actress who I've only liked sporadically through her long, spotty career. I liked her in her first starring roles in Jerry Maguire and The Whole Wide World, but couldn't stand her in her first Oscar nominated role in Bridget Jones's Diary, liked her again in her second Oscar nominated role in Chicago, couldn't take five minutes of her in her Oscar-winning role in Cold Mountain, but really liked her as Beatrix Potter in her flop 2005 film, Miss Potter. Then nothing until Judy in which she captures the tired, but still vibrant Judy Garland at the end of her too short life. She really makes you understand why audiences wanted to wrap their arms around the real Judy and help her sing her signature song, the words of which she could barely get out at the end.

Scarlett Johansson would have been my second choice for her cleverly nuanced performance in Marriage Story .

Charlize Theron was uncanny in her impersonation of her contemporary, Megyn Kelley in Bombshell. Saoirse Ronan did a good job playing a by now overly familiar character in Little Women. Cynthia Erivo was splendid playing Harriet Tubman in the quieter moments of Harriet, but the film lost me when they turned her into a superwoman. For a more realistic portrayal of the legendary abolitionist and slave freer, watch Cicely Tyson in the 1978 TV mini-series, A Woman Called Moses.

[mlrg]

Not a very impressive line up.

Voted for Ronan.

[CalWilliam]

Make your choice in this far from great lineup.