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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:45 am
by Big Magilla
Sissy Spacek in a film no one seems to have seen called Lake City. See my mini-review in the Last Seen Movie thread.
Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:54 am
by Precious Doll
Another performance worth catching and considering is Emmanuelle Beart in The Witnesses, not to mention the splendid work of Sami Bouajila, Michel Blanc & Johan Libereau.
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:31 pm
by dws1982
--flipp525 wrote:--dws1982 wrote:In Best Actor, I don't have quite as many (Clint Eastwood, Colin Farrel, Michael Fassbender, Andrew Garfield, Frank Langella), but the ones who are on the list are solid, and any of them hold up against my favorites from last year.
No Sean Penn? He's superior Frank Langella at the very least.
Nope, no Sean Penn. He might make my runners-up though.
Edited By dws1982 on 1249913493
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:27 pm
by flipp525
dws1982 wrote:In Best Actor, I don't have quite as many (Clint Eastwood, Colin Farrel, Michael Fassbender, Andrew Garfield, Frank Langella), but the ones who are on the list are solid, and any of them hold up against my favorites from last year.
No Sean Penn? He's superior Frank Langella at the very least.
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:24 pm
by dws1982
Interesting. I think Best Actress was easily the STRONGEST of the acting categories in '08. I really like both Winslet performances, Hawkins, Thomas, and Hathaway -- for me all of those turns had genuine "wow" moments I'd want the best of performances to reach, and it'd be close as to who I'd ultimately pick. I also liked the strong work by Streep, Leo, Blanchett, Binoche, and I haven't seen Michelle Williams yet.
In contrast, I can barely come up with five Supporting Actors this year, with Ledger wiping the floor with the competition, and though Lead Actor had a couple great turns, the list of also-rans wouldn't run very long.
I do have Happy Go Lucky coming from Netflix today, so hopefully I'll like that. I don't hate Leigh the way Damien does, but I do tend to run hot and cold on him (don't like Vera Drake, and hate Naked as much as I imagine Damien must.). I'm open to being surprised with Happy Go Lucky--haven't written him off yet. (Now Ken Loach is another matter. Loach is to me what Leigh is to Damien.) And I've Loved You So Long is on my Netflix queue, so I'll get to it soon enough. I'm holding out some hope for Emma Thompson in Last Chance Harvey.
Best Actress right now I have Spacek and Amy Adams, and maybe Streep. But none of these would've made my list last year, or probably even in 2006. I need some good Best Actress contenders.
Just to compare Best Actress to my other categories:
In Supporting Actor, which I think is an embarrassment of riches, I have Columbus Short in Cadillac Records, Russell Brand in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Ralph Fiennes in In Bruges, Michael Kelly in Changeling and August Diehl in The Counterfeiters on my list, with Ciaran Hinds (Mister Foe), Bill Irwin (Rachel Getting Married), Kevin Bacon (Frost/Nixon), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Peter Mullan (Boy A), Matthew Beard (When Did You Last See Your Father?) and some others who I'm forgetting not far behind.
In Best Actor, I don't have quite as many (Clint Eastwood, Colin Farrel, Michael Fassbender, Andrew Garfield, Frank Langella), but the ones who are on the list are solid, and any of them hold up against my favorites from last year.
Best Supporting Actress at least has Juliet Stephenson (When Did You Last See Your Father?), Hiam Abbas (the only worthwhile thing about The Visitor), Julia Ormond (Kit Kittredge), and Tilda Swinton (Benjamin Button).
I don't know how many of those will hold up by the time I finish with 2008 (I've only seen about 40 or so films from 2008), but they'd make for fairly solid lineups.
Edited By dws1982 on 1236972350
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:48 pm
by The Original BJ
dws1982 wrote:The strange thing is all of the other categories are very strong. Lead Actor has some great performances, Supporting Actor has about twelve to fifteen men who might have made my list depending on the year, and Supporting Actress is filling up. But Lead Actress is a barren wasteland.
Interesting. I think Best Actress was easily the STRONGEST of the acting categories in '08. I really like both Winslet performances, Hawkins, Thomas, and Hathaway -- for me all of those turns had genuine "wow" moments I'd want the best of performances to reach, and it'd be close as to who I'd ultimately pick. I also liked the strong work by Streep, Leo, Blanchett, Binoche, and I haven't seen Michelle Williams yet.
In contrast, I can barely come up with five Supporting Actors this year, with Ledger wiping the floor with the competition, and though Lead Actor had a couple great turns, the list of also-rans wouldn't run very long.
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:47 pm
by Sabin
I really wanted to see Silent Light. I've been off the planet lately...
If she's eligible, then Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) as well as Ronit Elkabetz for The Band's Visit. And Lina Leandersson for Let the Right One In would be a great choice too.
I'm inclined to say that Marinca is my 2007 winner (even though I saw the film so long after its release that it borderlines on cinematically irresponsible), but also because 2007 was a weak year for lead actresses for me. Julie Christie stands alone, but Marinca is a revelation. 2008 is all Hawkins.
Reygadas is a filmmaker I'm very interested in exploring further. I haven't seen any of his work and Silent Light looked fascinating, if not just for D'Angelo's tub-thumping than Gonzalez's feelings of betrayal.
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:19 pm
by rain Bard
I'm kicking myself for missing it recently as well. I saw it in late 2007 when the filmmaker was in town, and its "commercial" engagement finally occurred a week or so ago. It would have been especially nice to see it again so soon after a big-screen rewatch of Sunrise- Dreyer is the go-to mention for critics writing about Silent Light but I have a feeling that Murnau may be more apt.
Edited By rain Bard on 1236968380
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:54 pm
by dws1982
I'm still kicking myself over having to miss Silent Light last weekend when I was at a theatre in Nashville where it was playing.
I had several assignments due Monday (downside of being back in school) and couldn't justify staying up there after The Godfather Part II's screening for what would've amounted to three or four more hours. (Plus the person I was with would not have wanted to see it.)
Edited By dws1982 on 1249913513
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:41 pm
by rain Bard
Go Hyun-jung, Woman On the Beach
Greta Gerwig, Baghead
Tara Riggs, Ballast
Miriam Toews, Silent Light
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:35 pm
by dws1982
Best Actress is incredibly weak for me this year. Any of the ladies in my top five last year would've won this year for me by a landslide.
I'm hoping I see something worth a mention soon. So far my favorites have either been male-centered (Hunger, Gran Torino, Boy A), with a lot of films that are just underwhelming (Rachel Getting Married, Frozen River, Milk--no female lead, obviously, but very underwhelming).
The strange thing is all of the other categories are very strong. Lead Actor has some great performances, Supporting Actor has about twelve to fifteen men who might have made my list depending on the year, and Supporting Actress is filling up. But Lead Actress is a barren wasteland.
Will probably end up bumping Amy Adams from Doubt to Lead, which I think it just as valid a placement as Support. Meryl Streep, I'm borderline on--really liked most of her performance, but didn't think she quite bridged the final scene with the rest of her performance. Sissy Spacek in Lake City was very good, probably the best Lead Actress I've seen from 2008, but I almost hate to give a movie that bad one of my personal awards. I would've been more willing to consider Cate Blanchett for Benjamin Button if someone else had played her character in the framing-device scenes. I know my worst actress winner would be Julianne Moore in Savage Grace.
Edited By dws1982 on 1236965756
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:07 pm
by flipp525
Precious Doll wrote:How about Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long? It's the only great performance by an actress in a lead role that I've seen from a 2008 film.
I have to say that I was underwhelmed by Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long. It's competent work but nowhere near as revelatory as everyone was making it out to be back in October.
Best Actress was strong this year. The non-nominated Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) tops my list with Cate Blanchet (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) and Meryl Streep (Doubt) not far behind.
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:46 am
by cam
Too late? Please consider Rebecca Hall in Vicky, Cristina, Barcelone.
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:02 am
by Damien
Thanks for the suggestions, guys!
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:42 am
by Okri
Famke Janssen, Turn the River
Anamaria Marinca, 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days (I beieve it's eligible this year for the IRAs)
Jeanne Balibar, The Duchess of Langeais