Best Actress

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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

kaytodd wrote:Maybe the editors at Time are saying that, no matter who wins the Oscar, Kate gave the best female lead performance of 2008 and is The Best Actress working today.
Of course, the "The" is notably absent on the cover, and it is a very important "The" in this case.
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Post by kaytodd »

Maybe the editors at Time are saying that, no matter who wins the Oscar, Kate gave the best female lead performance of 2008 and is The Best Actress working today.
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Post by Hustler »

Could Meryl Streep finally emerge as the surprise winner here?
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Post by Penelope »

Any comments on next week's Time magazine cover of Kate Winslet? Even I'm taken aback by it. I mean, did she KNOW in advance that they'd use "Best Actress" on the cover? As others elsewhere have pointed out, if she loses, it's almost a "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment. At least the voting is over; had this appeared earlier in the season, I'm sure many voters would've been turned off by the hubris of it all. And I'm still not 100% certain that she'll win: this is Meryl's best chance in years.
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Post by flipp525 »

Reza wrote:
flipp525 wrote:I hate to say it because I know how much Kate Winslet objectively should have an Oscar at this point (although, shouldn't Glenn Close, Angela Lansbury, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, etc as well?), but her desperation for it this year is sort of turning me off.

I think the desperation is quite natural especially if you have lost so many times in the past. Susan Hayward was pretty desperate to win having lost 4 times and I recall Shirley MacLaine was also pretty desperate by the time she won finally for Terms. Still remember all the various acceptance speeches she made in early 1984......and she made no bones about how much she wanted to win the Oscar.

Nevertheless, it's still, personally, a turn-off. And her performance in The Reader is not even in her top three nominated performances. I won't begrudge her a career-style Oscar this year, but I'll be rooting for someone else.




Edited By flipp525 on 1234759815
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Post by Reza »

flipp525 wrote:I hate to say it because I know how much Kate Winslet objectively should have an Oscar at this point (although, shouldn't Glenn Close, Angela Lansbury, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, etc as well?), but her desperation for it this year is sort of turning me off.
I think the desperation is quite natural especially if you have lost so many times in the past. Susan Hayward was pretty desperate to win having lost 4 times and I recall Shirley MacLaine was also pretty desperate by the time she won finally for Terms. Still remember all the various acceptance speeches she made in early 1984......and she made no bones about how much she wanted to win the Oscar.
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Post by flipp525 »

I hate to say it because I know how much Kate Winslet objectively should have an Oscar at this point (although, shouldn't Glenn Close, Angela Lansbury, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, etc as well?), but her desperation for it this year is sort of turning me off. I want Meryl to win. A surprise Melissa Leo or Anne Hathaway would be awesome.



Edited By flipp525 on 1234755163
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Post by Penelope »

I've been chatting online with a guy who works for a P&A firm in Hollywood. He tells me that Kate Winslet has been campaigning HARD for the Oscar. He joked that she'd even cut the ribbon at the opening of a supermarket if it would help her win. Nonetheless, his boss voted for Meryl Streep.
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Post by bettestreep2008 »

I understand that "The Reader" producers were frantically campaigning her for Supporting - where it worked at the Globes - but not with the Academy - nor BAFTA - which nominated her as LEAD.

Now that she is LEAD - she has won this hands down.

Haven't seen it - but she has many things in her favour;-

Leo and Hathaway are first timers and should be grateful for their nominations.

Jolie and Streep have won before - and hopefully Streep will win her 3rd one before she dies! (Her performances in Doubt and Mamma Mia just screamed Oscar IMO)

So it leaves Winslet who had 2 oscar worthy performances this year (the other Revolutionary Road).

this is her 6th nomination - so the "she's due" factor comes in.

And like she said in Extras - a holocaust film generally guarantees one a golden boy!

Sorry Ms Streep - you will have to wait yet again - or maybe they'll award you a lifetime achievement award instead???

p.s. supporting is now an open race! Will the Academy dare to honour more non-American actors like the clean sweep last year???

Actress - Winslet, Supporting Actor - Ledger and Supporting Actress - Cruz???

Or will it go to an African American - Davis or Henson???
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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

I don't know if Winslet is guaranteed to win this year, but her chances just solidified immensely. I have yet to see The Reader so I can't judge, but most people do not seem to be ecstatic about this being the movie that finally nets her the long-coming Oscar.

Her turn in Extras was delicious. "Schindler's List, The Pianist...all have Oscars coming out their rears". Ricky Gervais called it at the Globes.
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Post by dylanfan23 »

I saw melissa leo awhile ago and thought awhile ago it was an outstanding performance in a very good film. Also misty upham gave a great supporting performance that nobody cited in this awards season. Now unfortunately for leo this a year where there happens to be a few outstanding actress performances. I can't say she's better than hawkins, hathaway, winslet or streep. I think she's a tossup with jolie. And i've yet to see michelle williams. Blanchett and thomas are right behind the jolie/leo tear in my mind, with julianne moore in blindness(a film i didn't like) is right behind them. Either way i think i'll think all five best actress nominees are deserving, much like two years ago...its just ashame leo didn't give this performance in one of the years where only 2 or 3 of the nominated performances were outstanding...because in those years she would have got a spot without a problem ala janet mcteer.
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Post by matthew »

Zahveed wrote:
flipp525 wrote:
Franz Ferdinand wrote:Cate Blanchett's predictably chilly non-performance in The Curious Benjamin Button

This is ridiculous. She gives one of the best female performances of the year.

Especially in her character's elderly years.
Am I the only one who thought the older Blanchett got, the more she resembled Olympia Dukakis??
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Post by Precious Doll »

The Original BJ wrote:Has anyone seen Melissa Leo in Frozen River? By which I mean, have any of US seen it?
I saw Frozen River last June and did post here back then that I thought Melissa Leo may be in the running for an Oscar nomination.
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Post by OscarGuy »

Yeah. Tom O'Neil has to be like the only "critic" in the fucking world who doesn't think Sunrise is a masterpiece...I'm sure there are others, but the general consensus is entirely positive...one of the few films I can think of that most of us here agree on.
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Post by Damien »

Franz Ferdinand wrote:Oscar Race 2009: Nomination Predictions - Actress
By: Ed Gonzalez On: 01/16/2009 15:06:42

One of the more frustrating aspects of the seemingly year-long awards season is watching pundits and prognosticators remain largely oblivious to their role in shaping the Oscar race. The noise people like Tom O'Neill make throughout the year feels as influential to this rat race as the awards handed out by critics, which makes it frustrating when these pundits refuse to promote films they've seen instead of lavishing free publicity on productions that won't come out for many months. These forecasters buy into the idea that films released during the beginning of the year have no chance at snagging Oscar nominations, and their disinterest in endorsing films such as The Witnesses and The Flight of the Red Balloon rubs off on distributors, when it stands to reason that some of these films might actually connect with Oscar voters if more awards watchers were less interested in snagging better batting averages than their fellow soothsayers.

Ed can't seriously believe that a philistine like Tom O'Neil would push for, let alone appreciate, let alone understand, let alone even see a film as mysterious as Flight of the Red Balloon.

After all, this is the clown who wrote of Murnau's Sunrise: "Sunrise" is an unabashed soap opera about a farmer (George O'Brien) who falls for the charms of an evil city temptress (Margaret Livingston), who urges him to drown his innocent wife (Janet Gaynor) and mother of his adorable infant. . . .

"Sunrise" is paper-thin, hilariously schmaltzy. All three primary characters are cartoonish clichés and their performances 3-inch slices of honeyed ham.

Mind you, I'm the kinda guy who'd normally side with the weepie. On my top 10 list of fave pix of all time are "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Titanic." But I just can't shed a real tear when the farmer in "Sunrise" decides that he just — by golly! — can't off his sweet, dimpled wifey-pooh, after all. Nor could I cheer the scenes of the couple back together, all giddy smiles and kisses, posing for photos like newlyweds, dancing a happy peasant dance, joyous once he decided not to wring her scrawny little neck and hurl her over the side of the row boat.

What corn pone! Smothered in Cheez Whiz!




Edited By Damien on 1232255375
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