Okay, since we're running through these last few races quick and dirty...
I thought the year's best performance was easily Kristin Scott Thomas' in I've Loved You So Long. I've never got why the critics bailed on her in December after praising her so loudly in October.
Second choice would have been Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road. I have my problems with the film, but I love Winslet's work. Her monologue at the road-house is a particularly beautiful moment.
Though she wouldn't contend for my win, I agree with Magilla that Cate Blanchett deserved notice for Benjamin Button. She's better than most of those who did get nominated.
And that, unfortunately, brings me to the sub-standard group from which we have to choose.
Voting for Winslet in The Reader when Revolutionary Road was available is, to me, like opting for Liv Ullmann in Zandy's Bride rather than Scenes from a Marriage. The Reader, a dreary sex-and-Holocaust thumb-sucker, was on its way to well-earned oblivion until Oscar voters unaccountably gave it those four high-profile nominations and, ultimately, one undeserved win. Winslet is one of the most vital of our modern actresses -- able, in films like Jude, Iris and Eternal Sunshine to create fully alive, charismatic characters. Why Academy voters would choose to honor her for such an atypically dour, listless performance will always be beyond me.
Angelina Jolie far more closely meritted a nod the year prior in A Mighty Heart. She seemed adrift in Changeling. The meandering, no-clear-focus script didn't help, but Jolie -- submerging her dynamic personality -- did nothing to overcome the narrative issues.
Melissa Leo is the archetypal hard-working/unflashy actress, so I should have been pleased for her recognition. But Frozen River is so fraudulent -- so paint-by-numbers-indie -- that it's impossible for me to relish any honor accorded it.
I'm boggled by the seriousness with which some here seem to take Streep's performance in Doubt. She's a hoot, is all -- giving Shanley's claptrap script no more respect than it deserves, opting to have fun with her gargoyle character. That's amusing, but not Oscar territory, by me. (And I've given Streep many mental Oscars) Thank god she didn't win here; it would have quickly become a source of embarrassment.
The only nominee who vaguely edges into Oscar-worthy territory is Hathaway. She's hobbled by a script with Playhouse 90 dramaturgy, but she takes command of her character and never lets go (and of course in the process changes her image). In a good year she'd be a respectable "good start/come back with more later" candidate. But in this sorry bunch, she gets my final vote.
Best Actress 2008
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Mister Tee
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I haven't seen Hathaway, Leo or Winslet, which is sad for me, but something that will be rectified in the next year as I go back and catch up on the last decade of Oscar winners as best I can.
Between Streep and Jolie, I go with Streep. This is one of the few performances of hers that I really loved. Jolie is outstanding even if her film meanders quite a bit.
I'm quite interested in checking out Anne Hathaway. After the rather bland Valentine's Day, I've developed a rather strong, favorable opinion of her. She was funny and charming. She's also the least awful thing about Get Smart, though she wasn't that great in Alice in Wonderland (an awful, awful movie anyway, so she can't be faulted too much there). So, I may very well be impressed with Rachel when I get to it.
Between Streep and Jolie, I go with Streep. This is one of the few performances of hers that I really loved. Jolie is outstanding even if her film meanders quite a bit.
I'm quite interested in checking out Anne Hathaway. After the rather bland Valentine's Day, I've developed a rather strong, favorable opinion of her. She was funny and charming. She's also the least awful thing about Get Smart, though she wasn't that great in Alice in Wonderland (an awful, awful movie anyway, so she can't be faulted too much there). So, I may very well be impressed with Rachel when I get to it.
Wesley Lovell
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
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Big Magilla
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This is one year I wish the studio push to have a major star in a major role placed in support to strengthen their chances, had worked. Kate Winslet would still have her Oscar, albeit in support, and Meryl Streep might well have her elusive third.
I thought the two gave the year's best performances, but it was a good year for leading actresses all around.
Moving Winslet to support would also have likely helped either Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long or Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earn much deserved nominations. Ironically Blanchett, who I thought deserved neither of her 2007 nods, gives a performance of great depth in the latter while Scott Thomas who is constantly fine, offers up one of her best performances in the former, and it's not even in English.
Of the actual nominees, Angelina Jolie is the only weak one. I'm not sure whether it's her performance or the script she had to work with, but despite the production values the film plays like a TV movie, a better one than Sandra Bullock's vehicle of 2009, but a TV movie nonetheless.
Melissa Leo gives a wonderful breakthrough star performance as a desperate woman in the independent Frozen River and Anne Hathaway is better than her material as the recovering drug addict in Rachel Getting Married, but it's still between Winslet and Streep for me.
Streep's doubting nun in Doubt is her best dramatic performance at least since A Cry in the Dark. Her final scene with Amy Adams is one made for Oscars if there ever was one, but in the end I have to vote for Winslet.
The character of Hannah the compassionate bus conductress turned confused Nazi guard who comes to realize the enormity of her guilt only when she learns to read is an actor's dream role, and Winslet is more than up to the challenge, pulling out all the stops along the way.
The role is secondary to the male protagonist, but whether because that role is split between two actors or because Winslet's character is the more compelling, it's hard to say, but her performance, whether considered lead or supporting, dominates the film and my memory of 2008 performances in all categories. She gets my vote.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1270043817
I thought the two gave the year's best performances, but it was a good year for leading actresses all around.
Moving Winslet to support would also have likely helped either Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long or Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earn much deserved nominations. Ironically Blanchett, who I thought deserved neither of her 2007 nods, gives a performance of great depth in the latter while Scott Thomas who is constantly fine, offers up one of her best performances in the former, and it's not even in English.
Of the actual nominees, Angelina Jolie is the only weak one. I'm not sure whether it's her performance or the script she had to work with, but despite the production values the film plays like a TV movie, a better one than Sandra Bullock's vehicle of 2009, but a TV movie nonetheless.
Melissa Leo gives a wonderful breakthrough star performance as a desperate woman in the independent Frozen River and Anne Hathaway is better than her material as the recovering drug addict in Rachel Getting Married, but it's still between Winslet and Streep for me.
Streep's doubting nun in Doubt is her best dramatic performance at least since A Cry in the Dark. Her final scene with Amy Adams is one made for Oscars if there ever was one, but in the end I have to vote for Winslet.
The character of Hannah the compassionate bus conductress turned confused Nazi guard who comes to realize the enormity of her guilt only when she learns to read is an actor's dream role, and Winslet is more than up to the challenge, pulling out all the stops along the way.
The role is secondary to the male protagonist, but whether because that role is split between two actors or because Winslet's character is the more compelling, it's hard to say, but her performance, whether considered lead or supporting, dominates the film and my memory of 2008 performances in all categories. She gets my vote.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1270043817