Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom

Am I the only one that was really underwhelmed by Jackie Weaver in Animal Kingdom, I heard all the praise and she even won some critics awards, but I was so underwhelmed with this performance, I cant believe the hype. She was decent enough, but its a role any good enough actress could have pulled, she didnt do anything than what was on the page and by the end she just turns into a cartoon villain with no human characteristics. One of the most overpraised performances of 2010

Weak, weak line up

Adams was playing against her type and so was nominated, but she was better than Melissa Leo.

Carter got carried along by her film.

So that leaves Steinfeld, who was clearly lead, but for a first time actor she really holds the screen, and manages to make you care about her character and manages to look an equal to great actors like Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon

Steinfeld was a lead. Didn't care at all for Weaver, Adams and especially Leo.

Voted here for Helena Bonham Carter.

My picks for 2010:

Vanessa Redgrave, Letters From Juliet
Dale Dickey, Winter's Bone
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Olivia Williams, The Ghost Writer
Rosamund Pike, Barney's Version

The 6th Spot: A tie between Dianne Wiest, Rabbit Hole & Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

First to go is Melissa Leo. This is probably one of my least favorite Oscar wins. If you give a middle-aged woman a platinum blonde perm and tell her to scream in a Boston accent, she could have won. This is a very unoriginal, untalented role.

Amy Adams was a lot better than Leo. Much, much better but she's not really the kind to play trashy. I liked her in this role but she's not good enough to win although I do expect to see her get a few votes here.

Helena Bonham Carter was lovely in The King's Speech but really nothing special. She was the supportive wife and she played it well but there was really no depth to her character.

So, for me, it's between Steinfeld and Weaver. I expect to see some people here conscientiously not vote for Steinfeld simply because she's the film's lead (moreso than Bridges). I left True Grit absolutely blown away by Steinfeld. She's all I could remember. I believe she stole the show from Bridges who had a very fun, very humorous role. She created a depth in her character that slayed me. I don't really have a propensity to vote for minors either. I usually dismiss them as cutesy roles. This role was absolutely jaw-dropping. Weaver was great in her film but I kind of suffered through Animal Kingdom so, in the end, it comes down to the better film and the better performance.

I would have replaced Leo with Barbara Hershey in Black Swan.

Steinfeld by a HUGE margin for me.