Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:58 am
Not the most interesting race ever.
Wild at Heart was the movie one HAD to like that year - especially, I guess, in Europe (it didn't matter that it actually wasn't very good and certainly not the best of its director). The Academy couldn't completely ignore it, so Diane Ladd was singled out for a performance that, in any other movie, would have seemed frankly atrocious. But this was postmodern cinema and had to be respected.
The Grifters wasn't much better or much less postmodern-ish (I remember a completely unconvincing final death scene), but the young, sexy Annette Bening was at least well-cast in it. She didn't have much to do but she certainly looked right for the role.
Mary McDonnell was the conventional "love interest" in the big movie of the year. You could feel that she had talent even in such a predictable part. Not nomination-worthy maybe, but she was an undeniably pleasant presence on screen.
But it's definitely between Lorraine Bracco and Whoopi Goldberg. Bracco was in the better movie, had an interesting character and played it well - so well, in fact, that I expected her to become, if not a star, at least a familiar face in American movies of the time, rather than more or less disappear from sight (I've heard that she's often on tv though). Voting for her would be a good choice.
As for Ghost, it's a much worse movie than Goodfellas, and while back then I could easily understand why it was commercially successful, even I couldn't predict that, after 20 years, it would still be so legendary, so fondly remembered by so many, so widely seen when shown on tv (or at least on Italian tv - but of course we are sentimental). Needless to say, I didn't buy the soulful, new-ageish, supernatural love story nor was moved by it (despite it being so expertly planned), but I must admit that I found the comic relief provided by Whoopi Goldberg rather effective. In another year, or maybe even in this year but with a different competition, a nomination for her would be enough; but in these circumstances she is, I'd say, a worthy winner, and while I never found her convincing in dramatic roles, as a comic actress - especially when she didnt have to carry a movie - she could be quite funny.
Wild at Heart was the movie one HAD to like that year - especially, I guess, in Europe (it didn't matter that it actually wasn't very good and certainly not the best of its director). The Academy couldn't completely ignore it, so Diane Ladd was singled out for a performance that, in any other movie, would have seemed frankly atrocious. But this was postmodern cinema and had to be respected.
The Grifters wasn't much better or much less postmodern-ish (I remember a completely unconvincing final death scene), but the young, sexy Annette Bening was at least well-cast in it. She didn't have much to do but she certainly looked right for the role.
Mary McDonnell was the conventional "love interest" in the big movie of the year. You could feel that she had talent even in such a predictable part. Not nomination-worthy maybe, but she was an undeniably pleasant presence on screen.
But it's definitely between Lorraine Bracco and Whoopi Goldberg. Bracco was in the better movie, had an interesting character and played it well - so well, in fact, that I expected her to become, if not a star, at least a familiar face in American movies of the time, rather than more or less disappear from sight (I've heard that she's often on tv though). Voting for her would be a good choice.
As for Ghost, it's a much worse movie than Goodfellas, and while back then I could easily understand why it was commercially successful, even I couldn't predict that, after 20 years, it would still be so legendary, so fondly remembered by so many, so widely seen when shown on tv (or at least on Italian tv - but of course we are sentimental). Needless to say, I didn't buy the soulful, new-ageish, supernatural love story nor was moved by it (despite it being so expertly planned), but I must admit that I found the comic relief provided by Whoopi Goldberg rather effective. In another year, or maybe even in this year but with a different competition, a nomination for her would be enough; but in these circumstances she is, I'd say, a worthy winner, and while I never found her convincing in dramatic roles, as a comic actress - especially when she didnt have to carry a movie - she could be quite funny.