I haven't seen
The Reader but I like the other four performances.
Rachel Getting Married definitely shows the maturation of Anne Hathaway. It has only been eight years since
The Princess Diaries, and while she still gets her mainstream work in such as last year's
Get Smart and the current (dreadful looking)
Bride Wars, its in the more indie-flavored
Brokeback Mountain and
Havoc where she showed she hoped to be more than "just" a young movie star.
Rachel is her most challenging role yet. For my taste I didn't think she was quite up to the task. I thought she nailed the vulnerable moments of the character, especially in the last half of the movie, but I found her flat and out of her range in the sarcastic, caustic bits that open the piece. It was the stellar supporting cast that made the movie to me, all of whom went unnominated. So while I don't think it is one of the very best female performances of the year, there's enough good to see she is growing. And despite my personal feelings, the Academy may well decide she is Oscar-worthy on her first attempt. But she's only twenty-six and should have more opportunities down the line.
Melissa Leo was one of my favorites on the terrific TV series
"Homicide: Life on the Street", and while she hasn't had a lot of first-rate chances in film she has turned in some memorable supporting performances in the likes of
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and
21 Grams. With the northern border crossing drama
Frozen River she got her shot as the star and she made the most of it. Desperate but determined, it's good work. She doesn't have much of a realistic shot at actually winning, but given her career and her age she can truly say it is an honor to be nominated. She was named Best Actress by a couple of the critics associations and she may well win the Independent Spirit Award she's up for, though she'll have to get past both Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams to do it.
Angelina Jolie is one of the most famous women on the planet these days. Between her humanitarian works, adoptions, births and relationship with one of the biggest movie stars of the day it's sometime hard to look past the cover stories on the rags at the checkout stand and easy to forget she's also an actress. When she picks up paychecks in slick big budget actioners like this past summer's
Wanted or lends her voice to the animated blockbuster
Kung Fu Panda it's also easy to forget she can actually be a good actress. I still think she was robbed last year when she didn't get a nomination for
A Mighty Heart, but I thought she was almost as good in Eastwood's
Changeling so I'm glad she made the cut. I gather some critics and audiences alike are less then enamored with her performance for whatever reason, but I thought she handled it expertly. However I doubt this will be the year that gets her a second Oscar (having won early on as Supporting Actress for
Girl Interrupted, her only other nomination).
Meryl Streep is the most-nominated actor not only of her generation but
ever.
Doubt marks her astounding fifteenth nomination, already besting Kate Hepburn's total of twelve. And Streep is only fifty-nine so she should have many years left to add to her total. But with all of those nominations she "only" has the two wins: Supporting Actress for
Kramer vs. Kramer (her second nomination) and Best Actress for
Sophie's Choice (her fourth nom). It has been twenty-six years since the Academy has honored her with not just another nomination but an actual Oscar. Due to her age (in Hollywood terms ancient) she probably won't have a whole lot of shots left at Best Actress before she is relegated to supporting roles. She is good, as usual, in
Doubt, playing a character who is almost entirely unsympathetic until the final act. Will it be her year to walk on stage again?
Kate Winslet may wind up battling Cate Blanchett to be the Meryl Streep of their generation. Winslet is only thirty-three and this is already the sixth nomination of her career, the fourth this decade. But for all her acclaim and noms she hasn't won yet while Hilary Swank has won twice, Reese Witherspoon got one, movie stars Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman too, even Charlize Theron. Since I haven't seen
The Reader I can't say whether or not it is among Kate's best performances or if the movie around it is worth a damn. I haven't seen her give a bad performance yet, but I have a feeling that the relative quality of her work this year hardly matters. It seems as if it may be Kate's "turn". Awarding Oscars mostly because they haven't done it before is not the most endearing voting pattern of the Academy, but it is a reality. Whether Winslet got her nomination for
The Reader or
Revolutionary Road, it probably didn't matter much...though it might have been nicer to see her share the joy with her
Revolutionary director and real-life husband Sam Mendes for their work together, but so be it.
Had I a ballot I'd flip a coin between Leo and Jolie, but I think the folks with the real voting power are going to give it to Ms. Winslet.
Reply to Topic
