The Next Year

After closing a poll, the conclusion was obvious: you wanted me to do 1966, so let's just go ahead with it. It's a very popular and yet not frequently talked about race. Everyone praises Taylor, but all the nominees have their fans. But let's just start:

1966

So the nominees were:

• Anouk Aimée in A Man and a Woman
• Ida Kaminska in The Shop on the Main Street
• Lynn Redgrave in Georgy Girl
• Vanessa Redgrave in Morgan
• Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

So what do you think? What are your predictions (the contest is naturally on)? Who's your pick? What's your ranking?

P.S. I am not sure how frequent the posts will be but I'll do my best.

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1990

About the field: weaker than I expected. I was looking forward to it, but it wasn't very great. I'm a bit bitter to tell the truth. I love enjoying a year fully and I did not feel that with this one. Naturally,I loved #1 and #2 and the other others were not bad either, I just felt that something was missing. 1989 might have been too strong and I compared this to that. Glenn Close was really robbed: she absolutely rocked in Reversal of Fortune and should have won (not even nominated damn it). GAH! Only #1 got really close to her. But let's just see the not so surprising ranking, which was quite easy to do (especially picking the winner):

5. Joanne Woodward in Mr & Mrs Bridge

This is not an amazing achievement as it really did not touch me despite some strong and excellently solved scenes. Mostly, it's very slow and uninteresting, but she couldn't catch my attention even after the good moments. It's proper work, but far from fantastic.

4. Anjelica Huston in The Grifters

Anjelica Huston's performance in The Grifters is bit a mixed bag: there are moments of boredom and slowness, but then there's such intensity and mistery in it, which almost made me speechless. It's not flawless, but it's very memorable work by a talented actress.

3. Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman

This is not a performance to praise to high graces, but it's utterly charming, loveable, funny, entertaining acting, which is free of overacting and loud moments. It serves its purpuse quite properly and gets so much out of the screenplay, which is not the best-written.

2. Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge

Although Meryl is a bit miscast (that's not her fault actually), her performance as the desperate Suzanne Vale is pitch-perfect: it's hilarious, a bit saddening, powerful, emotional and extremely loveable. Meryl nails all the aspects and faces of this characters and createst one of her most vibrant turns ever.

1. Kathy Bates in Misery

When writing about her, I try not to be influenced by her performance's iconic status, but I just cannot forget it. Annie Wilkes is in motion picture history and (to quote her) Kathy Bates "had a little something to do with that"). With this crazy character, she created one of the most memorable screen villians in history, who is going to scare us for a long time.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Kathy Bates in Misery

No, Kathy, I did not doubt your brilliance, I swear XD

Omissions: 

• Great Glenn Close in Reversal of Fortune 
• Laura Dern in Wild at Heart *My Pick*

The ranking of the already reviewed years:

1. 1974
2. 1989
3. 1959
4. 1939
5. 2009
6. 1963
7. 1990
8. 1978
9. 1954
10. 1948
11. 2002
12. 1940
13. 1998

About the next year: I think it's not going to be a big surprise, but let me tell you that the competition is very heated and not over yet, so you will know only when I announce the year. I really don't know what else to say, but I'm really looking forward to the next year. But more about that later. However, I will not do the runner-up year after the winner as I found a year, I'm crazy about and I want to do that. I can't wait. :)

What do you think? Any thoughts on your mind?

Joanne Woodward in Mr & Mrs Bridge

Joanne Woodward received her fourth Best Actress nomination for playing India Bridge, a devouted, but unhappy housewife in the Ivory-Merchant movie, Mr & Mrs Bridge. Along with Anjelica Huston, Woodward was the early front-runner for the award as I read somewhere, but I wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be last in the voting. She was a previous Oscar winner, did not have a very baity role and the movie was not a huge success either. She had to make do with the nomination.

The movie seems to be very hated, therefore I was certainly scared to watch it. People said it's very boring and it is to a degree, but let me assure you that I have seen many movies much more boring than this. The Ivory-Merchant duo is not my favorite combination: they are the representatives of the slow, but quality dramas, meaning movies boring as hell. That's it. They got great actors for the parts: Paul Newman was (is) one of the greatest actors, and he's very good here, though don't expect this to be the role of his lifetime. However, I was certainly surprised by Blythe Danner, who gave an excellent supporting performance, which I loved from the beginning to the sad end. She was so great, that I would even give her a nomination.

Joanne Woodward is good. Hmm, I haven't been able to fully embrace the movies of Mrs. Newman, simply because I haven't seen enough of them. But from what I've seen of her, I can say that she is talented, but her style is just not my thing. It's so quietly depressing and a bit annoying as I think she did not find the balance between the neurotic nature and the silence of her characters.

The worst thing I can feel towards a performance is indifference. It's not bad, but not great either, and this really kills me. I love to feel strong emotions about everything: for me it's basically love or hate. You can see it in my grades: it's mostly either a 5 or a 3. That's it. But now I don't know what to say. First of all, the character of Mrs. Bridge is so boring and uninteresting. The writer so desperately wanted to give a dark side to it, but she always came across as sweet and caring. Yes, she certainly is sweet and caring, but this nature makes a character quite one-dimensional. She has this outbursts, but they just do not fit the situations. At the beginning of the movie, she says that she wants a divorce. Why? I mean, she seemed to be happy and then it changes just because of a novel. It's realistic, but not with Mrs. Bridge. It's not her, or at least not what the movie and Joanne show of her.

There are some stronged moments during the holiday scenes with her husband, for instance when she becomes teary after receiving a very expensive present. She's very sweet there and quite likeable, but soon after that she loses her strength. And I won't even say that there was more potential in the character, because there wasn't unfortunately. Joanne did everything possible, but that just wasn't satisfying.

There come scenes of slowness and boredom in which Joanne does not have much to do, except for being sweet and caring again. There's a scene where she asks her husband if he loves her, but that wasn't effective enough. I just did not felt the emotional strength in it.

However, her performance gains some of that strength after her daughter returns home at one night. That silence was quite impressive and I finally had some emotional connection to her. That's when her ultra subtlety worked and had some power. After a while, I started to enjoy her acting. But it's just too late in the movie.

Her grief scenes are however truly outstanding. She really made me a bit sad for her and the way she says "she was my best friend" is hearwrenching. It's not a moment of catharsis, but it's excellently handled by Woodward. But after that her performance paled again, even though I rooted for Joanne so much.

So, to sum up, this performance of Woodward is not an amazing achievement as it really did not touch me despite some strong and excellently solved scenes. Mostly, it's very slow and uninteresting, but she couldn't catch my attention even after the good moments. It's proper work, but far from fantastic.

So what do you think? The Final Conclusion comes very soon. Now you can't give official predictions, but I'm curious to read your thoughts (if you have some about Woodward, which I doubt as this is a very unintersting performance).

Anjelica Huston in The Grifters

Anjelica Huston received her third (and to date last) Oscar nomination for playing Lily Dillon, a con artist in Stephen Frears' movie, The Grifters. From what I've heard, she was the early favorite to win the award, so I guess she was second in the voting proccess. I think her win was not that sure after Kathy Bates won the Golden Globe. After this, Huston did not have many other significant roles. I wonder what would have happened had she won.

The Grifters is a very interesting movie. When I first saw it, I was totally mesmerized by it, this time I was a bit less enthusiastic. Now I found it boring occasionally, bu there were some great and memorable things about in it: Annette Bening (whom I really like since I saw The Kids Are All Right) gives a very good and extremely seductive performance, which is enough for a nomination with me, but I think the win would have been too much and Whoopi is still my pick. John Cusack is so surprisingly young here, but he's still able to put on a strong performance.

Anjelica Huston plays Lily, a bitter and cold professional, who's a very strange and complex personality. She's so mysterious and full of secrets that you never actually know what's next with her or her relationship with her son, or if she loves him. Anjelica Huston plays Lily with extreme subtlety, holding back her emotions, which results in an interesting, but also a bit undercooked.

This becomes visible mostly at the beginning of the movie: Lily is very silent and Anjelica plays her in a bit robotic way, which lacks real emotions. And yet, somehow it's not a real flaw in her performance: actually, I felt that she couldn't get more out of the screenplay as there wasn't more in it. There you really don't suspect how interesting Anjelica's performance really is. It's so full of layers and always hides from you. That may not work for some and it would amaze others.

When we first see Lily, she comes across as a very cold professional, who knows her job and aims and does everything to reach her goal, even if it means cheating, stealing or even killing. Lily is just terrified of the thought of disappearing in a decent life. Not only does she want things, she just gets them. And this attitude makes her a very unlikeable and yet attractive character.

Her performance has its highlight in the very strange scene between her and Pat Hingle's character. Lily is just like a terrified little animal, even her screams reminded me of that. She just cries when she's tortured, but minutes later she's just saying how well his suit looks. That pain and fear in her eyes, nervous ticks, and speaking is just unbelievable. That was the moment when I felt real connection to Lily. Until then it was just a bit mediocre and pale, but after this it really becomes something exciting and unique.

Lily's hate for Annette Bening's character, Myrna is, however, not properly done. I think it was too bitchy and not hateful enough. I just wanted to feel more, that they just wanted to kill each other and instead I got bitchy one-liners (but that's rather the screenplay's fault than Anjelica's). This aspect was not the greatest, but it did not make it worse.

Although her performance seems to be undercooked in the beginning, later, Anjelica has such a powerful and impressive screen presence, which just cannot be overlooked. Who can forget her worrying about her own life or nervously packing the money into a briefcase? Huston perfectly caught the neurotic side of this character and I just kept wondering why Lily acts like this.

Her relationship with her son is also very odd: there's some kind of an incestous love, but also hate between them. With their kissing scene in the end, they might have want to shock the audience, but I think it much better showed the desperation of Lily to survive. Her instincts worked only and nothing more.

After that you can wonder if the big twist which she causes in the story was her intention or it was just an accident, but I guess, it's somewhere between the two. On the one hand, there's this hysterical scream of hers, but then she just puts the money nervously into the case. So confusing, but it's just unbelievably effective.

So to sum up, Anjelica Huston's performance in The Grifters is bit a mixed bag: there are moments of boredom and slowness, but then there's such intensity and mistery in it, which almost made me speechless. It's not flawless, but it's very memorable work by a talented actress. It consits of a pale 3,5 and an ultra strong 5, so I guess I found the proper rating.

It's just not more. I was thinking of 4,5, but after all 4 was more reasonable.

What do you think? I know I said her profile was due on Friday, but I had time. Joanne's profile mightbe up soon, so stay tuned.

Kathy Bates in Misery

Kathy Bates received her first Oscar nomination and award for playing Annie Wilkes, a crazy fan of a writer in Rob Reiner's movie, Misery, based on Stephen King's popular novel. From what I've read Bates wasn't exactly the front-runner to win to the Oscar, her win seems to be obvious only nowadays. With this win, Bates went on to star in many other great movies, she successfully avoided being typecast and became one of the most reliable character actresses.

Misery is a great, scary and most of all exciting movie, which doesn't reach real heights, but it's extremely entertaining. It was pretty much a comeback for James Caan, who unfortunately got lost again, but he gave an excellent performance as the writer, who's trapped in a house, being tortured by a crazy fan. Richard Farnsworth is great too and we know exactly why we remember him so well in this movie and that twist is really upsetting.

However, the movie reached its iconic status due to the unforgettable Kathy Bates, who may not be giving her best performance (ahhem, Fried Green Tomatoes, no nomination, damn it), but she certainly is memorable as the wonderful crazy Annie. If we held a poll on the most popular Oscar winners, I am pretty sure, that she would be in the Top 5 at least, even though this win has been criticized a bit nowadays.

We all know Annie Wilkes. She's just one of us. She's the lovely chubby lady from the bank, the grocery store and the hospital. On the outside, she's just this fun-loving, crazily romantic, good-tempered woman, fantascizing about the prince charming saving her from her loneliness and her pathetic life. She comes across in her first scene as this woman: kind and chubby, being so fascinated by her favorite writer.

Kathy Bates really nailed all the faces of this very complex character: first of all, she's a faceless monster, something like Mo'Nique in Precious, pathetic, obese, watching TV, eating, doing absolutely nothing, except for being a total psycho. The other one is this lovely woman previously mentioned. I haven't read the book, but from what I've heard she's more of a faceless monster than a real human being. I think Bates made the right choice with showing the human side of Annie: her mood swings are sometimes terrifying, but sometimes they are simply ridiculous. I mean could you stop laughing when she acts like a fifteen-year-old and could you be more terrified when she is yelling about Rocket Man. She goes over-the-top, which would normally distract you, but here it's just the right thing to do.

However, I must tell, that I wasn't THAT scared by her. Of course, I can't forget the "hobbling" scene, but apart from that I felt that Bates mainly focused on the dramatic aspects of this character and by this she perfectly showed the loneliness and sadness of this character. Her bitter monologue about the power and influence of Misery on her life is just breathtaking, just like the one when she really gets the blues because of the rain. I actually felt SORRY for Annie, and she became a little symphatetic. And this was a very tricky thing to do: Kathy makes you actually like Annie or at least sympathize with her to a degree, but you also hate her. It is that you like her because you can hate her. And Kathy does this with such ease and she's never too forced, not even in the most over-the-top scenes. It's just breathtaking.

But again the hobbling, which is one of the most unforgettable and best acted scenes in motion picture history: she smashes the ankles of Paul and then she just says "God, I love you!". I mean it's such an embarassing moment for the viewer and we (just like Annie) do not know how to react. It's not only terrifying and creepy, but also a bit ridiculous. If we made a list on the most scary scenes ever, it would be in Top 3. It's not what you see, it's what Kathy Bates tries to hide to you. It's just brilliant. Not to mention the big fight in the end which is again very creepy (it reminded me a bit of Fatal Attraction, oh I can't wait to review Glenn).

When writing about her, I try not to be influenced by her performance's iconic status, but I just cannot forget it. Annie Wilkes is in motion picture history and (to quote her) Kathy Bates "had a little something to do with that"). With this crazy character, she created one of the most memorable screen villians in history, who is going to scare us for a long time. Breathtaking work by a great actress.

Anjelica's profile comes on Friday and Joanne's on Saturday along with the conclusions (not sooner unfortunately).

Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge

Marvelous Meryl Streep received her ninth Oscar nomination for playing Suzanne Vale, a drug-addicted actress in Mike Nichols' movie, Postcards from the Edge. We all know that Meryl Streep is Meryl Streep and everyone who's called Meryl Streep is just adored by the Academy. Despite this fact I think that Meryl was probably fourth or fifth in the final voting, but you will never know. No matter what, Suzanne became a very popular performance of Meryl.

Postcards from the Edge is not a great movie, but not a bad one either: Mike Nichols has enormous talent, but sometimes he just went too over-the-top (like this and Working Girl). However I was never embarassed by the movie, actually, I had great fun in it and its performers. Shirley MacLaince gives an excellent performance as the alcoholic and bit dumb mother, though I can't really decide if she's supporting or leading. But that doesn't really influence me as I really liked her. It was very nice to see the other famous actors in this movie, I especially liked Gene Hackman's cameo as the director.

But if anyone mentions Postcards from the Edge, one thing pops into the mind to everybody: Meryl is singing and it's not Mamma Mia! Although she sings twice in this movie, her last number is the most remember and praised one. But more about that later.

Meryl is playing essentially Carrie Fisher and let me say that she's miscast in my opinion. The sarcastic, witty drug addict simply doesn't fit Meryl's personality and that's why sometimes it was a bit unusual to watch Meryl acting like that. Although she certainly is miscast, I think that she's able to give a very funny and emotional performance which really connects to the audience. We instantly like the character of Suzanne, she's pathetic, broken-down, desperate and that's the way we get to know her. She becomes so human, and this aspect of the character is so perfectly underlined by Meryl. She gets extremely close to your heart and makes you feel sorry for Suzanne.

It's interesting that Postcards from the Edge essentially consists of lightweight drama and comedy: it's really neither, it's rather a strange mix, which is quite distracting to tell the truth. It is neither laugh-out-loud funny nor very deep, therefore it falls in between and it's just a bit of failure. However, Meryl miraclously found the perfect balance between the genres. She is both hilarious and hearbreaking, and always knows when to use what. Meryl's delivery of the sarcastic lines is just brilliant and by this shows a very vulnerable side of Suzanne. She uses humor as a defense mechanism and makes fun of everything when she's embarassed.

Reading the story, one would think that this performance really sizzles when Meryl has scenes with Shirley, but I think that's not the whole truth. Her best moments come when she's alone worrying about her career, like when she is listening to a conversation about how awful she looks. Her faces are not just hilarious, but also show how miserable this character is. The filming scenes are able to show this emotions extremely well, and that's when Meryl truly rocks as Suzanne. The real highlight comes somewhere around the ending with Gene Hackman: there are so many quiet emotions in that hug between them. Everything is so delicate and charming and never pushy.

However before that, there are two great confrontation scenes between Meryl and Shirley which are really worth mentioning: two disappointed, bitter has-been divas quarelling with each other. Although they do not reach extreme dramatic heights with it, I don't think that it was the purpose of it to do so. And yet there's again some quiet emotional weight in them, which cannot be got across. It's just complicated to describe.

The hospital scenes in the end, when Meryl does Shirley's make-up has also exceptional moments from both ladies: both are bitter but in very different and complex ways. I was just so relieved by that scene to tell the truth. And then comes the real treat: Meryl's last scene, the singing. Oh my goodness, it is just really one of the greatest numbers ever recorded. There are such powerful emotions going right there and the character almost burns down the screen. Meryl's voice and singing is not only perfect, but also extremely powerful. It's no wonder, that it became one of her most famous scenes.

So to sum up, although Meryl is a bit miscast (that's not her fault actually), her performance as the desperate Suzanne Vale is pitch-perfect: it's hilarious, a bit saddening, powerful, emotional and extremely loveable. Meryl nails all the aspects and faces of this characters and createst one of her most vibrant turns ever. Exceptional work by an extraordinary talent.

Meryl gets naturally 4,5 Meryls.

What do you think?

Just something unexpected: the poll. There's such heated contest between 1966 and 1986, which I did not expect. So keep on voting, so that your favored year wins.

Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman

Julia Roberts received her second Oscar nomination for playing Vivian, a hooker in Pretty Woman. I'm really not sure about Julia's chances of winning as she won the Golden Globe and the movie was a huge success plus she became a HUGE star and Hollywood's sweetheart in the 90s. But I read that the race was between Woodward and Huston. After all, I think that Roberts was the third after Kathy Bates and Anjelica Huston. Nevertheless, I think, that much less people would hate Julia's win had she won for this.

Pretty Woman is very hard to rate. I've seen it at least seven times, but not because it's that good, it's just always on Tv. And actually, I enjoy it every time and I was really looking forward to watching it this time too. It's a typical entertaining romantic comedy wrapped in Garry Marshall's sugar coating, which is not that distracting this time. I don't think that Richard Gere is a great actor but at least he's not as annoying here as he was in Chicago. I have to mention Laura San Giacomo who gives an excellent performance which I especially loved and I don't think that a nom would have been undeserved for her.

However, this movie is totally about its main character, Vivian, and the actress, who plays her, Ms. Julia Roberts. I am 100% sure that had this movie been released in, say, 1964, Julia would have won the Oscar hands down. It's a typical 1960s Cinderella story for both the character and the actress. And people love fairy tales. Pretty Woman's story is highly unlikely, but there's some kind of loveliness in it, which is mostly due to Ms. Roberts: she was so free of all of her later mannerisms and was able to give a heartwarming performance.

In the beginning, we get to know Vivian, who is foul-mouthed, loud, over-the-top, but it's obvious for everyone that it's mainly acting and pretending. However, she gets the sympathy of the audience instantly: the role itself is surprisingly a lot like Michelle Pfeiffer's in The Fabulous Baker Boys. Call girls, looking for a better life. Unlike Michelle, Julia picked the easier ways to create the character and to get the audience's sympathy. We like both characters, but Susie Diamond is quite unlikeable sometimes, while Vivian is just the usual hooker with a heart of gold. Actually, this might sound as if I'm underestimating Julia here: actually, I think that her choices completely fit the film. She doesn't go deep, but nobody requires it.

That being said, Julia built up Vivian's personality quite well: she has a kind of "I'm just a country girl deep in my heart" feeling, but in a strange way it's not very distracting, because Julia's charm and loveliness makes us forget all these things. It's so natural when she asks Edward how far he got in school and then she says "Wow, your folks must be proud of you." I just felt that it was totally in the right place.

Vivian is some kind of a mix of Cinderella and Eliza Doolittle, and Julia shows both sides of this character. Her clumsiness is very funny and sweet, her vulgar behaviour is entertaining and her attitude is just plain gold. Vivian goes throught a development and Julia is actually quite good at showing these important changes and the potential in Vivian. She just wants to live a decent life and that's it. Again, she's just an ordinary girl. First, she enjoys this new and unusual state, but then she gets too used to it and wants to get more out of life.

Some may say that she's not credible as a hooker, but in my opinion Vivian was not really credible as a hooker either. She's just too sweet for the street. There are no complicated emotions or deep moments there, but that's mostly because of the shallowness of the screenplay: I think Julia lived with every opportunity in the very thin and simple screenplay. Every funny scene is done exceptionally and the drama part is also how it should be. The whole thing is just very well done.

To sum up, this is not a performance to praise for high graces, but it's utterly charming, loveable, funny, entertaining acting, which is free of overacting and loud moments. It serves its purpuse quite properly and gets so much out of the screenplay, which is not the best every-written. Enjoyable and lovely.

So what do you think? This time I cannot accept requests on which lady's review I should do next, so thanks for the understanding.

The Next Year

So let's just move along with our next year and I will do a decade I've ignored since the semi-pleasant experience of 1998. It seems to be a so called one-horse race, but I think everyone can surprise us and I'm sure that it will be competitive and nothing is for sure right here. But I won't go on talking.

1990

So the nominees were:

• Kathy Bates in Misery*
• Anjelica Huston in The Grifters
• Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
• Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge
• Joanne Woodward in Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

So what do you think? Who would YOU pick? What's YOUR ranking? What's YOUR prediction for my ranking? The predicting contest is on.

As you can see, there's a poll on your right. Vote for the more interesting year. Basically, these are the next two years, but I'm so interested in both that I can't decide between them. So the decision is yours. If there's a tie, the person who wins the predicting contest decides.

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1989

About the year: I really-really enjoyed doing this year and to tell the truth this was the one in which I had the most pleasure, so it was the best (though 1974 has 0.5 more Meryls). I have ended a long fight in myself and I finally joined one of the camps. #1 was quite easy for me (I soooo wanted to resist her, but I just couldn't as she was so utterly great), and placing the others was very-very easy too. I'm quite happy with the ranking. I love #2 and #3 too and in weaker years they would get my vote (especially #2, who was just brilliant), but the others were not that bad either. So the ranking:

5. Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel

After all, I can say that I saw a very confusing and uneven, but strangely effective, which might have weaknesses, but there are such electrifying, brilliant and unforgettable scenes, that you forget your complaints while watching them. It is not a perfect job, but there is some greatness in it. Good work.

4. Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy

It's very subtle and nice work, which may not go that deep, but is able to entertain, please and move the viewer and she makes it very sure that you never forget her. She's like a good book that you love to read even for the twentieth time. Nice, charming work.

3. Jessica Lange in Music Box

This is a very good performance, which is extremely subtle, but there is some silent strength in it. It could have been more emotional as this way it's a bit underplayed, but I cannot argue that Lange was able to show the emotions and the guilt of this confused character, who wants nothing, but the truth.

2. Pauline Collins in Shirley Valentine

This is a delightful and funny work by an actress who should be much more famous and well-known. Collins' Shirley Valentine is a loveable, life-like, beautiful character and Collins gives probably the most enjoyable performance I've reviewed so far. Beautiful, moving and amazing all around, a real threat for Michelle.

1. Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys

I can understand what people see in this performance: it's brilliant, strong, powerful, sexy, charming, vibrant, sad and loveable. She shows so many emotions and faces of this exciting character and created something very memorable, which continues to impress the viewers. She could have done it more easily, but it was brilliant the way it was.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Michelle Pfeiffer 
in 
The Fabulous Baker Boys

How will you thank me, Michelle? :)

Omissions:

• Sally Field in Steel Magnolias

So my next year: it's a very rarely talked about year, since most people seem to agree on the winner, whose performance has become iconic or at least extremely popular. I don't waste time but say the one clue, from which you will INSTANTLY find out.

• Who is whose #1 fan?

So what do you think? Do you have any questions requests or any thoughts on your mind?

Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel

Isabelle received her second Oscar nomination to date for playing a tortured sculptor, Camille Claudel in the very weird movie, Camille Claudel. I'm quite sure that Adjani's nomination itself was a surprise (it's always surprising unfortunately when a foreign language role is nominated) and she was the fifth in the final voting. I think her character was unlikeable and the movie itself was quite artsy for the Academy members to embrace it as they should.

Camille Claudel is a great movie. I expected it to be boring, slow and forced, but it was surprisingly impressed. I may even say that it was the best movie of the Best Actress nominees that year. I know it's very weird and over-the-top, but there are such strong and unforgettable scenes in it. You can easily see that it was directed by a cinematographist. There are beautiful pictures in it. I think even if I turned the volumed off and watched only the images, I would have been equally impressed. Gerard Depardieu gives an excellent and strong performance as Rodin.

Isabelle Adjani is however so damn difficult to rate. Sometimes she is out of place, but occasionally she is so unbelievably storng that if she kept that strength up, she so would have beaten all the other nominees that year. But since her work here is very uneven, it did not happen and yet I just cannot say anything bad about her.

In the beginning, her character is not particularly, but there is something about her unique and strange presence after a while because of which I was NOT able to take my eyes off her. I have to admit though that it is not the best part of it. There was something missing which was there later, but there the lack of this thing was a bit distracting and therefore Adjani was not really strong.

Isabelle Adjani injected so much passion into this performance and she made such an effort, that it is unbelievable. However, it was not forced (OK, maybe sometimes I felt it). Camille is a stubborn, headstrong woman who lives for only one thing, her art. And Adjani perfectly shows how much this means for Camille. Camille has this one thing at the centre of her life, and everything is just additional, including her love affair with Rodin, which is first pure, passionate love and eventually burning hatred.

Adjani also shows the intimate relationship and tender love (not incest!) between Camille and her brother, Paul, who is probably the only true supporter of Camille until the very end. When he leaves for America and Isabelle runs after him, Adjani shows so many emotions, that she almost broke my heart. That is one of those brutally great moments, which made her performance so much better.

Adjani sometimes exaggerated the insanity of Claudel, her big screaming in front of the house of Rodin is a bit too much, and yet in an odd way it works somehow. We do not know Claudel’s personality, but this over-the-topness of Adjani matches it. Adjani has the secret, which makes this very uneven performance a great one.

Another strong scene comes when she is lying in the water, drunk, and broken down. We feel her suffering so much, it just becomes obvious. It was probably my favorite sequence of the movie and it is ingrained in my memory.

In the end, when she is sent to an asylum and there is so much pain right there. Her voiceover is just heartbreaking: she uses her voice so well to express how much the world is falling apart for this tragic character. I really said WOW.

After all, I can say that I saw a very confusing and uneven, but strangely effective, which might have weaknesses, but there are such electrifying, brilliant and unforgettable scenes, that you forget your complaints while watching them. It is not a perfect job, but there is some greatness in it. Good work.

It is very difficult to say anything about this performance properly.

So what do you think? I can give NO official predictions now, but I am interested in your thoughts. The Final Conclusion comes in two hours.

Jessica Lange in Music Box

Jessica Lange received her fifth Oscar nomination for playing Ann Talbot, a woman defending her father accused of war crimes in the movie of Costa-Gavras, Music Box. I can imagine that Lange was most likely forth (or maybe third) in the voting proccess. I don't know if it was that way, but it's so great to speculate. Anyway, Lange was really on the top of her game in the eighties and was indeed very acclaimed.

Music Box is not the best movie ever. Being Hungarian, I might be a bit more sensitive about it. It's a bit too black-and-white and even offensive sometimes as Hungarians there are either nazis or communists. Thanks. The acting is quite good actually, but nothing brilliant really. Armin Mueller-Stahl is quite good as the father though I think he sometimes goes too over-the-top. I might be biased but I loved Hungary's probably greatest living actress, Mari Törőcsik the most in her very small role as Magda Zoldan. I could listen to her voice forever and let me tell you that had she got a better role, (with all respect to Jessica Lange), she would have blew Jessica Lange away in a minute as she's 100 times more talented.

Jessica Lange plays Ann, a woman desperately trying to defend her father's reputation and also his citizenship. Lange does a great job at developing the character of Ann. First she's in total denial, and she so stubbornly believes her father, that the truth hit her really hard and causes a minor breakdown for her. She carefully follows Ann on her journey and shows the faces of this woman.

Lange's acting here is surprisingly subtle: she shows the emotions of Ann with little nervous ticks, which are impressive for a while, but after all you get used to it and then it becomes nothing special. The subtelty also applies for her speeches in the courtroom scenes, where she's firm and cold, free of emotions. We don't get obvious courtroom Oscar clips and huge monologues and that's probably what I like the most. It's quite realistic and natural.

Her reactions to the accusations seem quite natural, but sometimes her acting seems to be too undercooked and it lacks a very strong and effective screen presence. I love subtle performances, but they should also be substantial in my opinion, and Lange did not satisfy me that much.

Ann's anger is excellently shown by Lange, however. She really caught the Hungarian stubbornness and character. I never had a doubt for a moment that she wasn't of Hungarian heritage. I know that this sounds a bit awkward, but actually that's the way things are. Ann is a very strong female character, which is very much appreciated and I think that this is the aspect of her performance, which most people admire. Ann sticks to her beliefs and she only believes something when there's a proof.

Probably the best parts of her performance take place in Budapest, when she takes a walk on the river bank and watches the Danube. I really loved the quiet emotional weight of that short sequence. You could really feel the guilt inside her, (BTW, those who saw the movie, how did you like the pictures of Budapest?) and this slow walk becomes some kind of an atonement for the sins in WWII. There's a whole scene where she should speak Hungarian and Lange was able to speak this very complicated language very well (it requires very much effort to learn it as well as she did).

There comes another memorable moment when she opens the music box and the truth becomes clear to her. Her scream and tears are so real, and you can see how shocking it was to Ann to find out that the person she loved all her life was lying to her all the time. After that, the confrontation scene between her and Armin Mueller-Stahl is also excellent and Lange's acting is very strong there.

So to sum up, this is a great performance, which is extremely subtle, but there is some silent strength in it. It could have been more emotional as this way it's a bit underplayed, but I cannot argue that Lange was able to show the emotions and the guilt of this confused character, who wants nothing, but the truth. Good job.

So what do you think? It's time for your last predictions! :)

The Social Network

I am not writing a complete review, I just sum up my thoughts briefly. Wow, I have really mixed feelings about this movie. On the one hand, it's incredibly boring sometimes, on the other hand, it has a very sinister atmosphere, that I just loved. The screenplay is such a mediocre one and it's the front-runner, I just can't believe it as it's so dry, slow, forced, unwitty and didactic. I probably disliked that most about the movie. The acting is quite good however: Justin Timberlake is much better than I thought and Jesse Eisenberg is quite good too. The directing is very good and I really appreciated that it wanted to give some life and excitement to the dull story.

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And much-much space to praise somehow of whom this movie is not even deserving and who totally saved it. Furthermore, he made it great: Andrew Garfield is simply amazing. Whenever he's on screen the movie is simply better. He should just be given the nomination right now (and maybe even the win) as he was just amazing and unforgettable.

Total Grade: 7/10. It's not as bad as I am angry with it. It's really overhyped, but quite good sometimes.

Pauline Collins in Shirley Valentine

Pauline Collins received her only Oscar nomination to date for playing Shirley, a lonely housewife in Lewis Gilbert's movie, Shirley Valentine. Pauline Collins recreated her Tony-winning role as Shirley to big success. I think that she may even have been third in the race which was stirctly between Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Tandy. Nevertheless, she never turned out to be a huge star despite this nomination, which I felt was certainly well-deserved.

Shirley Valentine is a very entertaining and lovely movie despite the fact that it has no real story, but it is sure much fun and I enjoyed every single minute of it. There are such witty lines, situations and scenes in it that you're just feel good about the whole thing. It's not high art, but it is certainly well-worth watching it at least once. I mean, you see ordinary people with ordinary problems and the whole thing is so incredibly relaxing.

Just like the movie, Pauline Collins' performance consists of two very different parts: the old Shirley in the unhappy, rainy England and the new, happy Shirley in the sunny, beautiful and romantic Greece. If you're worried that this is just like a Julia Roberts-like romantic Eat, Pray, Love thing about an depressed woman resting at the sea. No, it's a very ordinary story and Pauline Collins gives a terrific and very natural performance, which charmes you instantly.

Although Shirley is an unhappy character with whom you can quite easily sympathize, Collins never lets you pity her. She shows that Shirley is actually a very nice and strong person, who just wants to enjoy her life little bit. That's all she needs, but sometimes she just lacks courage to do so. It's so amazing to see her backing when she has to do something for a change. Collins never uses very heavy drama with Shirley, actually, she's extremely hilarious somtimes, like in her brilliant Oscar clip with "sex for breakfast, sex for dinner, sex for tea and sex for supper". As I said she's just so damn natural with those lines that it's amazing.

What impresses me most in her performance is the fascinating character development. Pauline had already played Shirley on the stage and I think it was an important factor as I always felt that she knew this character so thrillingly well. Every move, every expression is simply perfect and is excellently solved by Pauline.

The scenes in England sometimes go a bit over-the-top and I felt that Pauline's performance here is much less effective than the second half. There Pauline might have been a bit weaker, but she was excellently showing the emptiness of Shirley. She's so damn real in the scene where her husband throws the dinner away and she decides to tell him that she goes to Greece for a vacation.

However, you can easily spots the changes in Shirley's personality even in the English scenes, where she refuses to be the servant of her daughter and ulitmately decides to travel. We can see: this woman's fed up with the stupid, meaningless days and wants some excitement.

Shirley finds this excitment in Greece (naturally) with a charming local man. The scenes on this man's boat, when Shirley jumps into the sea and then the two have sex, is just adorable. And the funny remarks of Shirley to the audience during the intercourse is so damn out-of-place and yet simply adorable.

As I said this is no heavy drama, but there's one scene which really broke my heart. It's right before this exciting day for her, when she sits on the beach, drinking wine and thinking about her emptiness and her unfulfilled life: we see that she has so much potential and desire to live a great life, but there's always something getting in her way. However, she reaches the state of happiness finally and as she says she falls in love with herself and manages to accept herself.

This is a delightful and funny work by an actress who should be much more famous and well-known. Collins' Shirley Valentine is a loveable, life-like, beautiful character and Collins gives probably the most enjoyable performance I've reviewed so far. Its strenght might be a bit uneven, but it can be easily forgiven. Excellent work.

A very-very deserving 4.5, an almost 5.

So what do you think? Do you agree or do you want to scratch my eyes out? Tell me! :-) And also if you have any requests for the next years, please, don't be shy!

Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy

Jessica Tandy received her first Oscar nomination and only Oscar for playing Daisy Werthan, a grumpy, old Jewish woman in Bruce Beresford's Best Picture-winning movie, Driving Miss Daisy and by this she became the oldest performer to win an Academy Award for acting. It really meant a lot to her career as she went on to receive a second nomination for Fried Green Tomatoes (for which she should have won). Eventually, she beat out Michelle Pfeiffer, the critics' darling (to the dismay of many) and received one of the longest standing ovations.

How much I love Driving Miss Daisy! Oh my goodness, I cannot even count how many times I've seen it, but I guess it's somewhere around ten now, and it still moves me so much that I cannot stop weeping. It's a really beautiful flick, which is unfortunately not very popular nowadays. I guess that it's due to the fact that this is a slow movie with not much story or action. Morgan Freeman received an extremely well-deserved Actor nom, which he deserved to win (but picking DDL was probably the right choice). Dan Aykroyd is also much better than I remembered.

But something came to my mind: I think this was the very first time that I saw this movie in English actually. Please don't blame me as the Hungarian dubbing for this movie is just legendary and brilliant. But now I just had to watch in the original language, but it did not disappoint that much either.

The movie is this great mainly because of one very-very important factor: the brilliant chemistry between the two leads. Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman got such lovely roles that it would have been quite a miracle if they hadn't been able to please the audience (which includes me). They are all so charming together with Tandy representing the fire and Freeman representing the water in this complicated friendship between two elderly people. They really shine in this movie. I think giving them an award together at the Berlin Film Festival was quite probably one of the best decisions about a prize. Their performances strictly work together and they are so entertaining, funny, lifelike and despite some small argument about silly things, there's such calmness there.

But about Tandy alone: I have always been championing her work in this one and I'm not saying that I was not pleased by her this time, because I watched her with enthusiasm and she was just pure delight. Miss Daisy is a very grumpy and stubborn lady, but her sarcastic remarks are simply hilarious and Tandy really nailed the comedy parts. Even when there's some human drama in the previous scenes, she can make it lighter with a funny scene in the kitchen where she turns down the gas only after carefully making it sure, that she's alone.

There's not much action with her character and she doesn't really change in the story, but I don't think that it's much of a trouble: she doesn't give a very deep performance, but the role doesn't need it. There are some subtly emotional scenes, but there are no showy scenes or huge monologues when she can show complicated emotions. Except for one, which really rocks. When she talks about her childhood experience when she was travelling with her family for the first time, I really had to struggle to keep my tears. There's so much beauty in that scene: you can see an elderly person reminiscing about her youth. Tandy was really able to show the background story of Miss Daisy. You can see her as an excited little girl. It's definitely one of the most moving scenes I've ever seen.

However, while watching the "You're my best friend" scene, I ulitimately gave up the struggling with my teardrops. It's a very silent and subtle moment, but there is so much beauty in its simplicity: Tandy had an effect on me with very simple acting, which is a great achievement as the scene really had the danger of becoming too sentimental. Tandy held herself back brilliantly though and was just brilliant.

And these few minutes give a great summary of Tandy's whole performance here: it's very subtle and nice work, which may not go that deep, but is able to entertain, please and move the viewer and she makes it very sure that you never forget her. She's like a good book that you love to read even for the twentieth time. Nice, charming work.

So what do you think?

Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys

Michelle Pfeiffer received her second Oscar nomination for playing Susie Diamond, a former call-girl and a singer with the Baker brothers in the movie The Fabulous Baker Boys. It's almost 100% sure that the race in 1989 was between Tandy and Pfeiffer, they were pretty much neck and neck. Tandy had the sentimentality on her side and Pfeiffer was a huge star back then. I think she did not get much less votes than Tandy after all, but a lot of people are quite devastated because of this loss.

The Fabulous Baker Boys is quite an average, but quite entertaining movie. I think that it's pretty overrated, though I still liked it. I am very fond of Jeff Bridges in general, so he was an important draw for me. Although he was quite good here, I often felt that his acting was a bit forced and yet undercooked. His brother Beau was equally good, but he did not blow my socks off, either. That's it. One of my (actually two) favorite things about this movie is the brilliant music. First of all, the great songs, second the actual score by Dave Grusin. I could listen it on and on.

And the other thing is Michelle Pfeiffer, who's quite simply irresistable here, giving probably her best and most famous performance. It's no wonder that people think that she should have won: her performance is a true standout of her pretty average movie. The whole screenplay is a bit flawed and not very accurate, but the part of Susie is brilliantly written. I felt that the film was just a reason to show Pfeiffer and let her shine, which is quite great.

Her first scene itself makes quite an impression and really sets the tone of her whole performance: Susie is yelling and swearing because of her heels. Susie is quite weary, sarcastic, extremely impolite and a bit full of herself. But when she begins singing, my goodness, I don't think that there's anyone who's not charmed by her instantly. The funny thing is that she doesn't do that much, she simply relies on her presence and singing voice (both brilliant and extremely strong).

Michelle mixes the comedy and the drama quite well. Actually, I don't think that I could call it comedy, as her remarks are rather sarcastic and you can feel how weary and bitter this woman really is. Her experiences as an "escort" really made her tough and therefore wants to keep the distance. Her cold irony toward Beau Bridges' character is quite hilarious and I love the way she delivers those lines ("It's got more hair than you" and things like that). Susie is extremely outspoken, she doesn't like beating around the bush and this just makes the audience love her more. She just says what everyone feels, but do not dare to say. She's really the "what can I lose?" type.

As I have already said, her singing is just magical. I've heard that Madonna was supposed to play Susie, but I don't think that she could've made her as vibrant and brilliant as Michelle did. I mean it's so natural and very lifelike when she lies down on the piano in a flaming red dress, which you really want to rip off her. There's so much sexuality and attractiveness coming from her that it almost makes you speechless. She never shows anything, but lets you visualize everything perfectly. In short: who could resist her in the scene when she's on the stage with Jeff Bridges (and there's brilliant chemistry between the two)?

The highlight of Michelle's whole performance was a long monologue after the New Year's Eve party at the hotel. She's a bit drunk and opens up to Jack about her previous "escorting" experiences at other hotels. It was one of the most heartbreaking moments I have ever seen on-screen. I loved that Michelle did not work for the effect of it and rather held herself back and by this she created an incredibly realistic scene. She shows an unbelievable amount of emotions: bitterness, sadness, hope, passion, disappointment and after that the atmosphere is so damn sexual that it almost sets the screen on fire. And their kissing is so dazzling that you can feel that you're a part of their "act".

But Michelle also showed how cheeky Susie becomes after success and wants to have much more part in picking places. She leaves the band eventually and leaves Jack. People love to praise her big monologue about emptiness and there's a reason: she could have made it really theatrical and over-the-top to win the sympathy of the viewers, but she made a wisest decision to make it much more believable. She was really upsetting and devastating.

Her strength in this movie becomes really obvious when she's not there toward the end: I just missed her presence so much. Thankfully, she returns in the end and that short scene is just excellent: she acts embarrased and she so brilliantly breaks the tension when starts to sing that funny little jingle. It's so funny and sad at the same time.

So after all I can say that I can understand what people see in this performance: it's brilliant, strong, powerful, sexy, charming, vibrant, sad and loveable. She shows so many emotions and faces of this exciting character and created something very memorable, which continues to impress the viewers. She could have done it more easily, but it was brilliant the way it was. Easy rating.

So what do you think? Any predictions now?

The Next Year

After a little bit of tedious drama with the movies, I can finally start this very exciting and interesting year, to which I am really looking forward to. There will be one decisive Michelle vs. Jessica battle? Which one of them will emerge victorious? Or will it be another person? Let's see!

1989

So the nominees were:

• Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel
• Pauline Collins in Shirley Valentine
• Jessica Lange in Music Box
• Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys
• Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy*

So what's your prediction for my ranking? I really cannot wait, I hope you feel the same. The predicting contest is on. So let's have fun! :)

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1954

About the field: Wow, this was quite probably the most interesting line-up so far. It's far from being the best, but it was so colorful and I had much pleasure in it. Too bad that nowadays it's more about Garland vs. Kelly and they forget the other great nominees. My ranking was not as easy as I thought when I finished reviewing the ladies. There was one good, two very good, one very-very good and a timeless, amazing performance. My pick was very easy and I understand why people hate that loss. But the ranking:

5. Grace Kelly in The Country Girl

On the one hand, she's painfully miscast and in the beginning she has no weight. On the other hand, in the end her presence and effect is quite strong and is worthy of my praise. Not easy to judge it, but I myself missed her mysterious persona from her other movies, in other words, the essence of Grace Kelly.

4. Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina

This may not be Audrey Hepburn's best work, but I was utterly charmed and perfectly entertained by it despite its lack of great character development. But I laughed, I was moved, I cared about Sabrina and most of all, I had some kind of an emotional connection to her

3. Jane Wyman in Magnificent Obsession

Jane Wyman gives a satisfying, emotional and very moving performance, which however lacks depth. It might be also due to the weak points of the screenplay, but she wasn't able to be towering and truly impressive. Although everything is where is should be, the achievement is a bit too thin. Very strong work, though.

2. Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones

I must admit that I was totally charmed and mesmerized by the magnetic presence and extraordinary beauty of Ms. Dandridge, who gave a very exciting, wild, sexy and attractive performance as a very complicated woman. A great achievement by a great talent.

1. Judy Garland in A Star is Born

If you travel 1000 years in time and see which performances people still remember, Judy Garland's in A Star Is Born will be one of them. Judy Garland's acting achievement is really one of a kind, a true and eternal classic, one that cannot be forgotten or overlooked by anyone who loves movies. This might be a performance for the ages.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Judy Garland in A Star is Born

Don't be that surprised! :)

About the next year: Picking was so hard. I wanted to do two other years, but I did not get the movies after all and I was incredibly mad. So I was forced to find a year, which is interesting to me. So finally I found a fine year to do. The clues:

• Friendship forever
• #1 annoying fanclub for an actress and a nom
• (L) Tortured artists (L)

There was one right prediction from Joe, which was a bit late, but I just mention it.

So what do you think? Any observations, thoughts, request for the next years?