Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Best Actress 2004: The Results!


5. Annette Bening in Being Julia: Being Julia is an awful film, and Benning's performance falls right into that mix. I wouldn't say she's bad, but I'm just not a fan of her overly theatrical style. Some good moments, but not a worthy nomination to me.


4. Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby: Swank is working with better material then Benning is, but she just can't elevate her character from anything but a cliche. She has some great scenes, but a win or even a nomination is too much. Still, not as bad as some say.




3. Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full Of Grace: With realism and just the right touch, Moreno is able to give a great performance here. She is excellent at showing all the sides of her character and she has some truly powerful, haunting scenes. Not amazing work, but I'm very glad the Academy nominated her.



2. Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake: Although I wish the film had focused exclusively on her and given her more development, Imelda Staunton still comes through with a fantastic performance here. The nice and cheery facade of Vera is fascinating to watch, and when it's shattered, Imelda provides some of the most powerful and most devastating acting on film.


1. Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: An amazing film that is one of my absoulute favorites features a simply great performance. Winslet is so unique and natural and her Clemintine is a wonderful creation that I love. I was thinking about changing her rating due to not loving her quite as much as I used to, but I decided to stick with a five.


Overall Thoughts: A year that is a little overrated to me. It's a very strong year, but I wouldn't call it an amazing one. She had some competition from Imelda, but overall, Kate is a clear winner for me. Swank's win is kinda a bummer, but she was still better then Benning, IMO, and is not as bad as most people say, IMO as well, LOL.

My ranking of the films:

1. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
2. Maria Full Of Grace
3. Million Dollar Baby
4. Vera Drake
5. Being Julia







4 comments:

Nues20 said...

Yay for Kate!t
Sad for Annette though :)
Great stuff - now you can get on to reviewing performances YOU want to! :)

dinasztie said...

I'm sad that Annette is last but yay for Kate. :)

OK, I don't want to be rude or anything but Annette's last name is BENING. It bothers me a little bit. :/

Louis Morgan said...

Well Winslet certainly gives a good performance, I need to see a lot more of these nominees though.

joe burns said...

Nues20: She seems to be loved a lot around here, but not as much for me! Maybe I was too hard on her in my description, but I stand by my rating and my thoughts.

I might actually do another B.A year, LOL, I can't make up my mind.

Dinasztie: I'll correct it, don't worry!

Louis: See Staunton and Moreno! And Bening, if you really care, LOL.

You Go Olivia Colman!!!!