Best Actress 1985: Meryl Streep in Out Of Africa

Meryl Streep received her 6th oscar nomination for playing Karen Blixen, a Dutch woman who travels to Africa to marry her best friend (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and becomes the owner of a coffee farm. Yet, she soon falls in love with an explorer named Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford).

Out Of Africa is a beautiful, intelligent film. I see why it won so many Oscars due to the fact that it tells an excellent story along with gorgeous visuals. However, I find the film a little underwhelming and un -engaging. It feels like it never went deep enough into the plot and I found the film hard to follow because I couldn't understand the accents at times.

But it's all brought together by Meryl Streep, one of the best actresses ever. She plays Karen, as a very cold woman who doesn't always show her emotions. Yet unlike her fellow nominee Anne Bancroft, she knew how to add more depth to the character and play her facets in a convincing and careful way. She makes Karen easily the most interesting character in the film, and I always felt she was great whenever she was on screen. Her accent takes some time getting used to, but overall, it is wonderful and has great flavor.

As for her chemistry with Robert Redford, I think Sage was right when she said he was miscast. He is great-LOOKING for the part, but his acting is completely wooden. Not to mention his character is a complete cliche. But Meryl makes us believe that she loves him.We can feel her tenderness and love of being with him. she shows her confliction with him very well. The results are less then statisfying because of him, but Meryl makes the best of it, which is pretty damn fantastic.

However, I don't fully love Streep here. She is great, but the film's problems bring her down a bit. Such as the exploration of her character in great detail and her lack of emotion in a crucial scene towards the end. yet none of these are problems are Meryl's and she still delivers a rich, terrific performance that gets

Best Actress 1985: Geraldine Page in The Trip To Bountiful

Geraldine Page received her 8th Best Actress nomination and finally won for playing Carrie Watts, an old woman who runs away from her son and his annoying wife to her old home Bountiful. Along the way, she meets a lovely woman named Thelma (Rebecca De Mornay) who she bonds with on the bus and helps her get there.

The Trip To Bountiful is a wonderful movie. I love the way it's shot and made and the performances are fantastic. I think a Best Picture nomination would have been a bit much, but it is still a very good film. I feel Geraldine was the easy frontrunner this year.I think Whoopi was really close to upsetting, but I think she was too new to take the prize just yet(She had to wait 5 years later for Ghost). It was sentiment and the quality of Page's performance that put her through to the top.

This is such a beautiful, stirring portrayal that is the heart and soul of the movie. Page's performance builds and builds, it starts out subtle, and gradually gains more emotion. I love how she comes to life after she leaves the apartment. Her whole self starts to awaken again and it's so wonderful to watch. I think her chemistry with Rebecca De Mornay is perfect and their scenes on the bus are some of the best scenes in the film. We can also really see her love for Bountiful and how it drives her to go there at last. Page is quite heartbreaking in the scenes in which we feel she may not make it to Bountiful. But when she finally does, it's so beautiful to see. We can feel her happiness and great array of emotions at being back home. I also love her body and her mannerisms. Sure, they can be a bit grating at times, but this is hardly a complaint given she is so great and this is how her character should be played.

Geraldine Page gives such an affecting, beautifully wrought performance which gets

Best Actress 1985: Anne Bancroft in Agnes Of God

Anne Bancroft received her 5th and her last Oscar nomination for playing Mother Miriam Ruth in Agnes Of God.

Agnes Of God is actually a really interesting story which really surprised me. Things start to go downhill towards the end, but I found Jane Fonda captivating, the script very strong(Mostly), and the atmosphere of the film perfect. Let me just say here the sets are fantastic. I loved the convent and the beautiful way that the nuns live in it. It is about a physologist who goes to find out about the murder of a baby. The baby was killed by Agnes, one of the nuns there, and it is discovered that Agnes is very naive and maybe even insane. The Mother Superior is mistrusting of her and wants to block her from seeing Agnes. The two clash swords and the movie is about what they uncover together.

Anyway, Anne Bancroft got a Best Actress nomination for this film. Frankly, I feel it was a filler nomination, not that it was totally undeserved. I think Jane Fonda gave the stronger, more layered performance. But given it is Bancroft who was nominated and not Fonda., I'll proceed with my review. Anne gives a good, though not great performance.Miriam is a tightly wound character who is a bag of secrets.Bancroft plays her like this, and she does it with the utmost control.Of course, this is the way it should be played, and Bancroft does it well, but I felt there was a dissconnection with her performance. In her scenes with Fonda, she often outbursts and the control goes away. But there's something that doesn't work about it. It's well played, but they never connect.It seems as if the movie didn't know what to do with the character. There are moments where Anne seems to be employing comical mannerisms, or slightly comical that is. But they simply don't work and are a misstep in her performance. I feel that there are so many facets to this character, but the movie doesn't know how to handle it and Bancroft doesn't either.

That said, there are some great scenes. In the first really heated confrontation between them,Bancroft makes a funny joke and after that they cut to a scene between them in the churchyard. This, to me, is the best scene in the film. Both women are connecting and we see Miriam's true self for the 1st time. We also see how much she cares for Agnes, given she believes SPOILER that she is an angel(Although it is never quite clear how serious she is about this). This is the true reason that Bancroft hid her secrets from Fonda. She's afraid of losing her. The performance gets better as the film goes on, and there are some wonderful scenes with her and Fonda that show their strength as an onscreen pair.

Overall, Anne Bancroft gives a good performance. It just doesn't go in the direction she should have gone. It's close to a four, but I give her

Broadway Score Review: Assassins (Music And Lyrics By Stephen Sondheim

To simply shake things up and have something to do during the Best Actress years, and since Sage has started reviewing albums,I've been inspired to write reviews of broadway scores. I listen to basically just broadway scores (Although I like other music as well), and I feel it's time to go back and listen to my collection over again. I've decided to start it out with review one of Sondheim's strangest and lesser-known works, Assassins.

Assassins tells the story of every person who has tried to assassinate The President Of The United States at one time or another. It's an odd topic for a musical, but it all works out brilliantly thanks to John Weidman's book and Stephen Sondheim's score. There are two recordings of this show: One from the original Off-Broadway version back in 1991 and the other from the 2004 revival (?) (It never came to broadway in the 1st place!) which came out 13 years later. Unfortunately, I have never got to listen to much of the 91 version, though I plan to buy it soon. So, this is a review of the 04 version.

Sondheim's score is a terrific one, filled with dark and complex songs. They don't glorify the assassins, simply present their actions to us and make us aware that all of the people who did these horrible things had their reasons for doing this and are human beings. I find the show quite disturbing and the songs really stay with you.It's bolstered by an incredible cast: Michael Cerveris deservedly won a Tony for his work as John Wilkes Booth and is probably the highlight of the cast. His "The Ballad Of Booth" is probably the best of all the ballads (The Ballad of Czolgosz and The Ballad Of Guiteau). Luckily  not all the songs about the assassins are in this ballad form, though all of them are fantastic.Sondheim finds a creative way to combine the stories of John Hinckley Jr. and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme (Charles Manson's lover) by using a duet entitled "Unworthy Of Your Love". This song is in a class by itself and is incredibly beautiful and unsettling. I also really like "Take It Away Lee" a set-piece in which the assassins go and convince Lee Harvey Oswald to kill John F. Kennedy Jr.

Although I think the show is very strong, it doesn't match the power of Sondheim's other works (Company, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, etc) due to it's small scale. But these other scores are a hard act to follow and this is still an incredibly strong character study.

Best Tracks:

Everybody's Got The Right

The Ballad Of Booth

How I Saved Roosevelt

The Ballad Of Czolgosz

Unworthy Of Your Love

Another National Anthem

Take A Look Lee

Something Just Broke(Incredibly affecting and beautiful song about the citizen's  reactions to Oswald's assassination  of Kennedy)

So, overall, a great impressive work which is essential for Sondheim fans! My rating  for the score as a whole is a strong 7/10.

Best Actress 1985: Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple

Whoopi Goldberg received her 1st oscar nomination at the age of 30 for her film debut as Celie, a downtrodden black woman who has been forced to marry a man she hates, who constantly abuses her, sent her sister away, and is now basically a servant for him. Her life stays in this vein with ocassional ways of finding happiness until she meets Shug Avery, Mister's (Her husband) old mistress who brings confidence and love into her life. Whoopi Golberg is simply wonderful in this movie. She plays Celie just right, never playing her as too soft or too acertive. She turns Celie into a loveable character, and she simply does this by immersing herself completely into Celie's body and mannerisms.Her facial expressions are perfect and she shows all sorts of emotions in the character using this tool. It's a subtle and quiet performance, and Goldber brings out everything in the part.She portrays her sorrows and her sadness of not being with her sister perfectly and builds and builds Celie's sense of strength and dignity until it all comes out in one great scene in the dining room. It's a powerful scene with great acting all around, but it's Goldberg who gives it it's magnetic, inspiring glow. She also has great chemistry with Margaret Avery, who is also quite good in her role as Shug. She makes Celie's evoloution due to Shug's presence totally believable and wonderful to watch. I love the sense of familiarity that she and Shug have later in the movie, especially in the scene when Shug explains her meaning of God to Celie. So, overall a fantastic effort from Goldberg. Although I don't quite love the performance, it's a warm and extremely emotional portrayal that is not easy to forget. She gets

Best Actress 1985

Yes, after 4 months I've decided to blog again! I'll be starting things off with this year, 1985, in honor of my newfound love for The Color Purple. The nominees were: Ann Bancroft in Agnes Of God Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple Jessica Lange in Sweet Dreams Geraldine Page in The Trip To Bountiful Meryl Streep in Out Of Africa So what are your predictions? Who do you think should win? Ect? P.S: I'm REALLY sorry about my lack of comments on blogging for the past few months.I simply have fallen off the blogging zone, but I'm back and determined to finish this year.

Oscar thoughts

Well, overall, it was a great ceremony. I thought it had a classic feel to it and I was overall happy with most of the winners. Besides Meryl. Granted, I haven't seen The Iron Lady, but Viola gave a FANTASTIC performance.She deserved it.And I can't help but think it was mostly a career award. My hope is Viola will come back in another DESERVING film/performance and win, but who knows when that could be and could just be a makeup award for this loss. On the other hand, it's nice to see a surprise. Anyway, Hugo's early sweep of the techies was signaling a dim Best Picture win, but then The Artist roared back with wins for B.D and B.A. Yay for Midnight In Paris and The Desendants! My two favorite films of the year! And great for Octavia, though I wanted Berence Bejo to win.

Well, I think this was a year when none of the movies looked that fantastic, but the ones I've seen were all pretty great. I'm fine with The Artist, but was it really the best of the year? Nope.But still, great ceremony and I really hope Viola will win soon!

SAG predictions

Well, the Oscar nominations came out Tuesday and there were only a few surprises. I knew Tilda wouldn't make it, the movie was too little-seen.Anyway, I'm so excited for the SAG awards! They're always so fun to watch and they're the most reliable Oscar source besides BAFTA. Anyway, here are my predictions.

Best Ensemble Cast: The Help.The Artist could pull a Slumdog and win the award, but The Help is a superb example of an ensemble, a real ensemble movie. It'll be a crime if it doesn't win.

Best Actor: George Clooney.I think Pitt is fading and Dujardin has eclipsed him as a possible spolier. But I suspect this year is all about George.

Best Actress: I think Viola will win here.I don't see Meryl winning this one since she just won 3 years ago, and I feel this is Viola's moment. Beware an upset from Williams though.

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer! YAWN....

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer.I don't think she's a lock, but if she wins here, she could become one.Jessica Chastain and Melissa Mcarthy are the spoilers.

So that's it! What are your thoughts/predictions?

Golden Globe predictions

Well, the Golden Globes are finally here! I wasn't able to watch the Critics Choice awards, but their not that fun of a ceremony to watch so.... Anyway, I was surprised to see Davis win,and I think she might win again,but more on her when I get to my predictions!

My predictions are:

Best Motion Picture Drama: This is a hard race to forecast. With no Artist here,the frontrunner is a big question mark. I think The Desendants will win because it seems like the most likeley contender besides The Artist to win Best Picture eventually, but The help and Hugo are strong contenders as well.

Best Director: Michael Hazanavicius for The Artist. Even if the movie loses in Comedy category, I feel it will definteley win here.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama: George Clonney. The GG's love big stars, and although that could swing in pitt's way, I really feel Clooney will dominate this year.

Best Actress in a motion Picture dRama: Viola Davis.Her win at the Critic's choice awards has made me surprisingly certain about her frontrunner status. Meryl has a chance, but I feel Iron Lady's bad reception will really hurt her chances in the long run.

Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: The Artist will win, but an upset from BridesMaids isn't out of the question. It's too bad The Artist won't really be the "Best Picture" given it's nominated here,and if it loses, it's a major kill in it's momentum. But I do think it will win.

Best Actor in A Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: Jean Dujardin for The Artist. And he deserves it! His performance was great! This category has been known to have surprises (Robert Downy J.R for Sherlock Holmes was a huge surprise),but I'm counting on The Artist love to swoop him in.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: I thought Williams would win for sure a few days ago, but now I really think Kristen Wig has a good chance of winning for Bridesmaids. The film has a really good shot of getting an Oscar nomination,and William's performance isn't really a comic one.


Best Supporting Actor: Christioher Plummer. like it is every year, Best Supporting Actor will probably turn into a boring race with Plummer sweeping up all the awards.

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer. I'm so happy she's the frontrunner! She is terrific in The Help! An upset from Chaistain and possibly Bejo isn't unlikely though.

Best Screenplay: The Desendants. I would say Midnight In Paris, but they usually don't honor original Screenplays in this category.

So there they are! tell me your thoughts and predictions!

Critics Choice Awards Predictions

Now the Oscar Race is heating up!Frankly, I've never seen a more divided critics awards season this year. No real sweeps in any category!Anyway, I still have quite a few films to see, mainly Young Adult and Hugo.

Here's my predictions:

Best Picture: The Artist. The Desendants would get my vote,but I really like The Artist as well.But I really feel that The Artist is this year's Slumdog Millionaire, and will win this one for sure.

Best Director: Michael Hazanavicius. His vision and direction for The Artist was perfect. I'd say Terence Mallick is the spoiler.I have not seen The Tree Of Life,but it looks like it's a very ambitious and visionary film.

Best Actor: George Clooney.Although Jean Dujardin and Brad Pitt have strong chances too, I think this is George's year.my personal choice is Dujardin though.

Best Actress: The hardest race to call.Michelle Williams would be the most logical choice given she's been sweeping the Critics Awards,but Carey Mulligan lost this award to Meryl and Sandra Bullock and she swept up all the critics awards too.Viola might win,but I don't see her winning here by herself at least.Meryl and Viola could tie,and I think this is the most likely result. Either that or Michelle winning. As you can see, I have no idea!!!

Best Supporting Actor: Either Christopher Plummers or Albert Brooks.I'd give the edge to Plummer, but I wouldn't be surprised if Brooks won. I've seen neither of they're films, so fill me in if you have!!!!

Best Supporting Actress:Jessica Chastain! i could see Octavia Spencer winning, and I love her in The Help,but I think Jessica will be honored here due to all her work this year.I'm wondering if she could be this year's Kate Winslet, and be nominated for another film.Anyone who has seen Take Shelter or Tree Of Life, fill me in!

Best Original Screenplay: A tough race between Midnight In Paris and The Artist,I'd give the edge to The Artist.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Desendants, a near lock.

So there they are! The Acting categories are wide ope, besides Best Supporting Actor, but apart from that, we've got the most exciting acting races in years! Tell me your thoughts and predictions!

Best Actress 1965: Elizabeth Hartman in A Patch Of Blue

Elizabeth Hartman received her 1st Oscar nomination for playing Selina Darcy,a blind girl who is living with her abusive mother Roseanne (Shelley Winters) and her indifferent Grandfather.Given her extreme loneliness,Selina goes to the park and there she meets a black man named Gordon Ralfe (Sidney Poiter) who she befriends and soon starts to help her really take charge of her condition.

A Patch Of Blue is a film I have mixed feelings on: It's a lovely story of a relationship between Poiter and Hartman's characters, but the script is sometimes too unbelievable and the scenes with Roseanne and the grandfather just don't really work.
Anyway,Elizabeth Hartman is just perfect in this movie.At first,I felt her somewhat awkward and mannered, but then I found out she never went to school,and then something clicked.Hartman is so convincing as a blind person and she makes her character's state of mind so naive and sad.As with Julie Christie, there is no one else who could have played this part.Maybe not AS perfect as Julie Christie's casting was, but it was certainly brilliant casting.

Hartman shows Selina's loneliness and longing to have someone to talk to besides her flawed relatives.She shows us how happy Selina is when Gordon Ralfe befriends her and how she slowly falls in love with him.She conveys Selina's fear and excitement on discovering the world just right, never taking one false step. Hartman makes the transformation of Selina from a shy, ignorant girl to a young woman longing for happiness wonderful and mesmerizing to watch.Her chemistry with Poiter is great too.

Elizabeth Hartman gives a luminous,wonderful performance that is the heart and soul of the film.I give her