Top girls

I decided that I just had to have them all together like this, so,  here are the women who have collected at least 5 acting Oscar nominations:

Cate Blanchett - 5 nominations

Anne Bancroft - 5 nominations

Audrey Hepburn - 5 nominations

Elizabeth Taylor - 5 nominations

Glenn Close - 5 nominations

Irene Dunne - 5 nominations

Jennifer Jones - 5 nominations

Norma Shearer - 5 nominations

Olivia de Havilland - 5 nominations

Shirley Maclaine - 5 nominations

Susan Hayward - 5 nominations

Susan Sarandon- 5 nominations

Kate Winslet - 6 nominations

Judi Dench - 6 nominations

Ellen Burstyn - 6 nominations

Deborah Kerr - 6 nominations

Jessica Lange - 6 nominations

Sissy Spacek - 6 nominations

Thelma Ritter - 6 nominations

Maggie Smith - 6 nominations

Vanessa Redgrave - 6 nominations

Jane Fonda - 7 nominations

Greer Garson - 7 nominations

Ingrid Bergman - 7 nominations

Geraldine Page - 8 nominations

Bette Davis - 10 nominations

Katharine Hepburn - 12 nominations

Meryl Streep - 16 nominations

(I know it's messy but, trust me, it was so hard to achieve even this!)

Movies again

I'm really sick and angry! Mostly because I'm sick.
Which is why I'm writing - to feel better.

I watched some movies recently and I want to share some thoughts on some of them.

Drive

Powerful, with great style, unique, yet a bit morally confused.



A Separation

Complex, honest and revealing about human nature. Hard to find a flaw.



Beauty

It makes you understand that lust can be a destructive thing if you're not lucky in regard to who inspires it in you.



The Artist

Smart, funny and moving homage to an era with some welcome specific references. But... not always interesting.



Possessed

Pretty proud of itself even if it knows some will mock it.  As you're watching it you might expect only to have a little fun (if that) but it's entirely possible to end up moved and generally impressed.



Melancholia

Pretty ambitious and eccentric (well, von Trier...duh) yet not messy. Realtionships are tested by ordinary (a wedding) and extraordinary (the possibility of the end of the planet) occasions providing very interesting and aesthetically pleasing results.



The Way We Were

Bittersweet story that feels a bit dated in its realization yet it's pragmatic enough that, with a little (or a lot of) help from Barbra's very good performance, it manages to have a soul.

Sansho the Bailiff

 So simple that you might not even notice how hard it is to make a movie that doesn't seem to have any unnecessary moments or to do anything wrong during its necessary ones, which as is obvious, comprise the whole movie. It fully earns its morally didactic nature (and not only because it's supposed to be a fairy tale), as does our tears.

  

I'm not going to review Diary of a Country Priest because I didn't watch it properly.

I am going to say that it's certainly compelling and that I intend to see it again some time. 

Letter From An Unknown Woman 

What I said about Beauty but replace "lust" with "love". Painfully wonderful.

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Something about it felt unorganized and not deliberately so, yet its depiction of such a strange relationship and its powerful finale make it worth the effort. Thank you Tilda!

 

And finally, I loved Senna! I don't know if it's pefect or I was just touched by the man and his myth that much, but I think it's an amazing film. Some people can't fully connect to others because it's like they're living in their own, magical world, yet they connect all of us.

I've lost your number but I think a post will do..

It's not as glorious as it was last year but I can't do all that work every.single.time!

So, 
happy birthday Kate!!

Just that? Really?

Of course not just that! I also wish you a Tony Award.


(Picture in this post : © 2011 - Sony Pictures Classics)

She's a mess. A brilliant mess.

OK, so, Jane Adams. Actually, Jane Adams in Hung. I suspect that if the show as good as she is, her role would be iconic.
She manages to always be exciting to watch even if it should have been easy for us to get tired of a character that intense and weird and often pathetic.
Adams doesn't go for subtlety and totally proves that a character can be caricature-like but still feel real, smart, wounded and struggling to live in her own world no matter what.

And quite simply, it's beautiful to watch an actor try that hard and know how to do it.

So, my obvious demand: Give her a movie!

Honorable mentions to:

Rebecca Creskoff  for creating a character that feels realistically two-dimensional. Some people are always thinking about how to survive no matter whose dead body they'll have to step over and Creskoff is not afraid to channel that mentality without unnecessarily complicating things.

Anne Heche for being interesting even if, on page, her character is a shallow cliche.

Best In Show? Really? Me?

I do see movies sometimes

I hate to talk about movies when I haven't formed an strong opinion on them but it's been so long..


Very brief thoughts on:

The Tree Of Life

I didn't get it. Maybe no one did. Still, I felt a unique quality and when it was over, I was in a mood no other movie has ever put me in. I felt connected to my physical and spiritual surroundings not in an uplifting way but as if I was able to accept and appreciate more what I had been given. It wasn't as strong as that but it was a strange and welcome feeling.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2

I really like the books and watching this movie meant much more to me that it did for other people which is certainly one of the reasons I cried. More than once! But still, I wouldn's have cries if I thought it was a bad movie. I quite liked it. The performances were solid, the atmosphere was as bleak as it should be and the script was fine. Not a great movie but a pretty impressive finale for this magical series.

Taste Of Cherry

Not sure how I feel about it yet. I'm still trying to decide if it actually makes an interesting statement on life's worth or anyhting at all. It does feel like it has a reason to exist if only to remind us of some things we tend to forget. Good and bad.

About Elly

I don't think I know what exactly happened in this movie but I appreciated the way it focused on when, why and how easily people lie to each other. That's what I mostly cared about and the fact that it was well-made.

Sometimes it's about the girls

There are some performances given by a bunch of young (or younger) actresses that I really can't wait to see regardless of the degree of my interest in the movies they're in.

Yup, list time.

Carey Mulligan Shame

I keep reading wonderful things. I really liked her in An Education and she seems to be great in a different way in "Shame" which is just amazing news!

Glenn Close Alber Nobbs

People seem to really like the performance and it's in the Oscar conversation so I have many reasons to want to see this.

Meryl Streep The Iron Lady

Too obvious!

Kate Winslet Carnage

Even more so!

Elizabeth Olsen Martha Marcy May Marlene

Great reviews for the film and the performance. Plus, I really liked the trailer.

Tilda Swinton We Need To Talk About Kevin

In the "too obvious" category as well.

Mia Wasikowska Jane Eyre

I hear she's wonderful. The same about the film.

Michelle Williams My Week With Marilyn

Good actress. Oscar potential. Intriguing match of actress and role. Anything could happen.

Rachel Weisz The Deep Blue Sea

Haven't read/seen the play but it seems like a good role for a good actress.

Vanessa Redgrave Coriolanus

The things I read! I'm expecting her to floor me!

Janet McTeer Albert Nobbs

A talented actress who, I read, is pretty good in the movie.

Judi Dench My Week With Marilyn

I'm not familiar with Dame Sybil Thorndike but a Dame playing another Dame is pretty interesting, especially when you love one of them. And I do. I love you Judi!




"You mean I'm not enough??"

Tough Love

I can't, for the life of me, choose a favorite still from my favorite movie of all time but I managed to pick one that I really like even if it's low-key compared to others that I almost chose.

Here it is:



This is when Belle takes care of the Beast's wound. He got it while saving Belle from the wolfs. But she wouldn't have to face the wolfs if he hadn't scared her. But he wouldn't have scared her if she hadn't gone to the West Wing. Couples....

Belle takes care of the Beast's wound and though they're both still upset about what the one did to the other, things are getting a little softer and sweeter between the protagonists. The Beast proved he is not just a jerk but a jerk with potential for something better than that.

I bet other Disney princesses are jealous that they didn't inspire any dramatically positive changes on their husbands' personality. They didn't really have to but isn't it better when you do?

Who's bad?

Do you remember the last shot of Norman Bates where he has a smile on his face because he believes (actually, "she", the mother believes) he has found a way to fool everyone?

Well, that same look (though less creepy) is on Marion Crane's face when, while driving, she realizes that even if she is in a dangerous situation, she has managed to do what they didn't expect. She has taken the money and the poor people who thought they knew her are right where she left them, wondering how that thing could have happened.

We first see her worried but a moment later she lets herself feel proud because, for once, she acted like a clever, nasty girl and is pretty close to getting away with it. Well, let's leave it at that so that we won't rain on the poor girl's parade.













PS: Yes, I can post pictures of people who are not named "Leigh". I just don't want to ;)

I'm not. that. innocent

If we were to compare Blanche to an animal, a delicate kitten in need would seem quite right. And indeed, she tries to make clear she needs people to take care of her.
Thornton Wilder had told Williams that Blanche is too complex a character for the stage. Williams replied: "But Thornton... People are complex."

So, as fragile as Blanche may be, she's not only that. In this scene, she is reminded of the desire that forced her to leave Oriel in the form of a young boy. At first, she's not sure how to react because we're all a little slow when we have just woken up. But awake she now is and after a few moments we see this kitty transforming into a panther and employing all her tricks to capture the little deer, though she soon realises she can't really do much with it..him.

If Blanche were a recovering alcoholic who, in the beginning of the film is sober and trying to stay that way, this shot captures the moment she is presented with a glass of wine. Or, as she might say: The tarantula has just spotted a fly.

Another year, another list

I'm ashamed to come back only to provide you with this nothing post but that's how it is. As many have and will do, I share my "I can't wait", "I'm very interested" and "I'll probably see this" 2011 thoughts.
My most anticipated movies of 2011 are:

1) Mildred Pierce
2) Carnage
3) We Need to Talk About Kevin
4) A Dangerous Method
5) Shame
6) Hugo Cabret
7) Wuthering Heights
8) Jane Eyre
9) The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
10) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
11) Melancholia
12) The Deep Blue Sea
13) Drive
14) The Iron Lady
15) My Week with Marilyn
16) Midnight in Paris
17) Pariah
18) One Day
19) The Moth Diaries
20) This Must Be the Place
21) The Descendants
22) Young Adult
23) Take Shelter

OK, so Mildred Pierce is a TV movie. Yeah, but, who cares, right?
I hear you, Carnage is set for 2012 so far, you say. Well, I think (and hope, duh) this will change.
Two Winslets at the two highest places you say? But.. don't you know me at all?
My love for actresses is the no1 reason for the high placement of movies no1,2,3 and partly 4 and 5.
Keira and Carey both get to be very talented AND co-star with Fassbender? Life's not fair, I tell ya.
I put Wuthering Heights above Jane Eyre not only because whenever I say it in my head, I recall (and start singing) Kate Bush's masterpiece, but also because I haven't read Heights and I haven't seen any film adaptations and to make a long story short I actually don't know anything about the story. OK, Bush kind of told me a few things and I vaguely remember stuff from things I've read about the book but everything will be pretty much be a surprise.
Two films by directors that are regarded as gods in the movie world, Tintin and Hugo Cabret are there because of many reasons. They pay me. No, unfortunately...
Well, I'm always willing to get interested in a Spielberg movie and this seems like it could be fun and... OK what's the story of Tintin again? I'm noit even sure I know enough things about this guy. Anyway, OK if it wasn't such a noisy project it would probably be lower or even out of the list but Spielberg is talented and the visuals impressed the silly kid that still hides somewhere in my mind (I'll get you or my ever-growing cynicism will kill you someday).
Hugo Cabret... Let's see. Scorsese interests me less than Spielberg, to be frank. But, I do respect his abilities and after watching a production of the play Red, I'm interested in Logan's (the screenwriter) work, too. Plus, 3D can be nice in the right hands.

And now let's throw some Oscar thoughts because, why not?

So, for Best Picture I think the movies that stand a chance are Hugo Cabret, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, with A Dangerous Method and The Best Exotic... not being out of the game.
Hugo Cabret is Scorsese etc
Heights and Jane Eyre are British Literature, sure-to-be impessive visually and the directors, now, are not unknown entities. And Mia and the ubiquity of Fassbender will help Jane Eyre, I think.

Best Actress and Supporting Actress posibilities (I'm all for the girls first, especially when I know my bed is calling me): Well, to be honest, every woman that is either famous already or has a big role. Except maybe fot Tilda, who just can't catch a break with the Academy most of the time. But I still hope.
Keira and Carey surely will be noticed for their work in films that will get attention. OK, I just thought about the Mulligan case. Shame and Drive might not interest the Academy that much. So, yeah, I guess the best way to put it is: IF her film(s) get noticed, she will probably get noticed herself, which is like saying if you eat candy, you'll have eaten its ingredients as well. Think harder James!
Anyway, I'm more confident about Keira, because Christopher Hampton has written the play (and the script? I think so) on which the script of A Dangerous Method is based on. And Hampton is an Oscar guarantee, because Cheri got nominations for everything... I mean, seriously, do I even have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about?
Let's just say that my instincts tell me Keira has a better shot than Carey. All things being equal, obviously.
Streep, of course, is in the race but this is like every years awards story so, for now, let's just leave it at that.
Michelle Williams might go for an impressive so-soon third nomination as the goddess Marilyn.
Rachel Weisz is looking good on paper and finally...
Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, please come back into the race! James loves you!
I think they (Judi for any of her three movies) have a shot. When I say "three" I'm counting the ones that appear on my list. Not that something would change if I had said "four", including the Pirates thing...

So, not a great comeback, but a loud one. See you when I'll see you :)