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?