Madonna Days 3 and 4, Anna Kendrick

Lack of posting yesterday makes this days 3 and 4...

8. Human Nature, Bedtime Stories



Did I say something true? Did I have a point of view? Did I talk about sex? Did I talk about you? Yes to all of the above! And when you say "yes" to all of the above, you get Human Nature.

7. Frozen, Ray of Light

I wasn't a huge fan of Frozen the first time I heard it. And I don't think many people are, it takes a few times listening to it to understand why it's so amazing. It's the song that gets better and better with repeat listening, and that's why it earns spot 7 (ask me tomorrow and maybe even higher) on this list.


Also...

Happy Birthday Anna Kendrick, winner of the 2009 ATF Award for Best Supporting Actress, comedic and dramatic actress extraordinaire, song and dance gal, and fun media personality.

10 Facts...

I wasn't tagged in this little movie thing-y, but since I've had a lot of time I figured I'd join in on all the movie-blogging...

1. A lot of movies can make me cry. For example: Moulin Rouge!, Forrest Gump, A League of Their Own, West Side Story...

2. I still honestly believe Anna Kendrick should have won the Academy Award over Mo'Nique. That seems to be a lost battle, no? Hopefully one day Anna Kendrick's performance in Up in the Air will get the recognition it deserves.

3. Johnny Depp doesn't excite me as much as he does others. He's given performances I like (hell, some of them I even love) but hearing his name on a cast list doesn't make me want to see the movie any more (or any less for that matter).

4. Musicals rock. I honestly think that Rob Marshall's Chicago was something of a masterpiece - something Bob Fosse would have been proud of. Spontaneously breaking out into song (to further the plot) is amazing. Why don't more movies do it?

5. Kate Winslet kind of bores me. I really enjoyed her in Little Children, but aside from that none of her performances ever wow me, and I've seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The same goes for Meryl Streep. I love her work in Adaptation. But outside of that film, I don't get the big deal. She sure is charming off screen, but I don't always understand the fuss. I also liked her in Kramer Vs. Kramer, but I'm not a huge fan of her "calculated" work in Sophie's Choice.


6. I'm anticipating Burlesque. That is all.

7. I think Zoolander is hysterical. I mean, orange mocha frappucinos? What could be better! I don't think Meet the Parents is as funny. It's just one of those things I suppose.

8. I consider Jurassic Park to be Spielberg's masterpiece. I hate E.T. with a passion, and his other films just can't beat the fact that in Jurassic Park he brought dinosaurs to life. Those things are freaking awesome. I hope the fourth installment in the series happens, and I hope Keira Knightley is still attached.

9. The first Katharine Hepburn movie (fav. actress) I saw was Woman of the Year, which I don't even particularly like. Who knows how I developed an obsession for her?

10. I think The Lion King is Disney's greatest product. If you don't believe me, watch for yourself.

Rethinking Best Supporting Actress

When you do "best of" rankings, everything depends on your mood. I think I may have made an error in my own Best Supporting Actress ranking by placing Marion Cotillard in 3rd, behind 2nd place winner Mo'Nique. What's done is done, but if I had to make those rankings again today, Marion would take silver (to first place winner Anna Kendrick!).

I think Marion's is the type of performance that grows over time. I think Mo'Nique's is the complete opposite. Everyone was so blown away by Mo'Nique's "powerhouse" performance the second they saw it. In five years time, I wonder if it will pack the same emotional punch that everybody thought it did.

This is where Marion's strengths lie. There's no way that her performance as Luisa Contini will decay as Mo'Nique's might. It may just be the dynamics of Nine vs. Precious, but I truly believe it's something more. Mo'Nique came out of nowhere with Precious. As soon as people saw the film in Sundance there was buzz. The more people saw it, the more intense the buzz grew. It was a comedienne/talk-show host who was giving one hell of a dramatic performance. Marion, on the other hand, was set to be in one of the baitiest Oscar movies of the season: Nine. When Nine failed to take off with audiences and critics, nearly everything connected to it (save Penelope) was left behind in the dust. It was seen as an all-around disappointment because expectations were soooooooooooooooo high.

See the difference? Precious became a surprise hit. Nine became a surprise critical and Oscar failure. Mo'Nique was on the upswing of Precious, and Marion was brought down with Nine. It was expectations that let Mo'Nique soar, and it was expectations that let Marion's chances of a second Oscar nomination plummet. But when we look back in five years and regard Nine as a "total mess," won't Marion's performance seem more impressive? And when we look back in five years and expect the second-coming of Christ from Mo'Nique, won't we all be disappointed? It's the momentum of the season that can help an actress get nominated. Not to defy Mo'Nique's speech, but there is more to winning an Academy Award than just the performance, like it or not. It wasn't about the "politics" so much as the momentum-The Precious momentum carried her, not the other way around.

In 2015, let's all revisit Precious and Nine, and pay close attention to Mo'Nique and Marion. I'd be surprised if people still hailed Mo'Nique as they do now. Marion's lack of an Oscar nomination will probably be on some of those "worst snubs" lists.

What are your thoughts? Which performance do you think will be better in five years' time?

Favorite Actresses

We all have favorites. People who we just love to love despiteof their credentials or filmography. Case and point: the recent love-fest for Sandra Bullock because everybody just seems to really love that girl in spite of never having turned in a performance that wowed everybody (sorry, The Blind Side.)

I've decided to list my favorite actresses. This is not a list of whom I think are the best actresses (with perhaps some overlappage), but rather a list of which actresses excite me on and off the screen. I've limited the number of actresses to fifteen, and they are actresses currently making movies. If you're reading this, please join in either in the comments or in your own blog and tell me about it so I can link to it!

Here they are...

(order is completely 100% random)

Marion Cotillard

Penelope Cruz

Anna Kendrick

Nicole Kidman

Michelle Pfeiffer

Parker Posey

Amy Adams

Susan Sarandon

Renee Zellweger

Julia Roberts

Reese Witherspoon

Keira Knightley

Jennifer Aniston

Sigourney Weaver

Evan Rachel Wood

Best of 2009

I am getting tired of Best of 2009, and want to rid myself of it. I did Best Supporting Actress and Lead Actress in separate posts, but I feel I will never finish if I keep doing it like that. So, without further ado, here is my best of 2009!

Best Picture

1st place: (500) Days of Summer
2nd: An Education
3rd: Up in the Air
4th: Inglourious Basterds
5th: Avatar

Best Director

1st: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
2nd: Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer
3rd: James Cameron, Avatar
4th: Lone Scherfig, An Education
5th: Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

Best Actor

1st: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
2nd: George Clooney, Up in the Air
3rd: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
4th: Logan Lerman, My One and Only
5th: Sam Rockwell, Moon

Best Actress

1st: Carey Mulligan, An Education
2nd: Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer
3rd: Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
4th: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
5th: Renee Zellweger, My One and Only

Best Supporting Actor

1st: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
2nd: Peter Sarsgaard, An Education
3rd: Brad Pitt, Inglourious Basterds
4th: Dominic Cooper, An Education
5th: Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

Best Supporting Actress

1st: Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
2nd: Mo'Nique, Precious
3rd: Marion Cotillard, Nine
4th: Rosamund Pike, An Education
5th: Melanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds

Best Cast

1st: Inglourious Basterds
2nd: An Education
3rd: Nine
4th: Up in the Air
5th: Duplicity

Special Award
Up - I couldn't fit this into my limited categories, so I will give it a special award because it truly is fantastic.

Rundown
An Education 7 nominations, 1 win
Inglourious Basterds 5 nominations, 2 wins
Up in the Air 5 nominations, 1 win
(500) Days of Summer 4 nominations, 2 wins
The Hurt Locker 2 nominations, 1 win
Avatar 2 nominations, 0 wins
My One and Only 2 nominations, 0 wins
Nine 2 nominations, 0 wins
Precious 2 nominations, 0 wins
Up 1 nomination, 1 win
Duplicity 1 nomination, 0 wins
Julie & Julia 1 nomination, 0 wins
The Last Station 1 nomination, 0 wins
Moon 1 nomination, 0 wins


Boy do I feel relieved. What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Share!

Surprise!

Just kidding! Come March 7th, I feel there will be no big surprises in the acting categories. Mo'Nique, Christoph Waltz, Sandra Bullock, and Jeff Bridges will all make their millionth way to the podium, look all teary-eyed and elated (you should be, it's an Oscar!) and then go backstage to the "Thank You" cam and the press.

But wouldn't it be nice if the Oscars were filled with more surprises? This is not a new thought, but it is true. Regardless of performance merit, wouldn't it be a much better show if the winners looked a little something like...

Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air (who should win, but that's beside the point)
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station
Gabourey Sidibe for Precious
Colin Firth for A Single Man

Wouldn't those be more exciting choices? None of them are going into the Kodak and thinking "Oh it might be my name!" And that's a shame, too. There are way too many precursor awards, and while I love the Oscar season, if I were a nominee I'd love to know I had a 20% shot of winning. I mean, what's the point of Maggie Gyllenhaal getting all dolled up to go to the Academy Awards, be critiqued by E!'s snippy fashion police, and then watch Mo'Nique win?

Wasn't Adrien Brody's win (and subsequent speech) more thrilling to watch than Javier Bardem's? Of course Javier would win! Snooze. Spread the wealth, people! And if you want to give the Oscar to Javier Bardem, then okay. But why not use one of those other awards (like SAG for instance) to honor somebody who isn't going to win the Oscar. I mean, the SAG Award isn't a very prestigious prize but it's still a nice honor. I'm sure Anna, Colin, Gabourey, or Christopher would have appreciated it after being dragged out to every single award's ceremony this side of the Atlantic (oh wait..BAFTAs are tonight! Never mind!)

At least this year's race is a teeeeeeeensy bit more unpredictable than last year. The Academy hates women, so heavy-favorite Kathryn Bigelow could lose out to the more traditional choice of James Cameron. And for Best Picture there is a bit of a race, so that should be more fun than last year's Slumdog insanity! Add that to the locks of Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Penelope Cruz, and Heath Ledger and it was pretty boring. People tried to make the race exciting by predicting the likes of Mickey Rourke and Viola Davis, but we all knew how it would end up. Hell, the biggest shock last year came when Departures won Best Foreign Language Film. Let's hope we have much bigger surprises in store for us this year!

Best Supporting Actress Winner

So, you've all (all 2 of you?) read my nominees for the Rita Moreno Supporting Actress Award!

Time for the winners!

5th place goes to...

Melanie Laurent in Inglourious Basterds

4th place goes to...

Rosamund Pike in An Education

3rd place goes to...

Marion Cotillard in Nine

2nd place goes to...

Mo'Nique in Precious

And the winner is...

Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air

Best Supporting Actress - All That Film Style

Best of 2009 time! One by one, I'll be posting the nominees, followed by the winners. First up we have BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS.

But what good is a category if it doesn't have a name? In honor of one of the best supporting actress performances of all time, I will dub this category the...

Rita Moreno Supporting Actress Award! What a mouthful, eh?

And the nominees are...

Marion Cotillard, Nine

For showing Luisa's heartache with voice, expression, and dance.

Rosamund Pike, An Education

For every little micro-touch and nuance she gives Helen.

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

For humanizing Natalie to unimaginable extents.

Melanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds

For creating a heroine who could not be more vulnerable.

Mo'Nique, Precious

For creating a monster all too real.

Oscar Nomintations!

Of course, you aren't reading the news on this blog first, but who said being late was a bad thing? I'm still trying to get my best of 2009 ready! So many afterthought, so little time...

Barreling through the nominations I have these conclusions:

Ten Best Picture nominees was a positively horrid and awful awful awful idea. The Blind Side...?

Sandra Bullock...? No thanks. Carey Mulligan? Thank you very much!

Best Actor/Supporting Actor had zero surprises. Boring. Good job Christopher Plummer!

Penelope Cruz over Marion Cotillard? Damn Weinsteins and their stupid campaigning process that tried to get Marion for lead.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, thanks for being a surprise. Anna Kendrick, please try and win this category! It seems rather impossible to beat Mo'Nique though, but we can pray.

No (500) Days of Summer? This sucks.

Anna Kendrick

I'm doing this as part of StinkyLulu's blogathon, but I'm a teeny bit late!

Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air is just about the best thing to happen to supporting actresses this decade (so sorry, Mo'Nique!). What exactly is a supporting actress? Somebody whose presence moves the film from good to great? Somebody who makes a character with limited screentime? Somebody who executes every scene so perfectly it's almost as if the word supporting was made to honor them and them only? Check, check, and check! Anna Kendrick has it all.

Take the firing scene (via the webcam, that is). Tell an actor to do that scene for an audition, you'll get some bore of a performance. When you have Anna Kendrick completely understand Natalie Keener to the point of practically being her, you get movie magic. It's not movie magic in the sense that Avatar is a revelation in technical achievements, or Gone with the Wind is to the epics, but it is movie magic in its simplest sense: Being transported to another world where humans live, not impressions and knock-offs. Natalie, as so well done by Anna, is a real human captured on celluloid. She has ticks, she has a mind, and it's as if a script weren't even there for Anna to read. It's all of these reasons, and many more, that I salutre Miss Kendrick! Congrats. girl, you've earned it.

SAG Award Nominees

SAG nominations have come out! Unless I'm wrong, this is the first industry-voted award of the season... let's have a look at the nominees!

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges Crazy Heart, George Clooney Up in the Air, Colin Firth A Single Man, Morgan Freeman Invictus, Jeremy Renner The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker certainly has been dominating critics prizes, and now with Renner getting some recognition from the Guild his Oscar chances are seriously upped. As for those who got snubbed, it seems Michael Stuhlbarg won't be receiving any Oscar attention for A Serious Man. Surprisingly, Daniel Day-Lewis was also snubbed.

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock The Blind Side, Helen Mirren The Last Station, Carey Mulligan An Education, Gabourey Sidibe Precious, Meryl Streep Julie & Julia

Sandra Bullock? Again? There seems to be some serious love for her in The Blind Side. One of those actresses nobody ever really expected to be nominated for an Oscar has now increased her chances. And farewell, Abbie Cornish. Your buzz certainly was fun, but that's all it turned out to be.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon Invictus, Woody Harrelson The Messenger, Christopher Plummer The Last Station, Stanley Tucci The Lovely Bones, Christoph Waltz Inglourious Basterds

Fun fact: This is the first time that the Golden Globe nominees for Best Supporting Actor and the SAG nominees for Best Supporting Actor are exactly the same. This group seems headed for Oscar. Poor Alfred Molina, he seemed like a sure thing awhile ago.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz Nine, Vera Farmiga Up in the Air, Anna Kendrick Up in the Air, Diane Kruger Inglourious Basterds, Mo'Nique Precious

Vera Farmiga seems to be getting more attention than I would have thought. Diane Kruger's nomination probably doesn't do much for her chances at Oscar, and Julianne Moore will probably be the one to get onto Oscar's shortlist. Or will she?

Best Performance by a Cast
An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Nine, Precious

All of these (except for Precious) only have one nomination in the other categories. If Up in the Air could snag three nominations (One for Best Actor, Two for Best Supporting Actress), then why does the cast get snubbed? Even Invictus got two nominations (One for Best Actor, One for Best Supporting Actor) so why does the cast get overlooked? Oh SAG logic, you sure are odd.


P.S., Congrats. Glee on your Best Enseble (Comedy Series) nomination!