Best Actress 2013

Who among the nominees should have won the Oscar for Best Actress of 2013?

Amy Adams - American Hustle
3
10%
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
22
71%
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
1
3%
Judi Dench - Philomena
4
13%
Meryl Streep - August: Osage County
1
3%
 
Total votes: 31

Mister Tee
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by Mister Tee »

Just for the record, when Sean Penn responded to Chris Rock's "Who is Jude Law?" jokes at the Oscars, he said "He's one of our best actors" -- and I'm pretty sure Sean knew Law wasn't born in Sheboygan.
The Original BJ
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by The Original BJ »

By "our" I meant to include film fans across the entire universe.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by nightwingnova »

English-language speaking world.
flipp525 wrote:
Precious Doll wrote:
The Original BJ wrote: But I go with Cate Blanchett without any hesitation. She's one of our best actresses, and this is the greatest role of her career to date.
Gee, when did Cate Blanchett become American?

Mind you the U.S. is welcome to her as far as I'm concerned, even though I was mightily impressed with her in Blue Jasmine. She usually leaves me cold.

Just a suggestion, but maybe you should have said 'She's one of the world's best actresses,......'
Maybe he meant "our" as in "All of us humans". I highly doubt BJ would have mistakenly referred to her as American. Or even meant to imply it.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by flipp525 »

Precious Doll wrote:
The Original BJ wrote: But I go with Cate Blanchett without any hesitation. She's one of our best actresses, and this is the greatest role of her career to date.
Gee, when did Cate Blanchett become American?

Mind you the U.S. is welcome to her as far as I'm concerned, even though I was mightily impressed with her in Blue Jasmine. She usually leaves me cold.

Just a suggestion, but maybe you should have said 'She's one of the world's best actresses,......'
Maybe he meant "our" as in "All of us humans". I highly doubt BJ would have mistakenly referred to her as American. Or even meant to imply it.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by Precious Doll »

The Original BJ wrote: But I go with Cate Blanchett without any hesitation. She's one of our best actresses, and this is the greatest role of her career to date.
Gee, when did Cate Blanchett become American?

Mind you the U.S. is welcome to her as far as I'm concerned, even though I was mightily impressed with her in Blue Jasmine. She usually leaves me cold.

Just a suggestion, but maybe you should have said 'She's one of the world's best actresses,......'
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by Eric »

The Original BJ wrote:I do understand the complaint that, with Streep barging through the movie like a gorgon, the entire film starts to feel lopsided, as if what you're watching should almost be retitled Meryl Streep!!!!: The Movie. But on the flip side, her high octane turn was the most commanding thing in sight, and I'm glad she wasn't the one left off the ballot in the end.
Given the only alternative the precursors gave us was Emma Thompson in Raging Bitch!!!!: The Movie, I am in total agreement.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by Cinemanolis »

My top5

1. Cate Blanchett i Blue Jasmine
2. Adele Exarchopoulos - Blue Is the Warmest Color
3. Greta Gerwig - Frances Fa
4. Julie Delpy - Before Midnight
5. Meryl Streep - August: Osage County

Voted Blanchett without hesitation.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by The Original BJ »

Adèle Exarchopoulos is definitely the best of those excluded, and my second favorite of the year overall. After that, there isn't anyone who I thought was ROBBED of a nomination, but i I'll give shout-outs to Julie Delpy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Greta Gerwig, Brie Larson, and Shailene Woodley, a crowd of actresses in independent films who made the year feel like a consistently rewarding one for leading ladies.

Judi Dench is the least impressive in my book. She's an actress with obvious talent, but so often she appears in these old lady movies that ask so little of her, and no, not even a worthy actress should win prizes just for showing up. I thought she didn't make much sense of her character either -- one minute she's crestfallen over wondering what happened to her son, the next minute she's cracking jokes about condoms when she obviously wouldn't be, and by the end she's deep in forgiveness mode, for seemingly no reason. It seemed to me like the entire through line in this performance was off.

I'm a big fan of Gravity, but I think Sandra Bullock is the weak link in it. Of course, it's a much better performance than last time -- she actually has a part to play here, and she's pretty solidly committed throughout. But besides bankability, I just don't see why she was cast in this role -- the part required an actress who could use her expressive face almost as a vessel for her director's vision, the way Natalie Portman did so effectively in Black Swan, and that's just not Sandra Bullock. I don't think she's bad in the part, but nor do I think she's special in it either.

As a big Junebug fan almost ten years ago, I have to say that the emergence of Amy Adams as one of the most consistently exciting actresses of her generation has been a thrill to watch. She doesn't contend for my vote in American Hustle -- the movie is such an ensemble effort, she doesn't stand out in such a dominant way I'd want to choose her as the year's best actress -- but she continues to show new sides of her abilities. Here, we saw an actress known for more girlish roles tackle a character who is a full-on sexpot, and the actress does so effortlessly, with charisma, humor, and gravitas. I look forward to seeing her win an Oscar one of these days.

I'll be the defender of Meryl Streep's work in August: Osage County. Yes, the movie had its limitations, but I don't think Streep is one of them, seizing a role that was already volcanic on stage, and putting her own original stamp on it. Streep brings a sense of self-awareness to her Violet Weston -- she's making cruel comments, but she knows what she's shilling out is funny -- and the sense of energy and detail Streep shows off in every scene is remarkable. I do understand the complaint that, with Streep barging through the movie like a gorgon, the entire film starts to feel lopsided, as if what you're watching should almost be retitled Meryl Streep!!!!: The Movie. But on the flip side, her high octane turn was the most commanding thing in sight, and I'm glad she wasn't the one left off the ballot in the end.

But I go with Cate Blanchett without any hesitation. She's one of our best actresses, and this is the greatest role of her career to date. As Mister Tee wrote, every scene feels like her Oscar clip, and the past/present narrative structure allows her to show off a large degree of range as well, depicting both the privileged Jasmine who pompously delights in her spoils as well as the shell of a woman trying desperately to stay afloat once her life capsizes. It's a dazzling performance -- devastating, disturbing, and even very funny at times -- and the thrilling union of a wonderful actress's talent with a knockout role.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by The Original BJ »

Mister Tee wrote:I've despaired of ever catching up with those last few years of best picture/directors -- the combination of a two-week flu, expanded fields and boredom over too-recently-discussed films makes it seem too onerous a project.
Fair enough. But...the 50's...
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by Mister Tee »

I've despaired of ever catching up with those last few years of best picture/directors -- the combination of a two-week flu, expanded fields and boredom over too-recently-discussed films makes it seem too onerous a project.

These quicker match-ups, however, are more appealing.

I only last weekend finally caught up with Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks, and gave up any sympathy I had for her missing out on a long-promised nomination: I thought the movie was close to worthless, and Thompson no better than competent.

My big omittee would be Adele Exarchopoulos, who gave one of the finest, fullest debut performances in a very long time. She's the only one left off who might have caused me to reconsider my Academy vote. Which is to say, though I like Gerwig in Frances Ha and Larson in Short Term 12, I wouldn't be touting them for any prizes. (By the way, I have to say I find that, as much as Academy voters overrate certain films, sites like this and others tend to inflate stuff like Short Term 12 beyond recognition. Larson is a very good actress, but I've seen that counselor-bonds-with-resistant-teen plot way too many times to be over the moon about it)

What the Academy overrates, of course, is stuff like Judi Dench in Philomena -- a respectable performance in a semi-dreary film -- and Meryl Streep in August: Osage County -- a handful of strong moments within a mostly rudderless performance.

Sandra Bullock's work in Gravity wouldn't have leapt to mind as Must Have Oscar, but she did subdued, concentrated work in a film-dominating role, so I have no issue with her as a nominee.

Amy Adams is, as always, deferential to her fellow actors -- she doesn't take over scenes the way Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence do. For that reason, I don't see this as a film for which she should have been in line for the win (as I do for Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter or The Master). But I'm happy she was nominated and continues her film ascent.

As I said in my initial review of Blue Jasmine: Cate Blanchett was given one of the strongest roles any English-speaking actress has had in years, and, being a great talent, she lived up to every moment of it. Like many here, I find her an obvious choice.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by mojoe92 »

This is an easy one for me- Judi Dench, without a doubt

Judi Dench- Philomena was one of my favorite films of 2013, Not only did Judi get my personal Academy vote but my actual SAG vote as well. In Philomena Judi is able to act with emotion ( especially of the eyes) of the face on top of delivering pitch perfect lines. She is able to tell a story of hurt and pain in the scenes when she is discovering more and more information about her son and then her eyes tell a story of a woman enjoying life's little pleasures with the more feel good scenes ( nachos, croutons, Big Mommas) That is a true testament to acting. As she is my pick in this line-up she is not my choice to win in my personal line-up

Cate Blanchett- Cate is good in Blue Jasmine but I wouldn't call it win worthy. Her acting style reminds me a lot of Viola Davis' in which neither of them really act until there is some kind of "emotional scene" to which Davis cries her way through her line ( terribly I might add) with Blanchett she howls and screams through hers. It's like a trademark. I have never found Blanchett award worthy to be honest. Some people love her, I am not one of them

Sandra Bullock- First off, why the academy chose that clip to use with her is beyond me, there were so many better moments in the movie they could have used. Bullock was fun in her movie, but I am still waiting for really spectacular acting from her. Her turn in The Heat last year was spot on with her comedic ability and was a lot more worthy of nomination than Gravity. When it comes to drama though, she hasn't delivered a good performance since Crash.... I'm still waiting for her to give her Oscar for The Blind Side to the more worthy Gabourey Sidibe

Meryl Streep- You cannot out Streep-Streep and that's what EVERYONE with the exception of Juliette Lewis and Sam Shepard tried to do with AOC. With that, I also have a personal friend who was apart of the main cast on AOC and the amount of drama behind the scenes of this film for me spill over and outweigh the actual film. It's hard for me to focus on anything due to knowing what was happening within the cast while shooting. This is a prime example of Streep getting a nomination due to her being Streep. Early test screenings back in March of last year were pinning Meryl for her fourth Oscar on this film.... boy did the tide change come awards season. I personally would have loved to see Karen Black play Violet if she had been alive still come filming, Carol Kane would have also been a great choice

Amy Adams- I don't think I could talk about the dreadful and disdain American Hustle anymore, between personal talks during award season and commenting on this site I just cannot take anything more about the terribleness of that film. Everything from the lack of plot, to the atrocious acting from everyone involved. What a waste of space for a nomination.

My personal choices
Vera Farmiga- The Conjuring
Judi Dench- Philomena
Melissa McCarthy- The Heat- WINNER
Brie Larson- Short Term 12
Oprah Winfrey- The Butler
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by ksrymy »

dws1982 wrote:Overall, I liked Adams, Bullock, and Blanchett about equally, and for different reasons. I don't think any of them will be my pick for the year, but I think they would've all been well within the acceptable range of Best Actress winners. I don't have a strong preference between the three.

Didn't care much for Dench. She's fine, but she can do this old lady thing in her sleep, and it wasn't a huge variation on what we've seen from her before. Streep just goes down with the ship in August: Osage County. It's, in my opinion, one of those rare terrible performances that could've only been given by a great actress.
dws, you have one of the most interesting, unique tastes on the board, so I'd really like to hear who your choice would be this year, from what you've seen.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by dws1982 »

Overall, I liked Adams, Bullock, and Blanchett about equally, and for different reasons. I don't think any of them will be my pick for the year, but I think they would've all been well within the acceptable range of Best Actress winners. I don't have a strong preference between the three.

Didn't care much for Dench. She's fine, but she can do this old lady thing in her sleep, and it wasn't a huge variation on what we've seen from her before. Streep just goes down with the ship in August: Osage County. It's, in my opinion, one of those rare terrible performances that could've only been given by a great actress.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by flipp525 »

It was definitely one of Dench's lesser nods. I'd put it on the same level as her Chocolat nomination.
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Re: Best Actress 2013

Post by Big Magilla »

nightwingnova wrote:I quite admired Dench's work in Philomena. Her character was so simplified it could have easily been a caricature. Dench breathed life into the character so that it was believable - the simple, sweet, not soft in the head - but not a mental giant, older woman who tends to be religious.

After seeing the movie, I read Philomena's true story in the British press. The adaptation was a lot of crock. Why I avoid biographical films. Philomena was nothing like she was portrayed. She definitely was more worldly and independent-minded.
Yes, I wish more people would read the book or at east a synopsis of it. Common should tell you that a woman who is a retired nurse living in the south of England couldn't possibly be as naïve as she is portrayed.

This is a rare instance for me of hating a film's screenplay but liking the film in spite of it. Although I think the film deserved its Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Actress and Score, I can't understand why Coogan and his co-writer (Jeff Pope) were nominated for that awful screenplay. The basic story held true to the facts but everything involving Martin Sixsmith was invented by Coogan to beef up his role. He all but turned Dench's character into a reprise of Betty White's character in The Golden Girls in the process. It's only the horrific circumstances of Philomena's story and that of Anthony/Michael which is given short shrift, that makes it compelling; and Dench's quietly effective performance that lifts it beyond Coogan's self-serving nonsense. Sixsmith isn't a lapsed Catholic, he's Church of England. That character was all producer-writer-actor Coogan. He has said he would have directed the film as well, but didn't want to tell Dench what to do. Poor Stephen Frears was just a director for hire on this.
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