Best Supporting Actress 2014

Who was the best supporting actress of 2014?

Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game
0
No votes
Emma Stone in Birdman
8
24%
Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
17
52%
Laura Dern in Wild
5
15%
Meryl Streep in Into the Woods
3
9%
 
Total votes: 33

FilmFan720
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by FilmFan720 »

Finally caught up with Into the Woods last night, so I can tick this category off:

At the bottom of my list is Emma Stone. I tired of the shrieking very quickly, and like most everything else in Birdman she is stripped of everything that makes Emma Stone likeable or relateable.

Keira Knightley may seem like filler, and it is true that she does little exceptional in The Imitation Game. Like Emma Stone, this seems to be a role that doesn't let Knightley do a lot of the things she does best. Still, she is fairly solid in the film, even if it is nothing new.

Laura Dern is a stealth piece of Wild. She may not seem to have a lot of screen time, but she plays an important role and hits all the notes needed to help us understand Strayed. It isn't anything revolutionary, and isn't Dern's best, but she is solid and I don't see the problems everyone has with this nomination.

I am shocked that Meryl Streep is my runner-up here. I have enjoyed Streep the comedianne more than the dramatic in the last decade, though, and here she has a lot of fun with the eccentricities of Sondheim's lyrics. Her opening rap alone is worthy, and even if she can't get away from some of the more leaden lyrics Sondheim has ever written, she still comes off as one of the best parts of a leaden film.

Overall, the Academy made an easy choice here, but also the best. Patricia Arquette is one of many beating hearts in Boyhood, and is delightful in almost every frame she is in. There is a lot of talk of her final speech, but she has so much more than that: the joy at her second marriage, her fear and anger when it ends, the wonderful scene in the car after the haircut and my personal favorite, the scene with Mason Sr. at the end of the graduation party. I never thought much of Arquette before, but this was a very welcome surprise to me.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by mojoe92 »

Firedude829 wrote:
mojoe92 wrote:Oh Supporting Actress, how you have given me most of my most hated wins- Anne Hathaway, Melissa Leo, Jennifer Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Anjelica Houston, Lee Grant etc.

Again, one of the worst line ups, ever.

This year was no different. Patricia Arquette goes down in my books as the 2nd most underserving win ever, behind Hathaway, she is my Hathaway of 2014.

Meryl Streep- I am not the biggest Streep fans, I think shes a good actress but highly overrated. In fact I don't agree with any 3 of her wins and personally only think that she should have won in 78 for The Deer Hunter, tying with Penelope Milford that year, and then for her lead role in Postcards from the Edge. Outside of that this nomination is the only other where I believe she should have won. Streep was by far the best of the five and gets my vote here. She played the witch hilariously and heart breaking and deserved to win. Her line and song delivery was on point but unfortunately she didn't stand a chance.

Laura Dern- I get this nomination I do, but people complain of the length of the performance, I am part of that group. While I applaud and truly have respect for someone who can pull an Oscar performance off so little time ( ahem Ruby Dee, nomination) it always leaves me to ponder, what if? What if she had more to do? I want more.

Patricia Arquette- The worst of the bunch. Come on, someone explain to me please how this soap opera acting landed her a win? While Arquette is not a bad actress, Boyhood was a bad movie where she gave a bad performance. Nothing was realistic. Who cries like that? Come on. Arquette should have had some recognition from the Academy for her leading turn in Stigmata in 1999, now that, that was a winning worthy performance. Not this crap.

Keira Knightly- The second best of the bunch nominated here. The Imitation Game is a great film with great performances and Knightly doesn't differ from that. Strong line delivery and a character you can root for, she easily for me is my second choice behind Streep.

Emma Stone- While not bad, not great either. Stone's tone never changes I've noticed, no matter what scene she is hamming it up in. It's the same tone of voice. She's either really loud and sounding like she's obnoxious or crying and she sounds obnoxious.

Who Should Have Won?- Meryl Streep

Who Should Have Been Nominated?
Renee Marino- Jersey Boys
Jessica Chastain- Interstellar
Regina Hall- About Last Night
Naomi Watts- St. Vincent
Carrie Coon- Gone Girl
I joined this site just to say how stupid this comment was. Patricia Arquette did a great job with Boyhood and accomplished something in a project that's never been done before. Stigmata was a good movie to watch but in no way Oscar worthy. And while I loved jersey boys, the acting was mostly god awful. And no one was worse in that movie than Renee Marino. Her acting was a horrible over the top caricature of a strong 50's Italian woman. She acted like a stage actor and that doesn't work on the screen. Her scenes were so bad they were laughable, especially that first fight on the stairs. I can't fathom how you could possibly consider her acting good in ANY way in that movie. Her acting made me question her IQ, and you're evaluation makes me question yours. Sorry to be harsh, but you know nothing about movies if this is what you really think.

I'm stupid because I have an opinion and I know nothing about movies due to my opinion?
Okay troll, whatever you say
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by Firedude829 »

mojoe92 wrote:Oh Supporting Actress, how you have given me most of my most hated wins- Anne Hathaway, Melissa Leo, Jennifer Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Anjelica Houston, Lee Grant etc.

Again, one of the worst line ups, ever.

This year was no different. Patricia Arquette goes down in my books as the 2nd most underserving win ever, behind Hathaway, she is my Hathaway of 2014.

Meryl Streep- I am not the biggest Streep fans, I think shes a good actress but highly overrated. In fact I don't agree with any 3 of her wins and personally only think that she should have won in 78 for The Deer Hunter, tying with Penelope Milford that year, and then for her lead role in Postcards from the Edge. Outside of that this nomination is the only other where I believe she should have won. Streep was by far the best of the five and gets my vote here. She played the witch hilariously and heart breaking and deserved to win. Her line and song delivery was on point but unfortunately she didn't stand a chance.

Laura Dern- I get this nomination I do, but people complain of the length of the performance, I am part of that group. While I applaud and truly have respect for someone who can pull an Oscar performance off so little time ( ahem Ruby Dee, nomination) it always leaves me to ponder, what if? What if she had more to do? I want more.

Patricia Arquette- The worst of the bunch. Come on, someone explain to me please how this soap opera acting landed her a win? While Arquette is not a bad actress, Boyhood was a bad movie where she gave a bad performance. Nothing was realistic. Who cries like that? Come on. Arquette should have had some recognition from the Academy for her leading turn in Stigmata in 1999, now that, that was a winning worthy performance. Not this crap.

Keira Knightly- The second best of the bunch nominated here. The Imitation Game is a great film with great performances and Knightly doesn't differ from that. Strong line delivery and a character you can root for, she easily for me is my second choice behind Streep.

Emma Stone- While not bad, not great either. Stone's tone never changes I've noticed, no matter what scene she is hamming it up in. It's the same tone of voice. She's either really loud and sounding like she's obnoxious or crying and she sounds obnoxious.

Who Should Have Won?- Meryl Streep

Who Should Have Been Nominated?
Renee Marino- Jersey Boys
Jessica Chastain- Interstellar
Regina Hall- About Last Night
Naomi Watts- St. Vincent
Carrie Coon- Gone Girl
I joined this site just to say how stupid this comment was. Patricia Arquette did a great job with Boyhood and accomplished something in a project that's never been done before. Stigmata was a good movie to watch but in no way Oscar worthy. And while I loved jersey boys, the acting was mostly god awful. And no one was worse in that movie than Renee Marino. Her acting was a horrible over the top caricature of a strong 50's Italian woman. She acted like a stage actor and that doesn't work on the screen. Her scenes were so bad they were laughable, especially that first fight on the stairs. I can't fathom how you could possibly consider her acting good in ANY way in that movie. Her acting made me question her IQ, and you're evaluation makes me question yours. Sorry to be harsh, but you know nothing about movies if this is what you really think.
mojoe92
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by mojoe92 »

Oh Supporting Actress, how you have given me most of my most hated wins- Anne Hathaway, Melissa Leo, Jennifer Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Anjelica Houston, Lee Grant etc.

Again, one of the worst line ups, ever.

This year was no different. Patricia Arquette goes down in my books as the 2nd most underserving win ever, behind Hathaway, she is my Hathaway of 2014.

Meryl Streep- I am not the biggest Streep fans, I think shes a good actress but highly overrated. In fact I don't agree with any 3 of her wins and personally only think that she should have won in 78 for The Deer Hunter, tying with Penelope Milford that year, and then for her lead role in Postcards from the Edge. Outside of that this nomination is the only other where I believe she should have won. Streep was by far the best of the five and gets my vote here. She played the witch hilariously and heart breaking and deserved to win. Her line and song delivery was on point but unfortunately she didn't stand a chance.

Laura Dern- I get this nomination I do, but people complain of the length of the performance, I am part of that group. While I applaud and truly have respect for someone who can pull an Oscar performance off so little time ( ahem Ruby Dee, nomination) it always leaves me to ponder, what if? What if she had more to do? I want more.

Patricia Arquette- The worst of the bunch. Come on, someone explain to me please how this soap opera acting landed her a win? While Arquette is not a bad actress, Boyhood was a bad movie where she gave a bad performance. Nothing was realistic. Who cries like that? Come on. Arquette should have had some recognition from the Academy for her leading turn in Stigmata in 1999, now that, that was a winning worthy performance. Not this crap.

Keira Knightly- The second best of the bunch nominated here. The Imitation Game is a great film with great performances and Knightly doesn't differ from that. Strong line delivery and a character you can root for, she easily for me is my second choice behind Streep.

Emma Stone- While not bad, not great either. Stone's tone never changes I've noticed, no matter what scene she is hamming it up in. It's the same tone of voice. She's either really loud and sounding like she's obnoxious or crying and she sounds obnoxious.

Who Should Have Won?- Meryl Streep

Who Should Have Been Nominated?
Renee Marino- Jersey Boys
Jessica Chastain- Interstellar
Regina Hall- About Last Night
Naomi Watts- St. Vincent
Carrie Coon- Gone Girl
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by Big Magilla »

Big Magilla wrote:Arquette easily.
Now that I have the time to expound on my quick response, let me say that this actually tuned out to be a pretty decent year for supporting actresses despite the fact that Patricia Arquette dominated awards season with little chance of the Oscar going to anyone else.

Arquette, always an interesting actress even when her material isn't, gives what is likely to remain her career high performance as the single mother who thought there'd be more in Boyhood.

Other performances that I really, really liked this year:

Tilda Swinton, a total hoot as the villainous bitch in Snowpiercer.

Imelda Staunton, a genuine joy as the happy-go-lucky union organizer in Pride.

Rene Russo, looking amazing at 60 and acting amazingly as the TV section chief in Nightcrawler.

Still yet to see: Jessica Chastain in A Most Violent Year.

This is the order in which I liked Arquette's official fellow nominees:

Keira Knightly, who I can usually take or leave, provided more depth than I usually find in her performances as the brainy code-breaker in The Imitation Game.

Emma Stone was good as Michael Keaton's daughter, but not as good as either Keaton or Edward Norton in Birdman.

Meryl Streep, the best of the ensemble in Into the Woods, but did she really need a 19th nomination for this?

Laura Dern as the single mother smiling through her heartache in Wild was basically reprising her performance in The Fault in Our Stars. It was really too slight a role to deserve a nomination against such sterling competition.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by Precious Doll »

The first time I saw Birdman I liked it was not able able to concentrate on it fully. On my second viewing about 10 days ago I appreciated lots of things that I had overlooked the first, most notably Emma Stone's performance.

Meryl Streep was my initial preferred pick of a list of nominees, none of whom I felt quite good enough as 'the best'. However, on second viewing Emma Stone certainly fits the bill and my vote goes to her.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by flipp525 »

From Enlightened's series finale, one of the best scenes in television of the 2010's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_nbXjuJdVM

(Pretty major spoiler if you haven't watched the full series, btw)
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by danfrank »

I'm heartened to see that there are some big Enlightened fans here. I thought nobody saw it! I really fell in love with the show, and it has stayed with me--atypical of even very good series, for me--since it ended. I've always been fond of Laura Dern, but this series put her into legendary status for me. Hers was such a complex character that was brilliantly conceived, and brilliantly inhabited. I hope it's one of those short-lived shows, a la Freaks and Geeks, that gains a cult following.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by flipp525 »

dws1982 wrote:Reasonably certain that Enlightened is one of the greatest TV shows ever created.
You must've just seen the incredible series finale, one of my favorite thirty minutes of television of all-time. Great swan-song for James Rebhorn, too.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by dws1982 »

Reasonably certain that Enlightened is one of the greatest TV shows ever created.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by Okri »

"The Ghost is Seen" might be the single most heartbreaking 30 minutes ever.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by dws1982 »

Ladd didn't even get nominated, unfortunately. (Dern did, for season two, and won the Golden Globe for season one.) I think the show was hurt by the fact that it was placed in the comedy categories for awards purposes, even though it's not really a comedy at all.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by flipp525 »

dws1982 wrote:I've been home with the flu all week, and I've marathoned the first season of Laura Dern's HBO series Enlightened. She didn't have much to do in Wild, but Enlightened the best role she's ever had. She's truly excellent, and the show is excellent as well, and very well-made. Three episodes in particular ("The Weekend", "Sandy", and "Consider Helen") really knocked me out.
Did Diane Ladd win an Emmy for "Consider Helen"? Because she really should have. I also loved the spot-on casting of Barbara Barrie in that episode.

I absolutely agree with you about this being career-best work for Laura Dern. It should've gotten more than a paltry two seasons, but the series is very satisfying regardless. Amy Jellicoe is such a great, meaty character. And the supporting cast is uniformly wonderful.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by dws1982 »

I've been home with the flu all week, and I've marathoned the first season of Laura Dern's HBO series Enlightened. She didn't have much to do in Wild, but Enlightened the best role she's ever had. She's truly excellent, and the show is excellent as well, and very well-made. Three episodes in particular ("The Weekend", "Sandy", and "Consider Helen") really knocked me out.
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 2014

Post by Sabin »

Dire. Have not seen Dern's performance. Maybe one day. It's not inconceivable.

I'm going with Emma Stone who isn't stretching by any means but is using her wonderful persona to expert effect playing a character who begins and ends long before and after the film she's in. It's a shame the only clip ever to be featured of her acting in Birdman is always ranting to her father about how because he lives an off-line life he somehow doesn't matter. Her character is much stronger and smarter than that scene implies.
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