1998-2007 Best Supporting Actress Winners

[Sabin]

Huh, I can’t say I have any real standout preference from this era. All winners are generally either my second or third favorite choice, and more than one are just a snooze. I mean, I suppose you could make the argument that Judi Dench does the best acting of these winners and I could make some kind of statement by choosing the single digit number performance of all of them…

I’m torn between Marcia Gay Harden for a performance I barely remember in a film I barely remember but I’m sure is quite good. Or Blanchett who at least puts on the most entertaining show and enlivens The Aviator with a charge of energy like nobody else in this field. Considering I just don’t remember Pollock,I’ll just give it to Cate Besides, Laura Linney wasn’t going to win anyway.

[Big Magilla]

Lynn Redgrave was my choice to win for 1998's Gods and Monsters. Her Hungarian Una O'Connor wasn't grotesque at all. It was heartfelt and hilarious at the same time, the kind of performance the supporting actress Oscar was made for. Dench, though, was the more popular choice, giving one of the best performances we would see for a while in this category.

I liked Angelina Jolie in the 1998 TV movie Gia but couldn't stand her overbearing character in Girl, Interrupted. My choice for 1999 was the non-nominated Joan Plowright in Tea with Mussolini.

I thought Marcia Gay Harden was a bad case of category fraud, something that doesn't usually bother me but she was the female lead in Pollock. Her nomination and win shut out Amy Madigan who gave a true supporting performance in the film. 2000 was a toss-up for me between Julie Walters in Billy Elliott and Judi Dench in Chocolat. Walters had the force of a great role behind her while Dench had the more difficult job of bringing a strong dose of reality to an otherwise unbelievable story. Dench got my vote.

Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, and the non-nominated Eileen Atkins were perfection in 2001's Gosford Park. Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind was at best an also-ran.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was a good choice for 2002's Chicago but Kathy Bates in About Schmidt would have been a better one.

Shohreh Aghdashloo definitely should have won for 2003's House of Sand and Fog over Renée Zellweger for her third-rate Marjorie Main imitation in Cold Mountain.

Laura Linney was my choice to win for 2004's Kinsey, not Cate Blanchett for her nice try at best portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Aviator.

I loved Rachel Weisz in 2005's The Constant Gardener, but I also loved Michelle Williams in Brokeback Mountain and for a while kept changing my mind between the two but eventually conceded that the Academy got this one right.

I initially favored Jennifer Hudson in 2006's Dreamgirls but it was her singing, not her weak acting between songs that I loved and eventually went with Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal even if it was category fraud.

Tilda Swinton was good in 2007's Michael Clayton but Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone was better.

Most deserving winners for their overall work during the decade were Dench and Blanchett, but for best winning performance, I have to go with the only one on which Oscar and I agreed in the end - Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener.

[Reza]

Dench should have won for Mrs Brown the previous year but her win for Shakespeare, a year later, was no makeup Oscar as its liked to be portrayed. She is hilarious and makes every minute of that short role count. In fact you remember only her from that film even after all these years. And she is the best of the 5 nominated. That includes Lynn Redgrave's grotesque turn which many felt should have won instead.

So which of these ladies didn't deserve to win? In my opinion both Connelly and Zellweger. Both Maggie Smith and especially Helen Mirren were better than Connelly. While Shohreh Aghdashloo should have won instead of Zellweger's cringy turn.

Jolie, Marcia Gay Harden, Zeta-Jones, Blanchett, Weisz, Hudson and Swinton were easily the best amongst the bunch they were nominated against.

Voted for Dench and closely followed by Weisz and Swinton.

[Big Magilla]

Off we go into the 21st Century.