Subscriptions
RSS
Best Actor and Actress
Can one help but notice how weak the field is in both actress categories, and how strong the men are? Usually there are strong performances across the board. Here the real quality seems to be on the male side. Take a look at the nominees in the lead acting categories.
Best Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
This is Day-Lewis’ category, without a doubt. He is a revelation in the film and though the writing makes his charater a bit ridiculous in the end, the performance does not suffer. Mortensen was strong in his role despite my distaste for Eastern Promises as a whole. This nomination was well deserved. Clooney is hard for me to judge at this point, but from all I seen and read this is not surprising. Johnny Depp’s nod is a total gift. While the acting may be strong you should not get a nomination if you’re in a musical and you can’t sing. The real loser here is Jones. I believe he gave the best performance of his career in this film but it will not be good enough.
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis.
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Paige - Juno
This is a pretty weak category. Blanchett gets nominated for a role she has already done. Laura Linney’s film was incredibly boring. And no one has ever heard of Marion Cotillard, or her movie. That leave the sentimental favorite, Julie Christie and the newcomer, Ellen Paige. Though Chritie’s performance has the appeal of seeing an aging star see the spotlight one more time, Paige’s Juno is the better performance. If there was one thing that could have ruined Juno it was its quirky cutsie dialogue. Fortunately the work of the actors, especially Paige and Jason Bateman, allows the film to rise above its shortcomings. That is the sign of a really good performance.
Winner: Julie Christie
Tommorow: Supporting Actors and Actresses
Last 5 posts by Chris
- Rose is Rose is a Man! - November 14th, 2008
- Faith in Fringe - November 14th, 2008
- Sounding Presidential - November 3rd, 2008
- First Look at Lost's 5th Season - October 25th, 2008
- Becoming Fanatical - October 23rd, 2008
Comments
4 Responses to “Best Actor and Actress”
Leave a Reply
I agree with both of your choices.
I will say that Day Lewis’ performance does tend to go as nutty as the writing near the end, which almost ruins the film. Viggo shows his cock, so I could see him slipping in there … um, so to speak.
The Johnny Depp nomination is just ludicrous. NOTE TO THE ACADEMY: You don’t need to nominate Depp for every single performance in his career. He’s not great in everything. And the damn bastard cannot sing a lick, and the part requires singing … soooooo …. he should not be nominated.
Great point about Viggo’s cock. That could win him a ton of awards.
I think Johnny Depp will win on the men side. I think the Academy is desperate to give him an award.
I agree with Chris that Julie Christie will win on the Woman side, because she is kind of the safe pick.
I think Christie will win. I remember Away From Her was first screened at the LA Times Book Fair and we tried to get in, no dice. I’ll bet more Academy voters have seen it than people realize…