Berlin

Well so far Berlin has bought us nothing really in terms of news as to who we should be keeping a beady eye on in 2009.

Here is some of the noteworthy news.

'The Young Victoria' was met with a cheer, but not deafening. The film is liked and is said to be emotional, and that can go very far in terms of box office and awards.
Notices for Emily Blunt are very good so if it is another weak year for lead actresses we could easily see her in the race (I am hoping to see some blistering female performances this year).

"Blunt’s controlled portrayal of the young woman’s fractionally different attitudes to the two main men in her life is one of the pic’s major delights."

'London River' about the bombing of London in 2005 and is said to be an affecting film with a strong central turn from Brenda Blethyn, who has been noticeably absent from the Oscar roster of late. This is unlikely to be her return. The film is said to have some major script problems, mainly with cliched dialogue.
Pity, as I do love me some restrained Blethyn (rarely seen I know)

'Rage' was doomed right when Screen International posted this review:

"It's just as well Jude Law looks good as a transsexual. Because there's little else on offer for the audience in Sally Potter's amateurish and self-indulgent fashion-industry satire and murder mystery, except perhaps the emotion that gives the film its name."

Full review here

'Mammoth' was met with a loud resonating 'DUD' and no praise was throw the way of its two stars Michelle Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal.

'The Private Lives of Pippa Lee' which boasts a cast of Robin Wright Penn, Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Alan Arkin,Winona Ryder, Maria Bello and Monica Bellucci is said to be a very flawed film with "Cardboard characters and severe problems of tone fatally " (Variety). It has been picked up for distribution so perhaps there will be an audience. There is supposed to be a terrific performance from Julianne Moore in an elongated cameo.

Lastly, 'Cheri' was to be Michelle Pfeiffer's welcome embrace back into Oscar consideration. However the film has not been favourably reviewed, and Pfeiffer's awards chances can be considerably hurt by this type of review from Variety

"Still impossibly beautiful as she approaches 50 -- too much, in fact, for the role -- Pfeiffer has elegance to spare. However, she's not quite up to the nuances of Hampton's dialogue or the inner feelings of a retired courtesan awakened by a spoiled, moody boy. (It's a role that may have been better attempted by Jessica Lange, (one of the exec producers.)"

When a reviewer suggests another actress for the role while reviewing you, things ain't good, although Screen International was much kinder

However Kathy Bates has been said to steal the film and has the type of praise that can easily last till the end of the year:

"Bates is the only cast member to inject a sense of real bitchiness and vivacity into the dialogue, with her handling of lines to Lea like, "Don't you find that when the skin is a little less firm, it holds perfume so much better?" an ongoing pleasure." - Variety

Bates is well liked when it comes to awards season and should be able to hold up a fight.
Plus director Stephen Frears has a great track record with getting his actresses nominated (6 and counting)
It will be interesting to see how this will translate, and specifically what is made of the lead performance once everyone gets a look.

Best prospects for Oscar 2010:

Kathy Bates - Best Supporting Actress for 'Cheri'
Emily Blunt - Best Actress for 'The Young Victoria'

Yet to be seen is Parker Posey and Demi Moore in hot indie director Mitchell Lichtenstein's two-sisters drama 'Happy Tears' but don't expect too much.

Unlike the Greek, The Oscars has no true mythology. All we have are witches and fairies.

Well f*ck-a-doodle-dee. My poll has disappeared. That bloody well suck ass, as I had not made of note of what each of the actresses got.
All I know is that the eventual winner was miles ahead of the pack.

With a disappointing fifth place finish was dear ole Susan Sarandon for ‘Lorenzo’s Oil’. This is a film I recently watched and really do not get this nomination.

In forth place Michelle Pfeiffer in ‘Love Field’. This may be my favourite performance of Michelle’s so kind of sad to have seen it so low.

Third place finds the lovely Catherine Deneuve for ‘Indochine’. I was convinced she would walk away with this. Either her or

Our second place finisher, Mary McDonnell in ‘Passion Fish’. President Roslin could not even come close to beating the eventual winner, and the winner of the Oscar

Emma Thompson in ‘Howards End’.

I do love my Emma. She is just one of those instantly likeable actresses that seems to be free of vanity.
However I have not seen this film, so I cannot judge. I have seen all the other nominees, hence my voting for Mary. I had gotten confused and rented ‘The Remains of the Day’ thinking she won for that, and greatly enjoyed the film, but that was really Anthony Hopkins movie (no Tom Hanks…you were not better!).

So now I have to see ‘Howards End’, But I hear it is a good ‘un.

Now for the next poll. It seems blogger does not like me posting in the side bare, so I will just have the poll in the post.

Who should have won the Oscar in 1992:

"I found out what the secret to life is: Oscars"

I so thought I knew who was going to win this.
I so figured it would be the person I wanted it to be, but it wasn't. But I cannot really argue with the eventual winner.
Sentimentality won out in the end, and don't we all vote with our hearts when the time comes.
This was a rather good year for the Supporting Actress as it is usually the weakest acting category.
The winner (pictured) had a long and illustrious career, but Oscar only really took notice later in it. Always the last ones to jump on the band wagon.

With a disappointing 5% at the bottom of the heap we have Diane Lane in 'Rambling Rose'

In forth place we find Kate Nelligan in 'The Prince of Tides' with 10%
Third place sees the eventual winner Mercedes Ruehl with 18% of the votes for 'The Fisher King'.

The person I so thought would win is in second with 30% of the votes. Little Juliette Lewis in 'Cape Fear'

So the winner is (probably because Dean and Lee voted many times on different computers) is Jessica Tandy for 'Fried Gren Tomatoes' with 38%.

She was a worthy winner I guess, but I was more of a Lewis fan at the time, even if she did sport corn rows.

So onto 1992 Best Actress!

Here are the women you have to choose from:


Catherine Deneuve - Indochine as Eliane
Mary McDonnell - Passion Fish as May-Alice Culhane
Michelle Pfeiffer - Love Field as Lurene Hallett
Susan Sarandon - Lorenzo's Oil as Michaela Odone
Emma Thompson - Howards End as Margaret J. 'Meg' Schlegel

Can Emma out hat Catherine?

Please vote in the poll on the right hand side!

Women vs the Hollywood age machine

I do not understand ageism, especially with actresses.
It is hard enough for them to get roles written for them in the first place, yet alone having to deal with a very short sell by date.
Studios keep pandering to the male sect, trying to get them into theatres by producing testosterone pumped drivel that appeals to the shoot ‘em up, blow ‘em up f*ck the girl crowd.

This is the state of affairs in the movie making world, but it needs not be. Uma Thurman, Angelina Jolie and Sigourney Weaver proved that there is a market for the female action hero, and that market is lucrative. However for every “Kill Bill” there are films that get made like “Aoen Flux” and “Catwoman”. Even money makers such as the “Resident Evil” franchise does nothing to help the argument that woman can carry a blockbuster. But this is beside the point.

The point is that men can still be seen to be on top of the game well into their 60’s, hell even their 70’s, and there is a surplus of roles for then to grab. Heck come awards season it seems that we are always going on about the lead actor category being so strong, and the actress category being weak.

And it is true, but only because the roles are just not there for the girls, especially as they get older.

Out of the forty nominees since 2000 in the lead category there have been twenty two men over the age of 40 nominated (five wins) and sixteen women (one win).

Is it to do with sex appeal?

Well Helen Mirren has proved that at 60 you can out sex all the young starlets, but although that is what every one is saying at an awards ceremony, I doubt the studio exec’s were thinking of casting her is a steamy sex romp. Heck Helen Mirren would be considered too old to play Jack Nicholsons’ love interest, and he is ten years her senior. Oh what a world we live in.

My main reason for getting all upset with this is the recent press towards Madonna. Yes she is turning 50, but she has more energy, talent and sex appeal that all of these twenty something pop star wannabes have put together. But the press make her out to be some sort of randy sexual predator. How ridiculous. Why does society want to put woman out to pasture after 50?

50 should be the new 30 as far as I am concerned. Women turning 50 are look better, have more style, sex appeal and confidence then they did before. Just look at these woman who have/are celebrating this land mark birthday this year!

Madonna


Bebe Neuwirth


Michelle Pfeiffer


Angela Bassett


Jennifer Tilly


EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THEM……STUNNING!!!!

Hollywood, and audiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!??????

I am, after all, me.

The results are here from my poll.

I asked who you felt deserved the Best Supporting Actress Oscar back in 1988.

The results were this time around were expected, but still I was a little surprised at the lack of competition in the voting. Looks like EVERYONE voted for her, and hardly anyone voted for any of the others which is always a shame.

Lets hope the next poll pics up a little steam!

Here come the results:

5) With 0% of the votes we have Geena Davis – “The Accidental Tourist” (our eventual winner)
Tied with
5) With 0% of the votes we have Frances McDormad -“Mississippi Burning”

3) With 10% of the votes we have Michelle Pfeiffer – “Dangerous Liasons”

2) With 17% of the votes we have the lovely Joan Cusack – “Working Girl”

1) With a whopping 82% we have Sigourney Weaver – “Working Girl”.

I knew everyone loves old Siggy, but not enough to give her three wins in my online polls. That was totally unexpected. Her performance in “Working Girl” was completely opposite of her role in that years “Gorillas in the Mist”, which is why it was as celebrated. It showed she had range.
She played a hungry, back stabbing corporate bitch with relish, and it is understandable why she won the Golden Globe.
Oscar did not agree, sadly they didn’t agree twice that year!

For my next poll we will be looking ahead in the Best Actress category, 1989.

The women you have to choose from are:


Isabelle Adjani - Camille Claudel
Pauline Collins - Shirley Valentine
Jessica Lange - Music Box
Michelle Pfeiffer - The Fabulous Baker Boys
Jessica Tandy - Driving Miss Daisy

Vote now!! Poll is in the side bar to the right, near the top.

I know who I'm voting for:

"Get off my Oscar!"

The results are here from my poll.

I asked who you felt deserved the Best Actress Oscar back in 1988.

The results were this time around were VERY surprising. I knew we all were happy little Jodie Foster won an Oscar back at the time, but I had no idea how much you all LOVED another.

Perhaps it is because Oscar history has not been to kind and welcoming, or perhaps in hindsight it is the best. (my personal vote went to Meryl Streep for A Cry in the Dark…it will always be my favourite)

Here come the results

5) With 0% of the votes we have Melanie Griffith – “Working Girl”
4) With 7% of the votes we have Jodie Foster (our eventual winner) – “The Accused”
3) With 9% of the votes we have Glenn Close – “Dangerous Liasons” (I thought she would win this with no problems)
2) With 11% of the votes we have the lovely Meryl Streep – “A Cry in the Dark”
1) With a whopping 74% we have Sigourney Weaver – “Gorillas in the Mist”.

I am surprised, but very pleasantly so. I always thought Sissy would win for this, and I was shocked she didn’t. Her performance of Dian Fossey was passionate, emotional and urgent. The role fit her like a glove. She has an exquisite tenderness and tact in her delicate scenes with wild animals. It is impossible to imagine a more appropriate choice for this.

Oscar did not think so.

For my next poll we will be looking ahead in the Best Supporting Actress category, 1988.
The women you have to choose from are:

Geena Davis - The Accidental Tourist
Joan Cusack - Working Girl
Frances McDormand - Mississippi Burning
Michelle Pfeiffer - Dangerous Liaisons
Sigourney Weaver - Working Girl


Vote now!!

Poll is in the side bar to the right, near the top.