Who will win it the Best Actress Oscar this year after Kate Winslet's win last year? This time around, I managed to watch three of the five nominated performances. Would've been four, if the Precious DVD was not defective and could not play on my DVD player. Sigh...
Not that it really matters anyway, as the buzz for the eventual winners seems to settle between two actresses. Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock. Or I should say Meryl VS Sandy...
Meryl Streep, who already have 2 Oscars (one for Supporting in Kramer Vs Kramer and one Lead for Silkwood) and 16 nominations, is up for Best Actress for her turn as Julia Child in Julie & Julia.
Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock is nominated for her performance in The Blind Side. Yes, this is Bullock's first nomination.
The other three nominees are Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Helen Mirren (The Last Station). Of these three, Mirren is the only one who has an Oscar and several nominations.
Let's break it down. I can't really comment on Precious and The Last Station due to not having seen it yet but I will comment on the other three performances, which for me are the frontrunners anyway. Okay, Streep and Bullock are the frontrunners, Mulligan is the dark horse.
I saw a clip of the Best Actress nominees played during the SAG Awards.
I gotta say that Sidibe's was the weakest.
Mirren was quite good. But then again, I haven't seen the films so could not really say...
Julie & Julia was the first one I saw. Then The Blind Side and then only I caught An Education. J&J is actually a bit heavier than it's given credit for, mostly because of the subtext and subplots. If you're just scratching the surface of the movie, then yes, it's a fluffy piece of cinema dedicated to the two protagonists who enjoyed cooking.
And believe me, I enjoyed every minute of the cooking part. Even inspired me to take up cooking again. :)
I am a self-proclaimed entertainment aficianado. Can't exactly call myself a critic since I do not really have any experience nor qualification to back that claim up. But I do know a thing or two about movies, after all those movies I watched and also coz I am a writer (amateur-ish)... and I am always watching all kinds of blogs and sites about awards, movies and entertainment.
The internet was abuzzin' with J&J and how Meryl was an absolute delight. I have to admit that Julia Child is a foreign concept for me. I mean, I have heard her name before and I know she's a chef but I do not know her like I do Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver, or even Rachael Ray or Martha Stewart.
Oh, I have seen an impersonation of her on 30 Rock, but that was it. So I did not know The Meryl got it right or not but I figured she got it right, the mannerism and the voice. However, I do not find her acting in this one was particularly great. I am a fan of hers. Meryl I mean. Even though I got into the game pretty late. I was still a toddler when she started getting the noms and the wins.
But I've seen a bunch of her recent movies and I know that Meryl can definitely out-act anyone. Even her farts can out-act anyone. But I am also of the school of thought where an actor did not do a good job if you look at them acting, instead of looking at the role. That's exactly what I saw. Meryl Streep imitating Julia Child. She did not inhabit the role and made me forget it was not Streep on the screen but Child. Even then, she was still good.
On a side note, a lot of people were turned off by Amy Adams' Julie, but I connected with Adams and Julie Powell and I enjoyed her adventures, more than Meryl's Julia Child. I think, from reading all the blog comments and stuff, there's only two other people who thought the same thing.
Now, Sandy B, on the other hand, came into movies during my teens and I've followed her ever since I saw her plucky cop on Demolition Man. Who can forget the virtual sex scene with Sylvester Stallone and the scene where she kicked ass ala Jackie Chan...
She was wonderful in While You Were Sleeping, the movie that cemented her status as a movie star. Yes, not Speed. Speed was her breakthrough role. The Net is also one of my favorite Sandy B (or SaBu as she's monikered these days) movies.
The Blind Side came out of nowhere, kinda self-prophesizing eh? Like seriously, I've heard/read about Meryl, Carey Mulligan, Gabby Sidibe (and Monique's fiery performance) way back in the summer of 09.
It was like the tiny movie that could. After it achieved box office success and SaBu got nominated for a Golden Globe (two actually, the other nom was for The Proposal), I went out and sought the DVD. I gave it a go... the first 10 minutes was bordering on boring a bit until Sandra Bullock showed up. But that was not SaBu. It was Leigh Ann Touhy. Not just coz Bullock had her hair lightened or speaking in a Southern accent, but her mannerisms were different. Believe me, I know. I watched almost all of her movies. And she was playing the stiff, rigid woman in The Proposal as well.
I was watching Leigh Ann Touhy. Not a lot of people give enough credit to Bullock for being a good actress. Just because she does comedies. I saw Infamous and Sandra was good. She wasn't Sandra. She was Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird, and friend to Truman Capote.
So what if she doesn't do much in this movie? Does that mean she was acting her ass off? Does an actress really need to be shouting, screaming, spitting, crying etc to be considered good acting? A subtle performance is just as good as the foaming at the mouth performance.
I had a feeling that Sandra would walk away with the statuette come Golden Globe night. And I was right. Good for her! Unfortunately, a lot of flak was thrown her way. It was not like Bullock had a hand in her win. They chose her. Voted for her. Sigh.
After the Golden Globes, I caught An Education. Carey Mulligan is cute :)
She has her moments. Shining moments. But otherwise her performance was much like Sandra Bullock's. After seeing An Education, I had a feeling that Sandra's chances of getting the SAG award and the Oscar nom was slim... but Bullock's win at the SAG proved that she was indeed unstoppable. 2009 was a good year for her, breaking a bunch of records.
Come Oscar night, I'll be cheering for SaBu. But I secretly hope Meryl get her third Oscar and I also secretly hope that Carey Mulligan will be called up to get her award.
But, out of the three, I'd rather have Sandy take it home or Carey, but not Meryl. I was not impressed with her Julia Child. Her Miranda from The Devil Wears Prada was a good example of her brilliantness. Even Mamma Mia! was a lot better.
So all in all, go Sandra Bullock! Just stay away from movies with boats...
I did not really wanna see this movie at first. Maybe just get the DVD, or mooch off of someone who'd downloaded it already. Yeah, yeah, I know. *shrugs*
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: John Henshaw – Looking for Eric
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Animated Film: Up
