(thanks again to Paddy at ScreenOnScreen)
Better late than never! Barbie was placed in Adapted at the Oscars but is in the Original Screenplay category here,...
Read moreThe Academy should take a bow this morning for bringing back the Oscars, restoring them to their former glory in...
Read moreThe Golden Globes went off well enough this past year that CBS has signed a five-year deal with the Globes...
Read more
Now that Meryl has dropped to supporting, it will likely be a close race between Dench and Blanchett. Not so sure about Watts, Thompson, Kidman, Bullock or Winslet.
If Harvey has his way both Judi Dench and Meryl Streep will bring home Oscars again.
Sasha once told me “Never underestimate Judi Dench” was a motto Oscarologists should always go by.
And I think as much as I loved Cate Blanchett’s staggering performance in “Blue Jasmine” all SPC’s Oscar tub-thumping happened waaaay to early.
And yes, “August:Osage” could sweep the board. I’ll see it in Toronto in three weeks, and if I know H.Weinstein, he’ll schedule it FIRST at an 8:45 AM (!) press & industry screening and I will be the first one there, lining up as the Canadian sun rises! As I was for “The King’s Speech.” He’s copying “The King’s Speech” release pattern exactly.
TIFF, then not showing it til Thanksgiving! But cutting a superb three hour play to be a two hour and change movie, could hurt its’ overall impact, there’s no diminishing what we can see coming with Streep’s performance. I’ll keep you posted.
Over and OUT!
I still have that feeling that Judi Dench will end up in “Philomena” like Nicole Kidman in 2011 for “Rabbit Hole”.
And i still have that feeling that no one can beat Naomi Watts for “Diana” and Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”.
So right now i would predict:
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Naomi Watts “Diana”
Meryl Streep “Aughst: Osage County”
Judi Dench “Philomena”
Cate Blanchett “Blue Jasmine”
?
Runner Ups:
Amy Adams “American Hustle”
Berenice Bejo “The Past”
Nicole Kidman “Grace of Monaco”
Sandra Bullock “Gravity”
Emma Thompson “Saving Mr. Banks”
Kate Winslet “Labor Day”
Reese Witherspoon “The Good Lie”
Reese Witherspoon “The Devil’s Knot” (or next year?)
@ oscar
please don’t predict emma thompson, i hate her when she does comedy, she tries so hard to be comic and ends up giving a thoroughly over acted performance.
Thompson was wonderful in the comedy “Nanny McPhee”, and its follow-up “Nanny McPhee Returns”.
Stephen Frears: the most underrated director of the past 30 years?
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Judi Dench – Philomena
Meryl Streep – August:Osage County
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks
Naomi Watts – Diana
I agree with it looking “light”. I’ve seen Blue Jasmine and the test screening of August:Osage County. Dench doesn’t even warrant a nomination based on this trailer, I hope she kicks it up in the film. Blanchett and Streep are locks for nominations. I just can’t see Streep being denied regardless of her recent win. Streep and Blanchett are both pill poppers, but Streep explorers many more levels in her performance. It is also very physical. She has physical fights and runs through a field and gets tackled by Roberts. She also goes up and down stairs in her influenced state. IMO, August is a masterpiece and will have a magnitude of nominations….acting alone: Streep, Roberts, Martindale, Cooper, Cumberbatch, Nicholson are going to be locks as well as Picture, director, screenplay, cinematography.I think Blue Jasmine will have actress, maybe supporting actress in Hawkins and possibly screenplay.
Six actors (a record) from one film are a lock for a nomination half a year away from the nomination announcement and before the film has been shown beyond test screenings?
Bollocks.
TY, Ryan! 🙂
Aaron, I maybe would have believed that you were on to something if you had toned it down a bit, but six LOCKS for a nomination in the four acting categories alone?? Get out of here!
I’m still pretty convinced that August will be a disappointment (just like that tedious trailer). Of course, starring in terrible films is no impediment for Ms Streep. She will be nominated, for sure (maybe either Roberts or Martindale as well), but beyond that?
I do think of August as a brilliant show case for its actors, but if the film fails to deliver on the whole the actors (except for Streep, if history is anything to go by) will suffer accordingly.
Just saw Blue Jasmin and you may as well give Blanchett the best acting award now. She so reminded me of the grand dames of the 1940s, 1950s: Crawford, Davis, Stanwyck, Russell. and god bless Woody Allen for writing great roles for women (although I’m not a Woody fan).
Was looking forward to this post since yesterday morning and consequently thought there wasn’t gonna be one so I went ahead and got it off my chest in other thread so I might as well re-paste here. Really looking forward to this one 🙂
————————————repost——————————————
Ever since I saw the new PHILOMENA trailer this morning, and for several reasons it triggered a desire in me to retrospect a bit about 2006…As I’ve stated on here, at least half a dozen times, I’m a big fan of THE QUEEN, Stephen Frears’ best film. And, although Helen Mirren’s performance is as masterful as it gets, I’ve always felt that Judy Dench in NOTES ON A SCANDAL gave the best performance by an actress that year. Although successful, NOTES is still for my money a pretty underrated flick from 2006. So back then I would have gone with these gals:
Best Actress
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Ivana Baquero – PAN’S LABYRINTH
Laura Dern – INLAND EMPIRE
Penelope Cruz – VOLVER
Kate Dickie – RED ROAD
Best Supporting Actress
Carmen Maura – VOLVER
Cate Blanchett – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Julianne Moore – CHILDREN OF MEN
Shareeka Epps – HALF NELSON
Martina Gedeck – THE LIVES OF OTHERS
Bryce,
THE QUEEN is Frears’ best film? Perhaps you might take another walk by Dangerous Liaisons or The Grifters. Or even The Hit.
I found The Queen strangely lacking in spark when I revisited it last year (I hadn’t seen it since I liked it very much back when Mirren clinched the Oscar), so I would have to agree with The Pope (no less!) that Dangerous Liaisons and The Grifters remain Frears’ best works.
I’ll have to join the chorus here – Frears best work was early(ish) in his career – My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, DL, and the magnificent The Grifters. Since then…meh, but still a terrific resume, so I’ll definitely see this (and Mercury, if it ever comes to pass).
Respect ya’ll’s opinions of course. I’ve seen most of those movies and know of their reputation/esteem in the Frears scale –I just had a really hard time connecting with them. I’m not sure I even liked DANGEROUS LIAISONS or THE GRIFTERS at all to be honest, so that’s where I’m coming from. MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE is a close 2nd!
Frears did HIGH FIDELITY right? No love for that gem?
Replace Julianne Moore (whom I think it’s amazing) with Pam Ferris (from the same movie) and you’ve got a kick ass line up in both leading and supporting, Mr. Forestieri.
Looks to be a little “light” to really suit academy tastes.
A class performance I suspect. Judi can do no wrong ….. leagues ahead of the Streeps of the world, IMO! Looks like a great film with a great story. Thanks for the warning Bball_Jake ….. I won’t read the thread at In Contention 😉
Judi can do no wrong
SKYFALL comes to mind, but wasn’t really her fault.
@Bryce: Ditto.
Did we see the same movie? She was wonderful in SKYFALL. Name another actress who could have done that role as well. She was very, very good.
Some fuckface commentor at In Contention spoiled the ending for me.
I hope this film works. Philomena’s story is just one of hundreds if not thousands of similar ones about Irish women abused by the Catholic Church and forced to give up their children for adoption. Quite a lot of the time, those same women were then, for want of a better word, incarcerated for the rest of their lives in “laundries” run by the nuns. These women washed for free whiel the Church took the money. Savage.
Again, I hope this works but I would like to see Stephen Frears give us a bit of a bite like he did with Dangerous Liaisons and The Grifters.