Best Actress

They range from a power hungry nun to a self destructive drug addict. From a single mother looking for her lost son to a Nazi SS officer convicted of war crimes. These ladies could be the eye candy in cookie cutter romantic comedies or other mass produced Hollywood movies that are box office hits one week only to be completely forgotten by the next month. Instead these actresses have decided to explore deeper characters and produce something worthwhile and lasting, and for that they should be commended. The nominees for best female actress in a leading role are...

Anne Hathaway as recovering drug addict Kym Buchman (Rachel Getting Married)(1st Nomination)- Welcome to a wedding involving a dysfunctional family. While that may sound like a familiar movie scenario, the uniqueness and raw emotion in this film will stay with you long after the theatre. Hathaway stars as the estranged, recovering drug addict and sister to the bride, who has been granted a leave of absence from her rehab facility to join in the wedding festivities. Fireworks explode, tears are shed and ammends are made in this touching mixture of guilt and forgiveness/ mistakes of the past and new beginnings. Hathaway's character is heartbreaking in her inability to forgive herself for past mistakes along with her need for attention. Her journey to redemption must survive her overprotective father, jealous sister, indifferent mother and ultimately her own guilt. (Chances of winning=Good)
Angelina Jolie as desperate mother Christine Collins (Changeling)(2nd Nomination/1 Previous Win)- A hard working single mom comes home to her son only to find that he is not there. The frantic search leads the corrupt police department to bring her a boy... but he is not her son. Based on a true story of overcoming the corrupt establishment, Jolie's character faces persecution along with a forced trip to a psychiatric ward because she dared question and challenge the LAPD. Jolie perfectly portrays the horrors and persistance of a mother trying to find her lost son in the face of all the opposing odds. Her bravery and determination shed light into a dark den of corruption, but all she really wanted was her son. (Chances of winning= None)
Melissa Leo as mother Ray Eddy (Frozen River)(1st Nomination)- Desperation does not begin to describe the circumstances surrounding the life of Leo's character. A mother of two living in a dilapidated trailer home in the frigid cold of upstate New York with her two sons and a Mohawk husband who just skipped town to gamble away their life savings a week before Christmas. Through a series of coincidental circumstances she meets an Indian woman living on the reservation who smuggles illegal aliens over the border from Canada. Desperate for money to provide food, warmth, Christmas presents and that allusive double wide trailer with 3 bedrooms and state of the art insulation, the two form an unlikely partnership as they cross the frozen river separating Canada and the U.S while hawling aliens in the trunk of the car. Leo's quiet determination and resilience mixed with her ultimate worldly naivety is a sight to behold. (Chances of Winning=Slim)
Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Doubt)(15th Nomination...yeah that's right 15/ 2 Previous Wins)- Hailed as the Queen of Oscar and with 15 nominations who's arguing. Streep brings a professionalism and unique confidence to any and every role she plays. As a viewer she commands your respect and attention, so what better role for her than a strict, overbearing nun who acts as principal to a Catholic school in the Bronx. The school has become a battleground between ties to a conservative past and the push to embrace modernization, a conflict personified by Streep's dominating character and the head priest played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. When the conflict escalates into a full blown assault on character, certainty and evidence are thrown out the window in view of personal convictions and suggestions. Don't mistake Streep's character, she plays to win despite any doubt she may harbor. (Chances of Winning=Very Good)
Kate Winslet as ex-Nazi SS Officer Hanna Schmitz (The Reader)(6th Nomination)- The best actress in Hollywood in my opinion has had a year to remember. To give an Oscar worthy performance is a capstone to any actor's career, and to win one is the pinnacle. To be nominated five time and then to give two performances in the same year, either of which would probably win the Oscar is unbelievable(To bad only one could make the cut). That is what Winslet has done this year with The Reader and Revolutionary Road. In my opinion the voters got the wrong movie, but that does not take away from her brilliance in this one. Winslet's character is an enigma of emotion shown in the beginning as somewhat of a loner who develops a relationship with an underage boy mostly because she likes to listen to him read to her. Years later at her trial it is revealed that she was responsible for countless deaths as a Nazi SS officer. The trial is clouded by the shroud of moral ambiguity as Winslet's character denies any wrongdoing, claiming she was simply doing the job she was instructed to do. At what point are we obligated to stop following orders when they collide with a moral standard? Do the character's absence of education, no obvious moral compass and lack of discernable guilt or regret have any standing in determining her responsibility? The degree to which Winslet morphs into the dilluded and simple fact driven mind of this character is both haunting and disturbing. (Chances of Winning=Very Good)

Quick Thoughts:
-While the Oscar is supposed to go to the best performance given that year, history has shown us that the Oscar has a way of honoring careers or giving overdue recognition. Under that criteria the only possible winners this year will be Streep or Winslet. That is not to say that either of those performances is not worthy, but it does cast a very bleak outlook for Hathaway who is just as deserving. The academy probably figures that since this is Hathaway's first nomination and she is still young they will have ample time to reward her in the future. Streep is nearing the end of her career (just don't try to tell her that) and I am sure the academy would love to give her one more win (that would only be fair considering she has 15 nominations) to make her just the 5th actor to win more than 2. However, Winslet makes an even better case having given two Oscar worthy performances this year, and it would be ridiculous for her to have six nominations without one win. So I have a feeling it will go to Winslet this year in order to reward her for both her overdue career, and in recognition of her two standout performances this year. All Leo and Jolie need to do is show up and be happy with their nominations.


Who I would have nominated:
Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
Julianne Moore (Blindness)
Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)

The Rest of the Way:
With a little over a week until the big night here is what I am going to be doing the rest of the way:

-Tomorrow look for male and female supporting actors
-Sunday look for original and adapted screenplays
-Monday thru Friday of next week- 1 review per day of the 5 best picture nominees
-Also Monday thru Friday- short posts on all the tech awards along with animated, documentaries and foreign.
-Next Saturday- My Final Predictions
-Next Sunday- The Big Night