Actresses

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I have been thinking long and hard but it’s much more difficult to come up with more than half a dozen name to fill this section. People familiar with the blog know I push for a handful of actresses and it’s not that there isn’t plenty of female actresses out there. It’s just that there has been a major dearth of quality roles for them and hence, only a few have risen above the pack. Where are the Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, and Grace Kelly of our time? The media is constantly looking for the next Julia Roberts or the next Meg Ryan, the next America’s sweetheart type who will pump out 2 or 3 romantic comedies a year, but where is the fun in watching the same acting, the same expressions, the same tricks over and over and over again? Sure, there is plenty of your superficially written and decorative girlfriend/wife roles or the occasional rom-com vehicle but where are the real women roles? Much like on the male side, I really enjoy watching versatile actresses pushing the envelope with a wide range of roles, who have shown to be superior character actors but can also carry a movie in a leading role.

	5. Reese Witherspoon: I used to pull hard for Greasy Reesey to come through in a big way and I guess she did. How could you not after seeing her in the outrageous 1996 indie Freeway, 1998's Pleasantville and 1999's dark comedy Election. She demonstrated great range and charisma on-screen in so many movies at such a young age. Heck, I even loved the coming-of-age comedy Legally Blonde (2003), it was an hilarious movie and she carried it all by herself. Then later came that perfect role made for her in Walk the Line (2005) in which she gave the performance of a lifetime and won the Oscar for best actress. Since that, she has played it safe doing only her all-too-familiar romantic comedies with Just like Heaven (2005), and Four Christmases (2008), and limited supporting roles in Rendition (2007) and Penelope (2006). Hope she turns it around and takes some chances but it doesn't look good with more rom-coms down the pipeline. If there is one thing that is frustrating, it's that she doesn't take risk trying to expand her craft and range and that is why she is not higher on the list. It's too bad she is too busy being a movie star now... And yes, she is here by default :( Below, the first scene is from her AMAZING performance in Freeway. The second scene is her equally outstanding job in Election as Tracy Flick. Definitely not the Reese Witherspoon you have grown accustomed to see.
	4. Natalie Portman: After my top three, I'm pretty much going blank for those #4-5 spots which means I don't usually go out of my way to see those actresses :( The thing with Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman is that she showed such promise as such a young age with her role in Leon (1994) and Heat (1995) that expectations went through the roof for her. One thing I wish she hadn't done was to take on the Star Wars new trilogy in which she gave wildly up-and-down performances among which one short scene in particular(Hint: a dialogue with the atrocious Hayden Christensen) I will probably forever associate with the worst possible acting I have ever seen in theater (not entirely her fault given the pathetic dialogue but still). Nevertheless, the Harvard graduate is still young and an incredibly talented actress who shows flashes of greatness every now and then. She was stellar in Garden State (2004) as the quirky and larger-than-life Sam. She was effective in Closer (2004), quite solid in V for Vendetta (2005) and one of the highlights of Paris Je t'aime (2006). Portman has been around for so long but I'm still confident that she will one day break out with a performance to rule them all. It would be nice to see her do something a little away from her more serious roles though. You can check Making Of, a fantastic website of hers that focus on all the behind the scene work that takes place for a movie to come alive. Below the 2nd video is only Part 1 of the interview so click on the youtube to find the rest.
	3. Kate Winslet: The British actress is simply put the best working actress of our era. Period. Kate Winslet had such an amazing career it's downright ridiculous to summarize. Most people know her from her Oscar nominated role in the 1997 epic romance Titanic, the highest grossing movie ever with $1.8 billion (with a B) by the way. However, she was already an accomplished actress before that with fantastic performances in 1994's Heavenly Creatures, her first Oscar-nominated role in 1995's Sense and Sensibility and a highly acclaimed interpretation of Ophelia in 1996's Hamlet. The great thing I love about Kate Winslet is that she never cared about being a movie star, playing in dozens and dozens of little arthouse-type indies after hitting it big. In 2001, she was nominated Best Supporting Actress by the Academy Awards for Iris. Next came the haunting indie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) for which she was again nominated for the Oscars for her role as Clementine (see a pattern here?). In 2004, Finding Neverland was a solid box office and in 2006, she was again nominated best Actress for her role in Little Children (this is getting redundant). Finally in 2008, she came out with another fantastic performance in the Reader for which she finally actually won her first Oscar. Expect her to continue collecting awards for a very long time.The problem with her doing so many indies is that you don't find that many youtube of her so too bad for you.
	2. Rachel McAdams: People who read this blog know I have been pulling hard for Rachel McAdams. I believe 15 or 20 years down the road, she has the potential to have been one of the great ones to have hit the silver screen. The remarkably gifted Canuck has an incredibly expressive face, and infuse her characters with earnestness, intelligence and sparkle. She is notoriously selective with scripts and has focused so far on becoming an actress and not a movie star, choosing good supporting roles in good movies with great ensemble cast over questionable lead roles in mediocre movies. She has avoided being typecast early in her career, turning down huge roles as Vesper Lynn in Casino Royale, Sue Storm in Fantastic Four and Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins which is badass since 99% of actresses would have taken those without thinking twice. She also started with small supporting roles in TV shows most notably the hilarious Slings and Arrows, but rose to fame faster with luminous performances in surprise box office hits starting with the teen comedy Means Girls (2004) in which she appeared out of nowhere to steal Lindsay Lohan's thunder (She wants it back by the way). She carried the load on her shoulders in the innately cheesy but beloved romantic tearjerker The Notebook (2004), stole some of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's limelight in Wedding Crashers (2005) and was delightful in the psychological thriller Red Eye (2005). After taking a break, she tested the indie scene with the Hitchcockian drama Married Life (2007) and her best performance-to-date as a returning soldier on leave in the Lucky Ones (2008). She came back in 2009 with a solid supporting role in State of Play and co-starred in another solid box-office hit in the romantic drama The Time Traveler's Wife. Watch for the 2010 production Morning Glory where she will be expected to carry the load in her first real comedy. Eventually I hope, she will get that one role made for her that will blow everything away. Below are two scenes: The first is from Slings and Arrows (Two sequences: Beginning and most significantly at 5:20), and the second one is from Red Eye where Lisa starts to realize the guy next to him is a bad bad man! The third video is her hilarious appearance on Letterman.
	1. Amy Adams: You know why Amy Adams is my favorite actress aside from being an awesome performer? She has Minnesota ties!!! Everything started right here in Chanhassen, Minnesota where she worked for three years and auditioned for her first movie Drop Dead Gorgeous. If there is someone who went through the trenches among current female actors, it's Amy Adams. She has more than paid her dues going from little TV roles, B-rated movies, countless little indies, more TV roles, and supporting roles in big productions and not getting the big break-through expected of her after 2002's Catch Me if You Can. Then came her Oscar-nominated performance in Junebug in 2005 in which she was simply mesmerizing, and she hasn't looked back since. Not too many people can gloss about being a two-time Academy Award nominated actress, and being successful on both the indie scene and at the box office. She has gone toe-to-toe with Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman not once but twice, played Ricky Bobby's love interest in Talladega Nights, been a Disney box-office queen in Enchanted and played an hilarious Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum 2. Really, do I need to say more? Watch for her next year with the movie The Fighter in which she co-stars with Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg. Below are her scenes from Junebug. Watch that second one! Great range of emotions in a very short time span and all of it so genuine. That's what acting is all about. The third scene, I will restrain from commenting too much LOL. It just demonstrate her great range and the fact that she gave an Oscar-worthy performance in a Disney movie for God's sake!!! (and yes I saw that movie in theater muhahaha)

Honorable Mention: Crooked teeth jokes aside, Canadian actress Sarah Polley is one of the most underrated actresses ever. Most people know her only from Dawn of the Dead (2004) as she is mostly seen on the indie scene. Her foray into directing with Away from Her shows great promise for the talented canuck.

Vera Farmiga: One of the most underrated character actors ever. Most people recognize her from The Departed (2006) but she was also in the Manchurian Candidate (2004), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), Nothing but the Truth (2008) in which she upstaged Kate Beckinsale in every scene she was in, and the Orphan (2009). She will likely never become an household name simply because that’s not her style but she is flawless in every single role she is in. She gets so little screen time and yet nails her part every single time. She has an upcoming comedy called Up in the Air (12/25/2009) co-starring George Clooney which could put her on the map. Pay attention to her, she is the real deal.