Thursday Movie Picks - Oscar Edition: Best Supporting Actor/Actress
1) Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight - This is a win that I will love forever. I think The Dark Knight deserved way more Oscars than it actually won, but Heath Ledger's amazing performance being rewarded will always be one of my favorite things. I hate that the Academy tainted this win by also awarding Joaquin Phoenix for a worst performance in the same role.
2) Anna Paquin, The Piano - I feel like no one talks about Paquin being a former Oscar winner any more. I thought she was wonderful in this film and her acceptance speech was so adorable.
3) Mo'Nique, Precious - Mo'Nique being an Oscar winning actress was never something I expected to happen. I knew her as a comedian and here she is giving this crazy dramatic performances. The fact that she got black listed after this makes me want to highlight it. It's not fair.
I knew you would pick Heath and for good reason as he was brilliant in this. Anna Paquin was such a major actress in this role and she deserved the win. I have yet to see Precious because it sounds so depressing. Why was Monique black-listed?
ReplyDeletePrecious is very depressing but worth the watch IMO. She didn't want to campaign for her performance and didn't want to get into the Oscar politics apparently.
DeleteGood grief! That's why? I thought Viggo Mortensen felt the same way? How sad is that
DeleteA lot of white men would get away with what Mo'Nique voiced. It's unfair, and I hope she has another huge hit soon.
DeleteWonderful choices. I can't believe I forgot about Ledger. I feel like he would have won this award even if he hadn't passed away. Gone way too soon. I agree about Mo'Nique. She was insanely good in Precious and I'm still baffled at what Hollywood did to her after the fact. It's BS.
ReplyDeleteI agree. That was definitely his. I kind of hate how when this happens people think "he's only winning it because he passed."
DeleteHeath is excellent but I wasn't that crazy about The Dark Knight. However I watched it just when my superhero burnout was really kicking in so maybe someday I'll reassess.
ReplyDeleteAnna Paquin is a fine actress but I de-test-ed The Piano.
I've avoided Precious all these years. I've heard Mo'Nique is powerful but it strikes me as something completely unpleasant and life is too short.
I couldn't decide between supporting actress & actor so I chose three faves of each.
The Razor’s Edge (1946)-Anne Baxter-Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power) disillusioned by WWI drifts through Europe looking for life’s meaning. In Paris he becomes reacquainted with childhood friend Sophie MacDonald (Baxter) who he remembers as a happy wife and mother. Having lost her family when a drunk smashed into their car Larry finds her a broken, drug addicted prostitute and tries to help her but her sorrows run too deep.
The Last Picture Show (1971)-Cloris Leachman-In the slowly dying North Texas town of Anarene high school senior Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) drifts into an affair with the coach’s wife Ruth Popper (the recently departed Cloris Leachman). Though it commences more out of ennui than true feeling their involvement soon causes profound changes to both.
The Year of Living Dangerously-Linda Hunt-Well connected photographer Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt) takes inexperienced correspondent Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) under his wing upon Guy’s arrival in Jakarta. As political tension roils and then escalates to the boiling point both their lives as well as that of diplomat Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver) hang by a thread.
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)-Harold Russell-At the end of WWII three servicemen return to their hometown to find their way of life radically changed. One of the men Homer Parrish has lost his hands in an explosion, while he has adjusted to living with the hooks that replaced them, he finds the world is a vastly different place for him. Russell, who had suffered the same sort of injury, wasn’t a professional actor but his performance is naturalistic and immensely impactful.
All About Eve (1950)-George Sanders-In the Broadway world of stage star Margo Channing (Bette Davis) urbane, venomously acerbic and powerful theatre critic Addison DeWitt (Sanders) is tolerated but not liked. Still when Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) insinuates herself into Margo’s good graces it’s Addison who sees through her sweetness to the vicious climber underneath. My favorite Supporting Actor winner, a perfect meeting of actor and role.
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)-Gig Young-In the soul crushing world of Depression era marathon dances resides opportunistic promoter and emcee Rocky Gravo (Young) a man devoid of scruple or compassion. He sees the contestants-including hard bitten Gloria (Actress nominee Jane Fonda), glamour girl wannabe Alice (Supporting Actress nominee Susannah York), broken down Sailor (Red Buttons) and audience surrogate Robert (Michael Sarrazin)-as so much fodder to be made money off until they lose their usefulness and are thrown away. The deeply troubled Young (he ultimately killed himself and his fifth wife in a murder/suicide) was a preeminent comic actor for years before this revelatory performance.
I love All About Eve! The last Picture Show is one I've mean to watch, as I've seen a few clips of it in documentaries.
DeleteEve is so brilliantly sharp without a single weak performance throughout.
DeleteThe same is true of both Best Years of Our Lives and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, every single performer is on their A game. The two pictures outlooks however couldn't be more different. Best Years is about struggling to readjust to sociological change and ultimately succeeding whereas Horses is about hopelessness, despair and crushing of the human spirit.
Last Picture Show is almost as well acted, leads Timothy Bottoms and Cybill Shepard are okay but it's the surrounding players who make the most impact. Besides Cloris winning, Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Bridges and Ben Johnson were all nominated in the supporting categories with Johnson winning Best Supporting Actor. It was nominated for picture, director, adapted screenplay and cinematography as well.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They has always been a title that stuck out for me. I recall it being on AMC a lot when I was a kid. I'll have to get to that as well.
DeleteHey we match on #1!
ReplyDeleteI think we may get another posthumous winner this year, but so far, Heath's winning for TDK is my fave posthumous winner and he absolutely deserved it.
I think so too and I'll be so sad all over again.
Delete3 amazing and incredible performances and yes, it does piss me off that Mo'Nique has been blacklisted all because she didn't want to play the Hollywood game. Man, fuck these elitist assholes and fuck Lee Daniels for blacklisting her as well.
ReplyDeleteLee Daniels really turned out to be a dud didn't he? He had so much promise.
DeleteYep. He only made one good movie and everything else he had done turned out to be shit. Paperboy was alright but The Butler... ew... People expected him to be this next great black hope but we should've known there were better like Ryan Coogler and Ava Duvernay.
DeleteYeah, like Shadowboxer was a mess, but then he did Precious so it was easy to write that off, then miss after miss after miss.
DeleteYay! Love for Mo'Nique. She was terrifying in that movie. Of course, Ledger is fantastic. I still need to see The Piano.
ReplyDeleteMo'Nique was extraordinary! I never would've guessed something that scary would've come from her when I mainly knew her from comedies.
DeleteMo'Nique is the reason to watch Precious, which is otherwise soul crushing, the sort of film I tend to call a "misery parfait."
ReplyDeleteHeath Ledger is just so good in The Dark Knight. He likely won because of what happened to him, but he deserved to win anyway. I get your point about Phoenix, but he was really just marking time until he had another performance good enough to nominate--since he should have won for Her, and that couldn't even swing the nomination.
I agree he should've won for Her. That's my favorite Phoenix performance. Joker doesn't even crack y Top 10 for him.
DeleteMisery parfait is a great term lol. I cried so much while watching Precious. It's a shame Lee Daniels hasn't been able to repeat that high quality of a film.
Ledger instantly comes to mind and always will. UN-FOR-GET-ABLE!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely!
DeleteOh, Heath.... I couldn't talk about his win. It makes me so sad. :(
ReplyDeleteHe's been showing up on my twitter time line a lot lately. Couldn't help but think of him.
DeleteNice picks! We share Heath Ledger this week. It's a joke that Joaquin won too, even though they were close friends. There was a lot of love for Mo'Nique in Precious, and it's deserved. She did a great job.
ReplyDeleteShe did. I wish Gabourey would've won alongside her.
DeleteHeath's performance was soooo good. I still miss him.
ReplyDeleteI do too. Terribly, he would've had another Oscar by not for sure, I think.
DeleteI guess people don't talk about it as much but they do know Paquin won an Oscar when she was a child actress. I think she is the second youngest with Tatum O Neal being the youngest.
ReplyDeleteShe is. Tatum O'Neal should not have been in the Supporting category though. That girl was a lead in Paper Moon.
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