Editor’s note: This is part of a 37-part series dissecting the 86th Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Nearly every day leading up to the Oscars, at least one new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. Also, every Best Picture and Best Director nominee gets its own post. To read the other posts regarding this event, please click here. Thank you, and enjoy!
LEADING ACTRESS
BY CLARA OF JUST CHICK FLICKS
From an astronaut and an aging woman searching for her long lost son to a domineering Midwestern mother and a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, 2013 was a good year for women.
With great movies like American Hustle, August Osage County, Blue Jasmine, Philomena and Gravity, the filmmakers have given us a wide range of female characters and some incredible performances.
This is Amy’s fifth Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In her role as the ambitious huckster, Sydney Prosser, Amy Adams uses her sharp mind and her sex appeal to control the men around her.
In American Hustle, Adams completely transforms herself from the naive innocent she played in previously nominated roles like Junebug and Doubt. She plays a sexy con artist with a taste for plunging necklines.
What would you do if you lost everything? Wealth, lifestyle, even your husband? That is the question director Woody Allen asks in his movie Blue Jasmine. And in true Woody Allen fashion, the answer will involve bittersweet humor, high anxiety and neurosis.
In Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett plays a formerly rich New York socialite who moves in with her blue-collar sister (played by Best Supporting Actress nominee Sally Hawkins) to escape the problems of her financial ruin and broken marriage. Blanchett gives a fabulous performance as a woman who is trying to keep her life from rapidly unraveling.
This is the sixth nomination for Blanchett. She won the Best Supporting Oscar in 2004 for her performance as Kathryn Hepburn in The Aviator. She has already won several awards for Blue Jasmine, including the Golden Globe and BAFTA.
For most of her career Sandra Bullock has played the lead in chick flicks and comedies. But when she is given the opportunity to appear in a drama, Bullock rises to the occasion. This is proven by her critically acclaimed performances in 28 Days, Crash, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
In Gravity, Bullock gives a captivating performance as an astronaut who finds herself stranded in outer space. This nomination for her performance in Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity proves that Bullock’s previous Best Actress win was not a fluke, but the first of many more to come.
In her role as the title character in Philomena, Dame Judi plays an Irish woman searching for her long lost son. Along with a journalist, played by Steve Coogan, Philomena embarks on a road trip that brings her to America to find the son she had given up for adoption 50 years ago.
Like Meryl Streep, Dench is consistently fabulous in virtually every role she plays. Philomena is no exception.
Dench has won multiple awards for her acting talents. She has an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Shakespeare in Love, two Golden Globes, 11 BAFTAs and so many nominations it’s hard to keep track of them all.
It is hard to imagine Meryl Streep ever giving a bad performance. Her immense acting talent seems so effortless that, like any great artist, she makes it look easy.
Along with Best Supporting Actress nominee Julia Roberts, Streep gives us a glimpse into the lives of a very dysfunctional Weston family. As usual, Streep gives a dynamic performance, as she disappears into the character of the strong-willed mother of this Oklahoma family.
Streep receives her 18th Oscar nomination for her role in August Osage County. With previous Best Actress wins for Kramer vs. Kramer. Sophie’s Choice and The Iron Lady, this could be the year that she puts a fourth Oscar on her mantle.
All of these actresses are have multiple nominations and are previous Academy Award winners. Each of them is a strong contender for the Oscar, but it’s anyone’s guess who will take home the Golden boy this year.
Tags: LAMB Devours The Oscars