The New Oscar Actress Hierarchy - 33 Most Beloved Women

This is your daily reminder that Julianne Moore is now an Oscar winner!

 I thought it might be fun to revise the Oscar Acting Hierarchy which I did once very long ago, I believe in connection with the rapid rise of Kate Winslet through the ranks. 

What follows is a List of 33 34 All Time Favorite Actresses of Oscar... restricted to women with 5 or more nominations. Only the acting statistics are accounted for so Emma Thompson, for example, is not ranked. If you included her screenplay win or had she been nominated for Saving Mr Banks last year than she would have been on the list. If you counted non-acting nominations, you'd also see Shirley Maclaine jump a rank as she was nominated for documentary once. Now that virtually every major star is a producer these types of extra nominations stats are going to get progressively murkier in Oscar lists of the future so we're opting not to include them. 

How the ranks were determined. Number of nominations determines general placement. Once that's established wins are most important. In the event that someone has the same exact stats in nominations and wins, the tiebreaker factor in rank is that lead counts more than supporting. If the tie stubbornly remains the tie is broken by endurance (thus Vanessa Redgrave beats Kate Winslet though they have the exact same stats because her nominations are spread across 26 years instead of 13). Further mitigating factors: Three statues is so uncommon that it gives the actress a phantom extra nomination in terms of ranking (thus Ingrid Bergman trumps Geraldine Page). Honorary statues (Oscar or Jean Hersholt) give the actress a phantom extra boost with the same affect as an additional nomination and win (thus Liz Taylor jumps Jessica Lange)... unless she never won a competitive Oscar in which case it only counts as a phantom win or nomination (thus Kerr cannot pole vault up to do battle with Lange or Blanchett) which of those to be determined by the gatekeeper (yours truly). In the event that someone has multiple wins they may vault over the next immediate rivals if said rivals have never won a competitive Oscar and/or half or more of their nominations are in supporting (thus de Havilland trumps Glenn Close & Thelma Ritter despite having less nominations but can't displace Kate Winslet. This also accounts for two women with only 4 nominations entering the 5 nomination only "Most Beloved" ranks.) 

OSCAR'S HOLY TRINITY 
And Thirty More Royals 
after the jump

Click to read more ...

Black History Month: Monster's Ball and Representation

We were just wrapping up Black History Month when I heard from longtime reader/commenter Philip Harville who wanted to discuss Monster's Ball (2001). I wasn't touching that one with a ten foot pole (!) but here's Philip with a guest column on this perpetual hot potato. -Editor

As we know, black films are hard to come by and good black films can be even harder to come by.  This raises the question of what exactly a black film is. Is it simply a film that focuses on black characters? Or do we need to also have a black crew telling the story? The conversations unraveling from that thought are endless, but watching a certain film recently got me thinking. Monster’s Ball’s Leticia (Halle Berry) really suffers from a white male perspective behind the camera. The film gained a wide audience crowning Halle Berry as the first black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar, but did it create the conversation it should have? Good black films aren’t exactly churned out with the frequency of superhero movies (or Tyler Perry movies), so a flawed complicated film is a gift in its own right.

The film isn’t set in a definitive year, though it seems to be in a time where lynching and protesting were out of style, and casual racism has become the norm. We see the generational divide on the issue between the three males in the central family. [More...]

Click to read more ...

Red Carpet Lineup: Lead Actresses & The Aussie Invasion

It's the final poll of the 87th Oscars and our last red carpet lineup for awhile *sniffle*. In addition to those things this is your daily reminder that Julianne Moore won an Oscar. Because it needs to be repeated often as healing balm for our beleaguered actressexuality.

Who was best dressed on Oscar night? 

poll by twiigs.com

NATHANIEL: Please welcome back Anne Marie and Margaret to discuss these ladies (and five more, too). 

ANNE MARIE: Best Actress! Obviously, we must start by repeating the best news, which is that JULIANNE MOORE IS NOW AN ACADEMY AWARD WINNER. I get tingles when I write it.

MARGARET: BLESSED BE.

NATHANIEL: Thank you. This will serve as our daily reminder (Hee! Are you sick of the daily reminders yet?) But I have to say that beyond Juli as the season ran on I came to love this lineup abundantly. It's the best possible lineup we could have gotten given the media's reticence to admit that there were intersting and worthwhile performances happening all year long in all kinds of films. I even grew to love Felicity Jones in a way (I think she gets an unfair wrap as a coattails nominee when a lot of that movie depends on her emotional fluidity and stubborness. But I hate this dress. It's so off color and pale as to make her fade away.

MARGARET:  Felicity Jones' supportive-wife staple aside, how few 'types' there are! A really great array of characters, only improved by their great performances.

NATHANIEL: I even grew to love Felicity Jones in a way. Yes, it's a type. But I think she gets an unfair wrap as a coattails nominee when a lot of that movie depends on her emotional fluidity and romantic willfulness. But I hate this dress. It's burying her. It's so off color and pale as to make her fade away.

Reese & Rosamund & Aussie goddesses after the jump...

Click to read more ...

"I'm gonna ask you, okay? And you say yes, okay? Are you my mom?" / "Yes, sweetie"

This is your daily reminder that Julianne Moore won an Oscar* 

A lot of actors have played Juli's screen kids over the years. Hopefully not all of them have been too traumatized by it since she plays "bad mommy" more often than good one. In fact, here's a list of them because a) it's fun to make lists and b) we go above and beyond here at The Film Experience. We really do. So you should like us on facebook, follow Nathaniel on twitter, and sign up for the forthcoming newsletter pretty please!

Julianne's Screen Kids... It's a Boy / Girl / Ghost

1. Uncredited (Newborn) - Nine Months (1995)
2. Chauncy Leopardi (Stepson) - [safe] (1995)
3. Mark Wahlberg "you're my baby boy" & Heather Graham "I love you mom!" (Honorary Children) - Boogie Nights (1997)
4. Haunting Offscreen Presence (Child She Isn't Allowed To See) - Boogie Nights (1997)
5. Liv Tyler - Cookie's Fortune (1999)
6. Victoria Rudiak (Dead Child) - A Map of the World (1999)
7. Hayley Lochner (Other Child) - A Map of the World (1999)
8. Tom Cruise (Stepson) - Magnolia (1999)
9. Haunting Offscreen Presence (Imaginary Child) - World Traveller (2001)
10. Will McAllister - The Shipping News (2001)
11. Ryan Ward & Lindsay Andretta (Ignored Children) - Far From Heaven (2002)
12. Jack Rovello & Ed Harris (Same Character) - The Hours (2002)
13. Christopher Kovaleski & Matthew Pleszewicz (Dead Child - Or Did The Child Ever Exist At All ???) - The Forgotten (2004)
14. Trevor Morgan, Ellary Porterfield, Monté Gagné, Robert Clark, Michael Seater, Erik Knudsen, Jake Scott, Jordan Todosey, Ryan Price, Shae Norris, Abigail Falle, Luca Barbaro, Brando Barbaro, Jack Murray, Evan Rose, Jessica Pollock, Emily Persich, Maxwell Uretsky, Brendan Price, Melanie Tonello, Julia Megan Thompson, Connor Sharp (Impossibly Large Brood) - The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)
15. Marlon Sherman (Missing or Dead Child ???) - Freedomland (2006)
16. Haunting Offscreen Presence (Dead Child) - Children of Men (2006)
17. Barney Clark & Eddie Redmayne- (Same Character) - Savage Grace (2007)
18. Max Thieriot - Chloe (2009)
19. Mia Wasikowska & Josh Hutcherson - The Kids Are All Right (2010)
20. Emma Stone - Crazy Stupid Love (2011)
21. Paul Dano - Being Flynn (2012)
22. Onata Aprile - What Maisie Knew (2013)
23. Haunting Offscreen Presence (Dead Child) - Don Jon (2013)
24. Chloë Grace Moretz -Carrie (2013)
25. Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish, and Kristen Stewart - Still Alice (2014)

And now the first of them (Eddie Redmayne) has just won an Oscar! As I said in yesterday's New Oscar Trivia post it's the first time our Best Actress & Best Actor winner have previously costarred as mother & son.

Which of her screen kids will be next?

Maybe Emma Stone who was so delightful while practicing with a LEGO Oscar? Or Wahlberg or Moretz or Stewart or.... what'cha think?  

* How long can I keep this up d'ya think?

Your Reminder That Julianne Moore is Now An Oscar Winner

We should start every morning this beautifully in 2015

a moment 20+ years in the making

It was "the foxiest bitch in the world" Amber Waves that first won Julianne Moore her legion of obsessed fans and should have won her the Oscar back when Boogie Nights (1997) first dropped its pants and entered pop culture. Sure, the ginger goddess had been fun in films before that like the trash hit The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and the romantic comedy Benny & Joon (1993) -- her first stab at playing a bad actress, a recurring and utterly delightful subthread in her filmography -- and she even got to slap Madonna early on onscreen (Body of Evidence, 1993). And she'd been brilliant before Amber in films like Shortcuts (1993), Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) and [safe] (1995) but the latter two were slow burns, only developing their ardent fanbases later on DVD and the first was loved for reasons well beyond and usually eclipsing Julianne's work.

Julianne first truly turned heads in 1993 in a trio of "who is that?" performances: SHORT CUTS, BENNY & JOON, & THE FUGITIVEShortcuts in particular had an interesting awards history. It was one of those odd ensemble pieces, courtesy of Robert Altman, wherein noone ever settled on a favorite performance. The Golden Globes were wise, presaging the invention of SAG's ensemble prize by giving it a special award. Julianne nabbed the films sole acting nomination at a major event with Independent Spirit Awards, but the critics weren't yet in Juli's corner. The NYFCC liked Jennifer Jason Leigh best citing only her (3rd place in their prizes), the NSFC gave their actual supporting actress win to Madeleine Stowe (also my favorite performance in that particular film) as Moore's sister, and the Chicago Film Critics rallied around Andie Macdowell. Oscar didn't know what to do with it either so Robert Altman won the films only nomination for Best Director*. 

But however long it took Julianne to get there, taking her place in history as a Best Actress winner, she got there.  Over the years she continually revealed new shades, new angles, and fresh daring and mystery as a performer, and became a leading lady par excellence to compliment her early supporting genius. She's also kind to fans and visibly appreciative of her good fortune in the industry. Everyone's personal favorite performances vary with a gallery of characters this rich but for yours truly she has more than earned this Oscar.

To Julianne: for Alice, Yelena, Mia, Havana Segrand, Barbara Baekeland, Laura Brown, Linda Partridge, Maude Lebowski, Marian Wyman, Marlene Craven, Sarah Miles and especially for that holy trinity of Amber Waves, Cathy Whitaker and Carol White: thank you, god. You've earned this golden man several times over. May Laurel Hester in Freeheld, your next creation, be a worthy and compelling victory lap. Yours always, xo, Nathaniel 

I love you.

*It's another topic entirely but the films that have only one nomination and its Best Director have always been a fascinating curiousity within Oscar history: see also Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, The Last Temptation of Christ