Blonde Bombshells vs. Character Actresses?

I promise that I'm not changing the name of the blog to The Supporting Actress Experience but lately that category is just all I've been able to think about. For this I blame two women who are our soul locked propositions to date. Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave) and Oprah Winfrey (Lee Daniels' The Butler) are fighting it out for the actual statue... at least as of this writing.

I've noticed that many Oscar blogs like to "lock" everything up as early as September but I think that takes all the fun out of it AND I think it's genuinely up in the air this early on. So much can change with the vagaries of public opinion and box office and precursor prizes and red carpet action.

Let's assume that I'm right about L&O (a safe assumption given the reception to the films and the kind of roles they have as well as how well they manage them). That means we have three open slots and it's a free for all...

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Yes, No, Maybe So: "American Hustle"

If the movie year has been uninspired thus far -- and what honest assessment of mainstream cinema wouldn't come to that conclusion? -- things will undoubtedly be looking up as we move out of the season of movies with only one thing on their mind (profit) and arrive at movies with at least two things knocking around in their heads (awards and profit) but hopefully more. I haven't been much interested in American Hustle up till now (for various reasons) but it dropped a grabby tease of a commercial yesterday so let's play the Yes No Maybe So game and decide how badly we want to see it now that there's something to get a hold of.

...like any part of Amy Adams, just pick one! The trailer and three-pronged breakdown after the jump...

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Top Ten Biggest Money-Making Actresses Right Now

For today's Tuesday's Top Ten we're using Forbes numbers for discussion lift-off We recently discussed their list of the top paid actors from the past twelve months and came to the conclusion that they don't challenge themselves much at all. The women are a slightly different story. While it's true that no one would mistake this for a list of 'The Best Actresses Working' or 'The Actresses Who Are Currently Testing The Limits of Their Range,' this list does have slightly more variety in filmography though far less in terms of beauty and age as is always the case with the men and the women of Hollywood

01 Angelina Jolie $33 
Tops the list by way of signing on to Maleficent for Disney. The Sleeping Beauty prequel is a surefire hit, both because it's presold -- branding being everything -- and because it's Jolie who rarely falters at the box office. 

nine more ladies and an actress poll after the jump

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Red Carpet Convo: My So-Called "Punk"

In Red Carpet Convos, we discuss what the actresses are wearing. Which is really an elaborate excuse (not that we need another) to talk actresses. Today's returning guest is Courtney Enlow Hall from Pajiba.

NATHANIEL: Hi Courtney! Welcome back to Red Carpet Convos. This time I will try not to ask you to draw any pigs dressed as Janell Monae.

COURTNEY: Well as you know I'm exceptionally good at that, so I'm sad about this.

NATHANIEL: This week the celebs came out for the annual MET GALA and the theme was "Punk". Because The Met is SO counter-culture, you know.

COURTNEY: The Met is punk as fuck, Ryan Adams-style.

Ginny, Diaz, JLo, Kerry, and Angela Chase

NATHANIEL: Actually maybe it is rebellious to go to a museum instead of sitting at home watching reality tv. I rescind my comment. The interesting thing to me about the looks we're about to see is it seems like only some actresses have any working knowledge of what "punk" is. Let's start with Ginnifer Goodwin. I think she gets it.

Or at least her eye makeup does...

"my so-called punk", weeping ex-boyfriends, and eyeliner mantras after the jump

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Catching Teaser

Get More: 2013 MTV Movie Awards, Latest Movie News, Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks

JA from MNPP here, with another example of what's become commonplace these days - the teaser for the trailer for the movie. In this case we have a preview for the trailer premiere of the second Hunger Games movie Catching Fire; the trailer proper will be unvelied during the MTV Movie Awards on April 14th, but for now they're giving us three whole shots amid flashes of fire and "Hosted By Rebel Wilson"-isms. We have a shot of the crowd waiting for Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), we have Effie (Elizabeth Banks, all cotton-candy'd up) about to lead them onto the stage, and we have a typically forced smile from everlasting sourpuss (with good reason, of course) Katniss as she greets her admirers.

I can't decide if this is more or less egregious an empty promotional tool than that seizure-inducer they released for The Wolverine last week before getting around to the proper trailer; that one had more images for us to look at (including a couple examples of shirtless Hugh Jackman, natch), but it compressed them into just a dozen seconds or so of strobe-like flashes; this one has fewer things for us to look at but it pauses long enough to give each moment a feeliing, a character beat. That robotic waving of Effie's hands, and Jennifer's grimace. (And I'm not the only one already happy to see the latter's face again, right? The Oscars were only a month ago but I already missed her.) And then I can't decide how depressing it is that this is a conversation I'm having with myself. And then I get distracted by another shiny thing and forget my momentary consternation til the next time. Ooh shiny!