Hello, Gorgeous: Best Actress of 2014

A returning series by Juan Carlos Ojano

Nice to be back doing this series after last year's Oscars.

One fascinating thing about this group of nominees is how, in medias res, they provide a lot of context as to what their respective arcs will be: a depressed worker being awakened, a mother on the verge of isolation, a mysterious wife to be cracked open, and an injured traveler hitting a roadblock. Only one of the nominees gets a traditional introductione, and even that is already in establishing her dynamic with her male co-star. It’s a fun lineup of first moments with key details sprinkled in from the get-go.

Are you ready? The year is 2014...

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Posterized: Julianne Moore, Leading Roles Only

by Nathaniel R

Let's start a new season of Posterized, shall we?

With Gloria Bell expanding nationwide (or thereabouts) let's talk about Julianne Moore's leading roles. She's now in her Post-Oscar years which can be tricky territory for actresses but if Gloria Bell is indication she still has a lot more left in her.

We can't do the ginger goddess's entire filmography on Posterized because she works almost as much as Nicole Kidman, and apparently considers no part or no project too small to be part of. She's been in over 70 movies since her debut in the horror flick Tales of the Darkside (1990) but many of those were supporting roles. So let's focus on ONLY the films that she either headlined or co-headlined (in case of films without one clear lead) for this week's episode shall we, which takes us down to a far more reasonable 27 pictures. How many have you seen? All 27 posters are after the jump...

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New To (Some of) You: Still Alice, Futuro Beach, Beloved Sisters

Thanks to everyone who answered last week's open question about DVD coverage. We won't fuss too much about switching things up but we will do a little more than we are doing for the second and third wave audiences.

NEW DVD / BLURAY
This is your weekly reminder that Julianne Moore is now an Oscar winner! The film that finally did the job (in conjunction, of course, with goodwill from a dozen undeniable acting triumphs in her past) was Still Alice, a minimalist drama about a linguistics professor suffering from early on set Alzheimers which is now out on DVD and BluRay for you stragglers. Who still hasn't seen it? You owe it to Julie so, rectify.  For those that did see it two questions:

1. Which scene do you think cemented Julianne's Oscar traction or even her win?
2. If it's different, what scene or moment do you still think about?

Also recommended: Germany's most recent Oscar submission Beloved Sisters didn't win much press or Oscar traction despite an actual theatrical release in the December glut but it will satisfy those of you that love a good costume drama and don't mind a long running time. It's about two sisters whose mother hopes for them to marry rich but they both fall in love with the same penniless poet. Perhaps they'll share him? Here's the complete review if you missed it.

Also new though good luck finding someone who recommends them: Mortdecai (Johnny Depp + Gwyneth Paltrow + moustaches?), Blackhat (Michael's review), The Cobbler (the scathing reviews were something of a surprise since writer/director Thomas McCarthy is usually beloved), and Taylor Lautner in Tracers (though I'm never going near one of those again post-Abduction) 

Two recommended Instant Watches after the jump...

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Kristen Stewart's Cloudy birthday weekend

Your weekly reminder that Julianne Moore won an Oscar. It's still true and still amazing.Tim here. It's a good weekend to be Kristen Stewart: today is the actress's 25th birthday, and tomorrow begins the limited U.S. release of Clouds of Sils Maria, which has won her the best reviews of her 15-year career. It's the natural endpoint of a very good 12 months for Stewart, which saw the premiere of three movies (Camp X-Ray, Sils Maria, Still Alice) that found her proving herself to all the hostile critics that were ready to write off her entire career as an asterisk following her starring role in the Twilight movies.

Having been one of those critics – part of the fun of The Twilight Saga while it was ongoing was having an annual opportunity to trot out my list of synonyms for "catatonic" in describing Stewart's performances – I am happy to have been thus defeated. What she's doing in Sils Maria isn't just giving a solid performance and holding her own with a modestly complex part and proving that there's more to her than just gaping blandly at a sexy shiny vampire and a sexy jailbait werewolf. We just saw Stewart do that in Still Alice, where she did a fine job of keeping one corner of the movie nailed down as it hunted for anything interesting besides Julianne Moore's performance.

No, Stewart's performance in Sils Maria is an out-and-out revelation, the kind you tell your grandkids about. She's not just "fine" or "solid", she's the best thing in the movie – she steals the movie right out from Juliette Binoche, and that's simply Not Done.

More...

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Your Daily Reminder That Julianne Moore Won an Oscar

Hat tip and Quote of the week to our friend Ali Arikan in Istanbul

Turkish bootlegs don't have time for your bullshit."
-Ali Arikan