The 2001 nominees are...
ROBERT - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Even though a large part of her performance is quite unineresting, Connelly gets better and better as the movie goes on, doing a beautiful job of showing her Alicia's love for her husband despite the difficult circumstances. I also give her great props for doing such a convincing job with the really bizarre and random histrionic scene she was given.
LOUIS - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Connelly is a bit boring at first with her characterization, but as the film goes on she gets better. I felt she worked fine with Crowe and although their original courtship is not that amazing her dealing with mental condition later on is well handled. A mixed performance but one I felt was good most of the time, and just a bit boring when not.
FRITZ - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Jennifer Connelly plays the Academy’s favorite character – the loyal wife, supporting her husband despite all the suffering she has to endure because of his illness. She isn’t able to bring anything new to this stock character but she plays the second part of her performance, where she dominates the proceedings with a touching dedication and successfully shows a woman who doesn’t know how she can go on any longer, just right and creates some wonderful scenes with her outstanding screen partner Russell Crowe. Unfortunately there is also the first part of her performance where Jennifer Connelly is supposed to be charming and lively, a bubbling but also intelligent young woman who can get the love of an introverted professor but she ends up boring, lifeless and incredibly annoying. A very mixed performance with some high -- but also low points.
LOUIS - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ I actually barely noticed Mirren until the final scenes of the film. She disappears in the background most of the time. When she has not disappeared she just is a very stern and to the point servant. There is absolutely nothing amazing about her performance her. She has one big acting scene at the end which she handles well, but still it is not that much.
ROBERT - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Even though I was a bit "iffy" right at the beginning of the movie, I soon grew to adore Mirren's fabulous performance. She's a woman with so many secrets that cannot be revealed due to the devotion she has to her job, and she just nails her last scene. A truly beautiful performance.
TWISTER - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ In what is easily Gosford Park's most compelling and complex character, Mirren artfully digs deep to the darkest places of this woman's soul and quietly conveys every feeling, emotion, and impulse of her cavernous inner life with vivid precision. Crisply underplayed work which culminates in a emotionally devastating final scene -- communicating a whole lifetime of sadness and pain while providing both Mrs. Wilson and the film with a haunting, deeply moving coda.
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FRITZ - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ In Gosford Park, Helen Mirren does what she does best – playing an apparently emotional cold and distant woman while also showing a whole life of grief and sorrow in the most subtle way. Her Mrs. Wilson dominates the downstairs parts and characters of the house but she also influences the upstairs rooms and lives in the way only a perfect servant can – without letting anybody notice. That way Helen Mirren becomes an almost ghost-like presence, a woman who seems to know everything and who has put her own feelings second behind her duties for her whole life. But when the past suddenly comes alive for her, she takes action, but again according to the dictated rules of her lonely life. And her final breakdown? A completely heartbreaking and unexpected moment, for the viewer and for Mrs. Wilson herself.
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JOE - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Ms. Wilson is the most interesting character in Gosford Park and Mirren delivers a fascinating, subtle portrait of an isolated, tortured woman. Her best performance.
LOUIS - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Smith again is not always front and center in this ensemble film, but she stands out well enough. Her character is that of an acid tongued Countess, who makes rather blunt statements throughout the film. Smith makes her character standout and she adds the right over properness to the role, and they way she says the Countess’ remarks at perfectly handled.
TWISTER - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Maggie Smith does her Maggie Smith-thing here; her broad levity nicely contrasting with the stuffiness around her, elevates the surrounding dullness. With perfect comedic timing and some downright hilarious line readings, Smith keeps the shrilly written character inviting and engaging. It's a thin role, but I'll be damned if Maggs doesn't wave her comic wand and sprinkle magic. Snobby, playful, delightful, and just really fun.
LOUIS - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Smith again is not always front and center in this ensemble film, but she stands out well enough. Her character is that of an acid tongued Countess, who makes rather blunt statements throughout the film. Smith makes her character standout and she adds the right over properness to the role, and they way she says the countess’s remarks at perfectly handled.
FRITZ - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Just like Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith does what she does best – playing the sarcastic eccentric who makes life hell for everyone around her but thanks to her talent for comedy and show-stealing becomes a real treat for the viewers. She throws her insulting one-liners with a refreshing lack of self-awareness around and that way makes Constance’s claim that she hasn’t a snobbish bone in her body so hilarious and pathetic at the same time – Constance is a woman so caught up in her own world that she doesn’t see anything that happens outside her own points of views anymore. At the same time, Maggie Smith effectively shows Constance’s worries about her future and money but in a very entertaining way that both saddens and amuses the viewer. A wonderful balance of comedy and drama that only Maggie Smith can do!
ROBERT - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ As the aging Constance, Maggie Smith is just wonderful. She hams it up (in the good way!) in every single scene that she's in, and when she gets a chance to show the wealth of feelings lying beneath the surface of her character, she pulls it off brilliantly. A great comedic performance from a legendary actress.
JOE - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Marisa Tomei's role as Natalie could have been boring and simple, but she makes her such a sad, flawed person and plays all her scenes so well that she leaves a strong impact on In The Bedroom. We both feel sympathy for and hate her character, but Tomei is always perfect.
LOUIS - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Tomei is very strong here, creating a rather interesting character here who is not nearly as simple as she first seems. The only mistake I would say in her performance is that her accent is a bit off, but that really is not enough to distract from the incredibly strong emotional strength of her performance. She gives an emotionally powerful performance, with a complex character that adds a whole lot to the film.
TWISTER - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Tomei's performance is a marvel of distilled tragedy, that's admirably simple in its approach. The film nearly fails her at the end, but what the actress does with her face and eyes is extraordinary; both capturing the flickering ranges of depth, despair, and sadness with rich emotional clarity which takes us into Natalie's wounded soul. A sweet, tragic, refreshingly humane performance that becomes an indelible portrait of human devastation.
FRITZ - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Back in 2001, Sissy Spacek and (to a lesser extent) Tom Wilkinson received the buzz, the attention and the awards for their performances as grieving parents in In the Bedroom but it is Marisa Tomei’s unforgettably tragic turn that breaks your heart. She believably shows a divorced woman with two children who could win the heart of a young man but she never turns Natalie into some kind of sex-bomb but instead creates a very earthy and realistic character, caught between her new love and her violent ex-husband. Natalie, unwillingly, gets the tragic story going and that way will have to live with the guilt for Frank’s death for the rest of her life. Marisa Tomei flawlessly handles all the different aspects of Natatlie’s character which results in a haunting and unbelievably sad performance. Her overwhelming guilt is a heartbreaking contrast to the joyful woman from the beginning. And even though the movie suddenly drops Natalie’s character and forgets about her fate,the viewer never does.
TWISTER - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Though competent, Winslet's lack of clarity and misreading unhinges young Iris from Dench's older woman and never melds a consistent path of a lifetime. On of top that, Winslet rarely conveys the detailed, vibrant complexities that the role crucially requires and the result is a dull, vacuous, and disappointing outing for such a talented performer.
LOUIS - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ As the younger Iris Winslet is not very convincing. She and Judi Dench as the old Iris make no connection and I felt I was looking at two different characters. Another problem was Winslet played her as a wild free spirit and that was all. Just more of the idea of what a free spirit is rather than an actual person that is a free spirit. She never seemed convincing to me, and this has to be one of her weakest performances.
ROBERT - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Winslet is one of my favorite actresses, and she does well in this role. However, besides being uncannily similar to Judi Dench's character, there's nothing really remarkable or unique about this performance. Fine, but nothing special.
FRITZ - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Kate Winslet sparkles like almost never before in the part of the free-spirited and life-loving poet Iris Murdoch before Alzheimer and Judi Dench take her over. Kate Winslet’s performance is of immense importance to the success of the picture as she is laying the foundation for both Iris’s character and Judi Dench’s central performance as the older Iris – if Kate Winslet wouldn’t show such an energetic, strong and independent woman it wouldn’t be half as moving to witness the old Iris lose all the traces of her own life. Kate Winslet uses her intelligence as an actress to create an intelligent character and mixes it with an unexpected amount of charm and likeability. A very engaging and winning performance!
JOE - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Iris is a boring, depressing film and the acting ranges from terrible (Broadbent), to just okay (Dench), and then to fabulous and of course, that title belongs to Winslet. She brings Iris so thrillingly to life, and makes her so engaging, and is able to show her vulnerable side as well. She's by far the best thing in Iris, to me.
Oscah' picked.... Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind...
But the gang disagree's as the overall vote comes down to...
Maggie Smith in Gosford Park!
What do you guys think?!
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