1.31.2010

THE 2009 LULUs: StinkyLulu's Best Supporting Actresses of 2009

Continuing a tradition begun just last year, I offer the 2009 LULUs - recognizing those actresses at the edges who most impressed me in 2009. Once again, the LULUs embrace the perennial question of "what's too big" and "what's too small" to be considered "supporting" actressness and, to that end, the LULUs offer recognition in three supporting actress sub-categories: Long Form, Short Form, & Traditional Scale. Each category acknowledges the different work being done by the increasingly broad array of performances that find themselves, rightly or wrongly, gathered under the umbrella of "Supporting Actress." (Please note that -- as of this writing -- I have yet not seen the following films and, thus, do not rank performances contained therein: The Messenger, In the Loop, Public Enemies, The Stoning of Soraya M., The Maid, The Last Station, etc.) So, without further ado...
Best Supporting Actress - Long Form
excellent performances from women at the center of their films,
in what might arguably be leading (or co-leading) roles


Emily Blunt - Sunshine Cleaning
Keeps it simple; makes it great.

Marion Cotillard - Nine
An unfailingly generous performance.
Penélope Cruz - Los Brazos Rotos/Broken Embraces
This portrait -- of an actress who seems to star in (but who somehow stays "at the edges" of) everyone else's story -- soars with comedic light while plumbing devastating depths.

Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Steady verve and ready wit anchor this memorable breakthrough performance.

Mélanie Laurent - Inglorious Basterds
A deft, haunting and deceptively beautiful portrait of rage-curdled grief.


* * * * *

Best Supporting Actress - Short Form
memorable work by women in a mere handful of scenes
Mariah Carey - Precious
Solid. Sincere. Shows the glimmer of formidable chops.
Julianne Moore - A Single Man
A delirious, messy blast of color and life.
Rosamund Pike - An Education
Undeniably dim. Brilliantly witty. Utterly believable.
Carrie Preston - Duplicity
Preston's precision and pluck scene-steals the movie right out from under her megawatt costars, if only for that moment or two.
Deborah Rush - Julie and Julia
A tiny, inconspicuous performance that somehow stirs great depths of feeling within both the film and its star's turn.

* * * * *

Best Supporting Actress - Traditional Scale

a pivotal character, essential to more than a handful of scenes,
though in less than 30% of film's total screen time

Penélope Cruz - Nine
Staggering. Sexy and tragic (while delivering the only genuine laughs in entire the movie).
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Gorgeous and glib yet also heartbreakingly human.
Kerry Fox - Bright Star
A stirring, sweet and cliché-smashing portrait of sensible motherlove.
Mo'Nique - Precious
Not since Carrie has a mother's "love" been so voracious, so vicious, so contradictory, so monstrous yet so real.
Olivia Williams - An Education
An uncommonly subtle, complex characterization of an all-too familiar character.

* * * * *

The LULUS
StinkyLulu's Best Supporting Actresses
my favorites, in roughly descending order

1. Penélope Cruz - Broken Embraces
2. Mo'Nique - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
3. Olivia Williams - An Education
4. Kerry Fox - Bright Star
5. Mélanie Laurent - Inglorious Basterds


BUT, lovely reader, what do YOU think?
Please share your thoughts in comments.

Today In Cinema - 1:31:10

1:31:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.30.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:30:10

1:30:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.29.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:29:10

1:29:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.28.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:28:10

1:28:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.27.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:27:10

1:27:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.26.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:26:10

1:26:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.25.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:25:10

1:25:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.24.2010

The Question of "The Coaster": Sigourney Weaver in AVATAR (2009)

Yesterday was the deadline for Academy Award voters to submit their nomination ballots and, perhaps because of that fact, I find myself thinking out loud in a guest post over at The Film Experience about what appears to be the single remaining mystery about this year's contest for Best Supporting Actress: who will be the category's "fifth" nominee? Could be a "coaster"? Like Sigourney Weaver in Avatar?

Today In Cinema - 1:24:10

1:24:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.23.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:23:10

1:23:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.22.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:22:10

1:22:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.21.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:21:10

1:21:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.20.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:20:10

1:20:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.19.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:19:10

1:19:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.18.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:18:10

1:18:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)


This post continues an ir/regular
new photoseries - TODAY IN CINEMA -
which features a screenshot captured at a moment
in a favorite film's running time that
numerically corresponds to today's date.

1.17.2010

Supporting Actress Blogathon - Class of 2009

Here at StinkyLulu, we observe an annual tradition wherein we extol the many supporting actresses who captured our imaginations, our hearts, and our fancies in the cinematic year of 2009. Some are already serious contenders for this year's trophy; all deserve another look.


WELCOME
to
StinkyLulu's Tribute to
Actressing at the Edges in 2009

The 4th Annual
Supporting Actress Blogathon!

Scroll down for appreciations of all kinds of actressing.
36 performances honored in 37 posts from 28
blogs!

click back throughout the day for updates as entries arrive
...the Supporting Actresses
of 2009 are...

(click blog name for link to post)

Kristin Chenoweth in Into Temptation (Encore Entertainment)
Patricia Clarkson in Whatever Works (Encore Entertainment)
Jennifer Cody in The Princess and the Frog (What Happened Today)
Marion Cotillard in Nine (My Territorial Bubble)
Marion Cotillard in Public Enemies (Alex in Movieland,
Monsieur Cinema)
Penelope Cruz in Nine (My Territorial Bubble)
Roxane Duran in White Ribbon (Alex in Movieland)
Anna Faris in Observe and Report (Reese Review)
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air (Ben's Talking Pictures, Crumb by Crumb)
Heather Graham in The Hangover (Sasha Stone@Awards Daily)
Ginnifer Goodwin in He's Just Not That Into You (Ultimate Addict)
Carla Gugino in Watchmen (ShoNuff Lives)
Marcia Gay Hardin in Whip It (For Your Speculation)
Amber Heard in The Informers (Reese Review)
Mailes Kanapi in My Fake American Accent and Mangatyanan (RacsO Ledger)
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air (Awkward Is What We Aim For,
oscarfan,
And All That Film)
Rinko Kikuchi in The Brothers Bloom (Drilling Holes in the Wall)
Diane Kruger in Inglorious Basterds (Monsieur Cinema)
Mélanie Laurent in Inglorious Basterds (My Life Through Movies)
Carmen Machi in Los Abrazos Rotos/Broken Embraces
(Cine Latino en Nueva York)

Leslie Mann in 17 Again and Funny People (Victim of the Time)
Izabella Miko in Dark Streets (The Jaded Armchair Review)
Mo'Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
(Stale Popcorn)

Julianne Moore in A Single Man (Popcorn and Cigarettes)
Brittany Murphy in Across the Hall (Reese Review)
Bijou Phillips in Dark Streets (The Jaded Armchair Review)
Rosamund Pike in An Education (Encore Entertainment,
Strange Culture)

Meryl Streep in The Fantastic Mr. Fox (The Cargo Cult)
Kristin Scott Thomas in Easy Virtue (The Silver Screening Room)
Olivia Williams in An Education (And Your Little Blog Too,
Rants of a Diva)

The Women in In the Loop (Sasha Stone@Awards Daily)
The Women in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (Encore Education)

Be sure to check back throughout the day for updates as they arrive.
And if you notice that someone's been left out of this tribute to The Class of 2009,
just whip up a profile on your own blog and send it on in
!

The Class of 2008
The Class of 2007
The Class of 2006

1.16.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:16:10

1:16:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)



This post continues an ir/regular
new photoseries - TODAY IN CINEMA -
which features a screenshot captured at a moment
in a favorite film's running time that
numerically corresponds to today's date.

1.15.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:15:10

1:15:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)



This post continues a new, ir/regular
photoseries - TODAY IN CINEMA -
which features a screenshot captured at a moment
in a favorite film's running time that
numerically corresponds to today's date.

1.14.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:14:10

1:14:10
If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)



This post continues an new, ir/regular
photoseries - TODAY IN CINEMA -
which features a screenshot captured at a moment
in a favorite film's running time that
numerically corresponds to today's date.

1.13.2010

Today In Cinema - 1:13:10

This post introduces an ir/regular new photoseries - TODAY IN CINEMA - which features a screenshot captured at a moment in a favorite film's running time that numerically corresponds to today's date.
1:13:10

If you recognize the film, say so in comments. (And, if you are so inclined,
share your favorite thing -- moment/memory/response/etcetera -- about the film.)

1.01.2010

December 2009 Screening Log

Didn't love CRAZY HEART but did love spotting all those ABQ actors and excellent NM locations. (And, yes, that trophy's almost certainly going home with Jeff Bridges - deservedly so.)
~~~~~
Thought NINE was dumb. And boring.
~~~~~
Liked IT'S COMPLICATED. Sorta.
~~~~~
Thought AVATAR a remarkable accomplishment, even though at times it felt like THE LAST OF THE LITTLE BIG MEN DANCING WITH WOLVES AND LION KINGS IN FERNGULLY.
~~~~~
Thought THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG quite dear. (Who'da thunk an unsubtle subplot involving a snaggletoothed Cajun firefly would prove so moving?)
~~~~~
Found UP IN THE AIR to be witty, charming and subtly moving (with expert performances in roles big and small). Also thought that the production design (and title design) rocked.
~~~~~
Thought THE BLIND SIDE to be both sorta lame and astonishingly effective. But it's Sandra Bullock's performance that I just can't stop thinking about...
~~~~~
Was blown away by PRECIOUS and thought FANTASTIC MISTER FOX delightful & refreshing.
~~~~~