Academy Awards Week: Best Actress (and the runner-up is Meryl)

This year marks Meryl Streep's 14th nominations in the Best Actress category, and 17th overall nomination.  The woman is widely regarded as the best living actress, and by some the best actress of all time.  Throughout the years this woman has given some amazing performances.  Her career as a perennial Oscar nominee began in 1978, with her nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the film The Deer Hunter.  One year later she earned her second nomination and her first win in the Supporting Actress category for her role in the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer.  Two years later in 1981 she received her first nomination in the Best Actress category for The French Lieutenant's Woman.  In 1982 she was honored with her second Best Actress nomination and first win in the category for Sophie's Choice.  At this point Meryl was 2 for for 4.  Since 1982 Meryl has received 13 more nominations and won no awards at the Oscars again giving her one of the biggest losing streaks in the shows history.

Meryl is the best actress working today and she does not need more Oscars to prove that fact; she is one of the most gracious losers I have ever seen.  This woman has had more great performances than most actresses could dream of.  Here is a list of her five performances.

5-Miranda Priestley in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

While I would like to think Adaptation changed Meryl's career (and I think it still did) this performance took her level of stardom to a different level.  This performance was a supporting performance that stole the film, and as she spews venom I get lost in her performance; she captures this character so well!

4-Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) 

Watching Joanna walk away from her son, only to come back and fight to take him away from his father is a whole different level of evil.  Yet there is a vulnerability to her character, and you can understand why the different layers.  This performance was incredible and deserved to be Meryl's first Oscar win.  Although I liked her Manhattan as well that year.

3-Karen Silkwood in Silkwood (1983)

There is something about how ballsy she was when she played this character, and yet how she was able to show this real life woman as vulnerable in the same breath.  This performance came from one of her best films, and feels real.  There is a scene where she is on the porch with Cher, and it just is beautiful.

2-Susan Orlean in Adaptation (2002)

Another great supporting turn from Meryl that made look at her in a completely different way.  As the 80s ended and the 90s began I looked at her as a great actress, but her film choices often resembled terrible lifetime movies.  Adaptation is my second favorite performance from Meryl of all time, and I would like to see more of this performance from her, where she plays it natural.

1-Meryl Streep as Sophie Zowitophski in Sophie's Choice (1982)

There is not much to say, but that bar non this is her performance of all time.  I honestly have very few words, the film and her performance speak for themself.  Meryl's method acting of staying with the child she would have to give up and not surrounding herself with the other child was brilliant, it made her grief incredibly real.

These five performances span 27 years!  Only one other actress in Hollywood can claim having a similar career experience, and that is Katherine Hepburn.  Picking just five performances is almost an impossible  task because Streep has given so many phenomenal performances that span even longer from 1978 through the present day.  This year Streep earned her 17th nomination, and has come the closest to winning her third Academy Award.

After reading this many people may ask, why has she only won twice?  I could go year by year and explain how she lost each trophy she was nominated for, so I guess I might as well.

1981-Meryl Streep in the French Lieutenant's Wife  lost to Katherine Hepburn for her last nomination in On Golden Pond, this was Hepburn's swan song and there was no way the ingenue was going to get this over Hepburn (the only time the two were nominated in the same category).

1983-Meryl Streep in Silkwood lost to Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment.  Streep lost because she had won the year before and MacClaine haad never won an Oscar.

1985 Meryl Streep in Out of Africa lost to Geraldine Page in Trip to the bountiful.  Page was a 5 time nominee prior to this nomination and had never won, so the Academy honored her career performance.

1986 Meryl Streep in Ironweed lost to Cher in Moonstruck.  Cher was an unstoppable force in a Best Picture winner, while Streep's nomination came for a lesser film.

1987 Meryl Streep in Cry in the Dark lost to Jodie Foster in The Accused.  Foster had got her second nomination with this film proved that she was a talented young actress.  At this point my guess would be many academy members thought this was too soon for a third win.

1990 Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge lost to Kathy Bates in Misery-  Bates was a force to reckoned with and Meryl's role had no shot of giving her, her third Oscar.

1995 Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison County lost to Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking.  Sarandon had a couple of nominations with no wins.  This film also had more nominations, and Sarandon won as a career achievement.

1998 Meryl Streep in One True Thing lost to Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love.  Everyone was talking about Cate Blanchett and Paltrow this year.  Streep's performance was good but was not a blip on the radar.

1999 Meryl Streep in Music of the Heart lost to Hillary Swank in Boy's Don't Cry.  This was the year of Swank vs. Bening (round one-both went to Swank).  This is one of Streep's weakest nominations.

2002 Meryl Streep in Adaptation lost to Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago.  Meryl was back in supporting (briefly) and she should have won this year, but Jones road the Chicago train.

2006 Meryl Streep in The Devil wears Prada lost to Helen Mirren in The Queen.  Mirren was unstoppable, and there was no dethroning her. 

2008 Meryl Streep in Doubt lost to Kate Winslet in The Reader.  Meryl had some strength in the front end of awards season but Winslet was on her fifth nomination had not won; she was honored for this underwhelming performance.

2009 Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia lost to Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side.  i am still baffled at the support for The Blind Side, but people were on Bullocks side after her messy divorce, and people were getting to the point where they kept saying Meryl has an Oscar or she will get nominated again.

Now we are at the current ceremony where Meryl was honored with her 17th nomination.  Here are this year's nominees:

Glen Close-Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis:The Help

Rooney Mara-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams-My Week with Marilyn

Will Meryl lose once again and be named the perennial runner-up?  There is a slight chance this brilliant actress will lose her 13th straight Oscar.  Mara was not a surprising nomination, but she has no shot at winning.  Close should have more of a chance because this is her sixth nomination, but no one is talking about her performance so she will join Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter as the queens of losing at the Academy Awards.  Each of those three women has 6 nominations with no wins.  I thought back early on Williams was going to sneak out a win, but there was enough support to get her further.  This race is between Viola Davis and Meryl Streep.

Davis and Streep each have two major precursor awards on their side.  Streep has the Globe and BAFTA, while Davis has the Broadcast Film Critics Award and the SAG.  At the moment Davis holds the trump card which is the SAG win.  SAG is voted on by the actors, and the acting branch is the largest branch of the Academy.  Many SAG voters are also Academy voters, but not all and there are differences.  At the moment many pundits are predicting Davis, and I understand why.  Davis gives a strong performance.  The Help is also a Best Picture nominee that is well liked, while Streep's film only received one other nomination in make-up.  The Help did not perform as well as thought on nomination day and only has 4 nominations (3 acting and Best Picture).  Picking the winner here is tough, logically I want to pick Davis.  Davis' win will also make history if she and Spencer win this will be the first time two Black women will win in the same year.  Yet my gut and heart keep telling me that after 13 losses this is finally Streep's year.  I love that there is still some mystery in this category.

Gutsy Prediction: Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady (Harvey will help)

Very Very Very close second: Viola Davis-The Help

Stressed Out! Movies About Stress at Work

I am having one of the most stressful weeks at work, between meetings, tasks, room inspections etc. I have had little time to do breath or catch up on other work I need to get done.  Tonight I left work at 6 pm, and have rarely had the opportunity to just breath, until now.  Time to vent and let out my emotions through the power of film.  Jobs can be stressful, there are stressful times, and when a lot of things pile up they become emotionally and physically draining.  After a long day of work yesterday and a staff meeting at 8 pm I came into my apartment put on my TV and passed out at 9:30.  I think the last time I went to bed that early was when I was 10.  I am prepping for the end of the week to have the same effect as I am trying to catch up on things I need to complete.

Most of the movies out there describe bad work environments as opposed to someone having a stressful week.  The reality behind the matter is that it's easier to depict a situation where someone hates their job completely or someone is in an extremely bad work environment.  There a lot of movies like this, and some of them are extreme like one that was released this year, Horrible Bosses.  The premise of the film is that three friends are in bad working environments with "horrible bosses" and they decide to plot and kill their bosses.  This film is not only horrible (pun intended) but the premise is just almost beyond stupid.  The backdrop of this film is that since the economy is bad none of the men can afford to lose their job, and some even enjoy their profession.  I have to say I turned the film off in the middle so I saw no redemption in the premise and did not laugh much.  Horrible Bosses appeared to have the message that if you hate your boss or they provide a bad working environment killing them is an option.  I know this film is a comedy, and the point is dark humor, but I just did not laugh.

You can say I am a film snob, but there are other films that have done this better.   Nine to Five (1980) which starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman.  In the film the three women kidnap their boss because he is a misogynist and they want to teach him a lesson about respecting women at work.  I do not think all movies need a message, but Nine to Five was a timely movie about women in the work place while Horrible Bosses is trying to justify people doing crazy things in a terrible economy.  The problem with Horrible Bosses is that it used gimmicks to be funny, and while trying to be a dark comedy it just is a dark flop.  The new modern women was entering the work force in Nine to Five and this film showed that women have as much talent and brains as men.  The film has some darkness, but the real message is that don't think the system is going to stay the same!

Films seems to tend to focus on the boss being the problem at work.  I think my boss is actually pretty great; she is helpful and lets me just rant when I need to (yes Ann you are good at that).  Movies also focus on the work environment causing the stress or  a combination of the office space and the boss.  The Devil Wears Prada (2006) focuses on how Miranda Priestly (let's be honest modeled after Anna Wintour) who is the editor of Runway the fashion magazine (again this is about Vogue) is a tyrant with her assistants.  Anne Hathaway plays Andy Sachs the girl who knows nothing about fashion who tries to make in a work environment where she does not fit.  Meryl Streep plays Miranda Priestly a nightmarish boss who demands her staff be flawless, because after all "In fashion one day you are in, and the next day you are out."  Miranda Priestly is awful, but the world of fashion contributes to the stressful work environment.  Everyone at Runway takes fashion so seriously, and if there are flaws in a fashion line, it means death!

I think sometimes when I am at work I am afraid to make mistakes, not because it means death from my supervisor, but because I hold myself to high standard.  I think my bosses, and co-workers are often easier on me, than I am on myself.  I sometimes stress myself out too much.  I think this is a trait many people are guilty of.  I put pressure on myself to be the best.  There are of course mistakes that can be made and mistakes that I can't make in my job.  I think most of the times mistakes should be treated as a learning tool.  My supervisor has helped me to do that.  There are people who I have encountered who take things more seriously because they have someone higher to report to, and who holds them accountable for different things.  I do not want my actions to reflect poorly on my bosses, but the truth of the matter is that mistakes happen, and how its the way you act after they do that speaks to your character.  

Movies make the stress at work seem awful! Movies can also make a bad work day entertaining.  People can go to the movies and sit back and laugh at how mean Miranda Priestly and say "Boy do I have it easy" or even "Wow my boss is just like that."  Movies have so much power to make us think about things or laugh and provide great entertainment about specific situations.  I enjoy movies because they can help me put so much into perspective.  Movies make me think and help process things. Today I hit a peak level for stress because one thing set me over the edge.  I had so much on my plate and then one bad thing made it all worse.  I have to think that Scarlet O'Hara said it best "After all tomorrow is another day" and work is just work at the end of the day.