The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1990

About the field: weaker than I expected. I was looking forward to it, but it wasn't very great. I'm a bit bitter to tell the truth. I love enjoying a year fully and I did not feel that with this one. Naturally,I loved #1 and #2 and the other others were not bad either, I just felt that something was missing. 1989 might have been too strong and I compared this to that. Glenn Close was really robbed: she absolutely rocked in Reversal of Fortune and should have won (not even nominated damn it). GAH! Only #1 got really close to her. But let's just see the not so surprising ranking, which was quite easy to do (especially picking the winner):

5. Joanne Woodward in Mr & Mrs Bridge

This is not an amazing achievement as it really did not touch me despite some strong and excellently solved scenes. Mostly, it's very slow and uninteresting, but she couldn't catch my attention even after the good moments. It's proper work, but far from fantastic.

4. Anjelica Huston in The Grifters

Anjelica Huston's performance in The Grifters is bit a mixed bag: there are moments of boredom and slowness, but then there's such intensity and mistery in it, which almost made me speechless. It's not flawless, but it's very memorable work by a talented actress.

3. Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman

This is not a performance to praise to high graces, but it's utterly charming, loveable, funny, entertaining acting, which is free of overacting and loud moments. It serves its purpuse quite properly and gets so much out of the screenplay, which is not the best-written.

2. Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge

Although Meryl is a bit miscast (that's not her fault actually), her performance as the desperate Suzanne Vale is pitch-perfect: it's hilarious, a bit saddening, powerful, emotional and extremely loveable. Meryl nails all the aspects and faces of this characters and createst one of her most vibrant turns ever.

1. Kathy Bates in Misery

When writing about her, I try not to be influenced by her performance's iconic status, but I just cannot forget it. Annie Wilkes is in motion picture history and (to quote her) Kathy Bates "had a little something to do with that"). With this crazy character, she created one of the most memorable screen villians in history, who is going to scare us for a long time.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Kathy Bates in Misery

No, Kathy, I did not doubt your brilliance, I swear XD

Omissions: 

• Great Glenn Close in Reversal of Fortune 
• Laura Dern in Wild at Heart *My Pick*

The ranking of the already reviewed years:

1. 1974
2. 1989
3. 1959
4. 1939
5. 2009
6. 1963
7. 1990
8. 1978
9. 1954
10. 1948
11. 2002
12. 1940
13. 1998

About the next year: I think it's not going to be a big surprise, but let me tell you that the competition is very heated and not over yet, so you will know only when I announce the year. I really don't know what else to say, but I'm really looking forward to the next year. But more about that later. However, I will not do the runner-up year after the winner as I found a year, I'm crazy about and I want to do that. I can't wait. :)

What do you think? Any thoughts on your mind?

Kathy Bates in Misery

Kathy Bates received her first Oscar nomination and award for playing Annie Wilkes, a crazy fan of a writer in Rob Reiner's movie, Misery, based on Stephen King's popular novel. From what I've read Bates wasn't exactly the front-runner to win to the Oscar, her win seems to be obvious only nowadays. With this win, Bates went on to star in many other great movies, she successfully avoided being typecast and became one of the most reliable character actresses.

Misery is a great, scary and most of all exciting movie, which doesn't reach real heights, but it's extremely entertaining. It was pretty much a comeback for James Caan, who unfortunately got lost again, but he gave an excellent performance as the writer, who's trapped in a house, being tortured by a crazy fan. Richard Farnsworth is great too and we know exactly why we remember him so well in this movie and that twist is really upsetting.

However, the movie reached its iconic status due to the unforgettable Kathy Bates, who may not be giving her best performance (ahhem, Fried Green Tomatoes, no nomination, damn it), but she certainly is memorable as the wonderful crazy Annie. If we held a poll on the most popular Oscar winners, I am pretty sure, that she would be in the Top 5 at least, even though this win has been criticized a bit nowadays.

We all know Annie Wilkes. She's just one of us. She's the lovely chubby lady from the bank, the grocery store and the hospital. On the outside, she's just this fun-loving, crazily romantic, good-tempered woman, fantascizing about the prince charming saving her from her loneliness and her pathetic life. She comes across in her first scene as this woman: kind and chubby, being so fascinated by her favorite writer.

Kathy Bates really nailed all the faces of this very complex character: first of all, she's a faceless monster, something like Mo'Nique in Precious, pathetic, obese, watching TV, eating, doing absolutely nothing, except for being a total psycho. The other one is this lovely woman previously mentioned. I haven't read the book, but from what I've heard she's more of a faceless monster than a real human being. I think Bates made the right choice with showing the human side of Annie: her mood swings are sometimes terrifying, but sometimes they are simply ridiculous. I mean could you stop laughing when she acts like a fifteen-year-old and could you be more terrified when she is yelling about Rocket Man. She goes over-the-top, which would normally distract you, but here it's just the right thing to do.

However, I must tell, that I wasn't THAT scared by her. Of course, I can't forget the "hobbling" scene, but apart from that I felt that Bates mainly focused on the dramatic aspects of this character and by this she perfectly showed the loneliness and sadness of this character. Her bitter monologue about the power and influence of Misery on her life is just breathtaking, just like the one when she really gets the blues because of the rain. I actually felt SORRY for Annie, and she became a little symphatetic. And this was a very tricky thing to do: Kathy makes you actually like Annie or at least sympathize with her to a degree, but you also hate her. It is that you like her because you can hate her. And Kathy does this with such ease and she's never too forced, not even in the most over-the-top scenes. It's just breathtaking.

But again the hobbling, which is one of the most unforgettable and best acted scenes in motion picture history: she smashes the ankles of Paul and then she just says "God, I love you!". I mean it's such an embarassing moment for the viewer and we (just like Annie) do not know how to react. It's not only terrifying and creepy, but also a bit ridiculous. If we made a list on the most scary scenes ever, it would be in Top 3. It's not what you see, it's what Kathy Bates tries to hide to you. It's just brilliant. Not to mention the big fight in the end which is again very creepy (it reminded me a bit of Fatal Attraction, oh I can't wait to review Glenn).

When writing about her, I try not to be influenced by her performance's iconic status, but I just cannot forget it. Annie Wilkes is in motion picture history and (to quote her) Kathy Bates "had a little something to do with that"). With this crazy character, she created one of the most memorable screen villians in history, who is going to scare us for a long time. Breathtaking work by a great actress.

Anjelica's profile comes on Friday and Joanne's on Saturday along with the conclusions (not sooner unfortunately).

The Next Year

So let's just move along with our next year and I will do a decade I've ignored since the semi-pleasant experience of 1998. It seems to be a so called one-horse race, but I think everyone can surprise us and I'm sure that it will be competitive and nothing is for sure right here. But I won't go on talking.

1990

So the nominees were:

• Kathy Bates in Misery*
• Anjelica Huston in The Grifters
• Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
• Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge
• Joanne Woodward in Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

So what do you think? Who would YOU pick? What's YOUR ranking? What's YOUR prediction for my ranking? The predicting contest is on.

As you can see, there's a poll on your right. Vote for the more interesting year. Basically, these are the next two years, but I'm so interested in both that I can't decide between them. So the decision is yours. If there's a tie, the person who wins the predicting contest decides.