Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Thurman. McDormand. Huppert. Deneuve. Allen.

The passion continues to grow. We have already moved into worshipful territory. #15 through #11 in the Actress of the Aughts countdown has been posted. They are [drumroll please] Tarantino's muse and America's amazon blonde Uma Thurman, 'as sexy as she wanna be' tradition buster Frances McDormand, France's mindblowing ice queens Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Déneuve, and the contender herself Joan Allen. (And she sure as hell better be a contender in this year's Oscar race)

Read and discussThe top ten begins tomorrow.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Totally off subject. But I've been waiting for some Film bitch intermission to talk about all the interesting theatre in NYC right now. I hope you have seen, or are planning on seeing SWEENEY and IN MY LIFE. I'd be particularly interested to hear your thoughts on the later...

NATHANIEL R said...

i am seeing sweeney todd tomorrow.

NicksFlickPicks said...

I am literally sitting here trying to guess the order of the Top 10 (to say nothing of who's in it).

adam k. said...

Mwahaha... Javier, Glenn and I were right. I erred slightly assuming Allen would be in the top 10 and Collette would be here, but Glenn rightfully assumed Allen wouldn't be quite so high. We've got your #, Nathaniel ; )

Javier Aldabalde said...

Great to see the Queens of France so high!

And even greater to see Cate Blanchett will make your Top 10 list! I didn't know you'd grown to love her as much!

anyway... I say Kidman, Winslet, Dunst, Morton and Clarkson get to the Top 5.

this is off topic, but I have a blog now and would love your visit... it's a random post but would love to know what you think.

NicksFlickPicks said...

Which leaves Blanchett, Moore, Collette, Hilary Swank, and Tara Reid, right?

adam k. said...

Blanchett deserves to be on anyone's top 10 list simply from the astounding consistency, variety, and quantity of her work this decade. Not her fault her directors usually let her down...

I KNOW Winslet, Dunst and Kidman will be in the top 5, but beyond that, I'm fuzzy... will Clarkson not make it simply because she doesn't get lead roles? Will Moore not make it, cause, well, she hasn't made many good movies this decade? Will Pfeiffer not make it cause she's only been in like 2? So many questions...

Anonymous said...

Pfeiffer has been in White Oleander, What Lies Beneath and I am Sam,so I think she can't miss the list. As a huge Pfan I am i think she deserves #2, just because she hasn't been in so many movies and Winslet is really really awesome, she should be #1.

Anonymous said...

1. Kate Winslet
2. Nicole Kidman
3. Julianne Moore
4. Patricia Clarkson
5. Michelle Pfieffer
6. Kirsten Dunset
7. Cate Blanchett
8. Samantha Morton
9. Scarlett Johansson
10. Toni Collette

NATHANIEL R said...

nick -i don't even know the order myself. it fills me with turmoil. i know you'll appreciate/relate

adam k & glenn -spot on --am I that predictable?

javier -can't go without my french legends.

nick d- damn. did you have to go and give it away? the top 10 will be: 10 melanie griffith, 09 hilary duff 08 demi moore 07 katie holmes 06 penelope cruz 05 helen hunt 04 tara reid 03 natasha lyonne 02 halle berry and...01 HILARY SKANK!

Anonymous said...

I love / hate your griffith - swank list. I would only save Helen Hunt.

Off topic: Where is Mr. Reid's text this week? It has been a great pleasure.

Keep up the excellent work, Mr. Rogers.

Marcelo - Brazil.

Anonymous said...

I think the top ten will look something like...
-Moore
-Kidman
-Winslet
-Clarkson
-Dunst
-Pfeiffer
-Blanchett
-Morton
-Johansson
-Collette

Anonymous said...

BTW Nat, I assume you won't give this treatment to (male) actors but will you make a list of some sort?
I'd assume Law would top it.

Anonymous said...

Gael Garcia Bernal!!!

adam k. said...

Law and Bernal would clearly be near the top of the actors' list.

Nathaniel, you're not THAT predictable, but really, how many great actresses are left? Also, props to Javier for helping nail down the entirety of who's left for the top 15 (or so we think).

I think we've all deduced now that the top 10 will be:
-Moore
-Winslet
-Kidman
-Pfeiffer
-Dunst
-Collette
-Clarkson
-Morton
-Blanchett
-Johannson

They all have to be there. MY personal guess at the order is:
10) Collette
9) Johannson
8) Morton
7) Blanchett
6) Clarkson
5) Dunst
4) Pfeiffer
3) Moore
2) Winslet
1) KIDMAN

Err... maybe switch Morton and Blanchett... maybe Dunst should be higher... whatever, I don't know.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Kidman will be at the top. MAYBE Top 3, but I think Moore and Winslet will be duking it out for the top spot. It all depends on whether Nat gives more importance to body of work (Winslet) or the quality of a specific performance (Moore in Far From Heaven), but I think it's between those two for sure.

adam k. said...

I respectfully disagree. Moore, bless her heart, just doesn't deserve it (plus Nathaniel made a reference somewhere earlier to Moore and Pfeiffer probably not being #1). I mean, really. Far From Heaven is ONE movie. And Nate wasn't all that impressed with her Hours work. And most of the worst movies of her career have been released lately... but at least she's been working. Unlike Pfeiffer.
Winslet could be #1, but... she just hasn't "wowed" constantly like Kidman has in the past few years. Five oscar-worthy performances in five years (Moulin Rouge!, The Others, The Hours, Birth, Dogville) Globe noms for four years running. Career rennaissance. Superstardom. Even her flops were basically box-office successes. Now, while Winslet is hands-down the better actress, and one of my absolute faves, I personally still couldn't say she's been more impressive in the past five years. But that's just me... we shall see.

adam k. said...

Man, I know this site way too well.

Love ya, Nathaniel!

Anonymous said...

My reasoning for picking Moore and/or Winslet over Kidman is that I don't think Nathaniel acknowledges her greatness, he isn't as passionate about her as he is about the other two. If I remember correctly, there was a point after Kidman's Oscar win that Nathaniel was tired of her overexposure. Moore's body of work may be extremely inconsistent, but she's given a performance for all-time lists, surely held in higher regard to Kidman's body of work (as good as it is thus far).

NicksFlickPicks said...

I know, Nathaniel... do you ever feel like all of us somehow live in your living room, under the couch? The guests that are somehow. always. with. you. and more often than not trying. to. read. your. mind... I hope it's flattering, and not just freaky.

Oh, and in your Griffith/Swank Top 10, you left out Bridget Moynahan and Paris Hilton. ;)

adam k. said...

Nathaniel used to worship at the alter of Kidman, though... way back in 2001/2002. True, she may lose some points for stealing Julianne's oscar, and for being kind of overexposed, but... Nicole Kidman, in movieland, sort of IS 2001-5. Kate Winslet is a great actress of the aughts, but Kidman IS the oughts.

I dunno, maybe Winslet will take it (I certainly would not be upset), but my gut says it just has to be Kidman... and Moore, I maintain, has just NOT done enough great work to deserve the #1 spot. One great film does not = "best actress of the decade".

I actually doubt Nathaniel knows yet himself... perhaps he is listening in on the debate and pondering...

Anonymous said...

I agree with the Moore assessment. Surely Nat knows that Moore's output has been... rough. One spectacular performance does not the best of the decade make. As someone said, Nat didn't even particularly like her Hours role that much.

I think it's a battle between Kidman and Winslet. Winslet has only particularly had three performances of note (Eternal Sunshine, Iris and Quills - I'm assuming Finding Neverland wouldn't really help her. Same as Enigma.

But Kidman has had Moulin Rouge! (Nat's 2001 obsession and it was around the top 20 on his all-time list), Birth, Dogville, The Hours, The Others, The Interpreter and even below par stuff like Birthday Girl and The Human Stain had decent turns by Kidman. Not to mention she has a Kar-Wai film coming up!

Remember, he said he felt Kidman was a bit overexposed, but that was before Birth/Dogville in 2005, if I remember correctly.

But on the very first page he said not to scream if his goddesses aren't number 1.

I have a feeling the list will go something like this:

10. Toni Collette
9. Scarlett Johansson
8. Cate Blanchett
7. Samantha Morton
6. Patricia Clarkson
5. Julianne Moore
4. Kirsten Dunst
3. Michelle Pfeiffer
2. Kate Winslet
1. Nicole Kidman

But I suppose, if Angelina can get top 20 then Julianna could very easily be top 2/3

-Glenn

adam k. said...

I'm with Glenn.

Another point for Kidman is that apparently Nat is counting "movie star" in his definition of "actress" for the purposes of this poll (see Jolie), and Kidman has big movie stardom in her corner (I'm assuming the "movie star" aura is also what got Scarlett so high, since she just recently broke out)

Anonymous said...

In my humble opinion, I think that Winslet should win out over Kidman. I really like both of them, but none of Kidman's performances in her impressive career have affected me half as much as Winslet's in Eternal Sunshine. But that's just me.

I also sincerely hope that Kirstin Dunst is not ranked higher than Patricia Clarkson or Cate Blanchett. As someone who has consistently found Dunst's performances and public persona getting progressively more and more irritating, it would seriously dampen my respect/enjoyment of the list.

Anonymous said...

I was about to say Winslet hadn't had a Bewitched/Stepford clunker, but then I remembered David Gale, so who the hell knows. I just find Winslet the warm to Kidman's clinically cold, and thus I'm rooting for Winslet.

Rob

Anonymous said...

I just think that Nicole Kidman has been THE actress of the naughts. And with so many great performances (to Winslet's three).

But I would definitely not be disappointed if Winslet got gold.

On the matter of Dunst, I didn't think she deserved to be so high either but then I was looking at my own little list that I'm creating and wouldn't ya know, she totally deserves it! Bring it On! crazy/beautiful! Spiderman 1 & 2! The Cat's Meow! VIRGIN SUICIDES!

...

adam k. said...

I definitely prefer Winslet as an actress, but for the purposes of this particular list, I'd vote Kidman for #1.

I don't think, though, that by the end of the aughts, Kate will indeed outshine Nicole... think of where Nicole was at Winslet's age... like, circa 1997. Not much going on. Winslet will be a phemon in 7 years.

adam k. said...

Typo correction: DO think she'll outshine Nicole. Most definitely.