Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Tuesday Top Ten: Women of Summer

I pretty much ignored the 'Lusty Month of May' and now it's June (My brain is on fast forward. Excuse) I'm already sweating from the humidity and abusing my air conditioner so I know that summer is here. Last week I celebrated the men so now it's time for the ladies who'll be raising the screen temperature from June thru August. Before we begin, this disclaimer: I know you're supposed to have Jessica Alba on lists like this. She'll be around again, all wooden and unfortunately invisible in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. But until she removes that awful Sue Storm wig, until she tries to act with her face... I aint goin' there. Gripe all you like in the comments if you're an Albaniac.

Top Ten Women ~ Summer Movie Season 2007

La Pfeiffer - Stardust and Hairspray
She's eternally #1 but she's also a perfect 10 at any age. So this is more of an honorary nod. You know I'm f***ing celebrating when these movies finally arrive. Until then I'll shut up.

10 Joan Allen -The Bourne Supremacy
What? I have a thing for icy older blondes. Shut up. Pamela Landy will cut you.

09 Anna Faris -Smiley Face
Because she's willing to make a fool of herself for our amusement. This comedy is too stoned for a solid release date. Who knows...

08 Katherine Heigl - Knocked Up
As much as I hate Grey's Anatomy as a whole, the individual actors don't bother me so much. Heigl's "Izzy" makes me dizzy -enough with the tears and the George cockteasing, please! Yet as an actress she obviously has talent. I'm excited to see this pregnancy comedy (mostly on account of the creative team behind it). Plus, she's one of those rare generically gorgeous blondes that isn't boring to look at. Yay.

07 Demi Moore -Mr Brooks
Demi is my favorite movie star who can't act. I know it's wrong to love her but my cold jaded heart gets smooshy and warm when she's around. I blame this on the potent successive combo of St. Elmo's Fire + Bruce Willis x Vanity Fair³.


06 Claire Danes -Evening and Stardust
I've loved Danes ever since I first laid eyes on Angela Chase in my so called life. I'm not sure that she can do "sexy" per se... but don't you wish she'd try? I wonder if she'll reveal new charms in either of these pictures. For now the wondering is enough. Deliver, Claire, deliver. It's time.

05 Liv Tyler -The Strangers
I can't say that I'm looking forward to seeing Liv and Scott Speedman (the screen husband) terrorized in this thriller but at least they'll make a beautiful couple. When I heard she had a new movie coming out I realized those three years in gelled closeups as Arwen had earned her a tiny enduring place in my heart.

04 Ellen Barkin -Oceans 13
I'm hoping that she'll have enough to work with in this cool caper comedy that younger audiences will discover her weirdly compelling beauty and talent for themselves. Plus, in real life she's Julianne Moore's best friend. So: points for that.

03 Lindsay Lohan -I Know Who Killed Me
I've been trying to ween myself away from this wildchild. It's starting to work. I'm just so tired of the idiocy of this girl. All that talent going to waste. Still: if she has to alienate me and everyone who responded to her early promise, at least she'll go down in the kind of flames that prompt much posthumous writing: she's doing some sort of weird meta commentary on her own life with the movie roles... chucking talent aside for shallow pursuits (Mean Girls) , death wish (Prairie Home Companion), wild and vulgar (Georgia Rule), and now she's playing a stripper. Oh Lindsay... didn't you see what Striptease did to Demi? I know you were only 10 at the time but can't you do your movie homework?

02 Maggie Q -Live Free or Die Hard
Back when I was doing last year's film bitch awards and talking about performances that caught my eye that weren't at all foregrounded by their films, I noticed Maggie Q love in the comments for her cool M:i3 turn. This summer she's back in action with Bruce Willis. May she turn heads again.


01 Anne Hathaway -Becoming Jane
If Hollywood held a pretty party, I'm pretty sure she'd be the prettiest pretty princess, the fairest of them all. That's all.
*

23 comments:

c.p. iñor said...

How good in Hathaway in Becoming Jane?

I completeley agree with your list except for Maggie Q... but that is because I've never heard from her before.

ps.Pfeiffer Pforever.

ps2.I think Lindsay will be good in I know who kill me. I'm seeing it for her.

c.p. iñor said...

*How good IS Hathaway...

StinkyLulu said...

HEEE...

Somehow, I've actually convinced myself that Demi Moore can act...I do love her so. (I blame Jules.)

Cinesnatch said...

I have always felt the same way about Demi Moore!!!!!!!!! I haven't convinced myself that she can act, however. Although she looks like she might be trying in a clip I saw of her in "Bobby" ... but, I have yet to see the whole thing.

Anonymous said...

somehow...you seem less enthusiastic about this category......kidding

but yeah...that lindsay movie looks really frikkin weird

Anonymous said...

I think Demi can act in the same way that Madonna can act: it completely depends on the project. If you only watched About Last Night... and Disclosure, you'd never have cause to question her abilities. It's the patchy padding of the rest of the filmography that muddies the water.

Rob

Lucas Dantas said...

ohh man!! sometimes the girls excite me more than the boys when it comes to the big screen sizzling! now i wish i were in america; most of these films will only get to the summer HERE, which means november/december or eve january!!! IF they see the dark light of a cinema room, instead of the instant shelves of a video place.

anyways... i'm of course excited for my girl hathaway. she is always this underrated thing in her big movies, except the princess movies that made her a star. but few people remember her in BBM, it's hard to compete with two gay hillybillies and a drama-queen wife - even if u boobs are splashed out on audience's faces [that was like the loss of innocence for me]; in prada she had la streep to compete wth, and blunt totally stole her thunder, poor thing. but she's always been a marvelous actress in everything i've seen with her.

and reading TFE constantly suddenly made me crave for La Pfeiffer, but i'm more excited about stardust than hairspray... i dunno, this musical still didn't hook me.

NATHANIEL R said...

CP --Hathaway is very solid if not exactly spectacular in Jane... but that's always the case with her. I know she'll hit spectacular soon. She's just so effortless and i like actors like that.

Stinky, Vince, Rob --re: Demi. i blame Jules too for my infatuation. I mean I was CRAZED for her in 1985. I do think she has done herself proud in a few movies but she's so consistently unexcellent that I'm not convinced she has talent beyond the talent to win me over for good circa late 80s early 90s nostalgia and celebrity yumminess.

rural --"weird" might be a kind adjective. I'm thinking "terrible"

woodstock --I aim to create the Pfeifferian cravings in all. I'm glad to hear it. Sorry about the release date thing. I'll never understand why it gets so spread out in this day of world shrinkage.

Jason Adams said...

Yes Anna Faris! I've almost convinced myself that I need to start pounding the pavement for that girl, get her the roles she ought to be getting.

And as I typed that sentence I imagined her in a Woody Allen movie and I passed out.

I adore Anne Hathaway, but the trailer for Becoming Jane almost made me claw my eyes out.

The only person I can find any fault with on this list is Ellen Barkin, but just because WHAT HAS SHE DONE TO HER WONDERFUL FACE? It's like just off camera there are seventeen surgeons weilding Botox needles waiting for her. How old is she? She has less creases on her face than a balloon.

Anonymous said...

Hey Nathaniel: Check out the Hong Kong film Naked Weapon to see Maggie Q as a female action hero.

VW said...

Ellen Barkin - she so unique - and under-rated, I think.

As for Demi - the old brat packer - she's an enigma talent-wise, for sure.

Matt said...

Actually, my first thought upon reading the title of your post was Julianne Moore. As I went down the list, it was quite rewarding to see how you worked her in with Ellen Barkin. Thanks

Glenn Dunks said...

I know it's more a fault of Hollywood than anything else, but didn't anyone else find this list terribly dreary? I love the Pfeif and Joan Allen and Anna Faris is totally great and Heigl is quickly becoming supreme (agreed that she works the "sexy but not boring" thing).

But, I dunno.

NATHANIEL R said...

kamikaze --contrary to rural juror's dig (i know it was meant lovingly) i was actually enthused about doing this post but it's true that the actual movies arriving weren't heavy on the exciting/sexy actress moments.

it's a manly summer. [even more reason to raise a blogging ruckus with the action heroine blog-a-thon]

maybe if i thought the Jessica, Biels, Simpson, Alba, etc... were sexy (i don't. they're all too generic for me --where is their personality onscreen?) it would have been a more exciting summer.

Anonymous said...

I loooove Anna Faris. Consistently funny even when the movie around her is terrible. I think it's largely because of what you mention: her willingness to make a fool of herself. Have you seen Just Friends? Mostly wasted time but she's laugh out loud funny in it.

Damselfly said...

I love Claire...I think she should be in every movie I see. She has a tendency to choose odd ones (Polish Wedding still has me confused) but with beauty like that and an ability to adapt her style (thinking of her supporting roles in Family Stone and The Hours) and pick and choose her parts I have no doubt she'll have a long solid career.

Good choice!

Anonymous said...

I don't know why they changed the Becoming Jane trailer for you guys in the US but the trailer we got here in UK was good and the movie overall was good too.
Anne Hathaway was spectacular in it, and the movie for me is one of the best romantic period flicks I have seen in along long time.

Anonymous said...

Ugh...I read the script for I Know Who Killed Me...ugh.
Not interested in seeing Lohan strip so this I'll skip.

I love Claire Danes too, but she looks woefully miscast in Stardust.

Looking forward to Evening.

PIPER said...

No way that's Claire Daines. No way. I must have her.

Cinesnatch said...

"consistently unexcellent"

Love it!

Unknown said...

I'm glad to see Maggie Q on your list! I hope "Die Hard 4" and "Balls of Fury" open up more doors for her.

I will be the first to support Miss Alba. She single-handedly sold "FF4:RoTSS" during NBC's "Heroes" commercial spot when she went head-to-head with the Silver Surfer. I was on the edge of my seat!

And I think you will be pleasantly pleased -- Alba said Sue has more layers in the sequel.

Whenever she graces the screen, Alba lights it up with charm and charisma. She's always effortlessly cool. I love that she made Sue maternal and caring -- your heart just goes out to her.

I don't have a problem with her blonde wig either. Most actresses aren't real blondes anyway. As for those who wished Sue Storm was pure WASP-y, the girls of today look more like Alba.

After "FF4:Rise," we can all look forward to a very-Alba summer of comedies ("Good Luck Chuck" and "The Ten"). Then in Fall, we'll surely be "Awake" when she scares the heck out of us with "The Eye"!

P.S. The "Good Luck Chuck" international Alba ad-like poster is one of the most creative posters I've seen in a long time!

NATHANIEL R said...

ALBA IS beautiful. It's the acting i take issue with ;)

As for the waspy comment --there's something to be said for faithfulness to the source material and there are no superheroes WASPier than The FF, you know? it's part of the shtick...

I still think Peyton Reed was the ideal director for the material and am disappointed that the studio chickened out. They get so antsy when directors with vision take on superheroes. which is weird to me because it's really only Ang Lee's Hulk that was a box office misfire. It's not like Sam Raimi bombed with Spider-Man or Bryan Singer with X-Men.

but anyway ACK why am i talking about this? I don't even like the FF movie. (loved the comic though when I was a kid)

Anonymous said...

That's a picture of Claire Daines? What is she doing to her face? Why is it these actresses can never leave well enough alone? (I'd say the same about Demi but the fact that you can now chop wood with her cheekbones is old news. I suppose it comes in handy though - assuming she and Ashton have a fireplace or wood stove in their mansion.)

RedSatinDoll