DU Votes for the Oscars - Best Actress in a leading role

[FourScore]

Poll question: DU Votes for the Oscars - Best Actress in a leading role

Best Actor in a Leading Role: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7850187
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7850243
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7850271
Best Motion Picture: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7850296
Best Directing: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7850327

[joeybee12]

1. Sandra Bullock will win, the only other one who has a chance is Carey Mulligan...n/t

[CTyankee]

3. Carey Mulligan was quite good in "An Education." I really enjoyed that movie.

Extra bonus: a cameo role of Emma Thompson, playing a nasty headmistress. Always good to see her excellent work.

[joeybee12]

12. I love Emma Thompson...

disappointed though that she appeared in remake of Brideshead Revisited, mainly because the 1980's mini-series was perfection, so why phuck around with it?

[LWolf]

2. I haven't seen any of those movies. nt

[hfojvt]

10. dang. I should have replied to you

instead of making my numberless post below. Going to movies has always seemed like a waste of money to me, especially now when you can get a DVD later for about $9 and many people can watch that movie over and over for a fraction of what going to a movie costs. My siblings even have big screens if that adds to the experience. Although I have noticed that my brother's wide screen makes people look fatter than they really are.

[hamsterjill]

4. This is Bullock's year!

She was awesome in the Blind Side, captured the character completely.

[CTyankee]

5. I want Streep to win because her performance as Julia Child was so

very fine. After the disappointing "Mamma Mia," I was so happy to see Streep back in command of really good material and how she developed her character. What a delight she is!

[FourScore]

6. She's my choice too.

Although I must disclose that I have not seen Sandra Bullock's movie.

[CTyankee]

7. I haven't either...shows you how "impartial" I am! I just don't "like" Bullock. Sorry...

[FourScore]

14. I do like her, but I have never seen her do any real "character" acting.

She always plays Sandra Bullock.

Maybe The Blind Side is different. I definitely want to see it.

[hfojvt]

I wonder how many people would vote like me

I have not seen any of those movies.

I did just buy a used DVD yesterday though - two movies on it - Demolition Man and Over the Top.

[Ishoutandscream2]

8. Best Actress -Laura Bush - "My Life With a Drunken, Stupid Monkey"

[FourScore]

17. I think she deserves the Lifetime Achievement Award for that performance!

:evilgrin:

[SidDithers]

9. I'm becoming such a homebody...

I haven't seen any of these films. But I became a big Meryl Streep fan when she sang on the Sandra Boynton kids CDs, so I'll vote for her.

Sid

[hfojvt]

11. that makes three of us - so far

[CTyankee]

13. GO SEE JULIE AND JULIA! Please. You'll thank me!

You will love what this woman does in her Julia Child persona. Whether the Academy recognizes it or not, it was a spectacular achievement. I cannot imagine Sandra Bullock doing better than STreep in this instance...

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ieoeja]

16. She may deserve it for her acting, but movie would have been better without the Bullock's character.

If you saw the Blind Side, then try imagining that same movie without Sandra Bullock's character. With that character minimized to a supporting role ... the Blind Side would probably be everyone's pick for the Best Movie Oscar.

Consider the major elements of the story:

- homeless black kid gets scholarship to private high school when the football coach fights for him (because the kid is freaking huge)

- homeless kid collects food scraps in the gym after high school basketball games

- homeless kid switches between his only two shirts every day, washing the other one by hand in a sink

- teacher discovering homeless kid is illiterate, teaches and exams him verbally, and discovers he's a lot brighter than his grades had previously indicated

- teacher persuades all the other teachers to do same

- wealthy ex-cheerleader who married an Ole Miss quarterback and is still a superfan of Ole Miss football learns the top football prospect at her children's high school is homeless and takes him in

- wealthy ex-cheerleader bullies everyone about everything

- wealthy ex-cheerleader reforms her ways and devotes the remainder of her life helping homeless children

Oops! That last part DIDN'T HAPPEN. Once the rich shrew got her boy into Ole Miss and thence on to the NFL, she somehow managed to not find any non-athletic homeless children she felt an overwhelming urge to help.

Did the rich family do something good? Yes. But their motives are questionable, and the NCAA investigation would probably have gone against them if not for the NCAA-throws-homeless-kid-out-of-college story that would have resulted.

More importantly to the Oscar conversation, about 99% of the film wasted on Bullock's character did nothing but detract from an incredibly poignant story about this homeless kid. As I said at the beginning, edit all that worthless crap out of the film, and you have a shoe-in for Best Movie (some would still pull for Avatar, but "coolest" doesn't necessarily mean best).


She acted the part wonderfully. For which she may deserve the Oscar (I haven't seen any of the other performances; so I can't tell). But it is real shame that she wins an Oscar for a part that seriously damaged the quality of the movie in which the part occurred.