Leading Actress 2016

Stone wasn't quite a juggernaut during the Oscar race, as both Huppert and Portman got quite a lot of press and hype. Some of that was early on which faded before Stone really cemented herself as the one to beat. Streep is always in the mix and the darkhorse, even more than Huppert, was Negga coming out of nowhere with a nomination. I'll have to see how they all stack up.

2016 Best Actress

Emma Stone - La La Land

I have been sitting here awhile trying to figure out just what to write about Emma Stone and her win. La La Land was fun and interesting but very underwhelming to me. I feel like that perfectly explains Stone's performance in my opinion: fun and interesting but ultimately very underwhelming. I even watched the film twice just to be sure my opinion wasn't lukewarm because I was tired or something. But even after two views, I just didn't feel very strongly at all about Stone's performance as Mia, an up and coming actress trying to find her way in Hollywood. It's clearly not a bad performance but I was looking for something to wow me and I just never found it. She has amazing chemistry with Ryan Gosling, as the two have starred together in a few films now and the rapport is quite evident. They are two actors having fun working together and it makes each of them better and the film better as a whole. Stone is alright with the singing and dancing but she is by no means amazing at either aspect. Whereas in the old Hollywood musicals the female stars would belt out song after song and pull off some dizzying tap dance or whirling dance moves for most of the film, that doesn't happen here. The singing and dancing is sort of a background element or really just a supporting player in the film. I do think Stone is stronger when she's playing the more dramatic and actorly parts. And I think Stone succeeds in part because she comes off as an everywoman or a girl next door type that you can easily relate to and doesn't have that Hollywood stuck up asshole vibe going on. That all makes her likable and easy to root for. I just wasn't blown away by her performance and I was really expecting to love it. I think she is good and definitely deserves to be nominated in this group but I just wanted more, same thing for Gosling and the film itself. I don't hate the win, though, at all. I'm happy she won and was fine it wasn't Streep or Portman (who is very good herself!) again because I like having new winners. Maybe in time I'll warm up to the performance itself more because I do like it, it's just that I don't feel strong enough to advocate for it and add to the hype. I am excited to see where Stone goes from here. I'm hoping she continues to give us interesting performances and make good choices for the films she's in.

Isabelle Huppert - Elle

I always have trouble with these foreign actor nominations because I wonder if I'm missing something in translation or missing some subtlety in the acting while I'm reading the subtitles. I've gone on about that subject in the past but it's always there for me. This is a wild Paul Verhoeven film who you know from directing Basic Instinct, Showgirls, and Starship Troopers among a couple other big films. This one tells the story of Michele, a successful businesswoman who is raped in her home and goes on about her life after it happens. She's got a long list of heavy issues going on in her life: her son has a pregnant overbearing girlfriend who gives birth to a black baby (everyone is white in this), an ex-husband who is with a prettier, younger yoga teacher, she's sleeping with her business partner's husband, her mother pays young men for sex and is now getting married to one before she dies, her father is up for parole after a mass murder incident some 30 years prior that involved Michele, and a seemingly perfect couple who live across the street who are more than meets the eye. Like I said, a ton going on in Michele's life and Huppert has to navigate all of this while still creating an engaging, cohesive performance. I'll admit I don't know what else Huppert has done, but she is treated as a living legend when you look online. I can understand why a little bit after watching this performance because she is able to wrangle all these different possible emotions and keep it compelling and interesting. The whole point of the film is that Huppert turns the tables on her attacker. It's a rape revenge thriller and she is actually raped a couple of times in the film leading to the final big moment where she does indeed get her revenge. It doesn't surprise me, either, that the character would plan something long term like that because she is whip smart and creative. What I like about Huppert's performance is the fact that she is sorta cold and aloof after the first rape. By that I mean, she doesn't turn into a scared, blubbering mess for the rest of the film. She goes about her life and deals with the issues she has going on and eventually hatches her revenge plot. I feel like that better matches the story and Huppert makes her Michele into a believable character and even somewhat sympathetic. It does reek a bit of a male fantasy with rape almost becoming sexy but I guess women could think the same way. Honestly, the material is very frank and goes to places not many other films would which makes it unique and very interesting to watch. The performance Huppert gives is a big reason for that. I think people will react differently to this film and thus Huppert's performance, but it certainly belongs on the Best Actress list. I have a feeling I'm going to be thinking about this one for a long time after watching it.

Ruth Negga - Loving

I am having a hard time really coming up with anything interesting to say about Negga and her performance. Now, don't get me wrong, I think Negga is good in the role of Mildred Loving, part of an interracial couple that takes their case to the Supreme Court to overturn all miscegenation (the mixing of races) laws in the country. Her and her white husband are allowed to be legally married anywhere in the country and the film has an important message about love and common decency. And I think it's great that a woman born in Ethiopia could one day become an Oscar nominated actress. But Negga's performance is a quiet, yet firm, portrayal of a woman who just wants to live with her family without any fuss over her marriage. I think Negga strikes the right balance of keeping her character grounded and not becoming prone to any outlandish acting choices. This film doesn't call for the latter stuff at all and Negga quietly turns her character into a dignified woman who just happens to be a turning point in the civil rights of this country. She is sort of that reluctant hero who just wants to do good by her family and enjoy her little slice of life. There are no big Oscar moments in this performance. No big screaming scenes about being persecuted. No big weep fests over the cruelty of her being locked up and told to leave Virginia. Nothing like any of that and while it makes the performance seem small and insular, it is sort of refreshing in that Negga stays even keeled while chaos is going on around her, just like her husband does, too. So it can be hard to really enjoy the performance on an emotional level when Negga is almost without emotion for long stretches of the film. Now, she does internalize a lot of that emotion that you have to watch her face and eyes to see what's going on in her head and heart. Sometimes that connects with me but it didn't quite get there for me this time. I still like the performance and am glad she was nominated but this is the one quiet performance of the five in this group and struggles to rise above the noise of the others. But you should watch Loving for yourself and decide if Negga is worth of a possible Oscar win.

Natalie Portman - Jackie

I watched this film twice in a week during the heart of the Oscar race, the only film I actually watched before the Oscars. At first I wasn't a fan of Portman's. The accent when you first hear it is jarring. I was thinking how can I suffer through a whole film of this awful accent? But Portman settles into the accent, though there are plenty of times where it looks like she is working at making it believable, where it's heavily affected. But you get used to it and Portman settles into actually becoming Jackie and the film takes off from there. My second watch let me not get so involved in the accent thing and just watch Portman be Jackie and it made for a much better experience. So I say that just to let you know to stick with it. The film follows the days after Kennedy is assassinated as Jackie recounts those days for an interview. Portman is intense as Jackie, there's no other way to put that. She put everything she had acting wise into this performance to become Jackie and make the character her own. All of the best scenes hit hard because Portman brings the intensity but also because she embodies Jackie's calm, strong spirit to not let people walk all over her and be her own person. Portman is all at once fragile and strong and vulnerable and devastated and determined and hopeful and melancholy and a million other emotions at the same time. She pulls off this amazing range of acting without ever really wavering. Her Jackie is brutal to watch and you just sympathize with a woman who was thrust into the public eye and had to endure such an awful tragedy while keeping a classy face for a nation in mourning. Just listen to the beautiful and haunting score (which should have won the Oscar over that La La Land crap), especially the track "Children" to hear what I just described about Portman's performance summed up in music. It perfectly accentuates everything Portman does in this film. Portman at one point was the front runner for the win which is what prompted me to first watch her. I was ready to bash it because the online world loves them some Portman but I was hooked after getting used to her Jackie. I just think even now that her performance has grown in my mind and it is her best work to me, even better than her win in Black Swan which I wasn't a big fan of back then. I'm very much debating whether or not to give Portman the win here, that's how much I enjoyed the film and her performance as a whole.

Meryl Streep - Florence Foster Jenkins

I am coming to the end of my Streep responsibilities. It's Meryl Streep. You are tired of Meryl Streep. I have two more Meryl Streep to go and I'm almost tired of Meryl Streep. This is her 20th(!) nomination for acting. No one will EVER match this. So how is the actual performance? Streep is flawless as usual. Seriously. She gets to become Mrs. Jenkins and she does the actual bad singing that you hear in the film. It's awful and you get the sense of what this was like in the 40s but it's still Streep giving her all. Besides the awful singing she still gives a very heartfelt performance because she is very calculating in her acting choices. This is Streep being Streep. You know the performance is going to be solid and have some quirk to it that sets it apart (the bad singing here). I feel like I've been writing mostly the same thing for her year after year. You'll be fine with the performance but you will also wonder if it really should have been nominated. I always feel like unless Streep is just absolutely amazing, they should let in some other actresses for these nominations. That's unfair, I know, but that's what 20 nominations does to a reviewer. I also wanted to note that both Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg are pretty great in their roles, Grant more so. He could have easily been a Best Actor nominee, though I do remember a lot of people putting him in Supporting conversations but whatever. It's a decent little film that has some pretty great performances that make it a must watch for any Oscar fan. I just wonder how many more nominations Streep has left in her.


You know, I really wanted to love Emma Stone's performance but I frankly don't feel like it lives up to the hype and I wasn't wowed by it at all. It's good, sure, but damn if Huppert and Portman don't blow her away. I don't even know how to rank these five. I guess we can put Streep last even though she is very entertaining and does a great job as usual just because it's Streep for the umpteenth time. Negga would be fourth because a lot of her performance is internalized and below the surface. She might actually rise in the future for me but for now this is where she goes. I'll put Stone third because there is a lot to like about her performance and she tries hard to be charming and likable and all that. It just never grabbed me how it seemed to grab everyone else. The hardest choice is between both Huppert and Portman. Both have difficult roles and films and both knock em out of the park. I feel like Portman has resonated with me for so long that she gets the slight edge. I think it's the combination of her performance with that haunting score and the melancholy cinematography that creates a whole experience for me. Writing this now, I want to watch her again which doesn't happen too often. I know I said I was fine with her not winning because we got a new winner but after watching them all, she is my choice. This is definitely one of the better Best Actress groups I've seen in awhile and I'm hopeful that trend will continue for 2017.

Oscar Winner: Emma Stone - La La Land
My Winner: Natalie Portman - Jackie
Isabelle Huppert
Emma Stone
Ruth Negga
Meryl Streep