Oscar Nominations

Oscar nominations have been announced and include a few of my kind of people, mainly the women for now and mainly the older women.(Like me)  I have to say quickly I love men and will talk about the later, but for now I want to focus on the women.   Among the 10 nominations, 5 for Best Actress and 5 for Best Supporting actress and their ages range from an amazing 24 to an amazing 85.  I am thrilled and delighted that so many older women are making it still in the acting laurels game.  Listing in alphabetical order:

1.  We have the lovely Amy Adams nominated for best actress for AMERICAN HUSTLE, she has already won the Best Actress award (Comedy) at the Golden Globes, SAG awards and Critics Choice (Comedy) and now old man Oscar is staring her in the face.   The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, does not divide up Comedy and Drama and Action Feature, it’s just Best Performance Actor or Actress, Leading or Supporting…it does make the show a bit shorter!  And these award shows are now Big Business for Television and their advertisers, so long as they do not grow by too many and too long and drive away audiences, which could happen!  Amy is 40, which is an nice respectable age for a lady competing for an Oscar.

2.  The talented Cate Blanchett for Leading actress for BLUE JASMINE…another terrific actress and she has already won twice for her acting in this film, Golden Globes (Drama) and Critics Choice (Drama).   Cate has already got one or two excellent performances under her belt at the age of 45.

3.  GRAVITY is such a masterful movie and to be able to engage an audience in the midst of all this technical wizardry and hold the audience, almost alone for an entire film is major feat in itself.   So I salute Sandra Bullock and her wonderful skills stamina and appearance at the age of 50.  And “boo” to all those ‘nay sayers’ who moaned about her hair and wardrobe.

4.  Then we come to the extraordinary actress Judi Dench nominated for Leading Actress at the age of 80 for her moving and intelligent performance as “Philomena” in the film of the same name.   I first saw Judi at the Old Vic Theatre, when I was still at school, playing “Juliet” in “Romeo and Juliet…we could see then that she was a major actress in the making…she is a joy to watch on screen and stage.

5.  On to Sally Hawkins, who has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for BLUE JASMINE at aged 38, a mere child and a terrific comedienne…HAPPY-GO- LUCKY.

6.  And now the baby of the bunch, Jennifer Lawrence 24, nominated as Best Supporting Actress in AMERICAN HUSTLE, for which she has already won  the Golden Globe award.   It really is a remarkable performance from such a young person, but she won an Oscar last year and has consistently demonstrated a unique and magical talent.

7. We have Lupito Nyong’o 31, in the tragic film 12 YEARS A SLAVE, vulnerable and tragic and already a two times winner, the SAG awards and the Critics Circle, according to her biography she is also a Director.  No doubt we will see more of this talented lady.

8.  Julia Roberts ..47.. is nominated for Best Supporting Actress and quite honestly I think this terrific actress should be in the Best Actress Group.  She gives a real leading performance and she and Meryl Streep make a formidable team of battling women.  Sadly this is often down to the films distributors who are afraid that two equal actresses in a leading category will “knock each other out of the race”  and so they “suggest” one actress be in a supporting role, to give them both a chance. This is the machinations and politics of Hollywood…an Oscar win means a lot more money at the box office.

9. The Queen of Movies:  Meryl Streep, still going strong at the age of 65… is an amazing and consistently outstanding actress and star.   She is extraordinary in AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY and is not afraid to appear as a nasty, bitter, vindictive woman, which might give many actresses pause before taking on such hateful character.

10.  And lastly in the alphabet, we have a terrific performance from the great June Squibb, aged 85, who can still pull if off at that age as the miserable, irritating and so believable wife in NEBRASKA.   Go…June!!!  There is hope for us all yet.

And there my friends is a great group of women who should all win, but…………….we wont change the system.