Toni Collette is gorgeous.

Seriously. She always plays the sad, lonely, and loveless girl, so most of her movies don't do anything for her looks, and she's not typically Hollywood gorgeous like Naomi Watts or something, but she's beautiful. She's certainly more beautiful than actresses that, at times, I suspect may actually be men (seriously, have you people watched Elizabeth lately? Dude in pretty clothing).

Yay, Toni!!

I'm sure ya'll are aware, but the woman who rocks at playing mothers (and everything else) is pregnant. Yay!

(I'm all alone while the boyf goes to work. boo. I'm like ScarJo in Lost in Translation. No, that's not what we're like at all, and the fact that he actually made that comparison, jokingly, proves that it was meant to be. Huzzah.)

Not enough love for these guys.

^ the lovely and talented Ms. Collette is pretty much the definition of underappreciated (by the Academy, not by bloggers and the like), no? (Though I'm pretty sure none of her performances appear anywhere in this entry. WHOOOOPS) So being a dork of all types, I have nominees in all acting categories for every year beyond the top 5. Because I'm oh so very cool, I have decided to list my "not enough love" nominees. No, these people weren't as good as the people I nominated (that's why I nominated them... but yeah, some of my nominees for various years are here as well), but these represent good performances that I feel were ignored by both Academy-types and online-types. Please note, I needed 5, so sometimes I just went with the 5 least noticed performances, even if one or two of them may have indeed garnered widespread acclaim and nominations.

1995
Best Actor - Robert De Niro, Heat; Ethan Hawke, Before Sunrise; Al Pacino, Heat; Linus Roache, Priest; Bruce Willis, 12 Monkeys
Best Actress - Victoria Abril, French Twist; Toni Collette, Muriel's Wedding; Julie Delpy, Before Sunrise; Gong Li, Shanghai Triad; Alicia Silverstone, Clueless
Best Supporting Actor - Don Cheadle, Devil in a Blue Dress; Robert Downey Jr., Home for the Holidays; Val Kilmer, Heat; John Leguizamo, To Wong Foo...; Tim Roth, Rob Roy
Best Supporting Actress - Ileana Douglas, To Die For; Anjelica Houston, The Crossing Guard; Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dolores Claiborne; Ashley Judd, Smoke; Mia Kirshner, Exotica

1996
Best Actor - Philip Baker Hall, Hard Eight; Chris Cooper, Lone Star; Liam Neeson, Michael Collins; Stanley Tucci, Big Night; James Woods, Killer: A Journal of Murder
Best Actress - Laura Dern, Citizen Ruth; Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma; Lily Taylor, I Shot Andy Warhol; Reese Witherspoon, Freeway; Robin Wright Penn, Moll Flanders
Best Supporting Actor - Derek Jacobi, Hamlet; Kevin Spacey, A Time to Kill; Noah Taylor, Shine; Vince Vaughn, Swingers; James Woods, Ghosts of Mississippi
Best Supporting Actress - Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Secrets and Lies (Oscar nominee, I know...); Rose McGowan, Scream; Gwyneth Paltrow, Hard Eight; Natalie Portman, Beautiful Girls; Kate Winslet, Hamlet

1997
Best Actor - Aaron Eckhart, In the Company of Men; Kevin Kline, The Ice Storm; Clive Owen, Bent; Al Pacino, Donnie Brasco; Mark Wahlberg, Boogie Nights
Best Actress - Cate Blanchett, Oscar and Lucinda; Pam Grier, Jackie Brown; Jennifer Lopez, Selena; Julia Roberts, My Best Friend's Wedding; Victoire Thivsol, Ponette
Best Supporting Actor - Rupert Everett, My Best Friend's Wedding; Samuel L. Jackson, Eve's Bayou; Jude Law, Gattaca; Alfred Molina, Boogie Nights; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Boogie Nights
Best Supporting Actress - Stacy Edwards, In the Company of Men; Linda Fiorentino, Men in Black; Bridget Fonda, Jackie Brown; Sarah Polley, The Sweet Hereafter; Parker Posey, Waiting for Guffman

1998
Best Actor - Javier Bardem, Live Flesh; George Clooney, Out of Sight; Robert Downey Jr., Two Girls and a Guy; Jason Schwartzman, Rushmore; Ray Winstone, Nil by Mouth
Best Actress - Jane Adams, Happiness; Samantha Morton, Under the Skin; Gwyneth Paltrow, Sliding Doors; Christina Ricci, Buffalo '66; Chloe Sevigny, The Last Days of Disco
Best Supporting Actor - Dylan Baker, Happiness; Matt Dillon, There's Something About Mary; Brendan Frasier, Gods and Monsters; Steve Martin, The Spanish Prisoner; Bill Nighy, Still Crazy
Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Clarkson, High Art; Kimberly Elise, Beloved; Scarlett Johansson, The Horse Whisperer; Meryl Streep, Dancing at Lughnasa; Olivia Williams, Rushmore

1999
Best Actor - Brad Pitt, Fight Club; Terrence Stamp, The Limey; and everyone else on my list is either an Oscar nominee or very widely acclaimed
Best Actress - Elodie Bouchez, The Dreamlife of Angels; Elaine Cassidy, Felicia's Journey; Heather Donahue, The Blair Witch Project; Sigourney Weaver, A Map of the World; Kate Winslet, Holy Smoke!
Best Supporting Actor - Rhys Ifans, Notting Hill; Spike Jonze, Three Kings; Bill Murray, Cradle Will Rock; Alan Rickman, Dogma; Peter Sarsgaard, Boys Don't Cry
Best Supporting Actress - Lara Belmont, The War Zone; Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut (nobody talks about this performance for her. Weird); Gwyneth Paltrow, The Talented Mr. Ripley (of course, Blandshit gets all the attention for a 2-minute, nothing part); Sarah Polley, Go; Mena Suvari, American Beauty (way better than Birch)

2000
Best Actor - Billy Crudup, Jesus' Son; John Cusack, High Fidelity; Dan Futterman, Urbania; Jared Leto, Requiem for a Dream; Forest Whitaker, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Best Actress - Gillian Anderson, The House of Mirth; Cate Blanchett, The Gift; Michelle Pfeiffer, What Lies Beneath; Michelle Rodriguez, Girlfight; Michelle Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (yay for...Michelles)
Best Supporting Actor - Jack Black, High Fidelity; Rory Culkin, You Can Count on Me; Bill Murray, Hamlet; Brad Pitt, Snatch.; Jeffrey Wright, Shaft
Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Deneuve, Dancer in the Dark; Laura Linney, The House of Mirth; Lupe Ontiveros, Chuck and Buck; Rebecca Pidgeon, State and Main; Parker Posey, Best in Show

2001
Best Actor - Eric Bana, Chopper; Anthony LaPaglia, Lantana; William H. Macy, Panic; Ben Stiller, Zoolander; Ray Winstone, Sexy Beast
Best Actress - Kirsten Dunst, crazy/beautiful; Lena Endre, Faithless; Piper Perabo, Lost and Delirious; Franka Potente, The Princess and the Warrior; Brooke Smith, Series 7: The Contenders
Best Supporting Actor - Brian Cox, L.I.E.; Will Ferrell, Zoolander; Colin Firth, Bridget Jones' Diary; Justin Theroux, Mulholland Dr.; Luke Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums
Best Supporting Actress - Kerry Armstrong, Lantana; Rachael Blake, Lantana; Frances O'Connor, AI: Artificial Intelligence; Miriam Shor, Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Uma Thurman, Tape

2002
Best Actor - Javier Camara, Talk to Her; Greg Kinnear, Auto Focus; James Nesbitt, Bloody Sunday; Campbell Scott, Roger Dodger; Nasseeruddin Shah, Monsoon Wedding
Best Actress - except Samantha Morton Morvern Callar, who was easily the best of the year (owns both Nicole and Julianne's behinds) there is nobody without very wide acclaim and awards support.
Best Supporting Actor - Alan Arkin, Thirteen Conversations...; Ray Liotta, Narc; Benoit Magimel, The Piano Teacher; Barry Pepper, 25th Hour; Philip Seymour Hoffman, 25th Hour
Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams, Catch Me If You Can; Rosario Dawson, 25th Hour; Kathleen McDermott, Morvern Callar; Emily Mortimer, Lovely and Amazing; Miranda Richardson, Spider

2003
Best Actor - Jack Black, School of Rock; Patty Considine, In America; Robert Downey Jr., The Singing Detective; Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dirty Pretty Things; Kevin Spacey, The Life of David Gale
Best Actress - Cate Blanchett, Veronica Guerin; Zooey Deschanel, All the Real Girls; Gwyneth Paltrow, Sylvia; Meg Ryan, In the Cut; Renee Zellweger, Down with Love
Best Supporting Actor - Bobby Cannavale, The Station Agent; Colin Firth, Love Actually; Hugh Grant, Love Actually; Bill Nighy, Love Actually; Geoffrey Rush, Pirates of the Carribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Best Supporting Actress - Laura Linney, The Life of David Gale; Laura Linney, Love Actually; Lucy Liu, Kill Bill, Vol. 1; Frances McDormand, Laurel Canyon; Natalie Portman, Cold Mountain

2004
Best Actor - Christian Bale, The Machinist; Billy Crudup, Stage Beauty; Jude Law, Alfie; Tobey Maguire, Spider-Man 2; Sean Penn, The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Best Actress - Laura Dern, We Don't Live Here Any More; Jennifer Garner, 13 Going on 30; Scarlett Johansson, A Love Song for Bobby Long; Julia Roberts, Closer; Reese Witherspoon, Vanity Fair
Best Supporting Actor - Antonio Banderas, Shrek 2; Steve Carell, Anchorman; Ben Gazzarra, Dogville; Topher Grace, In Good Company; Jude Law, I Heart Huckabees
Best Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett, Coffee and Cigarettes (worlds better than in The Aviator); Kirsten Dunst, Eternal Sunshine...; Sandra Oh, Sideways; Kyra Sedgwick, The Woodsman; Lily Tomlin, I Heart Huckabees

2005
Best Actor - Christian Bale, Batman Begins; Steve Carell, The 40-Year-Old Virgin; Jake Gyllenhaal, Jarhead (though it seems kinda odd to be calling Jake underrated. Oh well. At least 2 Cate Blanchett performances got mentioned, so yeah.); Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Match Point; Vince Vaughn, Wedding Crashers
Best Actress - Claire Danes, Shopgirl; Embeth Davidtz, Junebug; Q'Orianka Kilcher, The New World; Rachel McAdams, Red Eye; Nathalie Press, My Summer of Love
Best Supporting Actor - George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck. (much better than in Syriana); Liam Neeson, Breakfast on Pluto; Edward Norton, Kingdom of Heaven; Michael Pena, Crash; Peter Sarsgaard, Jarhead
Best Supporting Actress - Rosario Dawson, Rent; Isla Fisher, Wedding Crashers; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Happy Endings; Gong Li, Memoirs of a Geisha; Emily Mortimer, Match Point

2006
Best Actor - Christian Bale, The Prestige; Joshua Jackson, Aurora Borealis; Heath Ledger, Candy; William H. Macy, Edmond; Edward Norton, Down in the Valley
Best Actress - Scarlett Johansson, Scoop; Nicole Kidman, Fur; Beyonce Knowles, Dreamgirls (seriously NOT THAT BAD); Melinda Page Hamilton, Sleeping Dogs Lie (I'm not sure this is so much underrated as just .04 people saw it, and well, it was never gonna get a wide distribution now was it); Rachel Weisz, The Fountain
Best Supporting Actor - Woody Allen, Scoop; David Bowie, The Prestige; Doug Jones, Pan's Labyrinth; Ian McKellen, The Da Vinci Code; Kevin Spacey, Superman Returns
Best Supporting Actress - Jessica Biel, The Illusionist; Jill Clayburgh, Running with Scissors; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stranger than Fiction; Frances McDormand, Friends with Money; Kate Winslet, Romance and Cigarettes

Yeah, some of my choices might look wonky to you (Woody Allen in Scoop comes to mind). But, give these performances some love! Or at least check 'em out.

I actually saw 3 movies this weekend.

Evening is...ewww. It's basically a Lifetime movie, with about the same level of technical achievement and acting. Seriously, you look at the cast, and then...the only person who's really good (and even then, not like she's Oscar-worthy) is Meryl, who is in it for about five minutes. The movie made me hate Toni Collette, for chrissakes! I'm hardly the biggest fan of The Hours but compared to Evening, the former is a masterpiece in its transitions between the years and whatnot. Yikes. D

Once is good but not half as good as I was hearing. It's Lost in Translation without the amazing acting, on a $17 budget. Oh my God the camera was so fucking annoying. It's a totally sweet story, though, and the music is actually great. B-/B

Ratatouille is an animated masterpiece. Cars wasn't great, and I think The Incredibles is extremely overrated, but this is a return to form after Pixar's mini-"slump." LOVE IT. A

Returning to The Screen Directory...

Remember this? So, I was really bored and I decided to list my nominations for their top 15 actors and actresses. Here goes! For every actor/actress, I have only included their 1990s and 2000s work (sorry Jack.).


the gentlemen

philip seymour hoffman
1999 - best supporting actor, magnolia (loses to tom cruise magnolia)
2000 - best supporting actor, almost famous (loses to mark ruffalo you can count on me)
top 10s for capote (2005), top 15s for the talented mr. ripley (1999), 25th hour (2002), and owning mahoney (2003)

edward norton
1996 - best supporting actor, primal fear *
1996 - best supporting actor, the people vs. larry flynt (loses to...himself)
1998 - best actor, american history x (loses to ian mckellen gods and monsters)
2002 - best actor, 25th hour (loses to jack nicholson about schmidt)
top 10s for fight club (1999), top 20s for the painted veil (2006)

sean penn
1993 - best supporting actor, carlito's way (loses to ralph fiennes schindler's list)
1995 - best actor, dead man walking (loses to nicolas cage leaving las vegas)
2003 - best actor, mystic river (loses to bill murray lost in translation)
top 10s for sweet and lowdown (1999) and 21 grams (2003), top 15s for the assassination of richard nixon (2004). and i still haven't seen much of his 80s stuff.

christian bale
2000 - best actor, american psycho *
top 10s for the machinist (2004), top 20s for batman begins (2005), top 30s for the prestige (2006) (last year was really strong for actors, he was quite good)

leonardo dicaprio
1993 - best supporting actor, what's eating gilbert grape? (loses to ralph fiennes schindler's list) 2006 - best actor, the departed (loses to ryan gosling half nelson)
top 10s for catch me if you can (2002), top 15s for the aviator (2004)

johnny depp
none. top 10s for ed wood (1994) - he's great, but i can't imagine taking anyone out of my top 6 (he's #7)

russell crowe
1997 - best actor, l.a. confidential (loses to ian holm the sweet hereafter)
1999 - best actor, the insider (loses to kevin spacey american beauty)
2000 - best actor, gladiator (loses to christian bale american psycho)
2001 - best actor, a beautiful mind *
top 10s for master and commander (2003), top 15s for cinderella man (2005), top 25s for a good year (seriously) (2006)

denzel washington
1992 - best actor, malcolm x *
2001 - best actor, training day (loses to russell crowe a beautiful mind)
top 25s for inside man (2006)

jack nicholson (remember, 1990s and after only)
2002 - best actor, about schmidt *
top 10s for as good as it gets (1997) and the pledge (2001), top 15s for the departed (2006)

joaquin phoenix
none. top 10 for quills (2000) and top 15 for walk the line (2005)

kevin spacey
1995 - best supporting actor, the usual suspects *
1997 - best supporting actor, l.a. confidential *
1999 - best actor, american beauty *
top 10s for henry & june (1990), the ref (1994), a time to kill (1996), hurlyburly (1998), and the life of david gale (2003), top 20s for superman returns (2006)

ralph fiennes
1993 - best supporting actor, schindler's list *
1996 - best actor, the english patient (loses to jeffrey wright basquiat)
2005 - best actor, the constant gardener (loses to heath ledger brokeback mountain)
top 15s for spider (2002) and he's also really good in red dragon, believe it or not...i need to put him in my lineup somewhere

tom hanks
1994 - best actor, forrest gump (loses to paul newman nobody's fool)
2000 - best actor, cast away (loses to christian bale american psycho)
top 10s for philadelphia (1993)

geoffrey rush
1996 - best actor, shine (loses to jeffrey wright basquiat)
top 15s for shakespeare in love and elizabeth (1998), quills (2000), and pirates of the carribbean: the curse of the black pearl (2003)

paul giamatti
2004 - best actor, sideways (loses to clive owen closer)
top 15s for the illusionist (2006), cinderella man (2005), and american splendor (2003)


the ladies

cate blanchett
1998 - best actress, elizabeth (loses to samantha morton under the skin)
2000 - best actress, the gift (loses to ellen burstyn requiem for a dream)
top 10s for oscar and lucinda (1997), heaven (2002), veronica guerin (2003), coffee and cigarettes (2004), and the good german (2006)

nicole kidman
1995 - best actress, to die for (loses to elisabeth shue leaving las vegas)
1999 - best supporting actress, eyes wide shut *
2001 - best actress, moulin rouge! (loses to naomi watts mulholland dr.)
2001 - best actress, the others (yes, nominated twice)
2004 - best actress, dogville (loses to kate winslet eternal sunshine...)
2004 - best actress, birth (yes, nominated twice...again)
top 15 for fur (2006)

kate winslet (and the fangirlyness starts!!!)
1994 - best actress, heavenly creatures (loses to linda fiorentino the last seduction)
1995 - best supporting actress, sense and sensibility *
1996 - best supporting actress, hamlet (loses to frances mcdormand fargo)
1999 - best actress, holy smoke! (loses to hilary swank boys don't cry)
2000 - best supporting actress, quills (loses to jennifer connelly requiem for a dream)
2001 - best supporting actress, iris *
2004 - best actress, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind *
2006 - best actress, little children (loses to meryl streep the devil wears prada)
top 10s for jude (1996) and hideous kinky (1998)

hilary swank
1999 - best actress, boys don't cry *
top 15s for million dollar baby (2004)

reese witherspoon
1996 - best actress, freeway (loses to emily watson breaking the waves)
1999 - best actress, election (loses to hilary swank boys don't cry)
2005 - best actress, walk the line (loses to rachel weisz the constant gardener)
top 10 for man on the moon (1991) and legally blonde (2001), top 15 for vanity fair (2004)

renee zellweger
2000 - best actress, nurse betty (loses to ellen burstyn requiem for a dream)
2001 - best actress, bridget jones' diary (loses to naomi watts mulholland dr.)
2003 - best supporting actress, cold mountain (loses to holly hunter thirteen)
top 10s for jerry maguire (1996) and chicago (2002), top 15s for down with love (2003)

juliette binoche
1991 - best actress, lovers on the bridge (loses to jodie foster silence of the lambs)
1994 - best actress, three colors: blue (loses to holly hunter the piano)
top 10s for the english patient (1996)

jennifer connelly
2000 - best supporting actress, requiem for a dream *
top 10s for house of sand and fog (2003)

rachel weisz
2005 - best actress, the constant gardener *
top 15s for the fountain (2006) (can't decide if she's supporting or leading. currently i have her as lead...in supporting, i would nominate her.)

maggie gyllenhaal
2002 - best actress, secretary (loses to samantha morton morvern callar)
top 10s for sherrybaby (2006) and happy endings (2005), top 20s for stranger than fiction (2006), top 30s for world trade center (2006)

charlize theron
2003 - best actress, monster (loses to uma thurman kill bill and scarjo lost in translation)

rachel mcadams
none. top 10s for mean girls (2004) and red eye (2005)

julianne moore
1993 - best supporting actress, short cuts (loses to gong li farewell, my concubine)
1994 - best supporting actress, vanya on 42nd street (loses to uma thurman pulp fiction)
1995 - best actress, safe (loses to elisabeth shue leaving las vegas)
1997 - best supporting actress, boogie nights (loses to sarah polley the sweet hereafter)
1999 - best actress, the end of the affair (loses to hilary swank boys don't cry)
2002 - best actress, far from heaven (loses to samantha morton morvern callar)
top 10s for the big lebowski (1998), the hours (2002), and children of men (2006)

toni collette
1995 - best actress, muriel's wedding (loses to elisabeth shue leaving las vegas)
1999 - best supporting actress, the sixth sense (loses to nicole kidman eyes wide shut)
2002 - best supporting actress, the hours (maybe, as it's a borderline cameo) (loses to catherine zeta-jones, chicago)
top 10s for about a boy (2002) and little miss sunshine (2006), top 15s for japanese story (2004) and in her shoes (2005)

naomi watts
2001 - best actress, mulholland dr. *
top 10 for the painted veil (2006), top 15 for i heart huckabees (2004)