10. (Tie) Ellen Page - Juno;
Audrey Tautou - Amelie
Two social outcasts - one by choice, and the other by pregnancy - prove that films starring women don't always have to be chick flicks. Ellen Page won Best Actress at the 2008 Sullivan-Gooley Awards, and if you saw Juno, you'd easily see why. By taking Diablo Cody's script and running with it, Page nailed the quick-witted, take-no-prisoners Juno and stole the hearts of all my friends ... except mine. Mine was stolen by Audrey Tautou in 2000, when Amelie taught me how to be creative in romance. Her adventurous spirit always at constant battle with solitude, Amelie finds a prospective running mate to the test. I'll admit, I've pawned a few of her ideas as my own.
9. Kate Winslett - Revolutionary Road
Although I'll argue that DiCaprio carries this movie, all you have to see is the look on Winslett's face while standing beside a tree in the back yard to realize the outcome of this story. Revolutionary Road uses tragedy as a call to action: stop at nothing to fulfill your dreams; because once you settle, life will stop at nothing to keep you from obtaining them.
8. Joan Allen - The Contender
You may know her as the mom in Pleasantville or Pam Landy in the Jason Bourne Trilogy, but her turn as a senator destined to become the first female Vice President may very well be the most underrated performance by an actress this decade. The way she reacts to every challenge - every source of two-sided propaganda - is just like a boxer shucking and jiving to the jabs of an opponent. "The Contender" is an overt double-meaning.
7. Halle Berry - Monster's Ball
Playing a mother in love with a murderer; who loses that person to the electric chair; then falls in love with his executioner; and witnesses her son get run over by a car and die ... that's excrutiating. Having to sleep with Billy Bob Thorton on camera? That's either a death wish, an invitation for disease, or a one-way ticket to Oscar glory. She'd like to thank the Academy...
6. Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich
"They're called boobs, Ed."
5. Sissy Spacek - In the Bedroom
I wonder if she hired someone to kill one of her children so that she could prepare for this role. I'm not sure if she even has any kids, but with her turn as a grieving mother in In the Bedroom, she sure knows what it's like to lose one.
4. Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream
After getting lost in a very disturbing game show, exercising a diet consisting of 5 pills and a glass of water, fearing the refridgerator is out to eat her, and with her son stealing her TV to pawn for drug money, I'd be just as excited as Ellen Burstyn's Sara Goldfarb. "Be! Excited! Be, Be, Excited!"
3. Hillary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
I wanted to kill myself after watching Million Dollar Baby, but couldn't stop thinking about the performance given by Hillary Swank. The physical training, the psychology, and the depth required to play Maggie was a challenge only a few women could bring to the table, and Swank was a sheer knockout.
2. Helen Mirren - The Queen
She WAS the Queen. The end.
Anyone who thinks Charlize Theron is hot will simply not recognize her in Monster. For exhibit A, please see the picture to the left. I wouldn't touch that with a 40 foot pole. Ironically enough, Theron plays a role every guy would kill to see in their own mind: a hooker who kills her way to personal satisfaction. Instead, we get the person in the picture on the left. The joke's on us, boys. She's evil, and doesn't apologize for it. Theron may never deliver another good performance in her life, but she doesn't have to. Monster isn't a movie to see "just for kicks." It's a movie you study. It's a performance you admire. It's an actress embodying the role she was meant to play; even if it means risking everything that got her there.
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