Your Reminder That Julianne Moore is Now An Oscar Winner

We should start every morning this beautifully in 2015

a moment 20+ years in the making

It was "the foxiest bitch in the world" Amber Waves that first won Julianne Moore her legion of obsessed fans and should have won her the Oscar back when Boogie Nights (1997) first dropped its pants and entered pop culture. Sure, the ginger goddess had been fun in films before that like the trash hit The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and the romantic comedy Benny & Joon (1993) -- her first stab at playing a bad actress, a recurring and utterly delightful subthread in her filmography -- and she even got to slap Madonna early on onscreen (Body of Evidence, 1993). And she'd been brilliant before Amber in films like Shortcuts (1993), Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) and [safe] (1995) but the latter two were slow burns, only developing their ardent fanbases later on DVD and the first was loved for reasons well beyond and usually eclipsing Julianne's work.

Julianne first truly turned heads in 1993 in a trio of "who is that?" performances: SHORT CUTS, BENNY & JOON, & THE FUGITIVEShortcuts in particular had an interesting awards history. It was one of those odd ensemble pieces, courtesy of Robert Altman, wherein noone ever settled on a favorite performance. The Golden Globes were wise, presaging the invention of SAG's ensemble prize by giving it a special award. Julianne nabbed the films sole acting nomination at a major event with Independent Spirit Awards, but the critics weren't yet in Juli's corner. The NYFCC liked Jennifer Jason Leigh best citing only her (3rd place in their prizes), the NSFC gave their actual supporting actress win to Madeleine Stowe (also my favorite performance in that particular film) as Moore's sister, and the Chicago Film Critics rallied around Andie Macdowell. Oscar didn't know what to do with it either so Robert Altman won the films only nomination for Best Director*. 

But however long it took Julianne to get there, taking her place in history as a Best Actress winner, she got there.  Over the years she continually revealed new shades, new angles, and fresh daring and mystery as a performer, and became a leading lady par excellence to compliment her early supporting genius. She's also kind to fans and visibly appreciative of her good fortune in the industry. Everyone's personal favorite performances vary with a gallery of characters this rich but for yours truly she has more than earned this Oscar.

To Julianne: for Alice, Yelena, Mia, Havana Segrand, Barbara Baekeland, Laura Brown, Linda Partridge, Maude Lebowski, Marian Wyman, Marlene Craven, Sarah Miles and especially for that holy trinity of Amber Waves, Cathy Whitaker and Carol White: thank you, god. You've earned this golden man several times over. May Laurel Hester in Freeheld, your next creation, be a worthy and compelling victory lap. Yours always, xo, Nathaniel 

I love you.

*It's another topic entirely but the films that have only one nomination and its Best Director have always been a fascinating curiousity within Oscar history: see also Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, The Last Temptation of Christ

Top Ten Best Julianne Moore Performances

abstew here for a Tuesday Top Ten. Julianne Moore is known simply as 'God' at The Film Experience. That was Nathaniel's nickname for her even before the site was launched. It's winking hyperbole, sure, but if there's any other actress working today deserving of that moniker, it's this talented redhead who has given us countless transcendent performances for more than 20 years. This past Thursday, Moore earned her 5th career Oscar nomination for her beautiful performance in Still Alice and all signs indicate that this is the year that she will finally take home the gold. Since many are seeing this eventual win as honoring her impressive body of work, I could think of no better time than to look back over Julianne Moore's 10 Previous Best Performances. With such iconic creations as Amber Waves and Cathy Whitaker over the years, Moore's divinity has already been proven, but a golden statue still seems like a worthy offering. All hail, Julianne Moore!   

10. Maps to the Stars (2014)

Director: David Cronenberg
The Role: Havana Segrand, a self-centered, ageing Hollywood actress obsessed with playing her dead movie star mother in a film.
Awards: Cannes Film Festival Best Actress, Golden Globe Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy nomination

Why this Performance: I can't say that I'm a fan of the film as a whole (too many storylines and tonal shifts that seem unfocused and chaotic), but amid the chaos is Moore's livewire, crazy-committed performance. For an actress that has been working as long as Moore has, it can sometimes be difficult to surprise your audience with something they haven't seen before. But with Havana, Moore is able to suppress her natural intelligence and compassion as an actress by playing an actress so unlike her: needy, vapid, dim-witted, and something Moore could never relate to, untalented. In scene after scene we see Moore in unflattering positions (including one on the toilet that I'm sure most Oscar-nominated actors would balk at), but perhaps the most shocking thing about Moore in the film is that even after all these years, there's an excitement in knowing that she can still astonish us.   

9. Short Cuts (1993)

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Man of Link

Film Studies for Free collects essays on Todd Haynes' 1995 masterpiece [safe]
Advocate Man of Steel as gay allegory?
Scriptnotes discusses The Little Mermaid in depth. For a whole podcast 
Guardian lists the 5 best performances of Kevin Costner. And it's SO bizarre I don't even know where to start. No Bull Durham (which as Tim correctly stated this week is by far his best work) but Robin Hood: Prince of Thi.... no I can't even type the full title out. Blargh!
Pajiba celebrates Men in Tights given that Supes is back in theaters

Cinema Blend Marvin Gaye Biopic starring Jesse L Martin doesn't have funds to finish production. Boo. I need another biopic about a famous singer with drug problems like I need another superhero flick but I like Jesse.
/Film Sandra Bullock for Miss Hannigan in Annie? That could be fun but as always say it with me now... "can she sing?"
In Contention a biopic of Ingrid Bergman? I can deal with that... especially since this possible new one has a tight focus on one moment in her life (the best kind of bio) 

Off Cinema
Salon on the battle over Detroit's art collection. News from my first home always seems to be bad :(
Towleroad Cheyenne Jackson pleads "Don't Look at Me" in his new video. We disobey
Vulture the ten best oral sex faces of the 2013 tv season  

The Tree of Link

Nicks Flick Picks looks at the cinematography of Todd Haynes masterwork Safe (1995).
Scene Stealers chooses the ten best cinematography jobs of the past decade, with The Tree of Life the only current film to place.
In Contention on Fox News freakout over The Muppets liberal agenda. 
Paper Mag has an enjoyable profile of Kristen Wiig and her superstar-making year 
Karine Vanasse ...will we see her again after Pan Am flies away? I find TV news difficult to follow so I'll admit total confusion when shows randomly show up on my DVR or move networks or whatnot but apparently this charming French Canadian actress says Pan Am has been cancelled and the network says it's just on hiatus? My point is that I watch the show and am totally in l'amour with her.

The Hollywood Reporter worries that the AMPAS demographic (which skews very male) may hurt The Help. Of course this argument supposes that only women would like The Help.
The Wrap though it's a rather unusual decision, given its history, this year's Vanguard Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival is not going to a well known acting legend but to the two stars of The Artist Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin. That's a major get for the Weinstein Co moving into the Oscars.
Forbes did one of those "return on investment" things to rank actors. Kristen Stewart is named the best deal with $55.83 earned for every $1 spent on her. Anne Hathaway comes in at #2 with $45.67 for every $1. Most of the list is composed of people in franchises so the numbers are quite skewed; Harry Potter is the star of Harry Potter and Twilight is the star of Twilight if you get me. Meryl Streep, who isn't exactly known for franchise appears, does make the list though with $13.54 earned for every $1 she's paid.

on embargos, social media and film critics in general
Carpet Bagger David Fincher on embargo breaking. He doesn't want any advance screenings and thinks the best film critics are moviegoers who text their friends (oy! the self-serving pomposity of some people. And I love Fincher)
AV Club Sign of the Apocalypse. Twitter-friendly seats in theaters as trend? Thousands of little glowing screens to distract you from the big one. Ugh.
Telegraph Kevin Spacey isn't having any of it. This is our favorite Kevin Spacey anything in like 12 years.

Top Ten o' the Day -David Denby
Speaking of embargos and film critics... Fast on the heels of the Dragon Tattoo ruckus, we have Denby's top ten list on which it does not appear. It's a mixture of lazy fandom (J Edgar? Ugh... seriously. I'm going to have to assume that critics who label this a top ten'er only saw 30 or 40 movies this year and even then, you'll have to make concessions.) and the highbrow like Certified Copy and the Tree of Life about which he begins, affectionately, this way...

Yes, I know, Terrence Malick’s movie is unbearably high-minded and humorless. But still! 

All in all an interesting list and suggests that for Denby, two types of entertainments are generally favored: intellectual puzzlers and popcorn entertainment for the masses (Source Code, Contagion and Rise of the Planet of the Apes all appear).