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Who are your favorite actresses?
Since it is the Oscar season and there are awards for acting, I thought it will be interesting to hear about peoples favorite actresses. As an alternative to the usual "my favorite movies". I will make another topic about actors in a couple of days.
So who are favorite actresses, what makes them special for you and what are their best movies?
Frances McDormand - She is an amazing actress and she's got the awards to back it up. Both Fargo and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri are among my top movies.
I will limit myself to three.
Jodie Foster. Not only is she in my favorite movie, Contact, but she is one of those actresses that are always worth watching even if the movie is so-so (like Flightplan). Even as a child actor in Taxi Driver she made an impression showing she was something special. I think I am drawn to her assertive smart attitude. She is not traditionally feminine in her roles, but she has way more complexity to offer than the stereotypical "strong woman". In Silence of the Lambs she is clearly a smart confident women, while still being clearly vulnerable in subtle ways.
Favorite films: Contact, Silence of the Lambs, Carnage
Isabelle Huppert is a French actress where I think she is worth watching in practically every movie she is in. I like for similar reasons as Jodie Foster, with her very assertive sometimes arrogant demeanor is weirdly intriguing. In many of her roles she goes through absolute hell and she doesn't hold anything back in making sure we understand the abuse she is going through. But often it is with very conflicting and provocative emotions, such as in both Elle and The Piano Teacher where she portrays women with a really disturbed sexuality that can be really uncomfortable to sit through. She is a master in conveying a ton of internal thoughts and emotions by not saying anything, but letting her subtle facial expressions tell more than a million words.
Favorite films: The Piano Teacher, La Ceremonie, Time of the Wolf, Elle, Abuse of Weakness.
Liv Ullmann is a Swedish actress mostly known for her many films with Ingmar Bergman. She is very different than Foster and Huppert, as she is much more sweet, feminine and full of empathy. Her roles feel super authentic and she carries emotions like no other. The highlight for me is her role in Autumn Sonata where she plays the daughter of a successful pianist played by Ingrid Bergman, and it is amazing how much of their troubling relationship and years of history together she is able to convey in just a 90 minute film. Same goes for her role in Scenes from a Marriage where you in no doubt that they are a couple with many years together.
Favorite films: Autumn Sonata, Persona, Scenes from a Marriage
I agree that Jodie Foster is a treasure and both Contact and Silence of the Lambs are fantastic!
I mean in terms of a celebrity crush type of thing: Scarlett Johansson and Emily Blunt. I think they’re both brilliant actors as well, (Johansson should have won for her roles in Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit) but they’re also my favorites look wise.
Cate Blanchett is probably the best actress that I love however. Versatile, she pulls off every role. She should have won a third Oscar for TAR. If you watch her two Oscar winning performances you’ll get a sense of her range. The way she’s able to embody a character through her physicality is unmatched, The Aviator and Blue Jasmine are also great films on top of that.
In terms of young-ish, up and coming actors. Anya Taylor-Joy is probably my favorite. I do expect her to be an Oscar winner at some point. The first thing I remember seeing her in was The Witch, but I was really impressed with her in Split. Since then she’s given great performances in The Queen’s Gambit, The Menu, Furiosa, and even Last Night in Soho which is a weak movie overall but she stands out.
Great choices! Emily Blunt is at the top of my crush list too (Full Metal Bitch, FTW!), and Anya Taylor-Joy is definitely my fav up-and-comer as well. But while Cate Blanchett is great, my personal favorite is Tilda Swinton, who is also incredibly versatile... although Swinton does tend to lean towards playing androgynous/queer and eccentric characters, which is what I love most about them. :P
ATJ definitely has range! I'm increasingly impressed by her.
I first became aware of her from Split—though it was hard to shine when James McAvoy was a one man show throughout the film!
The Unbreakable-Split-Glass trilogy may be my favorite. Unbreakable rocked my world. Split did also, particularly late in the film.
Glass... Glass snuck up on me. At first, I hated it! I've since rewatched it several times. Now, I find myself touched by it. On the outside, it looked likely to be a Shyamalan film with a usually enormous scope. As usually, he's a tricky bastard—which led to my initial enormous disappointment. Instead, we got this surprisingly intimate film that amplifies the theme and message of Unbreakable. It took me years to appreciate it.
I haven't actually seen Glass yet, despite enjoying Unbreakable and absolutely loving Split. I should remedy that! And heh, yeah McAvoy absolutely killing it with his performance in Split made it kinda hard to notice any of the other actors abilities. I first became aware of her in Split too, but was first genuinely impressed by her in The Queen's Gambit, and then again in Peaky Blinders and The Menu.
p.s. Speaking of McAvoy, he's also one of my very favorite actors. I've been a fan of his since the Children of Dune miniseries.
SAME! He killed it in Children of Dune! He was the standout actor.
Yeah, he definitely elevated that series so so much with his amazing performance, which was why I started following him and his work after that.
Again, same!
Then I find myself thinking actors instead of actresses. And then I feel bad. And yet...
Michael Fasbender! His turn as Magneto! Wow! And then David in Prometheus! And Steve Jobs!
Fasbender is great! And speaking of Marvel actors, Tom Hiddleston is up there for me as well. He was amazing as Loki. But I absolutely loved him in Only Lovers Left Alive, starring alongside my aforementioned favorite "actress", Tilda Swinton (who is nonbinary, which is why I much prefer using the gender neutral 'actor' title for everyone), and directed by one of my favorite directors, Jim Jarmusch.
Huh! I'll have to see this film now. Thanks!
It has Anton Yelchin!!!
He was great. I even loved him in Charlie Bartlett.
Indeed, it does. And even though it wasn't a huge role it was a good one. I don't want to spoil anything so won't say more though. But if/when you watch the movie let me know what you thought, and we can chat about it more then. :)
Also, RIP, Anton. He was talented AF. Such a shame he died so young, and right as his career was starting to really take off. What a horrible way to die too. :(
Scarlett Johansson was excellent in Marriage Story but she was so good that my previous attraction for her completely vanished!
Cate Blanchett is an all-time great in my mind. One little known performance that really stood out to me was her short in Spike Jonze's Coffee and Cigarettes where she plays her self and her disgruntled cousin having a conversation over coffee and cigarettes. The whole film is good but her's was a favorite short (you also have Jack White making a tesla coil and Bill Murray as a waiter for RZA and GZA).
Meryl fricking Streep is iconic. In particular I love her in The Devil Wears Prada and The Post.
Scarlett Johansson especially shout out Lost in Translation
I don't really crush on celebrities, but I guess if there is an actor who scores high on roles in films I like and also very attractive to me it'd have to be Margot Robbie. Barbie was quite good and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is probably my favorite Tarantino film.
Curiously, what about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood makes it your favorite Tarantino film? I’m not a Tarantino die hard but I’ve seen about half his catalogue and that was by far my least favorite. Although I did love the ending.
1969 Los Angeles/Hollywood vibes, Leo's performance is amazing, Brad Pitt's character is fun, I like Margot's Sharon Tate storyline. I wouldn't call it his best movie though, just one of his most casually watchable.
If I want to watch a Tarantino film it's usually Pulp Fiction or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Olivia Colman was fantastic as the twofaced evil stepmother in Fleabag, and whenever I've seen her (in Broadchurch, The Favorite, The Crown and a few smaller roles) she was great, too.
Emma Stone, also in The Favourite, and recently in Poor Things.
Kirsten Dunst, especially in Power of The Dog, Fargo and Civil War.
I'm glad to see Dunst get love. I don't know if it was only meta in my pocket, but holy crap did everyone hate her back in the day. Eg everyone calling her "snaggletooth" (while I think she's drop-dead gorgeous) and hating on her for being MJ in Spiderman (rather than, you know, the writing of the character)
It was so annoying. And I mean just so dumb. But again I don't know if that was only in my purview, and she's obviously had a great career since thankfully.
I don’t really have favorites, but Rachel Weisz is the first to pop into my mind.
Two of my all time favorite movies are The Fountain and The Lobster, and she played a big role in how good both those films are
Oh god, The Lobster. I heard about it and it sounded so odd, then I finally watched it and it was so much odder than I could have known. I loooved it, especially the dry and robotic deliveries from most of the cast, like everyone has autism. And yeah, Weisz is awesome in it.
Yeah I don't know if the movie would have worked it if wasn't so dry and robotic, but it adds so much to the critique of society of nobody actually being an individual within it. And, I'm undiagnosed but at the least correlate to autism, but it was then cathartic in a way seeing everyone act like they have autism.
I also thought Rachel Weisz for The Fountain.
Wow what a contrast.
The Fountain may be my single favorite film.
The Lobster is among my least favorite films. My wife and I both left telling each other that we wanted our two hours back.
Hahaha. I personally would put them in the same bucket of "high-level art films", but I can definitely see how one would like one and not the other - The Fountain looking at life, love, and death through a fantastical lense, while The Lobster is basically about deconstructing society's relationship to them.
On a similar level, me and some friends watched "Freddy Got Fingered" together and I thought it was HILARIOUS. One of my friends lost their shit basically saying "How can you love both The Lobster and Freddy Got Fingered?!?" and to me they are two very similar films in terms of absurdist humor; it's just one's absurdity is "why the hell would MTV give me millions of dollars to make a movie" rather than being a social critique
Mia Goth for the X series and Suspiria but I look forward to more from her, she's so interesting looking that I can't help but stare when she's on screen and then she does silly stuff like be the old lady version of herself in X. Its the right combination of silly, gory, and cutesy that revived my personal desire to watch and stay up to date with new movies after being so jaded by constant sequels and disney movies.
Sigourney Weaver is my favourite screen lady ever. Alien/s, Ghostbusters and Galaxy Quest are all so high up on my list of faves and she's critical in them all. So badass but with a very obvious charm that she knows how to wield. Like, that Aliens poster looks at home next to arnold's Predator one or any action movie from that era to be honest. She aint no scream queen.
Jamie Lee Curtis is a scream queen though but was amazing in True Lies. Just a movie oozing with sex appeal, tension, and humour. But then she also starred in some more favourites like A Fish Called Wanda, Halloween and Everything Everywhere All At Once. Most recently as the deranged mother in The Bear too. Darn shame she signs onto stinkers like the latest Halloween movies and Borderlands but i guess she's trying to cash in and build up some long lasting wealth.
Hard to imagine ever having a crush on her after watching that performance. She's too good at being completely unhinged in that show.
I’m going to get back to this because I would like to mention some other not so obvious picks but Kate Winslet is just amazing in everything she touches. She’s just so real in lack of better words and reeks immersion for me.
Carrie Coon. The Leftovers, Fargo, The Gilded Age, and now The White Lotus. She always seems to find a part in my favorite TV shows.
I’ve only seen her in a few things, but I’m really impressed with Cristin Milioti. Palm Springs and The Penguin showed she has huge range and seemingly great chemistry with everyone she shares the screen with? Listening to her interviews as well, she seems like a lovely person with a deep appreciation for the art of acting.
30 Rock was one of the first places I saw her! I loved her role. She apparently was a huge fan of the show before coming on.
Adèle Haenel, easily. Still sad she left "the industry" for fair reasons.
Any of her roles you can recommend? I have only seen her in Portrait of a Lady on Fire