Reese was better than Kate in Eternal Sunshine to an extent (they are different roles) and don't get me started on 21 Grams. Watts didn't even deserve a nomination for that.

You don't even deserve the air you breathe!

Is Reese Witherspoon better than?

Hillary Swank - Million Dollar Baby No
Charlize Theron - Monster No
Nicole Kidman - The Hours Yes
Halle Berry - Monster's Ball Yes
Hillary Swank - Boys Don't Cry Yes
Julia Roberts - Erin Brocovich Maybe
Gwenyth Paltrow - Shakespeare in Love Yes
Helen Hunt - As Good As It Gets Yes
Frances McDormand - Fargo No
Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking No

I added my thoughts above.

Nicole Kidman's performance in The Hours I consider to be one of the best performances in film in a long while, so for me, I sincerely doubt Witherspoon comes anywhere close. Witherspoon as a whole doesn't even come anywhere close.

PEACE, Mike.

Hillary Swank's performance in Boys Don't Cry is certainly superior to Reese. You don't beat an amazing performance from a masterpiece that dominated the Oscar (American Beauty) without being so amazing yourself that one couldn't refuse vote elsewhere, especially when the film is as small as Boys Don't Cry.

It was a nice supporting performance.

I actually thought Winslet was much better then the material in Eternal Sunshine, Clementine has like two character traits as writtten, funky hair and being crazy...that role could have gone very badly in a lesser actress. I never saw 21 grams.

So, I suppose, we all realized that we agree on some things and disagree on others. The greatest female performance of the past years not to get even nominated was Uma Thurman's from the Kill Bill flicks.

I think Felicity Huffman in TransAmerica is a more powerfull performance than Reese.

I haven't seen Swank in Boys Don't Cry and Surrandon in hers, but each and every one of the other performances mentioned were better than Reese's.

Disagree.

I'm gonna have to say that honor actually goes to...

REESE WITHERSPOON.

For Election.

Hahahaha.

If I picked the nominees, the Best Actress list woudl like this (in ranked order)......


Q'orianka Kilcher, The New World
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
Gwyneth Paltrow, Proof
Joan Allen. The Upside of Anger
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line

Compared to Maria Bello (who I'd think about replacing Reese with), one could even possibly question Reese's part as a lead.

Oh, I certainly prefered Bello's performance over Reese's.

You could not be more correct about anything else in the world

It most "certainly" is not.

No idea about Swank's performance in Boys Don't Cry, but Bening's performance in American Beauty is MOST CERTAINLY superior to Witherspoon's in WTL.

I thought Reese Witherspoon gave the best female performance of the year in Walk the Line, and looking at the past nominees I'd say she's about average and would fall somewhere in the middle if I were to rank them from best to worst.

But after seeing Transamerica, the Oscar should belong to Felicity Huffman. She probably won't get it though because the Academy wants to move away from the "play ugly, get Oscar" stigma and not enough voters will see the film prior to voting. Out of curiosity, has anyone here who has seen Transamerica think Witherspoon was better than Huffman?

The final Oscar ballots will be sent out on the 8th, so this should have really been the weekend for Transamerica to expand.

What's with the Reese hate?

personally, I've only seen Knightly and Witherspoon of the nominees.

On the subject of Witherspoon, I think she gave a great performancce, in fact I didn't think WTL was a geat film, it was film that was good, and mostly because of the strong performances of Witherspoon and Phoenix, who both instilled their chracters with the personality of the Cash's in a way I am not so sure the script id. i felt the film really didn;t tell me a whoel lot, but I felt like I was watching John and June, not Reese and Joquain.

Witherspoon was excellent at displaying the complex emotins of June Carter Cash's several marriages and struggle to find her place in a highly musical family, with less creen time then Phoenix.

i thought witherspoon was more supporting when I saw the film, but that's me. i also thought Kidman was supporting.

Felicity Huffman is probably excelltn in Transamerica, but tilli t opens here I won;t get a chance to know.

Witherspoon is definitely excellent, and I have no problem with her winning. However, after seeing Transamerica yesterday, I wish it could've been handled better release-wise to allow more people see Huffman's performance. If you put them side by side, it's hard to make the argument Witherspoon is better. Huffman was truly dynamic in the film, and not just in a "turn-ugly-to-get-Oscar" type of way, and she also has the advantage of being the real lead.

I, too, think both Reese's and Kidman's roles were supporting.

Given I have rarely seen footage of Johnny and June, I felt Reese really adapted into the character. Pheonix did really amazing during the performance scenes. He excelled and was top notch. But when he wasn't performing, he was half and half. I felt others could have played it probably just as good, though Pheonix has the look and that helps and affects it quite a bit.

I think a better question could be if Reese would still be the frontrunner if she was competing in any of the previous years:

2004: Hillary Swank, Million Dollar Baby. No, Hillary was very dominant for a best picture frontrunner. I think only Theron from Monster could give her a run if we put them in the same year.

2003: Charlize Theron, Monster. No. That performance was being hailed as the best in the last 30 years of cinema by some critics, and Theron basically swept everything.

2002: Nicole Kidman, The Hours. Maybe, Reese would have a chance, but given the run Nicole was on during that time and the snubs she endured the previous year, hard to see her lose.

2001: Halle Berry, Monster's Ball. Unlikely. Berry didn't really take off until NBR first gave her their best actress award. Still, Halle's performance was given all kind of hyperpoles too.

2000: Hillary Swank, Boys Don't Cry. No. Reese can't beat either Hillary or Bening.

1999: Julia Roberts, Erin Brocovich. Unlikely, because that's Julia's year, even though the film isn't a weak BP contender.

1998: Gwenyth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love. No. SiL's surge was too great to not carry Paltrow to a win.

1997: Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets. Yes. This would be the first year that I feel comfortable to say Reese has a good chance.

1996: Frances McDormand, Fargo. No. Similar to Reese, McDormand played a supporting kind of character but left an even more indelible mark on the viewers.

1995: Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking. No. It was Sarandon's time to win.

FYI - Reese deserved to get the Lead Nomination - after they became adults she was in the majority of the movie and had lots of contrasting or even dominating scenes where she played off / controlled JP.

She was easily much more than supporting.

and the reason that she deserves the win > is that she had to show more facets to the character > singing, dramatic, comedic.

****************

That said maybe FH gave a great performance but could anyone either have taken that role that Reese developed in WTL.

So wait, is Transamerica expanding at all in the next few weeks?