Nick's Flick Picks: Best Actress Rankings

<BODY text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" link="#003399" vlink="#003399" leftmargin="25"> <center> <table cellpadding=6><tr><td> <img src=osactresmosaic204.jpg width=75><img src=osactresmosaic196.jpg width=75><img src=osactresmosaic37.jpg width=75><img src=osactresmosaic76.jpg width=75><img src=osactresmosaic254.jpg width=75><img src=osactresmosaic9.jpg width=75><img src=osactresmosaic175.jpg width=75><img src=osactresmosaic168.jpg width=75><img src=osactresmosaic149.jpg width=75><br> <br> <b><Font Color="#660066" Face=Garamond Size=+2>Individual Performance Reviews</Font></b><br> <b><Font Face=Garamond Size=+1><Font Color="#660066">Grouped by:</Font>   Order of Composition <a href=osactresperfsdecade.html style="text-decoration:none"><Font Color=Gray>| Decade</Font></a> <a href=osactresperfsalpha.html style="text-decoration:none"><Font Color=Gray>| Name</Font></a> <a href=osactresperfs.html style="text-decoration:none"><Font Color=Gray>| Star Ranking</Font></a> </Font></b><br> <Font Size=-1><i>Reviews will open in a new window of your browser</i></Font><br> </td></tr><tr><td> <Font Color="#009900"><b>Jun '10:</b></Font> I have reviewed <Font Color="#003399">45</Font> of <Font Color="#003399">408</Font> nominees, or <Font Color="#003399">11%</Font>.<br> Most recent addition: <Font Color="#003399">Judy Garland</Font> (54)<br> <br></td></tr><tr><td> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>June 2010</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>54</Font>  Judy Garland, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/birthday-girls-judy-garland.html" target="_new">A Star Is Born</a> - <i>"Carries musical drama to the cathartic, precarious plane of opera"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>54</Font>  Grace Kelly, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/actress-files-grace-kelly.html" target="_new">The Country Girl</a> - <i>"Merges the compulsively watchable with the plainly inadequate"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>54</Font>  Audrey Hepburn, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/actress-files-audrey-hepburn.html" target="_new">Sabrina</a> - <i>"Turns an uneven, ambivalent lark into a modest but real pleasure"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>72</Font>  Liv Ullmann, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/actress-files-liv-ullmann.html" target="_new">The Emigrants</a> - <i>"An amazing knack for profound but unshowy distillation of emotion"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>58</Font>  Susan Hayward, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/actress-files-susan-hayward.html" target="_new">I Want to Live!</a> - <i>"A victim of radical miscasting that only looks like no-brainer casting"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>29</Font>  Jeanne Eagels, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/actress-files-jeanne-eagels.html" target="_new">The Letter</a> - <i>"Delicious, weird... A tough and daringly embroidered performance"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>61</Font>  Natalie Wood, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/actress-files-natalie-wood.html" target="_new">Splendor in the Grass</a> - <i>"Ambitious, careful, magnetic, touching, and memorable"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>48</Font>  Barbara Stanwyck, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/actress-files-barbara-stanwyck.html" target="_new">Sorry, Wrong Number</a> - <i>"Holds back from connecting all the notes supplied to her"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>56</Font>  Ingrid Bergman, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/06/actress-files-ingrid-bergman.html" target="_new">Anastasia</a> - <i>"Doesn't look like she's made nearly enough of her own decisions"</i><br> <br></td></tr><tr><td> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>May 2010</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>39</Font>  Irene Dunne, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-irene-dunne.html" target="_new">Love Affair</a> - <i>"Banks on sharp, clear, modest phrasing to signal concealed depths"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>46</Font>  Olivia de Havilland, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-olivia-de-havilland.html" target="_new">To Each His Own</a> - <i>"There's ability but not a surfeit of fire, and even less of mystery"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>43</Font>  Joan Fontaine, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-joan-fontaine.html" target="_new">The Constant Nymph</a> - <i>"Feels most of the time like a credible girl, not an angelic savant"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>67</Font>  Edith Evans, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-edith-evans.html" target="_new">The Whisperers</a> - <i>"Confounds any stable borders among madness, indigence, and solitude"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>73</Font>  Joanne Woodward, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-joanne-woodward.html" target="_new">Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams</a> - <i>"From moment to moment, full of surprises"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>29</Font>  Corinne Griffith, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-corinne-griffith.html" target="_new">The Divine Lady</a> - <i>"A fine, energetic, but dispiritingly superficial vessel"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>53</Font>  Ava Gardner, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-ava-gardner.html" target="_new">Mogambo</a> - <i>"Vibrant, sensational... the salvaging figure in this dispiriting roster"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>63</Font>  Rachel Roberts, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-rachel-roberts.html" target="_new">This Sporting Life</a> - <i>"Adds shades and layers that enrich the film as it plays"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>63</Font>  Leslie Caron, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-leslie-caron.html" target="_new">The L-Shaped Room</a> - <i>"Nicely rewrites it as a film about a woman who is</i> thinking<i>"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>69</Font>  Genevi&#232ve Bujold, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-genevieve-bujold.html" target="_new">Anne of the Thousand Days</a> - <i>"Impetuous and unwilling to be cast aside"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>35</Font>  Elisabeth Bergner, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-elisabeth-bergner.html" target="_new">Escape Me Never</a> - <i>"Organizes multiple vectors like a skilled pro"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>35</Font>  Miriam Hopkins, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-miriam-hopkins.html" target="_new">Becky Sharp</a> - <i>"Relentless gales of hubris and energy... Hard-driving slapstick"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>62</Font>  Lee Remick, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-lee-remick.html" target="_new">Days of Wine and Roses</a> - <i>"Smart, affecting, even gutsy... Traces a humbling arc"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>65</Font>  Simone Signoret, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-simone-signoret.html" target="_new">Ship of Fools</a> - <i>"Keeps a tight leash on any form of sentimental self-congratulation"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>60</Font>  Melina Mercouri, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-melina-mercouri.html" target="_new">Never on Sunday</a> - <i>"More of a prop here for Dassin's schtick than a credible actress"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>60</Font>  Deborah Kerr, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-deborah-kerr.html" target="_new">The Sundowners</a> - <i>"Warm... Limber... Relaxed</i> and <i>ready to spring into spry action"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>76</Font>  Marie-Christine Barrault, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-marie-christine-barrault.html" target="_new">Cousin cousine</a> - <i>"A breezy, smiling equanimity... Agreeable unfussiness"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>55</Font>  Eleanor Parker, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-eleanor-parker.html" target="_new">Interrupted Melody</a> - <i>"Eschews a dewy or a garish approach to Reynolds's hardships"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>55</Font>  Katharine Hepburn, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/birthday-girls-katharine-hepburn.html" target="_new">Summertime</a> - <i>"We perceive a host of stories that Jane/Hepburn performs for herself"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>53</Font>  Maggie McNamara, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-maggie-mcnamara.html" target="_new">The Moon Is Blue</a> - <i>"Eerily close to Shelley Duvall in </i>3 Women<i>, minus the ironies"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>73</Font>  Marsha Mason, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-marsha-mason.html" target="_new">Cinderella Liberty</a> - <i>"Sticks to broad emotional states... Intriguing but half-full"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>59</Font>  Audrey Hepburn, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/birthday-girls-audrey-hepburn.html" target="_new">The Nun's Story</a> - <i>"Vigilant... A miracle... A portrait of complex thought"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>57</Font>  Anna Magnani, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-anna-magnani.html" target="_new">Wild Is the Wind</a> - <i>"Dislodges other actors from settling into their own cadences"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>52</Font>  Julie Harris, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-julie-harris.html" target="_new">The Member of the Wedding</a> - <i>"A very emphatic performance, laudable for its energy"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>57</Font>  Elizabeth Taylor, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/05/actress-files-elizabeth-taylor.html" target="_new">Raintree County</a> - <i>"A quandary... Hard to parse into categories like 'good' and 'bad'"</i><br> <br></td></tr><tr><td> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>April 2010</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>79</Font>  Jill Clayburgh, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/birthday-girls-jill-clayburgh.html" target="_new">Starting Over</a> - <i>"Just fine... Clayburgh pushes, but only in small ways"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>70</Font>  Sarah Miles, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/actress-files-sarah-miles.html" target="_new">Ryan's Daughter</a> - <i>"Personalizing stamps are a recurring problem for this actress"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>75</Font>  Ann-Margret, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/birthday-girls-ann-margret.html" target="_new">Tommy</a> - <i>"A kind of secret genius for getting the audience to root for her"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>46</Font>  Jane Wyman, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/actress-files-jane-wyman.html" target="_new">The Yearling</a> - <i>"A solid, unexpectedly formidable person, but not invulnerable"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>72</Font>  Maggie Smith, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/actress-files-maggie-smith.html" target="_new">Travels with My Aunt</a> - <i>"Laborious... A constant burlesque of unnecessary ironization"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>76</Font>  Talia Shire, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/birthday-girls-talia-shire.html" target="_new">Rocky</a> - <i>"Charismatic without being generically strong or generically sweet"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>63</Font>  Shirley MacLaine, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/birthday-girls-shirley-maclaine.html" target="_new">Irma La Douce</a> - <i>"Slim and coasty... Builds no reserves of emotion or personality"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>84</Font>  Judy Davis, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/birthday-girls-judy-davis.html" target="_new">A Passage to India</a> - <i>"Turns Adela into the crypt-keeper of her own feelings"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>69</Font>  Jean Simmons, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/actress-files-jean-simmons.html" target="_new">The Happy Ending</a> - <i>"A gradual sense of conviction and surprising specificity"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>29</Font>  Betty Compson, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/actress-files-betty-compson.html" target="_new">The Barker</a> - <i>"Midlevel work... Has so much more vitality when she's seething"</i><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>29</Font>  Mary Pickford, <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2010/04/actresses-on-their-birthdays-mary.html" target="_new">Coquette</a> - <i>"Creaky... Plays an already specious character as 18-going-on-7"</i><br> </td></tr></table> </center> <hr> <center> <Font Face=Garamond> <table cellpadding=12><tr> <td><b><a href=osactresperfschron.html target="_top">Permalink</a></b></td> <td><b><a href=osactresportal.html target="_top">Best Actress: Special Section</a></b></td> <td><b><a href=movarchs.html target="_top">Home</a></b></td> <td><b><a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com" target="_new">Blog</a></b></td> <td><b><a href=email.html target="_top">E-Mail</a></b></td> </tr></table> </Font> </center> </body>