Blogging Challenge

The good Mr Got A Knife put forth the challenge to Mssr Gilman and myself to come up with a list, in no particular order, of our 20 favourite film actresses and then post said list on our respective blogs, along with two or three sentences explaining WHY, DAMMIT. Here is part one of my list, part two to follow in the new year:

1) Cate Blanchett – She’s in danger of becoming too “head-y” in her acting – all preparation and glacial surfaces, unknowable depths – but the point in “Little Fish” where she’s talking agitatedly to her friend whilst idly sticking little bits of sticky tape to her fingers has stuck in my head for this long, she for the moment she’s on to something.

2) Rosalind Russell – I unreservedly adore Rosalind Russell. What a fucking mistress. Smart, sassy, spitfire – if it weren’t for her I suspect there’d be no Gilmore Girls, a tragedy indeed. Sexy without having to push her bazoongas into your face. Daffy without being ditzy.

3) Emma Thompson – Almost excluded from the list on the grounds of being too obviously a really really good actress. Then I realised that was mad. In Love, Actually she effortless out-acted a cabal of acting luminaries (Bill Nighy! Alan Rickman! Laura Linney!). And she writes a damn fine line of script.

4) Anjelica Huston – Imperious, commanding, handsome, charismatic, wry, does a great line in eyebrow acting. She just seems really really cool.

5) Diane Keaton – Ok, so of late she’s been in smarmy dreck and traded on her ‘dippy dappy’ persona far too much. But in the seventies she was one of the finest comedians in film, and was a major contributor to most of Woody Allen’s best films. And the Godfather! She was really good in that.

6) Dame Judi Dench – She can tell you to fuck right off and you know she’s right. Steely, short, sounds like she’s eating figs. One of those old ladies who you imagine still enjoys a romp in the sack. I admire that.

7) Saoirse Ronan – Wow, this pipsqueak kicks twenty kinds of arse. Weirdly, playing the youngest Briony Tallis in Atonement, she had even more gravitas than elderly-stateswoman of cinema Vanessa Redgrave in the same role. I suspect she’ll be her generation’s Jodie Foster (child-actor-gracefully-becomes-adult-movie-star) only, you know, a good actress.

8) Grace Kelly – I honestly can’t tell if Grace Kelly can act at all. I’m always far to busy oogling her – but it’s not just her looks, it’s her grace, class, and paradoxically icy warmth. The ultimate Hitchcock blonde, her finest hour (or two) is in his Rear Window.

9) Linda Hamilton – this is in acknowledgement of one role, but good god was it formative. As a twelve-year-old-girl, watching Terminator 2 for the first time, I just couldn’t believe the strength of Sarah Connor, silently working through pull-ups in the asylum – her every inch of flesh steely sinew. To this day I can’t see a chicken-wire fence without insisting on doing my Linda Hamilton impersonation.

10) Tilda Swinton – Cameron Crowe once said, “If you’ve got Tilda Swinton in one of your movies, and you’re lost as what to do, just cut to a close-up of her staring into the camera, and you’re set.” Or something like that. He’s right. Woman has an incredible, alien, ethereal stare. Oozes charisma and self-possession. Orlando is an amazing film. I love me some Tilda Swinton.