Publications
Partners
2000 – Hilary Swank, Boys don't Cry
Strong trio here: Annette Bening in American Beauty, Julianne Moore in Magnolia and Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry. Bening was better in The Grifters. Moore is better in Boogie Nights. While Swank has never been (or will be) better. Her confused, tormented southern teen remains an antidote to small-mindedness.
2001 – Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge
She kicked Tom to the curb (she seemed to tower over him anyway) that year the Twin Towers fell, and the Bush era began, with terror alerts and paranoia. This musical plays like an ironic reminder of the dotcom excesses of the 1990s. But death is everywhere in it. Kidman sings like a bird and looks like an angel.
2002 – Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar
Your writer boyfriend dies on Christmas eve and leaves you directions to his latest manuscript on his computer. You send it off in your name. Publishers go nuts and give you a big advance. You spend it on a holiday in Spain. Then the guilt catches up with you. Morton's performance speaks for every young woman falling apart.
2003 – Ellen de Generis, Finding Nemo
Tough: we got Uma in Kill Bill Vol.1, Charlize Theron in Monster and Ellen de Generes in Finding Nemo. Uma is all verbs here – all action – a yellow beacon of vengeance in a sea of silly blood. Less a performance than a workout. Our Charlize acts her guts out. Piles on the ugly. Is uncannily convincing. But the film is pointless and bleak. It's Ellen's fish called 'Dori' that takes it. Her blissful ignorance is sweetly transcended by true courage and loyalty.
2004 – Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Another head scratcher: Maggie Cheung is haunting in drug downer Clean, while Natalie Portman brings sexy back in Closer and Lily Tomlin is a zippy zen screwball in I Heart Huckabees. But it's Kate Winslet's sincere, funky Clementine you remember.
2005 – Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Dreadful year for the ladies. Sexist drek like Sin City and the shallow dynamics of Crash while Angelina Jolie disappeared in a Gucci cloud of her own hype in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. There's Felicity Huffman's strange turn as a dude in Transamerica and Q'Orianka Kilcher in Terence Malick's beautiful The New World. But the best work was easily Maria Bello's soulful, gorgeous wife in A History of Violence.
2006 – Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Here's trouble. Do we go with craft, intellect, maturity and all those grown-up virtues or do we embrace the sheer runaway glee of youthful exuberance? Helen Mirren inhabits the queen in The Queen with such convincing control you feel like you've spent a weekend away at Buckingham Palace. But its Abigail Breslin's joy and excitement, her blooming self-belief, that keeps us coming back to the movies.
2007 – Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up
To be a mom or not to be? Maternity reigns this year. Ellen Page was a sparky wise-enheimer, the most brashly articulate female onscreen in years, and she had a fast-food phone, and could hold an indie tune with the best of them. But Juno is suspicious of its own warmth, too pushily quirky to last. Whereas Heigl in Knocked Up is a real woman, generously bringing out the best in her man.
2008 – Ana Faris, The House Bunny
A stripper, a teacher or a Playboy Bunny? These are our choices. Hollywood clearly continues to under-estimate the potential and power of women in the 21st Century! There's Sally Hawkin's goofy brio in Happy Go Lucky and the crushed cigarette sexiness of Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler. But Ana Faris rules. She's the funniest physical comedian of her generation. Watch her here in The House Bunny as she topples on pumps and plays dumb with the kind of immaculate ease Goldie Hawn would've killed for.
2009 – Kristen Stewart, Adventureland.
A good enough showing. There's Gwyneth Paltrow's drifting hurt in the wonderful retro mood piece Two Lovers and Emily Blunt's scathing, frustrated crime scene cleaner in Sunshine Cleaning. But nobody could match the heat of Kristen Stewart's skinny-dipping, dope smoking summer babe in Adventureland. This role shuts up the naysayers, proving she's more than vampire and wolf bait, this beauty can act.
There they are. The top ten performances of the 2000s. Now write back and tell me what's wrong with this list!
Strong trio here: Annette Bening in American Beauty, Julianne Moore in Magnolia and Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry. Bening was better in The Grifters. Moore is better in Boogie Nights. While Swank has never been (or will be) better. Her confused, tormented southern teen remains an antidote to small-mindedness.
2001 – Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge
She kicked Tom to the curb (she seemed to tower over him anyway) that year the Twin Towers fell, and the Bush era began, with terror alerts and paranoia. This musical plays like an ironic reminder of the dotcom excesses of the 1990s. But death is everywhere in it. Kidman sings like a bird and looks like an angel.
2002 – Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar
Your writer boyfriend dies on Christmas eve and leaves you directions to his latest manuscript on his computer. You send it off in your name. Publishers go nuts and give you a big advance. You spend it on a holiday in Spain. Then the guilt catches up with you. Morton's performance speaks for every young woman falling apart.
2003 – Ellen de Generis, Finding Nemo
Tough: we got Uma in Kill Bill Vol.1, Charlize Theron in Monster and Ellen de Generes in Finding Nemo. Uma is all verbs here – all action – a yellow beacon of vengeance in a sea of silly blood. Less a performance than a workout. Our Charlize acts her guts out. Piles on the ugly. Is uncannily convincing. But the film is pointless and bleak. It's Ellen's fish called 'Dori' that takes it. Her blissful ignorance is sweetly transcended by true courage and loyalty.
2004 – Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Another head scratcher: Maggie Cheung is haunting in drug downer Clean, while Natalie Portman brings sexy back in Closer and Lily Tomlin is a zippy zen screwball in I Heart Huckabees. But it's Kate Winslet's sincere, funky Clementine you remember.
2005 – Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Dreadful year for the ladies. Sexist drek like Sin City and the shallow dynamics of Crash while Angelina Jolie disappeared in a Gucci cloud of her own hype in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. There's Felicity Huffman's strange turn as a dude in Transamerica and Q'Orianka Kilcher in Terence Malick's beautiful The New World. But the best work was easily Maria Bello's soulful, gorgeous wife in A History of Violence.
2006 – Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Here's trouble. Do we go with craft, intellect, maturity and all those grown-up virtues or do we embrace the sheer runaway glee of youthful exuberance? Helen Mirren inhabits the queen in The Queen with such convincing control you feel like you've spent a weekend away at Buckingham Palace. But its Abigail Breslin's joy and excitement, her blooming self-belief, that keeps us coming back to the movies.
2007 – Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up
To be a mom or not to be? Maternity reigns this year. Ellen Page was a sparky wise-enheimer, the most brashly articulate female onscreen in years, and she had a fast-food phone, and could hold an indie tune with the best of them. But Juno is suspicious of its own warmth, too pushily quirky to last. Whereas Heigl in Knocked Up is a real woman, generously bringing out the best in her man.
2008 – Ana Faris, The House Bunny
A stripper, a teacher or a Playboy Bunny? These are our choices. Hollywood clearly continues to under-estimate the potential and power of women in the 21st Century! There's Sally Hawkin's goofy brio in Happy Go Lucky and the crushed cigarette sexiness of Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler. But Ana Faris rules. She's the funniest physical comedian of her generation. Watch her here in The House Bunny as she topples on pumps and plays dumb with the kind of immaculate ease Goldie Hawn would've killed for.
2009 – Kristen Stewart, Adventureland.
A good enough showing. There's Gwyneth Paltrow's drifting hurt in the wonderful retro mood piece Two Lovers and Emily Blunt's scathing, frustrated crime scene cleaner in Sunshine Cleaning. But nobody could match the heat of Kristen Stewart's skinny-dipping, dope smoking summer babe in Adventureland. This role shuts up the naysayers, proving she's more than vampire and wolf bait, this beauty can act.
There they are. The top ten performances of the 2000s. Now write back and tell me what's wrong with this list!
