By Aaron 1/29/2008

Heath Ledger’s death shocked us into realizing how valuable the young actors and actresses of today are. Not just for how good they are now, but how good they will be. As over the next couple of years, they will be slipping into the roles that go to the great actresses who will soon reach their forties, like Kate Winslet and Hillary Swank. Another reason for this article was that many asked of Bob’s list, where is Ellen Page? Whether or not she cracks the top ten will be revealed.

Before we get into that list though, there was one actress in particular – Maggie Gyllenhall who JUST missed the 30-year old cut off – I think she’s great, but her birthday was this past November. And if you can believe it, Kate Winslet and Hillary Swank are both closing in on forty. I would probably call the two of them the best young actresses right now – and their armful of awards proves it. I thought that without the two of them as competition, Thandie Newton would get right to the top, but she’s thirty-five! So, alas, those actresses won’t be found here because this article will be focusing on the top actresses under thirty.

Breslin is pretty much a better version of Dakota Fanning and she already has more expression than most Hollywood actors. But she also is so much more than Dakota. Breslin has the power to carry a movie. No, I’m not saying she carried Little Miss Sunshine, I’m saying she carried The Ultimate Gift (awful airplane movie) and looks like she can drag Definitely, Maybe to being a decent movie. I’m excited to see her growth, and I hope she keeps on getting better – she could be just like Zooey Deschanel in ten years. At the very least she has about TWENTY years to enjoy being on top 10 under thirty lists.

9. Rosario Dawson
Highlight: Clerks II
Rosario is great. She has a sort of glow and happiness that most Hollywood actresses don’t have because they are too worried about staying thin and, well, some other things. She has made a bunch of different movies from the 25th Hour to Men in Black II. But I realized she was a great actress with Clerks II. While most people were disappointed with that film, I enjoyed it because I discovered Rosario Dawson. And her role in Death Proof only sealed the deal. She can do action, comedy, drama; she’s a great triple threat.

8. Zooey Deschanel
Highlight: Elf
I’ve been a big fan of Zooey Deschanel since I saw Almost Famous where she proved that even in limited time, she could really shine. Unfortunately, that is almost the only skill we get to see her use because she has been in few flicks with large parts. Still, she has raised the quality of crap like The New Guy and Failure to Launch, to name a few. Mostly that means she has a bad management team, but it also means that she has the dynamic to be REALLY good. She was funny in Elf where she was finally the female lead, but she was still crimped by the PG rating – she belongs in the big leagues. She showed in the mini-series DG that she can take the lead, and hopefully she can take the lead in a Hollywood movie and start getting the recognition she deserves.

7. Anne Hathaway
Highlight: The Devil Wears Prada
I give major props to Hathaway to escaping being typecast after making two Princess Diary movies and Ella Enchanted. But she did it in a big way with Havoc and then never really looked back. Her role in Brokeback, although small showed that she had to be taken seriously and she continued to grow with The Devil Wears Prada. Now, I saw that movie in theatres when one of my friends dragged me to it (I had made her go to Superman Returns, so basically I got a pretty bad deal) and I actually liked it. With Get Smart coming up Hathaway will continue to move away from the princess and more towards the mainstream, big pay day roles of young Hollywood actresses. And if not, she can always convince Disney to make more Diary movies. Depending on how long she waits they might have to be The Queen’s Diaries.

6. Emily Blunt
Highlight: The Devil Wears Prada
Yes, I know, I put the supporting actress from Prada, the one with fewer films and commercial success, ahead of Hathaway. Simply because I think Blunt has a lot more potential. I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt right now that she is better than Hathaway. This is for a few reasons. First, Blunt simply has more range. While she is beautiful she can also play the type of roles Tilda Swinton and Toni Collette play (I think they’re both beautiful too) where they play characters with deep emotions. Second, Blunt’s foray into comedy will probably be more successful. I think Sunshine Cleaning will just do a hell of a lot better than Get Smart because it is original, it doesn’t have Steve Carrell (who has been like the plague recently), and it just seems more interesting. Give Blunt time and she will be great. Or not.

5. Scarlett Johansson
Highlight: Lost in Translation
What! Scarlett barely cracks the top five!? Well the way I look at it Scarlett has made three great movies and two good ones. She was barely in Ghost World (which I loved) and had little screen time in Match Point. Then again, she was really really good in Lost in Translation, which to me, seemed like a difficult part to pull off and she played the part perfectly. She was good in The Black Dahlia and In Good Company but those movies, and her performance got lukewarm reviews. When she took chances, The Island and The Nanny Diaries, they blew up in her face. Still, she showed that she can be great. Now all she needs to do is make some Oscar caliber dramas by playing different roles. That means the next time Woody calls you tell him you have a different project.

4. Christina Ricci
Highlight: Monster
Of all the young women on this list – especially the top five – Ricci has the least amount of buzz right now. It’s unfair, but I understand why – she isn’t playing roles that make her endearing to us, like Scarlett did in Lost in Translation, or Anne Hathaway always does. Instead, Ricci takes chances on powerful dramas in the vein of Monster and Black Snake Moan. The list of actresses who would have even considered making a movie that risks their sex appeal, as they move from the child actor category to the successful Hollywood women, is incredibly small. Ricci did it, and did it well. Then there is the craziness of Black Snake Moan that Ricci took a chance on and was again, perfect. I’m not going to say she needs to make mainstream movies; I’m just going to say she needs to make more movies (but not Adams Family retrospectives – just say no Christina!)

3. Ellen Page
Highlight: Juno
I LOVED this movie. A lot. I’ve ranted about it several times. But this movie would be nothing without Ellen Page. She had perfect timing, perfect execution, perfect everything really. Hard Candy is supposed to be great too, although I haven’t seen it yet. Now, why is she number three? Most of the others on this list are riding a wave of potential that Ellen Page has in spades. Unfortunately for her, the people below her have potential and just more movies. Page needs to keep on keeping on and chugging out films. I’m not sure her next movie, Smart People, where Ellen Page takes the backseat will be that movie, but Whip It might be. Page is probably my favorite actress right now and I really hope she can hold onto these 15 seconds that she has right now and prove that she has more Juno left in her. That was not a pregnant joke. In anyway. Just to clarify.

2. Natalie Portman
Highlight: Beautiful Girls
I first saw Natalie Portman in Leon when Natalie played a small child who tries to get Jean Reno to teach her to kill people so she can avenge the death of her family. She had a lot of spark then. But it was her next role, when she was still a child, Beautiful Girls, which really stands out in my mind. Part of that is because that movie is one of my favorites of all time. As Marty, a young girl in love with a man having a mid-mid-life crisis, Portman is unbelievable. It was then that I knew Portman would go on to great things. I wasn’t thinking starring in the new Star Wars trilogy, but more along the lines of powerful roles such as in Garden State, Closer, V for Vendetta…the list goes on and runs into possible masterpieces I haven’t seen like Paris je t’aime, Goya’s Ghost, The Darjeeling Limited and My Blueberry Nights. To some of you she may always be Padme, but to me, she will always be Marty. And Marty deserves an Oscar.

1. Keira Knightley
Highlight: Pride & Prejudice
How does Domino beat Princess Amidala? Frankly, it is hard to explain. BUT. I will try. Keira takes triple threat to a new level. Has been GREAT at every level. Action, she was the bright spot in the last two Pirates movies – not Johnny Depp whose character did not grow, but Keira who had to do most of the heavy emotional work. So she can do action-adventure (yes, I think the first Pirates movie was better than episodes 1-3). She was UNBELIEVABLE in Pride & Prejudice, which is the biggest reason I put her above Natalie. Natalie one role that made me go “wow” was Beautiful Girls. Keira’s was Pride & Prejudice, and it was a much bigger wow. The reasons why I praised Page come back here and stronger – timing, emotion, execution – it was all perfect. Sure, Natalie had that great digital short on SNL, but Keira had Atonement, another movie that was on the brink of perfection. I also think that even if Keira isn’t better now, she will be in the years to come. And she is a much better sword fighter than Natalie. For sure.

Now, since I’m way to undisciplined to keep my list to just ten actresses, here are the ten that would have rounded out the top twenty. Saoirse Ronan was GREAT in Atonement, earning an Oscar nod, and has a lot of promise, but needs more roles to crack the top 10. Zhang Ziyi was a power in Memoirs of a Geisha and can pull off action roles with ease, but most people have just not seen her movies. Claire Danes was great in Romeo + Juliet and also Igby Goes Down, but she needs to start cranking flicks out. Amy Adams showed she can do Disney and hang with the frat pack and took on what is hopefully a route to more serious roles with Charlie Wilson’s war. Anna Paquin is one of two actresses here in the 11-20 ranges with an Oscar for Best Supporting, but she is in danger of plateauing and not reaching the power she had as a child actor. America Ferrera gets a lot of buzz – and awards – for Ugly Betty, but to move up she needs to start making movies, and I’m not talking about Traveling Pants sequels. Michelle Williams has an interesting acting resume and is always good, but she needs a break out role that pushes her over the top – she could fill Naomi Watts type roles. Evan Rachel Wood is promising too, and I hope she didn’t peak with Thirteen, and I haven’t seen Across the Universe, but she could be really good. Kirsten Dunst could be great, but she needs to start choosing some serious roles and move away from the comics and cheerleader flicks. Jennifer Hudson is here because she has an Oscar, and she was on a bunch of other lists, but you have to be more than musically talented, AND you have to make movies, as in more than one.

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.