best film:   Anna Paquin has one film from the 1990s (The Piano), one from the 2000s (25th Hour), and one from the 2010s (The Irishman) to vie for the top slot in this category. Paquin is a larger part of Jane Campion’s film (The Piano) than the other two, but it is Spike’s 25th Hour that edges out the other films as the best film of her career thus far.   Anna Paquin as Mary D'Annunzio in Spike Lee's 25th Hour. Paquin is part of a ridiculously accomplished acting ensemble that includes Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman,

  best film:   Vertigo. From Saul Bass’ gorgeous opening credits with Bernard Herrmann’s score (it has to be his finest, right?)  it is clear this film is different - even for the great Alfred Hitchcock. Vertigo is his most ambitious film, the height of his perfectionism - and the greatest crystallization of his exposed psychosis on screen. Kim Novak plays the pivotal Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton role opposite Jimmy Stewart’s John “Scottie” Ferguson. This is a category of undeniable strength for Novak as she is excellent in one of the best ten films of all-time.   she may not

  best film:   Million Dollar Baby is a worthy film to have as any actor’s best film. Clint Eastwood certainly had an impressive creative stretch run from 2003 to 2006 with his trademark desaturated blue, green and gray hues.  She is the lead actor and excellent in a masterpiece (even if it is a weaker one) - so this is a category of strength for Swank at this point on the list. Boys Don’t Cry (1999) most definitely takes the subsequent spot here.   Swank as Maggie Fitzgerald - a great addition to the lineage of exceptional performances

  best film:   If one were to combine the two big Merchant Ivory films (A Room with a View, Howards End) there would be a decent case to take down David Fincher’s Fight Club for the top slot. But as it is, clearly Fincher’s 1999 masterpiece that takes the cake. An honorable mention goes to Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech which somehow seems to be underrated – probably partly because it took the best picture Oscar crown in 2010 when a few other films (including another one of Fincher's - The Social Network in this case) were more deserving.

  best film:  Mommy. Anne Dorval is in Xavier Dolan’s three (3) best films. In just a few years span, Dolan made I Killer My Mother (2009), Laurence Anyways (2012), and Mommy (2014) and all warrant consideration for this top slot. He made others during this stretch, he was extremely prolific – but these are the three he will be remembered for. Dorval plays the widowed single mother in Mommy – a sort of drama epic (running just under 140 minutes) – and that edges out the other two very strong options for the top slot.   it

  best film:  The Graduate runs away from the other seven (7) archiveable films as the best overall film in the career of Anne Bancroft. Bancroft is impeccable in Mike Nichols’ stylistic masterpiece. The film is marvelously draped in Simon & Garfunkel music, but it is impossible to picture this work of art without Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in the lead roles.   Bancroft as the unforgettable Mrs. Robinson   best performance:   Dustin Hoffman is the true lead in The Graduate. Bancroft is in less of the film’s running time than you might remember (roughly 30

  best film:  Thelma Ritter plays Stella in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) and that is the winner here without much deliberation. Any film on the level of Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street and Joseph Mankiewicz’s All About Eve has to be at least mentioned as well. Ritter seems to almost be playing herself as Stella – or at least her trademark quick witted working class on screen persona.  She exchanges playful jabs with Jimmy Stewart’s L.B. Jefferies. Ritter and Stewart have a fabulous rapport.   Ritter was so easy in front of the camera. in 1954

  best film:  Audrey Tautou is nearly synonymous with Amélie and her character of the same name. This is, indeed, her best film. The film (a stylistically ambitious collaboration with the brilliant Jean-Pierre Jeunet) caused a stir in the cinema world just after the turn of the century (2001). Jeunet and Tautou would team up again just a few years later in 2004 for A Very Long Engagement and the two are both stunning films – and there is a healthy debate to be had for winner of this category.   Tautou as Amélie. Even if she had

  best film:  The answer here is Thelma & Louise (1991) with Dead Man Walking and Light Sleeper as the nearest candidates which makes this an undeniable weakness of a category for Susan Sarandon. She has been in many sort of contemporary iconic roles and performances (certainly Bull Durham is an enjoyable film that has lived on in pop culture – as has Thelma & Louise) but it is pretty easy to foresee a list of the top 1000 films of all-time without a single Susan Sarandon film.   It is one of Ridley Scott’s better non-Alien/Blade Runner efforts

  best film:  There are two (2) possibilities to the question of Tatyana Samoylova’s best film. The Cranes Are Flying trumps Letter Never Sent but that is a phenomenal pair at the top. Both films were made at the hands of director Mikhail Kalatozov and renowned photographer Sergey Urusevskiy. Sadly, Samoylova was not a part of 1964’s I Am Cuba to collaborate for a third time with Kalatozov and Urusevskiy.   Tatyana Samoylova at just the age of twenty-three (23) here in The Cranes Are Flying     best performance:   Samoylova plays Veronika in The Cranes are

  best film:  This is a fairly crowded category for Gwyneth Paltrow. The Royal Tenenbaums from Wes Anderson in 2001 takes the crown but David Fincher’s big breakthrough (Paltrow's too, actually) film Se7en deserves serious consideration and respect – and Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley is not that far back behind the top two. For Tenenbaums, this is Wes Anderson’s first real attempt at a diorama with the New York City apartment. His future endeavors would trade the apartment setting for a boat (Life Aquatic) train (Darjeeling), and hotel (The Grand Budapest). The results in 2001 are a

  best film:  Judi Dench has been extremely prolific (she was in nearly twenty films between the age of 70 and 80) and has compiled a fine collection of archiveable films, but landing a role a role in a masterpiece has eluded her all these years. Still, Joe Wright’s woefully underrated Pride & Prejudice is just a step below that masterpiece level (Dench plays Lady Catherine de Bourg). Not far behind the 2005 Jane Austen adaptation is A Room with a View (1985), Skyfall (2012) and Belfast (2021). Indeed, it is quite telling of Dench’s longevity that her best