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

  best film:  Teresa Wright is in three unassailable films that are at, or near, the masterpiece level. William Wyler’s deep focus spectacle The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) stands atop the list – but Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and the vastly underseen and underrated Track of the Cat (1954) by William Wellman are not far behind.     Teresa Wright in 1946's The Best Years of Our Lives. The best of her three remarkable collaborations with William Wyler     best performance:   There are but two options here. With all due respect

  best film: Maureen O’Hara is most often remembered around Christmas with Miracle on 34th Street or around St. Patrick’s Day with The Quiet Man, but her best single film is John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley (1941).  Ford was a great director for decades, but the greatest single stretch during that long, distinguished career was from 1939-1941 with Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley. John Ford did not open up often to talk about his work but on occasion he would call this his favorite of his own films. How Green Was My Valley won five

  best film:   Saoirse Ronan has seven (7) films in the archives and four (4) of them are right at or near the best of their respective year of release. That is an extraordinary ratio and four (4) films of this caliber makes this category a strength for Ronan. Atonement comes first chronologically in 2007.  This is Joe Wright’s (a vastly underrated technical master) finest hour – and Ronan plays Briony – a vital character.  But it is Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest (2014) that ultimately triumphs here in this category. Ronan plays Agatha – a small, but significant

  best film:  Harriet Andersson was clearly Ingmar Bergman’s go-to female lead or protagonist in the early 1950s, but his best work would not come until later, so her two best films are actually Cries & Whispers and Fanny and Alexander. These are two films where Harriet’s contribution is more modest.  She is much more predominant in Summer with Monika, Sawdust and Tinsel and Through a Glass Darkly – which are all a tier or two below Bergman’s 1972 and 1982 among-the-best-of-their-respective-decade masterpieces.   Harriet as the sickly Agnes in the towering 1972 masterpiece Cries & Whispers

  best film:  Liza Minnelli’s best two films are both musicals and Bob Fosse’s 1972 effort Cabaret bests 1977’s Martin Scorsese's New York, New York. Fosse’s film took far more Oscars (8) than The Godfather (3) in 1972, including one for Liza and one for Fosse himself.     Liza at twenty-six (26) in Cabaret - her vibrant personality leaps off the screen.     best performance:   It is Cabaret one and New York, New York two again in this category for Liza. In Cabaret, Liza plays Sally Bowles – an absolute livewire. Liza’s obvious talent are

  best film:  Patricia Arquette’s two best films could not be more different. Lost Highway (1997) is trip through the twisted mind of David Lynch – and Boyhood (2014) is maybe the coming-of-age film to end all coming-of-age films – a rewarding, elaborate project from Richard Linklater.   before Naomi Watts did it in Mullholland Drive in 2001 - Patricia Arquette gets the David Lynch doppelgänger treatment in 1997's Lost Highway   best performance:   Patricia Arquette is a fearless actor – and that muscle is on display in both of her best performances.  The two selections here

  best film:  Irène Jacob has not one, but two masterpieces where she is front and center (as far as lead actors go) to choose from for this category. Forced to pick, Three Colours: Red may win out – but The Double Life of Véronique is essentially tied for that top position. In Three Colours: Red, Irene Jacob plays Valentine (yep, the color red again, and Krzysztof Kieślowski is not shy about it) - a genuinely good person (shown by Kieślowski as the only three in the trilogy to help the woman with the glass in the recycling). Valentine

  best film:  Rosemary’s Baby is superior to Harold and Maude, but they are both masterpieces. Roman Polanski’s momentous 1968 horror film will forever sit at, or near the top, when discussing the best films in the genre’s history. Harold and Maude has always been considered a cult classic and sort of anthem for the counterculture – and it is a comedy - but the filmmaking from Hal Ashby is Wes Anderson-level. Obviously this is decades before Wes – so one should probably say that Wes Anderson is Hal Ashby-like in his ambitious filmmaking in the comedy genre.  

  best film:   Shelley Winters is in Howard Hawks’ Red River for just a few seconds as an extra that has to be thrown out as far as consideration for this category goes.  The same goes for her few seconds in Roman Polanski's The Tenant - otherwise that may be the correct answer here. She is important (though not in the same stratosphere as Robert Mitchum) to The Night of the Hunter and that may be the superior work anyhow – so the 1955 Charles Laughton film is the answer to the question of Shelley Winters best film. The Night

  best film:   When an actor has worked with the great Pedro Almodovar as much as Penelope Cruz has, this category is going to be pretty solid. Among their collaborations, All About My Mother (1999), Broken Embraces (2009), and Pain and Glory (2019) stand out as the finest (curious that they come out ten years apart exactly – excited to see what 2029 has to offer from the director and actor pairing). All About My Mother borrows large chunks of the narrative (and the title of course) from 1950’s All About Eve. Broken Embraces is definitely Almodóvar’s most underrated