Meryl Streep, Best Actress Poll

I've seen six of them--Out of Africa so long ago, I don't remember a thing. Would of course take The Deer Hunter or Defending Your Life over any of them (i.e., no opinion).

a poll of movies she could have and was not nominated for lead actress would also be interesting

Still Of The Night
Falling In Love
Plenty (released same year as Out Of Africa)
Heartburn
She-Devil
Death Becomes Her
The River Wild
Before And After
Marvin's Room
Dancing At Lughnasa (released the same year as One True Thing)
The Hours (for which Nicole Kidman won)
Lions For Lambs
Mamma Mia! (released the same year as Doubt)
It's Complicated (released the same year as Julie & Julia)
Hope Springs

i reaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllly want to see still of the night. it's about her possibly stalking roy scheider!

I'm not a fan but she nailed it a few times, mostly when she's funny and imperious (The Devil Wears Prada), imperious (A Cry in the Dark), funny + loose (Silkwood, The Bridges of Madison County).

My favorites of this bunch:

Silkwood
A Cry in the Dark
Postcards from the Edge
The Bridges of Madison County
The Devil Wears Prada
Julie and Julia

Her late in the game box office success is heartening. My mom adores It's Complicated and Mamma Mia!.

Of the un-nominated ones Plenty is as good if not better and so is Death Becomes Her.

Saw a quote from her complaining that she was reluctant to take the Into the Woods role because the previous three roles offered her were also witches.

With clem here on a write-in vote for Defending Your Life.

id go with postcards from the edge

Silkwood. under rated. used to be on the BBC loads for some reason.

finally, a poll where i can say "this is sophie's choice" and you have no idea if i mean it as a euphemism or if i'm actually referring to the movie

^^ that dingo's got my baby!

of the 9 above i've seen, Silkwood and A Cry in the Dark.

I know she once sighed of Defending Your Kife, "I'm just THE GIRL." OTM.

non-Oscar: Death Becomes Her, Angels in America.

which is the worst?

since i didn't see it, has to be Thatcher

Defending Your Life is a favorite of mine, but not because Meryl Streep's character is given any good lines or her acting in it is riveting. She is just THE GIRL. +1 otm

I don't use the word "charming" much, but she is in Defending Your Life--very much so. Isn't that key to any romantic comedy, and not just something anyone can pull off?

Well, there are an awful lot of romantic comedies out there, so unless you want to count the vast majority as clumsy failures, then "charming" may not be such a hard target to hit for most of the actors who get cast in romcoms.

The Thatcher movie is so bad, felt like half the time it was a frazzled-looking Streep in a bad wig shambling about moaning "DENNIS!"

The only that even slightly redeems that Thatcher movie is just how fucking strange it is in its wrongheadedness. Like, let's make a movie about a polarizing historical figure and then have most of it being her stumbling around her house decaying and hallucinating.

worst recent movie with an Oscar-winning actor in recent memory

Hadn't thought about it that way, but basically Van Sant's Last Days when described like that. (Didn't care for the Thatcher movie, hated Last Days.)

I didn't much like Last Days, but you don't go for structurally/formally unconventional feature films in general, maybe?

(that 10-minute slow zoom i recall GVS using on Michael Pitt seems decidedly not up yr alley)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://www.wildsound.ca/images/meryl_streep_high_school_cheerleader.jpg

i reaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllly want to see still of the night. it's about her possibly stalking roy scheider!

― da croupier, Thursday, January 15, 2015 8:58 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

id recommend skipping it, even meryl thinks its bad

When Streep appeared on the Bravo talk show, "Watch What Happens Live," in August, 2012, host Andy Cohen asked her to “Name one bad film that you have made.” Streep replied, “Still of the Night.” “What was that about?” asked Cohen. Streep replied, “Never mind.”

also, i watched 'before and after' recently -- meryl is wasted as a mousy doctor and edward furlong figures prominently in the mostly implausible plot and is truly a terrible actor who ruins every scene hes in m/l

you mean Terminator II?

she's made several/many films worse than Still of the Night. obv not gonna say Mamma Mia and lose her pink-slippered international audience.

That Meryl thinks that stalker movie is bad only makes me want to see it more

managing the theater for the homesman, girl who's usher tonight comes up to me and says "this movie is so long." i'm like haha it's only two hours. she insists "it's so long. anything with meryl streep is so long."

just seemed long waiting for Streep (forgot she was in it tbh)

I watched Silkwood for the first time in decades last night, liked it quite a bit less than in '83. Kael was OTM in calling it "a passive advocacy film." I'd forgotten how blatantly Kurt Russell is employed as the sex object.

Eileen Jones of Jacobin lets Streep have it with both barrels in the wake of her Adored Speech:

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/01/meryl-streep-speech-trump-golden-globes/

It's better as a PG-rated drama about a triad than in generating suspense. How many minutes does Russell wear a shirt – five? six?

That Jones piece has all of the grace and insight of a comments-section rant.

That was so fucking dumb. Remind me again who the "working class" elected president? Exactly what part of her speech it was you took issue about?

Silkwood was an R, there are a number of "fucks," plus the then-scarce 'positive' portrayal by Cher of the lesbian bestie.

xpost

The only part of the speech I took issue with was her referring to Fisher as "Princes Leia."

Alfred otm the interesting stuff in Silkwood isn't the "political thriller" plot, it's the relationship stuff

I don't believe Streep in the movie. She plays her back country broad as if she were the French lieutenant's woman.

@adamjohnsonNYC
the AP fact checked whether or not Meryl Streep is overrated because we live in hell

https://www.apnews.com/1771085ba1ce4a1d8098266b13d864af

didnt see the speech, but for her Maggie-stanning alone, eff off

https://twitter.com/RobertOryx754/status/818562732245061638

"I didn't see the speech, but I'll link to this thing excoriating her speech, which really ends up having nothing to do with her speech."

HAVE WE GOTTEN PERRIN'S OR GREENWALD'S THOUGHTS YET CHOP CHOP MORBS

you haven't jumped in the lake yet huh

you still think im a Trump supporter amirite

surprised not more ppl voted in this poll! i love her in Bridges obviously haha.

The films she's nominated for are rarely the films of hers that I like. Defending Your Life, especially, and even Death Becomes Her beat anything here that I've seen, though Postcards comes close. She had a fairly good run of sharp comedies going there in the early 90s that is easily my favourite phase of her career.

sharon stone out there ending her own career… pic.twitter.com/3s8rnwNG89

— S. ✨ olivia colman’s bitch (@streep_lover) June 22, 2021

Hollywood's been very good to Sharon Stone, so she has shaky grounds for complaint, but she's 100% correct about Streep's perceived stature and ability compared to other actresses. Of course, in a ragingly competitive environment, tiny differences can place you at the forefront. If they were a group of runners, then it wouldn't matter if Streep won all her races by fractions of a second, people would still count the numbers of races won as decisive.

If Stone means, "Hollywood still treats women so much like shit that it can handle and support only one Serious Actress at a time," then I partly understand.

how did bridges of madison county not get more votes??

Judging the movie by the book.

I don't believe Streep in the movie. She plays her back country broad as if she were the French lieutenant's woman.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn),

I've changed my mind.

That’s one best actress year I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things tbh.

Are we talking about Silkwood or Bridges?

Silkwood.

I haven't changed my mind about Shirtless Kurt Russell.

I haven't changed my mind about Shirtless Clint Eastwood.

The films she's nominated for are rarely the films of hers that I like. Defending Your Life, especially, and even Death Becomes Her beat anything here that I've seen, though Postcards comes close. She had a fairly good run of sharp comedies going there in the early 90s that is easily my favourite phase of her career.

― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko)

Quite otm.

Sophie's Choice remains a leaden bore.

I felt bad resisting it when it came out, but yeah.

I agree. The Onion made a joke of this, but given her talent, her filmography is surprisingly underwhelming. Defending Your Life, Fantastic Mr. Fox and maybe Adaptation are really the only ones that I thought were pretty great. I've yet to see A Cry in the Dark - I've been told it's really good - but nearly all of her most celebrated performances seem to happen in films that I don't particularly like all that much.

Not counting A Cry in the Dark, my favorite here may be Bridges, but it can't overcome its awful source material, which I never want to read again. Streep and Eastwood still manage to do excellent work though, with Eastwood more as a director - probably says a lot that the best scene in the movie IMHO features only a few spoken words that are merely functional.

I'll probably revisit Mike Nichols's adaptation of Angels in America - I remember wishing Emma Thompson hadn't been cast, but otherwise there was still a lot that I liked about it.

well shes super in its complicated whats that worth

That's about right, bird. But I was wrong: Silkwood holds up as movie and nomination. I watched it at the height of the pandemic and was taken by its unsentimental lived-in portrait of rural queerdom.

She is just perfect in Fantastic Mr. Fox and Hope Springs, which the Academy of course did not recognize.

Bridges of Madison County is one of her best, and I'll even say it boasts one of Eastwood's best too.

Plenty is probably her most underrated performance and film. Unbelievably great script by David Hare

i loved her in silkwood, plenty, postcards from the edge, and defending your life. i've seen her in 20+ movies but those have always been my faves of hers. though i like her 80s in general. falling in love. heartburn. i did not love her in ironweed though.
i'm always happy to see her even in not-great movies. will i be as happy to see tilda swinton in 20 years in a movie? time will tell...

weirdly, i don't think i have ever seen sophie's choice or the french looey's woman. both of which remind me of seinfield movies.

Plenty is probably her most underrated performance and film. Unbelievably great script by David Hare

― beamish13,

Yeah, she's terrific. And Sting's only good acting in a movie too.

i have absolutely no memory of ricki and the flash and its a jonathan demme movie! where was i?

can't believe it isn't streaming on 20 channels. seems like a given.

That period between 2006 and 2012 where she became a genuine movie star and scored a number of hits is unpredecented for an American actress her age. I ask my students about Meryl Streep and they know her for The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia!, and It's Complicated, mostly because they tell me their moms owned the DVDs and played them constantly.

Oscar bloggers love that 1982 race; I'm on the Jessica Lange Frances train.

Holocaust was definitely the first thing i saw her in. so i've been a fan since 1978. and i remember her vividly in it too. that thing haunted me. woods and moriarty too. they were indelible. for a miniseries they brought the heat.

omigod thanks for reminding me of that thing, scott. Yeah, Woods was terrific.

Almost forgot about Plenty, thanks. Really good.

First time I remember catching Ian McKellan!

JFC, how long has it been since James Woods was terrific in anything?

Against All Odds?

Entertaining in Vampires, Hercules and The Simpsons, perfect as a manipulative creep in Casino, and very effective in several lead roles in the late '80s, but I think his best films came early: Once Upon a Time in America, Night Moves and above all Videodrome.

minor role but he knows exactly what hes at in any given sunday too

He was a delight in every film he was cast in through the mid '90s. Salvador and True Believer are his best performances, but he gave garbage like The Specialist whatever juice it needed.

James Woods & Kathleen Turner low key great as the awful parents in The Virgin Suicides

^^ there's the answer to jimbeaux's question

Oh yeah, forgot about that!

He was a delight in every film he was cast in through the mid '90s

And then he got maybe one of the all-time worst acting Oscar nods in 1996

because he wasn't acting?

His older self just hopped into a time machine and Rob Reiner said, "Yes, you are Byron De La Beckwith"

watching Only Murders in the Building and there is a scene at a blackjack table with four actresses who have a combined eight Oscars (Streep 3, Renee Zellweger 2, Dianne Wiest 2, Da'vine Joy Randolph 1) ... and also Selena Gomez.

I was going to post but saw that I already did. I'll amend it by saying Streep as a person is someone I have an enormous amount of respect for, regardless of my reservations of her films (which are still commendable). Not just for being outspoken and clearly someone who intelligently and thoughtfully acts on her conscience (not in the performative sense but in the broad sense of action), from all accounts I've heard she's a genuinely sweet person in private - no airs, she'll just be a regular person whose like the nicest co-worker or next door neighbor you'll ever have.

Her rumoured offscreen romance with Martin Short makes me very happy for some reason.