Highlighting the Top 16 Finishers of My 100 Favorite Actresses Tournament
Welcome to the first of a special duology that I’m doing in conjunction with the blog’s Instagram account! Over the past few weeks and in the weeks to come, I’ve been holding tournaments for my 100 favorite actresses and 100 favorite actors. With the actresses tournament wrapping up this weekend, it’s time for me to do a report on the top 16 finishers in the tournament. In this post, I’ll include where they finished in the tournament, where they come in on my personal rankings, and a few of their performances that I’d like to highlight (favorite, honorable mention, least favorite, and one that’s at the top of my TBW list for that actress). I hope this list can give you a few films to watch and/or rewatch to gain an even better appreciation of these amazing performers!
16th Place – Sigourney Weaver:
My Rank: 100th
Favorite Performance: Alien – While Sigourney Weaver is at the bottom of my top 100 favorite actresses, she still managed to beat out 83 others to get here, and I’d wager that it is in large part due to her memorable turn in the Alien Franchise. Since I haven’t yet seen Aliens (I’ll get to that in a moment), Alien is my favorite of her performances. Her inaugural turn as Ellen Ripley is an iconic action/sci-fi/horror performance that informs most of the performances that have come since in those genres. She exudes cool as the film’s protagonist and is part of what makes it one of the best science fiction films of all time.
Honorable Mention: Holes – Holes is one of those childhood films for me that continues to hold up well into my adult years, and I think that’s in large part thanks to the mature performances from all of the adults in the cast, highlighted by Sigourney Weaver as the Warden of Camp Greenlake. She’s an iconic villain from my younger years and plays the part so charismatically and memorably that it’s hard to deny her greatness. She walks a fine line between threatening, alluring, and manic in her role, and it works to perfection every time.
Least Favorite Performance: Avatar: The Way of Water – This is not the only time you’ll see a performance from this particular film get a mention in this post, but this is probably the most egregious. Sigourney Weaver playing the 14-year-old Na’vi daughter of her human character from the first Avatar was my least favorite part of the sequel. No matter how good the animation is and how much they try to smooth her voice, I can’t not hear 70-something Sigourney in there. It’s so jarring, and I am a bit concerned about where her portion of the Avatar story might be going, as it looks like she could become an even more important player as the final three films of James Cameron’s blockbuster franchise roll out.
Performance That I Need to See: Aliens – I mentioned above that I haven’t yet seen the sequel to Alien, and I believe that not having seen this film is part of what keeps Sigourney so far down on my personal rankings. This is arguably her most iconic role and the film that really cemented her in the pantheon of action heroes, so I’ve definitely gotta check it out.
15th Place – Toni Collette:
My Rank: 92nd
Favorite Performance: The Sixth Sense – Collette’s turn as Cole’s mom Lynn in M. Night Shyamalan’s breakout film is her best performance by far. It is an iconic “mother” performance in a “horror” film that really lends heart to a film that could otherwise be a one-trick pony. While Willis and Osment are both strong as the film’s co-leads, without Toni Collette bringing emotion and grounding, the film would lose its magic after the twist has been revealed or spoiled. She is the character and performance that makes the film worth revisiting (and arguably the role missing from so many of Shyamalan’s other films).
Honorable Mention: Nightmare Alley – No, I’m not going to mention Hereditary anywhere at all here. I’ve seen it; it’s fine if that’s the type of horror that you’re into, but it’s not for me, so I can’t give that kind of love to Collette’s performance in it. However, a film that’s not necessarily for everyone, but that I personally got some mileage out of is Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley remake from 2021. In it, Collette plays Zeena, the seer from whom Bradley Cooper’s Stanton Carlisle steals his mentalist show. Collette plays Zeena as a tragic figure, distinct from the character in the 1947 original in the visible ways that carnival life has worn her down, and she is the first of Stanton’s many female victims, making her arguably the most important, and Collette ensures that she’s the most memorable.
Least Favorite Performance: Mickey 17 – While I’m not quite as low on Bong Joon Ho’s latest feature as some are, I did find the villain performances to be occasionally too over-the-top and on-the-nose to be enjoyable should I ever wan to revisit the film. Collette plays this caricature of right-wing wife quite well, but it’s a role that doesn’t necessarily have the oomph of some of her other performances, and I didn’t find myself particularly moved by any of what she was doing. Did I dislike her character? Absolutely. Could someone else have given the exact same performance and elicited the same reaction? Also, probably so.
Performance I Need to See: Little Miss Sunshine – I know that this family road dramedy is right up my alley, and I can’t really tell you why I haven’t seen it yet other than the fact that it’s been consistently hovering just below the top tier of my watchlist for years now. As, again, the mother figure, I’d hazard a guess that Collette is again in her bag here, even if it didn’t necessarily reflect in any awards love this time around.
14th Place – Aubrey Plaza:
My Rank: 54th
Favorite Performance: Ingrid Goes West – As you’ll see over the next few blurbs, I see Aubrey Plaza at her best when she’s operating as the borderline manic character in an indie film, and Ingrid Goes West is the optimal personification of that type of performance. In the film, Plaza plays the titular Ingrid and takes us on a journey of self-loathing, stalking, discovery, and ultimately a poignant look at the impact of social media, albeit in a bit of a satirical take. Ingrid is one of my favorites of this type of character in any film, and it’s a performance that feels perfectly suited to Plaza’s particular quirks and tendencies.
Honorable Mention: Safety Not Guaranteed – I discovered this film on my trip down indie lane in my early college years, and it has stuck with me ever since. It’s a weird film about small-time magazine writers trying to get a story on a time traveler where Plaza’s character gets to see the power of belief and passion as she comes into contact with this eccentric. Again, she gets to play weird and cynical in a dark comedy, and it pays out dividends. She just doesn’t get quite as much character development as Ingrid, which is why this gets the honorable mention.
Least Favorite Performance: Megalopolis – The best part of Wow Platinum’s (Plaza) story in Francis Ford Coppola’s 2024 epic flop is (spoiler alert) her death, which is one of the funniest scenes in a film full of unintentional hilarity. Otherwise, her role is basically to be an overly sexual and sexualized news personality, which really feels like a disservice to Plaza’s wealth of capabilities. It’s a mess of a film, and though Plaza is giving it her all, it’s just not a great role to work with.
Performance I Need to See: My Old Ass – At the other end of Plaza’s 2024 spectrum is a film that I somehow managed to miss out on in the drug trip/coming-of-age film where Plaza features as the older version of Maisy Stella’s Elliott. It looks like a film much more up my alley and much more up her alley, so I just need to make time to watch it.
13th Place – Hailee Steinfeld
My Rank: 46th
Favorite Performance: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – The sequel to 2018’s highly successful Into the Spider-Verse gave Steinfeld’s Spider-Gwen even more chance to shine, and Steinfeld’s voice acting makes her the character that I found myself most invested in and rooting for as the sequel unfolded. She brings an emotion and authenticity to the character that’s aided by the film’s fantastic animation, and I have no doubt that her portrayal will go down as one of the strongest comic book performances in history, not just in animation.
Honorable Mention: True Grit – Steinfeld’s turn as Mattie Ross in the Coen Brothers’ 2010 remake of the John Wayne western introduced her to the world and earned her an acting Oscar nomination. She was a veritable newcomer at age 13 holding her own in scenes with the likes of Hollywood’s elite actors – Josh Brolin, Matt Damon, and Jeff Bridges primarily. It’s an impressive performance that makes us care about her character even more than we care about the men in her story. She’s great in it, and it’s exciting to see that she’s a child star who has continued to see success as her career has unfolded.
Least Favorite Performance: Pitch Perfect 3 – I could have said the second film here as well, but Steinfeld’s character is at least an integral part of the second film’s story, where in 3 she serves only as a tertiary member of the Barden Bellas on their European tour with the USO (and DJ Khaled for some reason). She is given nothing to do, and she does nothing with it. Her one song at the beginning is arguably the best a capella performance of the film and still one of the weakest of the trilogy. It wasn’t a good film, and she doesn’t get a chance to even try to salvage it.
Performance I Need to See: The Edge of Seventeen – I love a good coming of age film, and director Kelly Fremon Craig’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. was one of my favorite films of 2023, so it stands to reason that I’d thoroughly enjoy this one as well, especially with Hailee Steinfeld in the lead. I’ve seen many call it her best performance, so it’s on my watchlist. Hopefully I can get to it soon.
12th Place – Julia Roberts:
My Rank: 39th
Favorite Performance: Erin Brockovich – It should come as no surprise that Julia Roberts’s Oscar-winning turn as the fiery paralegal is my favorite of her performances, as it’s one of the best of the 21st century. She balances mom, working woman, lover, and concerned citizen together in a single package, and it’s an easy one to revisit simply for her performance time and again. She makes a legal drama feel like a legal thriller with how strong her acting is, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Honorable Mention: Ocean’s Twelve – Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven sequel gives Roberts’s Tess even more time to shine, this time as an integral member of the team as she gets to be the distraction due to her resemblance to actress Julia Roberts. It was a creative way to get Roberts a bigger role in the film that, while gimmicky, makes for the best part of the second Ocean’s film because we get to see Roberts giving a caricature of herself and enjoying every second of it. The Ocean’s films are about having fun, and there are few moments more fun than watching Julia Roberts pretending not to be Julia Roberts having to interact with Bruce Willis who thinks that she is Julia Roberts. It’s simply excellent.
Least Favorite Performance: August: Osage County – Please don’t watch this film. It’s got some strong performances, but they’re in service of a boring, disturbing, and not all that great story, and Julia Roberts is part of it. Is her character the worst in the film? No. Does she have the wildest storyline in the film? Also, definitely not. Nonetheless, she’s in the film, and I could really have gone my whole life without watching this film and been fine, so that’s why this is my least favorite from her.
Performance I Need to See: Notting Hill – I could probably have put just about any of Roberts’s 1990s romantic comedy roles here because, for all my love of romantic comedy, I have yet to see any of them. I know that I like Hugh Grant a little bit more than I like Richard Gere or Dermott Mulroney though, so I’m giving the edge to Notting Hill (also, the iconic “I’m just a girl” scene is in this one, so having context for that would be nice).
11th Place – Linda Cardellini:
My Rank: 31st
Favorite Performance: Green Book – I will be the first to say that Green Book is arguably the worst Best Picture winner of the last thirty years, but I can’t deny that the acting in it is particularly good, and Linda Cardellini is the film’s unsung hero as Tony’s (Viggo Mortensen) wife. It’s a performance that personifies what I love about Cardellini – she can bring heart and character to any performance, and it’ll make the film better. She gives the film a bit of the soul that’s missing from some of its other elements and keeps it watchable along with Mortensen and Ali. I love Linda Cardellini first and foremost for her great vibes, and those are on brilliant display here.
Honorable Mention: Scooby-Doo – I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a nod to Cardellini’s defining role as Velma, which helped reshape the character in the modern conception of the 2000s. She is synonymous with the character of Velma for many people, and I think that’s because of how well she played the character in the film. Is the film great? Probably not. Is the casting amazing? Absolutely, and Linda Cardellini is the best of that amazingness.
Least Favorite Performance: Avengers: Endgame – Again, I’ll say that what I love about Linda Cardellini is the amazing energy that she gets to bring to all of her roles, and Endgame simply sidelines her. She’s given like one and a half scenes in the film, and her absence is felt as much as her presence was in Age of Ultron. She’s simply in this film to be a motivation for Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, and it feels like a waste. Granted, in a three-hour film already stuffed with characters, I understand why Hawkeye’s wife doesn’t get a ton of love.
Performance I Need to See: Brokeback Mountain – Much of Cardellini’s career has been spent as a supporting character, and Brokeback is no different, but I’m sure that her appearance in the film elevates it to even greater heights. It’s a film that I’ve already been excited to see, but knowing that she’s in it as well gets me even more pumped.
10th Place – Cate Blanchett:
My Rank: 24th
Favorite Performance: Blue Jasmine – Is this film a Woody Allen film? Yes. Is Woody Allen a severely problematic dude? Again, yes. But is this a captivating performance from Cate Blanchett? Without a doubt, yes! This is a performance perhaps most notorious for stealing a potential Amy Adams win – that year for American Hustle – but I’m in the camp that says Cate fully deserves this win. She plays a character that we want to hate but can’t help but root for and empathize with, and she does it in the most captivating way from start to finish. She’s excellent, and this performance is the peak of her excellence.
Honorable Mention: Tár – Cate Blanchett simply gets how to play unlikable protagonists and get the audience to root for them anyway. There’s nothing all that redeemable about Lydia Tár, except that Cate Blanchett makes us believe in her despite what the story is showing us. It’s a terrifying performance in a way because of how easily she seems to be able to portray heartlessness. She’s chilling and fantastic, and I can see why many were disappointed that she lost Best Actress that year to Michelle Yeoh (I was not personally).
Least Favorite Performance: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Between the ridiculous wig and wild Russian accent there’s not much to redeem about the villainess from the fourth Indiana Jones film. Her big showdown isn’t even with Indiana; it’s with Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt Williams in a fencing match on two jeeps careening through the rain forest. The movie isn’t fantastic, and Cate Blanchett unfortunately does little to salvage it.
Performance I Need to See: The Aviator – Blanchett’s first Oscar came for Supporting Actress in Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic, and I have no idea what to expect from her except greatness, because it’s very hard to expect anything less, given her storied career. I hope the performance, and maybe the film as well, live up to the hype when I finally get around to it.
9th Place – Kate Winslet:
My Rank: 1st
Favorite Performance: Steve Jobs – Kate Winslet is my favorite actress in large part due to the fact that she consistently chooses great projects and makes those projects even better with her performances. Steve Jobs is the peak of that excellence. She gets to chew on some Aaron Sorkin dialogue across from Michael Fassbender, directed by Danny Boyle, and I’m still baffled that she didn’t manage to come away with a second Oscar for her captivating turn. She’s an actress with no skips, and for me, this is her least skippable performance.
Honorable Mention: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – What’s not to love about this inverse romantic dramedy about the end of a relationship? Nothing! Winslet’s performance goes perfectly in the film and makes the whole thing work. Jim Carrey is also fantastic in the film, but he needs Winslet to make him truly great, and she does that without letting herself become overshadowed by what is arguably the best performance in Carrey’s catalogue. Other films that are also worth noting here include The Holiday, Finding Neverland, Heavenly Creatures, and Sense and Sensibility.
Least Favorite Performance: Avatar: The Way of Water – There’s a good chance that you didn’t even realize that Kate Winslet was in the Avatar sequel, but she is. She just doesn’t have much to do. Unlike my issues with Sigourney in Way of Water, my problem with Winslet’s role is that it feels more like a throwaway cameo than a genuine casting. The best thing she did on the film was win the breath holding competition on set.
Performance I Need to See: The Reader – As someone who calls Winslet his favorite actress of all time, I’m almost ashamed to say that I haven’t even seen the performance that won her an Oscar. I know that it’s mildly controversial due to some category manipulation allegations, but I have no doubt that it’s an excellent performance.
8th Place – Audrey Hepburn:
My Rank: 30th
Favorite Performance: Breakfast at Tiffany’s – How can you not love Holly Golightly?? She is the It Girl, and no one but Audrey Hepburn could have portrayed such an iconic character. It’s a role that feels synonymous with the actress in many ways because of how natural she feels in the character. She’s lovable, frustrating, funny, flighty, and fun in all the best ways, and she makes the film the classic that it is.
Honorable Mention: Sabrina – Playing across from noir greats Humphrey Bogart and William Holden gave Hepburn a chance to show off her acting chops, and she not only matches the pair of legends but outshines them at basically every turn as the film’s eponymous protagonist. You want to love Sabrina even before the Larrabee brothers do, and it’s because of Hepburn’s unmatched charisma.
Least Favorite Performance: The Nun’s Story – Don’t get me wrong, Hepburn doesn’t turn in a terrible performance in The Nun’s Story, it’s just not as interesting a film as the rest of her filmography. Given the choice to rewatch any of the other films of hers that I’ve seen or The Nun’s Story, I’m always going to take one of the others, which is why this role finds itself at the bottom.
Performance I Need to See: Roman Holiday – Again, this is one of those Academy Award winning performances that I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t yet seen. It’s on my watchlist, and I’m positive that Hepburn yet again turns in a charismatic and lovable, yet complex, performance in the film. I look forward to getting around to it.
7th Place – Anya Taylor-Joy:
My Rank: 15th
Favorite Performance: The Queen’s Gambit – That’s right, I can put television series on here if I want to, and Anya’s performance as Beth Harmon is the star-making role that every performer dreams of. She got to do a little bit of everything in the role and showed that she’s capable of doing it all at the highest of levels. She can do family drama, femme fatale, hopeless romantic, self-sure woman, manic drug addict, and basically everything else in between, and this miniseries was her coming out party.
Honorable Mention: Emma. – Her role in the 2020 Jane Austen adaptation helps the story feel fresh in conjunction with the vision of director Autumn de Wilde. She plays the busybody matchmaker brilliantly, working also into the role of romantic lead. It’s a fun film made so mostly by her performance that draws the greatness out of the rest of her supporting cast, some of whom are becoming stars in their own right.
Least Favorite Performance: The New Mutants – I don’t know that I need to say a whole lot here other than clarify that I think she was the best part of the film and would have made a better main character than the one chosen by the writers. It’s still a poorly written and worse executed film that I don’t have any real desire to go back to any time soon.
Performance I Need to See: Last Night in Soho – As a lover of Anya, Thomasin McKenzie, and Edgar Wright, I’m surprised myself that I haven’t yet seen the psychological horror film from 2021. It slipped under my radar and has flown just below my must-watches ever since. Hopefully I can find time to see it soon.
6th Place – Viola Davis:
My Rank: 12th
Favorite Performance: Fences – The role that Davis won her Oscar for is my favorite of the ones that I’ve seen from her. She is an undeniable force across from Denzel in this August Wilson adaptation, and she’s easily the best part of the film. It’s not just one of the best supporting actress wins, it’s one of the single best acting performances of all time, and I’m happy to say that I got to see it on the big screen. She bring so much heart and emotion and depth of character to the role, and she carries the film with her absence felt in the scenes that she doesn’t feature in. If you haven’t seen the film and are a lover of Viola Davis, what are you even doing?
Honorable Mention: The Help – This is probably the performance (or Amanda Waller) that most of my audience associates Davis with, and I can understand why. She’s fantastic in the role, leading a cast full of fantastic female performances. Has the film itself aged perfectly? Not exactly, but the acting in it remains amazing, and Viola Davis in particular could have carried the film on her own. It’s this devastating look at the plight of black women in that industry during that time of American history, within which Davis manages to give the audience hope for a better future simply through looks and voiceovers.
Least Favorite Performance: Kung Fu Panda 4 – This is one of those solid voice acting performances that suffers not from a lack of commitment on the actor’s part but on a lack of development in the story department. I never really cared about the Chameleon as a villain in comparison to the villains of the first three Kung Fu Panda films, but that’s not really Davis’s fault. She brings the right gravitas to the character with her voice work, but there’s just not enough for her to work with to make it a memorable character or performance.
Performance I Need to See: Doubt – I’ve honestly seen most of Viola Davis’s most iconic performances, so her turn as the third actress in Doubt has me curious about how good the ensemble film could be (my wife tells me it’s not a great film). Still, Davis rarely misses, so I’m inclined to believe that I’ll enjoy her work even if I don’t enjoy the film itself.
5th Place – Margot Robbie:
My Rank: 8th
Favorite Performance: I, Tonya – I still can’t for the life of me explain how Margot Robbie lost the Best Actress performance to Frances McDormand in Three Billboards, at least not in hindsight. While the two performances were my two favorites of the year, the more I return to the two films, the more I’m struck by the range displayed by Robbie versus the confident, yet one-note performance from McDormand. Robbie gives us hope, despair, joy, comedy, and romance in spades throughout the Tonya Harding biopic, and I love every aspect of what she’s doing.
Honorable Mention: Babylon – I come down somewhere in the middle on the Babylon debate, but what I won’t listen to is anyone slandering Margot Robbie’s performance in the film. She is captivating from start to finish and showcasing acting capabilities that most actresses only dream of achieving throughout the film. I think it’s probably her character’s final act (and the generally controversial nature of the film) that kept her out of the best actress conversation that year because she is truly fantastic, and the best part of the film by far.
Least Favorite Performance: The Big Short – I don’t know that this really counts as a performance, as it’s a cameo of her playing herself explaining one of the difficult financial concepts in a cutaway scene, but it’s my least favorite time I’ve seen her on screen. She doesn’t really have a chance to showcase much of her acting skill, as she’s there more as a pretty face, and she’s so much more than that.
Performance I Need to See: Bombshell – While the film itself only gets middling responses from most viewers, and that’s what’s kept me from seeing it for myself, I have very little doubt that Robbie most likely carries the film. It’s probably an even more poignant and frustrating film in a post-2024 world, so it’s definitely climbing up my watchlist.
4th Place – Jessica Chastain:
My Rank: 55th
Favorite Performance: The Help – Were it not a film that’s about the experience of black women that featured a fantastic supporting performance from Octavia Spencer, I have little doubt that Jessica Chastain could have won an Oscar for her off-the-wall performance as Celia Foote. Once she appears in the film, we get a spark of energy that had been lacking, and her emotive capabilities are on full display throughout the film, helping Spencer ultimately win the Oscar for Supporting Actress over her that year.
Honorable Mention: The Eyes of Tammy Faye – The film for which Chastain ultimately won her own Oscar gets my honorable mention for her career. It’s an over-the-top performance helped along in many ways by the makeup, hair, and costume departments, but she manages to turn this deeply flawed figure into one that’s almost worth rooting for, which is something that the best production department in the world can’t do with the wrong actor. Is the film goofier than it needs to be in places? Sure, but as someone who lived pretty darn close to that world in my younger years, I can say that much of what it portrays isn’t far off, which makes Chastain’s performance all the more poignant to me.
Least Favorite Performance: Lawless – The prohibition crime drama with the who’s who of supporting performers filling out its cast is an okay crime film with Chastain as one of the main love interests. I don’t have much else to say about her performance aside from a memory of a wildly unnecessary nude scene that comes basically out of nowhere toward the end of the film’s second act, and it feels quite a disservice to her capabilities to have her so sidelined.
Performance I Need to See: Zero Dark Thirty – The CIA hunt for Bin Laden is one of those films that has been on my watchlist for a while but hasn’t yet risen to the top. I’ve heard that Chastain is fantastic in it, and I look forward to seeing it for myself when the film comes up on the blog.
3rd Place – Meryl Streep
My Rank: 52nd
Favorite Performance: The Devil Wears Prada – For me, Miranda Priestly is Meryl Streep’s defining role, and everything that she’s done since has been in pursuit of that greatness, and everything that came before was simply leading to that turn. All of the unwarranted nominations (The Post, Into the Woods, Florence Foster Jenkins, even the win for The Iron Lady) are in pursuit of making up for giving the Oscar to Helen Mirren over her that year. It’s not that Meryl is the greatest actress of all time, as many would try to argue. It’s that she played one of the most iconic roles of all time and received less recognition for it than she should have because the entertainment world is obsessed with the British royals for some reason.
Honorable Mention: Julie and Julia: Okay, so I haven’t seen a ton of Meryl Streep films, at least not with her as the headliner, but this film gives her a chance to shine doing some character work, and she makes herself the best part of it (aside from possibly Stanley Tucci). Julia Childs’s cooking shows are a memorable part of my childhood (reruns on PBS), so getting to see Meryl Streep do her character justice is a wonderful thing for me.
Least Favorite Performance: Into the Woods – I’m still baffled to this day that this performance received an Oscar nomination. It’s not particularly good singing, the character has no development at all, and the movie itself ruins the musical on which it is based. Bad news all around, not to mention James Corden is technically the film’s lead.
Performance I Need to See: Sophie’s Choice – This is the role that made Meryl Streep into who she is and set her on the road to playing Miranda Priestly, so I definitely need to get around to this one. Also, many hold that this is one of the best performances of all time, so I’m curious to see how I’ll see it, as someone who doesn’t necessarily hold Meryl in as high of esteem as some others.
2nd Place – Florence Pugh:
My Rank: 6th
Favorite Performance: Little Women – Thanks to Greta Gerwig’s writing and Florence Pugh’s performance, the character of Amy has been redeemed. One of the most notoriously annoying younger sibling characters has been turned into an inspirational character because Gerwig gave her a few extra lines, and Pugh delivered them to perfection. Like many of the actresses on this list, Florence Pugh has virtually no skips in her filmography, and picking only one as my favorite was incredibly difficult, but the level of work she does alongside some of the best of her generation in Little Women pushed this performance to the top for me.
Honorable Mention: Midsommar – It’s arguably the best “elevated horror” performance that anyone has ever turned in, and it’s thanks almost entirely to Florence Pugh’s ability to emote like none other. I don’t think that any other actress turns the May Queen dress into an icon like Pugh did, and again, it’s because of that stare and eventually that smile. Her portrayal of grief and its many complexities elevates a script from Ari Aster that is just okay to stratospheric levels.
Least Favorite Performance: Don’t Worry Darling – I want to clarify that I don’t hate this film as vehemently as some of its detractors do, but I do want to say that I think it doesn’t give Florence Pugh nearly enough to do in terms of acting. It’s a lot of running around and looking either frantic or suspicious for her, which works in the genre film that it is, but she’s capable of so much more. She still carries the film and makes it better than it otherwise could be, but it’s nowhere near the peak of her capabilities.
Performance I Need to See: Lady Macbeth – This indie period piece is one that the actress herself references as one of her favorites, which means it’s sure to be fantastic. Eventually, I’ll find time to get to it, and I’m sure that I’ll love her in it.
1st Place – Emma Stone:
My Rank: 16th
Favorite Performance: La La Land – How could it not be? She is mesmerizing in this film and controls every aspect of the screen when she’s on it. She probably could have won an Oscar on the “Audition” scene alone, and then you have the range of the rest of the film. You can critique the lack of “Broadway-level” singing and dancing in this film all you want, but I love it, and I love everything that Emma Stone does in it.
Honorable Mention: The Favourite – The first collab between Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos is currently my favorite of their work together because of how willing Stone is to play in the space between grounded and fantastical that Lanthimos only flirts with in this film. Later films feature more outlandish moments and storylines, but this one allows Stone to still feel like a real person despite some ridiculous writing in places. Her performance paved the way for Olivia Colman’s Oscar win for portraying Queen Ann in the film because of the sounding board she provides for the character’s many fits that might not have otherwise worked with a lesser actress.
Least Favorite Performance: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Emma Stone is great in basically everything she does, this just happens to be the weakest of her films. Everything around her in this film isn’t great, and her character feels underutilized, especially given where it all ends up. She could have done much more, but it’s easy to see why the third film never happened in part because she wasn’t going to be there to help carry much of the emotional load.
Performance I Need to See: Battle of the Sexes – Emma Stone is another actress whose filmography highlights I’ve seen most of, so the film that I haven’t seen of hers that intrigues me the most at the moment is her tennis film about the match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. It’s an intriguing premise that I’m sure is probably underwhelming in its execution, but I love Stone and Steve Carell, so I’m down to give it a go.
