My Top Ten Favorite Actresses

I've come up with a list of my personal top ten favorite actresses. These are in no particular order and are my personal favorites, so no one is saying they are the best there are, although they might be.

Ok, ready for my choices? Get your drum roll ready...or not.

1. Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron has put on so many fantastic faces on the big screen, most notably taking on the vastly different portrayal as Aileen Wuornos in Monster. She is one of a special breed of athletic, beautiful and very convincing with any character she takes on. And humor is no exception, even though critics aren't always big fans like in A Million Ways to Die in the West. Her absolute skill in the acting industry blew away everyone in her most recent interpretation of Mad Max: Fury Road. There's no shortage of praise for that movie and she shines above all of that.

2. Angelina Jolie

Jolie, daughter of John Voight, has been entertaining audiences since the early 80's. Her credit resume includes movies like Hackers, Original Sin, Gone in 60 Seconds and Mr and Mrs Smith. Gaining a strong following due to her beauty doesn't scratch the surface of her talents, perfectly shown by movies like Salt, The Bone Collector and Girl Interrupted. She's also not afraid of taking on controversial roles, a great example is her portrayal of the troubled model Gia in 1998. If Maleficent wasn't enough for you, she's even working on a sequel (as of 2016 for any future readers). Angelina Jolie, thank you for going above and beyond in your films. It is appreciated.

3. Christina Ricci

One of my childhood-turned-adult celebrity crushes is Christina Ricci. She first caught our attention in the fantastic movie Mermaids and then later as the somber yet adorable Wednesday Addams in the 90's adaptation of the Addams Family. She has since branched out to take on more adult themed movies like 200 cigarettes and the Opposite of Sex.

4. Goldie Hawn

Goldie Hawn was a queen of the big screen and specifically awkward humor in the 80's and 90's. With hits like Overboard, Private Benjamin, Death Becomes Her and Wildcats, Hawn was the quintessential personification of comedy movies of that time. 

5. Salma Hayek

No list of favorites could be complete without the incredible Salma Hayek. She blends beauty, sex appeal and talent as she dazzles on the screen. Movies like Frida and Desperado showed she's much than her looks and parts such as Dogma,  and Fools Ruch In added versatility

6. Julia Roberts

Fried Green Tomatoes, Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman, Sleeping with the Enemy and even the controversial Hook were all absolutely beaming due to their leading star (or co star in the case of Hook) and that's not nearly all of her fantastic work in her time on the Film world. She's not only taken diverse roles but she's taken on tough characters and made them famous. Depth hasn't been a challenge she's shied from either, with cinematic classics like Stepmom and Steel Magnolias where she needed to be better than perfect in order to take them from a great movie to a generational tear jerker. And just like most of the women on this list, comedy hasn't escaped her reach, Friends was a great example of her far reaching assortment of range. Don't be fooled by her pretty face, Chandler, she's out for revenge. haha.

7. Amy Adams

Adams, notably known for her portrayal of Lois Lane in the most recent Superman/Justice League movies, has the perfect presence on screen of being cute and strong with a talent that supersedes her appearance. She's taken on some impressive parts such as Sydney Prosser in American Hustle which displays pure acting ability over her ability to be 'the princess' of the movie. Amy Adams may have it all in the acting industry.

8. Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett. The Black Widow has been attracting many eyes since 1994'S North with Elijah Wood. She is another very accomplished actress who has shown her aptitude in differing roles with such movies as In Good Company and Lucy along with Don Jon. My personal favorite role of her's that showed her ability to be light and fun while expressing depth is Lost in Translation, where she and Bill Murray find a fondness for each other without creating a love story. She has her share of animated parts like the Spongebob Movie,  The 2016 Jungle Book adaptation and Robot Chicken. She's definitely more just her most recent popularity, she's been in the spot light for a while and hopefully she'll be gracing the big screen for many years to come.

9. Thora Birch

Thora Birch has always been my celebrity crush, from Hallie O'Fallon in All I Want for Christmas to Eva in Monkey Trouble to the awkwardly beautiful Janie Burnham in American Beauty. Birch has made always had the awareness to balance acting and her personal life, a feat many child actors and actresses aren't able to control, and while she still takes on roles it's clear she takes her roles very seriously and chooses great parts for her. She even worked with my previous pick in this list, costarring with Scarlett Johansson in Ghost World. Thora Birch is a rare actress who is known for different impressive roles for different people: some know her as the adorable kid from that Christmas movie and some know her as the disturbed average girl from American Beauty and some know her from a few of the B- horror movies like The Hole or Train. She's always be my celebrity crush though and you can't have her.

10. Claire Danes

Lots of actresses are able to come out of nowhere and shine for a movie of two or even for a while before fading into parts made for older people, Claire Danes still looks just as innocent and cute as she did in her series My So Called Life. And her raw gift of acting has been impressive throughout her career, movies like Romeo and Juliet, Shopgirl and The Family Stone among others. Her Al-Qaida based Showtime series Home Land has been a hit since it's beginning in 2011 has been keeping her busy recently. Another diamond in the rough that I hope we see much more of. 

     Those are my favorites, in no particular order. I am interested to hear your thoughts on this list and who you would choose. And may I just say this was a tough list to make because there are many actresses who have done such amazing and convincing jobs.

     Thank you for reading and have a great day!

Nerve Review

     Nerve.  

Emma Roberts

Dave Franco

     Let's talk about Nerve, the movie written by Jessica Sharzer and directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost was an action packed film about the anonymous YouTube/thrill seeker era that we theoretically live in. A shy girl, Emma Roberts, is forced to grow into a strong character that shows true nerve by standing up to the faceless crowd.

     Here's the good:The characters that Sharzer created were very well written and had arcs that were very well developed in the short time they live on the screen. Franco was a perfect fit for his character, a pretty/bad boy who has a heart and the supporting cast was well chosen. The idea and creativity surrounding the cinematography was absolutely superb. Use of angles to give that cringe worthy feeling pushed us to our limit and the tempo never for a second felt rushed or annoyingly slow. Well done. 

     I also really enjoyed the twist ending, I usually try to guess what's coming and usually I'm right or very close. This movie had two possible endings that would have been worthy of honors: one was the ending they chose, I did not guess that was coming and it was well played on the writing/directing side. The other ending would have been if Dave Franco's character would have killed Vee, Emma Roberts' character.While that wouldn't have been the popular or fairy tale kind of ending people like but it would have been a fitting twist.

    And now...the not good about this film. 

I want to preface the first negative by saying I am not attacking her personally or her talent as an actress, I've seen Emma Roberts in other things and I was very impressed. But...this film had moments that she just was not the right actress for. An example would be the big speech in the finale: she stood in front of all the Nerve watchers and spoke about how they don't have 'nerve' and it's easy to be tough hiding in the crowd. This was supposed to be where she asserts herself as a strong leader who falls short in persuading everyone but still shows she truly has 'nerve' 

     She not only failed to own that scene, but her bad acting took me completely out of the feeling of that big turning point. That wasn't the only scene that she didn't own, another small yet pivotal moment was when she was embarrassed early on by her best friend in front of the guy she had a crush on, it felt very forced like Vee was told she had to be angry and then slowly caught on that she had to. I feel that the part of Vee was not played by the best actress for that particular part. I actually think the supporting actress would have served better as Venus, Emily Meade. 

     Aside form the negatives, this is a fast paced and very well made movie that should and most likely will have a solid fan base. Out of 22, I give this an 18.

P.S. I do not see many movies in the theaters more than once, I'm going to see this another time...that's how good Nerve is. Thank you for reading and have a great day!