Movie Meme

I've been very remiss in keeping up with the Movie Musings meme. Here's the latest question:

Who are some of your all time favorite actresses? (We did actors previously.) What is your favorite roll for each one? Are there any actresses you just can't stand or whose films you avoid?

Hmmm, there aren't a lot of actresses I'm crazy about. So many of them get stuck in shallow annoying roles or have to wear fat suits to portray us poor fat women who apparently can't get a man or go up a flight of stairs without fainting. But I digress...

I really like Cate Blanchett. I've liked her ever since I saw her in Elizabeth and was ticked that she lost the Oscar to Gwyneth Paltrow -- I didn't care at all for Shakespeare in Love and don't think she's that great an actress. I also really liked Blanchett in The Gift. She was beautifully creepy in The Lord of the Rings, which was great because I got the impression from the book that Galadriel was supposed to be lovely but a little scary at the same time.

I really like Ashley Judd. I get the sense from her that she's a relatively normal person in real life, and I like that. I really enjoy her movies, probably because she does seem "normal." The only movie of hers I've seen that I didn't like was Eye of the Beholder. It just didn't make much sense to me.

I've also become a Rachel McAdams fan. I haven't seen The Notebook but heard she was good in it. I enjoyed her in The Wedding Crashers, Red Eye, and Mean Girls, and I wanted to slap her character's face in The Family Stone lol.

I also like Keira Knightley. The weight controversy surrounding her aside, I think she's a very mature actress for her age. I thought she was beautiful in the Pirates movies, but I really liked her in King Arthur. She was what, 18 when she made King Arthur? While other actresses her age are out doing typical teenager/young adult movies, she's in real adult movies.

I'll add one more -- I like Natalie Portman. First movie I saw her in was The Professional and she was a young kid. I loved her in Heat, although she made me cry. I saw her in a movie with Susan Sarandon where she often had to act like a grownup because her mom (Sarandon) didn't. I've seen a lot of her movies and liked her in V for Vendetta and thought her British accent was very good.

As far as actresses I don't care for...

I don't get the big deal with Uma Thurman. I've seen a few movies she's been in, but not because she was in them. I don't think I've really liked any of them. I've avoided the Kill Bill movies because she just annoys me. I don't think SHE annoys me, really, but the big deal that everybody makes about her annoys me. I don't get it.

Same thing with Cameron Diaz. I don't get it.

Julia Roberts... well, sometimes I like her, sometimes I don't. Obviously, I HATED My Best Friend's Wedding because it had both her and Cameron Diaz. I saw it with friends and absolutely despised Roberts' character. I never got into Pretty Woman, either. However, I think she deserved her Oscar for Erin Brockovich -- I thought she was fantastic in that movie, and it was very different from her usual roles. I also liked Sleeping With the Enemy and a few other movies. It may not be her so much as the types of movies she tends to take on.