MERYL STREEP QUEST

Another quest this summer is to showcase Meryl Streep and watch all 15 movies that got her nomminated for an oscar. Here is what I have watched so far and the movies she was nomminated for:

The Deer Hunter – First Supporting Actress Nomm – 1978
Kramer vs. Kramer – First Supporting Actress Win – 1979
The French Lieutenant’s Woman – First Leading Actress Nomm - 1981
Sophie’s Choice – First Leading Actress Win (second oscar) - 1982
Silkwood – 1983
Out of Africa -- 1985
Ironweed – 1987
Evil Angels – 1988
Postcards from the Edge – 1990
The Bridges of Madison County – 1995
On True Thing – 1998
Music of the Heart – 1999
Adaptation – 2002
The Devil Wears Prada – 2006
Doubt – 2008

*Note the dates are for when the movie came out,
not the date of the oscars.

MOVIES I HAVE SEEN:
(so far 11 out of 15)

Kramer vs. Kramer
Meryl’s first Oscar win for leading actress. Saw this Junior year in Film Studies. Meryl leaves her husband (Hoffman) and then comes back to fight for custody of their little boy.

Sophie’s Choice
Meryl’s second and only other Oscar win for leading actress. Saw this at home during the summer (6-21-09). Meryl is a holocaust survivor who is living in New York and coping with her horrific memories. This was also Kevin Kline’s break out roll as Nathan.

Out of Africa
Meryl's performance in this was very good. The movie is about Karen (Streep) who goes to Africa to become a baroness. She works on a farm, trying to produce coffee. Meryl's strong dutch accent, in this film, once again makes you forget you are watching her. She is a completly different person. I must all mention that the cinemotagraphy was good too, lots of pretty shots of animals (especially lions) and the scenery of Africa. Meryl also acts alongside Robert Redford who plays Denys Hatton, a hunter, who Meryl falls for. But because of Denys commitment issues, the movie is about Meryl struggeling to get Denys to settle down and marry her. Overall, it was a great performance, once again, by Meryl Streep.

Ironweed
Okay, so Meryl was nomminated for an Oscar for Leading Actress in this role. I don't really understand why. Not that her performance was not good, it was good, but she just did not have much of a role. Meryl plays pretty much an insane poor bum, who is friendly with another bum, Franice (Jack Nicholson). Nicholson's performance was really good in this film, Meryl on the other hand was barley seen. She was featured a lot in the beggining then slowly there was no more. She sang and did a drunken jig but then that's it. That just must have been what got her nomminated. But she had no chance in winning since she was up against Cher for Moonstruck. Who was going to beat her! The story, Ironweed, is about the life of Franice, a bum, who killed his 13-day old child and fled his family. He lives on the streets for 22-years alongside his friend's Billy and Helen, (Streep) who is like his "street" wife. Franices, throughout the plot, is also visited and haunted by ghosts from his past. People who he was either responsible for their deaths, or people who have died that played a part in his life. This was also Nathan Lane's first movie! Good movie, depressing, but still good.

Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark)
I kept forgetting I was watching Meryl Streep. She was really good at the role and you can hardly recognize her! Meryl portrays an Australian mother who lost her baby girl to a Dingo, that she claims then dragged her baby by the head, out of their tent, and into the outback. Though many years in court, the Chamberlains (Meryl and family) deal with the stressed of protestors and reporters. I watched this film on 6-24-2009, and really enjoyed it.

Postcards From the Edges
This was an intersting movie. I watched it on June 23rd. Meryl struggels to be a successful actress as she faces her addiction to drugs. Shirley MaClain plays her mother. The two seem to comete against eachother to be better actresses. this movie is actually an autobiography written by Carrie Fisher about her life. Meryl plays Fisher, and MaClain plays Fisher's real mother: Debbie Reynolds. Meryl does a lot of singing in the movie, and I quite enjoyed it. I really liked this movie.

One True Thing
So it's early Thursday morning, and if you don't know anything about the movie...you need to see it. It is very sad, but very good. I am still a little teary eyed. Meryl portrays a woman dying of cancer and her daughter Ellen (Renee Zellweger) leaves her reporting job in New York to be take care of her. While dealing with her mom's cancer, Ellen also tries to rekindle her poor relationship with her father (William Hurt). (When Ellen was younger she heard her father cheating with another woman.) The movie is another great performance by Streep. But, it was very overlooked by the Oscars, Meryl was the only one nomminated for Lead Actress in the movie. But, still it is a very good movie. Very well acted. Really enjoyed it!

Music of the Heart
Caught this on TV and then was asked to watch it again this year. Streep portrays and actual women who teaches poor kids in Harlem how to play violin when the music budget is cut from their school’s district. The kids go as far as performing at Carnegie Hall.

Adaptation
A strange movie I watched with my grandfather and parents (6-13-09; right before I graduated). The movie was with Nicholas Cage. He was a writer and Meryl (who played an author of a book) was his subject. Meryl’s character tried to kill Cage when he finds out her secret.

The Devil Wears Prada
Saw it twice in the movies, and on TV. Meryl plays a mean but intelligent head of a fashion magazine. Anne Hathway played her assistant that went from a down dresser to a high fashion dresser.

Doubt
Saw it in the theater. Loved Meryl’s New York accent. She plays a nun who with another nun (Amy Adams) tries to convict their priest of child molestation. But succeeding was very unlikely because the priest is the head of authority and whatever he says goes.