For Your Consideration: Sandra Bullock, Best Actress

It seems like Best Actress has been locked up since the critics groups continuously deemed Cate Blanchett's performance in Blue Jasmine the best of the year. After viewing it a couple of times, I would have to agree that it is quite a show stopper, and that there is no possible way she is losing the Oscar. The only person who has even the slightest chance at upsetting Cate would be Amy Adams. Adams has not turned in a bad piece of work yet, and quite frankly I was more impressed with her in American Hustle than Jennifer Lawrence, which is another minority I seem to keep finding myself in. It would be terrible if she won this year, because people would think it was one of the worst Best Actress wins in a long time; plus I think it may be her year next year. Interesting fact :  she is the only Best Actress nominee this year who has never received an Oscar. Then you have a couple of veteran actresses, two of the most brilliant and well respected woman still working in film, Meryl Streep in August: Osage County and Judi Dench in Philomena. Meryl continues to top herself, she is the most Oscar nominated person with 18 nominations, but I think even she has become annoyed with her success at this stage in her career. The Academy loves her, maybe one day, I hope, she will be tied with Katherine Hepburn for the most Oscars won be anyone.  Judi Dench deserves to win a Best Actress Oscar, she has only won supporting, but sadly her competition is just too big. All of these women deserve their spot this year, with such rich and fantastic performances. The one though that has stolen my heart, is Sandra Bullock in Gravity. 

Sandra Bullock has the same status that Julia Roberts has, and that is being America's sweetheart. It seemed as though Bullock was bound to being in romantic comedies/comedies, suspenseful thrillers, and action films and most of America would have been okay with that. It wasn't until her small performance in Best Picture winner Crash, that even she has admitted, that truly showed us that she could be a dramatic actress. Her performance in Crash made Sandra want to do awards worthy work, and I am glad it did. In 2009, Bullock received the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side, a win which is disliked in most circles; I personally loved it and cheered for her to win! Ever since then Bullock has carefully chosen her work, and from what I can tell, she chooses things that stretch her to become a better actress. If her performance this year in Gravity is not proof of that, then I do not know what would be. It is funny to me that the people who bash on her winning the Oscar for The Blind Side have said this is her best performance, and many of them say had she not won for The Blind Side, she would be the one to beat this year. I am happy to see her nominated for Gravity and that she showed everyone that she can act, and that her Oscar was not just some random spoof. 

Gravity is one of those movies that you either really love or hate. The people who truly loved Gravity rally behind Sandra Bullock winning the Oscar for her performance. The movie is completely her show. She carries the movie alone for more than half of the time, and that is not an easy task to do, especially as a female. In fact, the director, Alfonso Cuaron, had to fight against the studio, because they wanted the main character to be a man; they did not think a female could carry the film. Well thank goodness Alfonso Cuaron stuck to his guns, because here we are, Gravity being the most nominated film this year with its leading female receiving such highly deserved praise. There are two sides of Bullock's performance that you have to realize, it is completely a physical performance and an emotional one. Bullock had, and wanted, to do every single stunt of the movie, which requires so much of you as an actor, as you are already handling the emotional side of a character. Often times, actors put all of their eggs in one basket on either the physical side or the emotional side, but somehow Bullock nails it. Your whole being is just in awe of the film and Sandra as you watch it, and it makes you feel like you are right there in the movie with her. For a second I had to remember to breathe as I watched Bullock fighting for her life; or even having to tell myself to shut up as I tried to talk to her on the screen while I rooted for her survival. That type of performance, when done accurately, makes the audience part of the movie. That is why Gravity is so loved, and the credit goes to the brilliant direction of Alfonso Cuaron, but even more to Sandra Bullock. 

If I had it my way, I would give the Oscar to Sandra Bullock without hesitating. You can hardly find a performance like hers that is worthy of an Oscar. The emotional depth she brings to the character, of a broken women who has lost a child and has nothing left to live for but to go into space to get away from it all and then having to fight to survive when it seems like there is nothing left to fight for. PLEASE SOMEONE JUST GIVE HER THE DANG OSCAR. It is such a moving and inspirational movie, because she brings an emotion and feeling that many of us real life people face; are we gonna let our heartbreak of our past dictate our survival or are we gonna choose to accept and live with it and fight to survive? This is why we root for her. We know, because we've been there. If you do not feel any emotional impact after watching Gravity then you completely missed the point. Sandra lays it all out there, giving us everything that is within her, and is completely vulnerable with no one on the screen to talk to and hardly any dialogue. That, my friends, is the kind of performance that is worthy of an Oscar. Bullock pushed herself in new ways to act this character, and that's what you have to do if you want to make anything meaningful. Again I say, PLEASE SOMEONE JUST GIVE HER THE DANG OSCAR!!!!

Unfortunately every time I think about the possibility of Sandra winning Best Actress, I get slapped with the reality of Cate Blanchett. Cate is equally worthy of the award, she just plays a completely opposite character of Bullock, one you root against and find little to no sympathy for. I have no doubts that Cate will win, and I should be happy that it will be a great win; but my heart is not satisfied. My heart wants Sandra Bullock up on that stage accepting that award. Maybe had it been a different year the pieces could have fallen differently, but it is what it is. Let us not forget this powerful film and performance; I have a feeling we won't, simply because of its brilliance. BUT, a worthy winner is Cate Blanchett, but a deserving winner would have been Sandra Bullock.