Ten Actresses To Keep an Eye On In 2008

Actress: Cate Blanchett
2007 notables: Hot Fuzz, I'm Not There, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
2008 notables: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Why she made the list: Cate got great reviews for revisiting Queen Elizabeth even if the actual movie didn't. Meanwhile, there's a good chance a Best Supporting nod is on the horizon with her turn as a Dylan in I'm Not There. Cate, or "The New Meryl" as I like to call her, will try to continue her strong streak of performances with the heavily anticipated Indiana Jones movie and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button starring Brad Pitt and directed by David Fincher.

Actress: Tilda Swinton
2007 notables: Michael Clayton
2008 notables: Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll

Why she made the list: It's my firm belief that Swinton doesn't get nearly enough love because she looks like an alien. She's kind of like Christopher Walken in female form. She is good-to-great in almost every movie she's in though and I really liked her turn in Michael Clayton this year. She joins Cate in Benjamin Button, but the movie I'm looking forward to more is the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand. Swinton has one more notable project that inspires me to drink: Phantasmagoria, a bizarre project about Alice In Wonderland author Lewis Carroll that will be written by, directed and star Marilyn Manson. I'd like to tell you I was lying. I'm just not.
Actress: Halle Berry
2007 notables: Perfect Stranger, Things We Lost in the Fire
2008 notables: Happily Never After, Tulia, Class Act

Why she made the list: You ever see that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry dates a woman he finds beautiful, but every so often with the right (or wrong, really) lighting, she's turns into a butterface? Berry's career is kind of like that. Sometimes it looks good (like her latest, Things We Lost In The Fire) and sometimes it looks like Perfect Stranger. John Singleton's legal drama Tulia, and the heartwarming true story, Class Act, sound like potential winners.
Actress: Reese Witherspoon
2007 notables: Rendition
2008 notables: Four Christmases

Why she made the list: I know she doesn't have much on the plate but her December 2008 release, Four Christmases sounds like a doctor-prescribed rebound flick. It's about a couple (Reese and Vince Vaughn) whose parents are both divorced. You know what that means... four trips to four homes on Christmas Day. It's Christmas, it's Vince Vaughn so you know all kinds of crazy hijinks will ensue. It doesn't matter whether or not this movie is good or lame because it sounds like a holiday hit.
Actress: Rachel McAdams
2007 notables: Nada
2008 notables: Married Life, The Lucky Ones, The Time Traveler's Wife, State of Play

Why she made the list: With Wedding Crashers and The Notebook, Rachel looked like she was primed to make le leap. As far as I can tell, everyone loves Rachel McAdams. Everyone I talk to is positively smitten. It'd make me nauseous if I didn't have a serious case of puppy love for her as well. So yeah, lots of love to go around. We just all hated Red Eye.

I think she felt scorned by this. She took 2007 off and went out to the lake where she spent her fondest childhood years. She had time to reflect, hook a worm and watch the sun set. All the while, never forgetting and methodically planning her comeback to the very last detail. Twirling her mustache, shaving her mustache... until finally she was ready to unleash herself again upon John Q. Public.

Or maybe the scheduling just worked out the way it did. Anyway, with a full slate of films to be released in 2008 (including State of Play with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton), McAdams looks to be one of next year's most prolific prospects.

Actress: Katherine Heigl
2007 notables: Grey's Anatomy, Knocked Up
2008 notables: Grey's Anatomy, 27 Dresses
Why she made the list: She's on a little TV show that a few people watch and she appeared in one of this past summer's surprise hits. If 27 Dresses connects with the ladies and they drag their boyfriends with promises of late night flirtations, the Grey's Anatomy producers might be in for a world of trouble. You know they'll all be smiling at Heigl's face, wishing her good luck with the new movie all the while praying it suffers a quick, albeit painful box office death. Now you are ours forever!
Actress: Kate Hudson
2007 notables: She was nowhere to be found
2008 notables: Fool's Gold, Bachelor No. 2, Cutlass, Bride Wars

Why she made the list: Kate needed a year off after the whole Raising Helen-Skeleton Key-You, Me and Dupree era and quite frankly, so did we. But I'm feeling a comeback for Penny Lane. She's got a safe bet with Fools Gold in which she co-stars with Matthew McConaughey for a second time. A movie with that guy always helps with the female audience. Women like women who like Matthew McConaughey, I think. She also has a safe-sounding movie in Bride Wars about two women who schedule their wedding on the same day and begin a rivalry. She's even writing and directing a movie called Cutlass, which I'm pretty sure will suck, but hey, at least she's out there living it up. The other bad news is she's doing a movie with Dane Cook. Nobody's perfect.
Actress: Michelle Monaghan
2007 notables: Gone Baby Gone, The Heartbreak Kid
2008 notables: Trucker, Made of Honor, Eagle Eye

Why she made the list: She starred (and was pretty good) in Gone Baby Gone -- one of the year's better films -- and The Heartbreak Kid which isn't. If I could sum up her 2008 outlook with one word (or two) it would be ... Le Shia. You got it. She stars with LeBeouf in a flick called Eagle Eye. The Shia has been pretty platinum of late (late night visits to Walgreens notwithstanding). Plus, in 2008, Le Shia has Spielberg in his entourage with a little Indy movie (and I don't mean "independent") so it's going to be hard to bet against him or, for that matter, her.
Actress: Nicole Kidman
2007 notables: The Invasion, Margot at the Wedding, The Golden Compass
2008 notables: Australia, The Reader,

Why she made the list: Kidman can be tabloid fodder sometimes. As a result I become dangerously close to forgetting what a good actress she is. I have a feeling a rough 2007 is going to end pretty well for Ms. Kidman as The Golden Compass rolls into theaters next month. And I'm very interested in seeing what kind of insanity Baz Luhrmann has cooked up in the form of Australia. Meanwhile, I've read Bernhard Schlink's novel The Reader and it has serious Oscar potential if done right.
Actress: Ellen Page
2007 notables: Juno
2008 notables: Jack and Diane, Smart People

Why she made the list: She made me pay attention with Hard Candy and now she's turning even more heads (and starting some Oscar chatter) with this year's Juno. Her 2008 schedule looks pretty light but she has at least one project that is already raising eyebrows. The movie is called Jack and Diane and it's being described as a "lesbian werewolf movie." I don't know, personally I'm getting a little tired of all of these lesbian werewolf flicks. I mean, enough already. Have you really run out of ideas, Hollywood? If you fix this whole WGA strike, will I be able to tell the difference? Anyway, if Page lands herself an Oscar nom, expect those 2008 prospects to kick into another gear.

That about does it. I know, I know I left off some of your favorite actresses with some exciting projects. And here's your chance to give me a piece of your mind. Leave a comment below and give me a real earful!

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com