Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson’s 10 Best Movies

Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson, over a career of 35 years of excellence in movies and television has proven herself one of the most reliably outstanding actresses of the last half-century.  She’s had two boom periods in her film career: when she burst onto the scene after several years in BBC series, she was a mainstay at awards shows in the early-mid 1990’s with Howard’s End, Sense and Sensibility (which she both wrote and starred in), In the Name of the Father, and a number of other projects.  She’s in the midst of a career renaissance now as part of the juggernaut that is the live action Beauty & the Beast remake, was the worst Divination professor in Wizarding World history in the Harry Potter films, and starred as the creator of Mary Poppins in Saving Mr. Banks.

My two favorite performances of Thompson’s; however, showcase her darker, cynical sense of humor.  Stranger Than Fiction has to be one of the most criminally overlooked films of the 21st Century, and if you have a day to recover from it, watching her wickedly funny and devastating adaptation of the stage play Wit for HBO will leave you in awe of Thompson’s talent.  Stranger Than Fiction, Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson’s Best 10
1. Stranger Than Fiction (2011) Karen Eiffel
2. Wit (2001) Vivian Bearing
3. Love Actually (2003) Karen

4. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2005), Professor Trelawney
5. HP and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (2011), Prof. Trelawney
6. Saving Mr. Banks (2013) P.L. Travers
7. Beauty and the Beast (2017) Mrs. Potts
8. Howard’s End (1992) Margaret Schlegel
9. Sense and Sensibility (1995) Elinor Dashwood
10. In the Name of the Father (1993) Gareth Pierce
Honorable Mention: Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Beatrice
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Trelawney, Emma Thompson

Oscars, Golden Globes & Emmys

Oscar Wins (2): Howard’s End (1993), Sense and Sensibility (Screenwriting, 1996)

Oscar Nominations (5): Howard’s End (1993), The Remains of the Day (1994), In the Name of the Father (1994), Sense and Sensibility (Acting and Screenwriting, 1996)

Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Sense and Sensibility

Golden Globe Wins (2): Howard’s End (1993), Sense and Sensibility (Screenwriting, 1996)

Golden Globe Nominations (8)Howard’s End (1993), In the Name of the Father (1994), Junior (1995),  Sense and Sensibility (Acting and Screenwriting, 1996), Wit (2002), Last Chance Harvey (2009), Saving Mr. Banks (2014)

Wit, Emma Thompson

Emmy Wins (1 ): Ellen (Guest Star, 1998)

Emmy Nominations (5): Ellen (Guest Star, 1998), Wit (Writing & Acting, 2001), Angels in America (2004), The Song of Lunch (2012), Live from Lincoln Center (2015)Saving Mr. Banks, Walt Disney, Tom Hanks, P.L. Travers, Emma Thompson

My Favorite Thompson Scene:
“Meeting Harold Crick” from Stranger Than Fiction


Next Film: Emma Thompson will next be seen in The Children Act with Beauty and the Beast co-star, Stanley Tucci, and Jason Watkins due out later this year.
Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci

2 thoughts on “Emma Thompson’s 10 Best Movies”

  1. You don’t like musicals. I hope La La Land and Beaty and the Beast melted your heart a little. But if you ever get a chance to see Emma Thompson in the concert recording of Sweeney Todd: Live At Lincoln Center, jump at it. I saw it on PBS but it is currently not available commercially and you cannot find the whole thing on the internet. Hopefully it will be accessible someday soon.

    Sweeney Todd is IMO the most accomplished piece of musical theater ever written, and please do not watch the Tim Burton version, it is fine if you have seen the show live but it diminishes the scope of the work, carves up the score and does not convey its musicality or genius, and Depp and Bonham Carter cannot sing and certainly cannot handle Sondheim’s complicated, difficult music.


    Emma Thompson on the other hand gives perhaps the best performance of any actress I have ever seen in the role. The recording is of a concert, and the actors perform on a small empty stage, with no sets and nothing but an orchestra around them, and yet you are mesmerized for close to three hours. If you ever get a chance, and you love Emma, watch.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The only Sweeney Todd I’ve seen was Burton’s and only because Jan dragged me to see it. I have no doubt Emma did a better job and she got an Emmy nomination for it. If you’ve never seen Wit, it’s one of the best things that HBO has ever done, but as it’s a one woman play about a woman dying of breast cancer, I clearly saw it a long time ago and will never be doing that again, but that doesn’t mitigate how astonishingly good she is in it. I like doing these quick top tens. Robert Downey Jr. this weekend.


      Like

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