Best of 2008: Top 10 Performances by a Leading Actress The women of 2008 have been so incredible that many great performances couldn't even make the top ten. The biggest names in Hollywood strut their stuff on the screen and the red carpet this year, and rightfully so.
Most of the acting I enjoy in the lead categories are of dramatic roles, however, two funny ladies made the cut. Rebecca Hall in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" was superbly sly and cunning opposite Scarlett Johansson. Hall played the woman with a wall blocking Javier's attempts and eventual triumph of woo, and turned her character into the more interesting one of the title roles. The other comedian, Sally Hawkins in "Happy-Go-Lucky," provides the funniest, soulful, and deeply hilarious performance of the year. S
he completely sparkles in the film and was terribly snubbed by SAG and the Oscars. Thank God she won a Golden Globe.
Then, there's the dramatic. The diva. The immaculate and untouchable. In three of the "simply complicated" roles, Melissa Leo, an actress I've never heard of, stars in "Frozen River" and delivers a punch as the desperate, surviving mom of two who will stop at nothing for the safety and health of her children - even transporting illegals over the frozen river on Canada's border. In "Rachel Getting Married," the abstruse relationships with everyone and Kym is what makes Anne Hathaway simmer. With enough teenage angst to create a "Catcher in the Rye" handbook, she is one of the five ladies I highly recommend to win. She's so damn empathetic, I 
can't even retell it. Finally, Michelle Williams' performance in "Wendy and Lucy" doesn't impale you with campaigning urgency right away. She sits in your stomach, working her way to your heart. An unforgettable role in the most simple of films, that, like her performance, blossoms into a complicated was with an unforgiving society. She's exceptional.
And now for the screamers - and I'm not including Jamie Lee Curtis. Meryl Streep proves that one can be happy in the sunshine and dancing on the beach during the summertime, and shift as winter grows colder, the leaves lie dead under the snow, and nothing can escape the chill. Her interpretation of "Doubt's" Sister Aloysius is phenomenal. She brings on the intensity, she gives us the accent, and she is so intimate with compassion. On paper, Aloysius is a complete bitch. Streep gave her humility, ambition, and weaknesses. I loved that. In "Revolutionary Road," Leo did most of the screaming, but Kate Winslet balanced with utter, eerie silence and blood-curdling blowouts. Her character was the most stimulating, escaping the housewife commonality into a world of dreams 
and hope. She fought as hard as she could to live a life they could love. She was painful and beautifully depressing. Last of the screamers is Angelina Jolie in "Changeling."
Finally, the two women who played the adult life of their characters, Hanna Schmitz for Kate Winslet (appearing for the second time on this list) and Daisy for Cate Blanchett. The two K(C)ate's take the art of acting to new levels, creating new stages with each scene, allowing their characters to flex and mold as age sets in and wrinkles cross their brow. Winslet, in a performance that nearly tops herself as Clementine in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," strips herself nude (literally and figuratively) to play a role destined for her in "The Reader." Blanchett surpasses beautiful, entering the realm of the insanely celestial. The brilliant cinematography of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" captured the royalty that is Blanchett.
So, I'd like to present the 2008 Top 10 Performances by a Leading Actress:
9. Rebecca Hall as Vicky in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
5. Kate Winslet as April Wheeler in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
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