Happy New Year!!

Happy 2012! For the first week of the new year, I am going to dedicate my blog to my favorite actress. Of course, the best living actress in my opinion, as in the opinion of many others, is none other than Meryl Streep. I am going to highlight seven movies that she was in that she was nominated for, but did not win. Now, most people know that Meryl is an amazing actress who has been nominated for a record of 17 times for Academy Awards not to  mention her other nominations for Screen Actors Guild's, Golden Globes and many more.

I decided to choose seven films that I think particularly stand out in Meryl's career. Then I put them in order from my least favorite to my absolute favorite Meryl movie. The thing is, all movies that star Meryl are fabulous, but I guess that's beside the point. The first movie that I chose as number 7 was A Cry in the Dark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N953VI5f3Y ). This film was made in 1988, and was originally titled Evil Angels. The movie chronicles a true event that took place in Australia to a woman named Lindy Chamberlain. The movie follows this family's journey as the youngest child, Azaria, is stolen by a dingo on a camping trip. Through a turn of events, Lindy Chamberlain is wrongfully framed and eventually convicted of her daughter's murder. She is sent to jail, where she has the couple's fourth child. The child is brutally ripped away from her and sent home to live with her husband and their two older sons. At the conclusion of the film, through new evidence brought into court, Chamberlain is freed only to go home to a daughter who doesn't know her and a shattered family life.

This film is so epic because of the fact that it is based on a true story. Meryl truly shines in this role because you can see the anguish and betrayal in her character's essence. She literally seems to become Lindy Chamberlain, something that not many other actors can accomplish. Meryl has done this countless times during her career including this movie, Julie & Julia, Silkwood, and the upcoming The Iron Lady to name a few. Now, I realize that Streep cannot win an award for every movie she makes, but this film truly stands out to me as one of the films that went by without too much notice.

As the film became older, a particular line was always used as a joke. It was even featured in Seinfeld. This is how I first became aware of the story and of the famous tagline: "That dingo ate my baby!" Check out this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghCTZF61ey0 .

Check out the movie and see why this film should have created more awards hoopla.