Movie stars of the decade, #24-#21

24. Michelle Williams
Upon emerging from teen stardom, no one would've begrudged her if she had taken the Kirsten Dunst route and charmed big money pictures as the love interest. But from The Station Agent to Brokeback Mountain to Wendy and Lucy, she's made a habit of choosing intriguing roles, and she keeps getting better. partial SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER When Wendy finally finds Lucy, from the moment they make contact you *know* what's going to happen, and I give Williams the majority of the credit for this.
Pro wrestling equivalent: Trish Stratus.

23. Michael Caine
Just talked about him. PWE that will horrify two sets of nationalists: Fit Finlay.

22. Peter O'Toole
Never the busiest guy, in the first half of the decade it seemed he had nearly dried up: he had a neat cameo in Bright Young Things but was reduced to jobbing to Brad Pitt in Troy. Then came Venus, in which he sacrificed any physical (Anton) ego he may have still had, but clung stubbornly to his remaining shreds of dignity. Admirable, but we'll remember him as Lawrence.
PWE: Blue Panther.

21. Viola Davis
They've loved her on Broadway for some time, but meatiest screen role she's been cast in is the goddamn maid in Far from Heaven. More typical are two-minute parts like "mother in hospital" in World Trade Center -- yet she managed to make that movie deep for one scene. She didn't get much more time in Doubt, but it was time enough to give Meryl Streep the schooling of her life. Davis got her Oscar nomination, so you'd think things were looking up for her, right? And yet, even as she was campaigning, she couldn't get her name on the poster of the Tyler Perry picture she was in. Coming in 2010 are roles supporting Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise. Schooling them would be funny, but only up to a point.
PWE: Daisuke Ikeda.

Movie stars of the decade, #25: Meryl Streep

She has a tendency to make every movie she's in into a Meryl Streep movie. This works swimmingly for pictures that are otherwise middling, or a bit worse, with The Devil Wears Prada and the recent Julie & Julia examples of this these that are among her finest work. Even poorly conceived or staged scenes are entertaining, because you can watch her tics and listen to her funny voice of the moment. The downside is that she's often off doing her own thing, rather than placing herself at the service of the director, or carrying her co-stars (Amy Adams must be glad Streep was kept 50 years away in Julie & Julia after being hung out to dry in Doubt), which sometimes makes it feel like she's keeping her vehicles in arrested development. But when working with a great director of actors, like Demme or Altman, she's willing to stand out a little less, and that goes a long way.

Pro wrestling equivalent: Kurt Angle.