Mister Tee wrote:Is this Renner thing for real? It feels like carryover affection. I just don't think the performance rates it.
Renner deserves an Oscar nomination as much as Amy Ryan did. Ben Affleck may be a terrible actor himself, but he has twice now gotten great performances for characters who the audience is supposed to hate but ends up being the most interesting person in the film.
I agree that Affleck has shown remarkable talents behind the screen, but I disagree that he's a terrible actor. He certainly is not an action star, which he unfortunately realized far later than the audience did. Yet he has given worthwhile, likable performances in some films. Most notable was his affecting work as George Reeves in Hollywoodland, otherwise I agree that he's not a great actor. But not a terrible one, either.
I confess I have never seen that highly praised performance of his. I remember when there was talk of him possibly being nominated for an Oscar for that role. Mostly, I was disappointed with his performance in THE TOWN. I felt like his bad acting kept it from being a great movie, rather than just a good one.
Renner had me riveted every second he was on screen. I sure hope he receives an Oscar nom this year to compliment the one from last year.
"When it comes to the subject of torture, I trust a woman who was married to James Cameron for three years."
-- Amy Poehler in praise of Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow
I think that the Lawrence character is being really tested for the first time. She's determined, but still a bit naive when dealing with the people she meets in this movie. Could it have been a deliberate decision to cast someone who looked less rugged than the rest? She's still very young. In a few years her character might look more beaten down by life.
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
I'd say that one of the best qualities of this movie is that generally the whole cast looks - at least to me, I've never been there - "true", which doesn't happen often. Dale Dickey has, of course, that wonderful, wonderfully grotesque (but still very human) face, but the others seem simply real mountain people, and the professional actors mix well with the locals who appear in some sequences. And then there's Jennifer Lawrence with her pure, untouched face and that's the aspect I had some problems with. (She will certainly be Oscar-nominated, and I admit that at least she has the strength to carry Winter's Bone on her shoulders - she's in every scene - and this is rare for a 17-year-old, but others in the same movie give better performances).
And that may well be one of my major stumbling blocks in the film. This area may have people like that, but it has an equal or larger number of people who look positively normal. Matter of fact, many people in this area could look like they lived in New York City if it weren't for the heavy accents. I'm not saying there isn't a significant population that does have the hard-scrabble look about them and in more rural areas that's more common than traditional looks, but it is not impossible or improbably for people to look smashing. So, while Lawrence may not feel like she's lived the life she is supposed to have in the film, I hope that the film at least features a number of actors who look fairly normal despite locale.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
Reza wrote:It's a pity that Patricia Clarkson's very ''European'' performance in Cairo Time got buried in the avalanche of best actress candidates this year. I know she is going to be on my list as she is way better than a number of the frontrunner actresses appearing on numerous precursor lists.
I saw Cairo Time (by accident) and, um, really? Patricia Clarkson is perfectly pleasant in an undemanding role that's been done any number of times before. It's like a slighty more fanciful version of Eat, Pray, Love which is to say, it's not anything award-worthy.
The "European" performance I'd actually love to be recognized is Tilda Swinton's arresting work in I Am Love.
Reza wrote:Why do all women in that community have to end up looking like Dale Dickey? There are plain people and then there are ugly people......but there are also good looking people in every community so I don't understand these comments about Lawrence being too pretty to fit amongst the lot shown in the film.
Reza, "mountain people" can have a certain look. Even someone who's conventionally attractive, yet has also lived the hard, mountain life of poor nutrition, bad water, etc. may appear–how can I say it–weathered in a certain unmistakable way. There's a girl from a small coal town in West Virginia in my masters program who's on a full scholarship (and she deserves it; she's incredibly talented and her first book is going to be a smash). Well, she's 25 and looks, at the very least, to be in her late 30's to early 40's, easily. I look like her younger friend and I'm 32. She has all kinds of health ailments and looks a bit used up by life, something I imagine most of the cast of Winter's Bone captures in their wizened visages.
Edited By flipp525 on 1292427238
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
I don't think he was referencing beauty, but referencing the fact that she doesn't look like she's been kicked around by life and left bruised and battered at the curb. I haven't seen the film, so I can only surmise the meaning, but this seems to be a valid argument.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
ITALIANO wrote:This is EXACTLY was I was going to write sooner or later. It's true that she's younger than the other characters, but she's still too pretty to imagine that in twenty years she will look like Dale Dickey.
Why do all women in that community have to end up looking like Dale Dickey? There are plain people and then there are ugly people......but there are also good looking people in every community so I don't understand these comments about Lawrence being too pretty to fit amongst the lot shown in the film.
Damien wrote:Does anyone else share my problem with Jennifer Lawrence. I think that everyone else in Winter's Bone -- although veteran actors -- all have the look of people who have lived hardscrabble lives in the backwoods, with the sunken hopeless faces you see in Doorthea Lange photographs of the Depression (Dale Dickey!). But Lawrence just seems like a pretty young ingenue come down from Hollywood to play Joan of Ozark. It did't help hat her looks kept reminding me of Ellen Page.
This is EXACTLY was I was going to write sooner or later. It's true that she's younger than the other characters, but she's still too pretty to imagine that in twenty years she will look like Dale Dickey.
But the movie is at least interesting and of course the supporting cast is very good.
Damien wrote:(By the way, in what form does Gold Derb currently exist? I wanted to read if he had anything to say but could only find those nonsensical, hysterical message boards.)
The Gold Derby is back on its own. The forums can still be accessed through the L.A. Times Envelope but it has its own separate front page now - goldberby.com.
One thing I forgot to comment on: I'm so delighted that Julianne Moore is in the Lead Actress category where she belongs. Tom O'Neil was undoubtedly thinking of himself in terms of the all great and powerful Oz, but in actuality, he's just that man behind the curtain.
(By the way, in what form does Gold Derb currently exist? I wanted to read if he had anything to say but could only find those nonsensical, hysterical message boards.)
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
It's a pity that Patricia Clarkson's very ''European'' performance in Cairo Time got buried in the avalanche of best actress candidates this year. I know she is going to be on my list as she is way better than a number of the frontrunner actresses appearing on numerous precursor lists.
I was not a big fan of Winter's Bone or Jennifer Lawrence's performance either, but the film has stayed in my mind while other films I've seen since have faded quickly.
Lawrence is not a terrible choice and until I see Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, easily my pick for best newcomer. She's mile ahead of tattoo girl Noomi Rapace in my estimation.
I had no problem placing Lawrence in the film's environment. She seemed authentic to me. Not everyone in Appalachia looks beat down by life, especially those who are just starting out in life.
According to her very slim bio in Imdb. Lawrence was born in Louisville, Kentucky and discovered while on a trip to NYC with her mother. She's not a Broadway or Hollywood bred model or singer turned actress doing a career stretch. She was, at the time of filming, a teenager with other credits. I have no recollection of seeing her in anything else, though I suspect that will change.
As I said in my review right after I saw it, I liked Winter's Bone and thought Jennifer Lawrence was good. I rated it 7/10 if memory serves. But I did not think either her performance nor the film were award worthy. Good, but not award worthy. I seem to be out of step with the critics.
Then again, the film made an impression on me for I did something I rarely do. I purchased the novel after seeing the film. I wanted to know more about these characters. I plan to read it after I finish The Known World this week.
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living. Oliver Wendell Holmes
