Pajiba

Jennifer Hudson in Dream Girls

This is a great post. I think people struggle to tell the difference between a great performance and a great performer. I mean, Dan Fogler has a Tony Award for what some people call a great performance, but so much of the rest of his career is painful to watch. Adriana Barraza was wonderful in Babel but normally just plays a housekeeper or wiser elder and seems to be phoning it in. And Michael Cera's been chasing that Superbad shine for years without much success.

Lawrence I'm holding out hope for. There's so much going on in her physicality in Winter's Bone that I just know she has chops. She has to. An actress that young would not have made it through that film with a character nearly that memorable if she didn't have some clue of what she was doing. Questioning that based on the oh-so-complex character of Mystique in X-Men doesn't jive with me. And I'm not exactly envisioning Hunger Games as being a particularly hefty acting challenge for anyone in the cast.

On the same thread, after now having seen Black Swan, Jennifer Lawrence definitely should have won over Portman. I never would have nominated the movie either.

I don't think Goldie belongs on this list, since I think she's had a few pretty good comedic performances. In fact, I just watched "Death Becomes Her" last weekend, and she's pretty darn good in it -- she actually outshines Meryl in most of her scenes.

I also give Mira a pass, simply because she made me laugh my ass off in both Mighty Aphrodite and in the High School Reunion movie. That movie is underrated.

Oh, and props to Mrs. Julien -- Jennifer Hudson was the first name I came up with.

By the same token, you shouldn't judge a new actor based on two performances. I totally agree with a vast majority of this post, but just because she was pedestrian in this film doesn't mean she won't soar in the next few she does.

McAvoy and Fassbender, while certainly bettered by a good director, don't necessarily need one for an engaging performance, whereas a new Hollywood starlet might.

I don't know. I see where you're coming from, but I'm still hoping for the best.

Also. Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms.

Maria Falconetti and "The Passion of Joan of Arc".

I found Jennifer Lawrence likable enough in First Class, but I haven't seen Winter's Bone. For someone to say she has "physicality", she turned in a remarkably *un*physical turn as Mystique. For chrissakes, the character is a SHAPE-CHANGING MIMIC who has a massive crush on the main protagonist, as well as another boy with big feet issues who later turns himself blue and furry. It's a credit to Lawrence's charisma that she doesn't cripple the film while not doing a very successful turn of a well-established character. (And I'm never again making fun of Rebecca Romijn ever again)

Meanwhile, January fucking Jones has showed that her work in Mad Men truly is the product of a great performance of a great character. But she was horrid in Last Stand - Emma Frost, the White Queen, has been a exceptionally well-defined character, and Jones, Vaughn & Singer completely fucked it up.

Ok, I'm gonna say it... I don't get the big deal about Winter's Bone. The movie could have been so much, but I found myself pausing it and doing household chores throughout. I think it took me 3 days to finish it. I found myself comparing it to Animal Kingdom, which I had rented a few days prior, and there was just no comparison. I know Animal Kingdom is foreign, but it should have received more recognition in the U.S.

WOW. What a film.

I did think Jennifer Lawrence gave a good performance in Winter's Bone, but it was nowhere near the level of say, Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine. I do have high hopes for her in The Hunger Games, but you're right, she was awful in X-Men.

Ohh ho ho JR, you just HAD to go and mention Minnie Driver!

To that I say:

MINNIE DRIVER!?

That is all.

Let's get something straight about those Tomato-meter line graphs. For the most part, a great number of working actors seem to read "spiked" on about every other movie. Ben Kingsley is a phenomenal actor but his chart is very spiky. Many of these actors take risky projects that don't all become critical darlings or box office hits. It doesn't CORRELATE to sucky acting.

I would agree that directors and scripts have much to do with it.

Also, people are human and they're going to mail t in for paychecks from time-to-time. Except, Walken. That guy never mails it in. He is the mail.

Ha Ha I feel asleep to Phantoms 2 days ago, the only reason I even started watching was because of that line. Damn you, Jay, you lied!

I agree with this entire post, here's hoping that both Hallie Stansfeld and Jennifer Lawrence are always as good as they were in their first films. Lawrence was ok in X-Men, but I'd be lying if I didn't expect more.

What?! No mention of the brilliant performance by Beavis in Beavis and Butthead Do America? He's never done anything since.

Fair list, and well met. And thank you for adding the note at the end, because judging her based on two movies is extremely difficult and could easily be proven wrong in time. It's entirely possible that she's not comfortable in big-budget action movies. We'll see after The Hunger Games.

Respect.

I wont say Lawrence sucked in Xmen but I have to admit I was underwhelmed by her performance. I thought she had enough scenes to show some range and overall it was flat.
If youre a great actor then you are great in anything. For example actors like JGL, Amy Adams and Christian Bale are great no matter what they do.

No, even great actors can give a so-so to flat to plain awful performance..Christian Bale chewed the scenery in American Psycho, Terminator Salvation and was just ok in the Batman films...Amy Adams outright sucked in... O LORD what was that film that was set in Ireland...the one where she trips while wearing heels (funny), was ok in Doubt...Marlon Brando...gave a lot of lousy performances AFTER On the Waterfront until probably The Godfather. Robert DeNiro...lots of dud performances...BUT, all of these actors batting average is pretty damn good. In other words, even great actors sometimes give lackluster performances but, it's there overall body of work you have to consider. As I've mentioned. Lawrence has made 6 films and X-Men seems to be the film that some people are divided on but her performance in the other films have been praised. I'd say on the whole, Lawrence is pretty consistant.

JenCanRead,

You seem to be competent, judging by your post, so I won't be as dismissive as I typically am. However...

By they by, I’m not saying Jennifer Lawrence is a bad actress. As this list proves, it would be as ridiculous to judge her based on one performance, good or mediocre.
- JR from the article

Joanna actually did point out precisely what you are saying.

(And hooray for the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back reference.)

I've always thought Peter O'Toole was overrated. He was pretty good in Lawrence of Arabia, but not so hot in anything else. I guess he's the male Kate Hudson with a lauded performance out of the gate and just coasting from them on.

You sell him way short. My Favorite Year is a wonderful performance late in his career in a generally underappreciated film. In fact, comparing Kate Hudson and Peter O'Toole is downright inexcusable. He may have squandered his talent, but he did have it in spades.

That wasn't addressed to you, but thanks for calling me an asshole when I'm actually trying to be polite.

"Christian Bale chewed the scenery in American Psycho" - jm

wtf? Bale was fantastic in that movie BECAUSE of his scene-mastication; it was the foundation of the character.

accusing Christian Bale of chewing scenery in American Psycho is akin to criticizing Joe Pesci for sounding Italian in My Cousin Vinny.

MWUA HA HA HA HA!

Lawrence was quite good in The Poker House. So,that is two performances that are good. The Mystique part was just written badly. All the female parts were.

The rest of the list I pretty much agree with.

Peter O'Toole is the male kate Hudson? My Favorite Year? The Lion in Winter? TAKE IT BACK!

And Mrs. Julien, why are you out here trolling? You're better than that. I nearly clutched my (metaphorical) pearls when I read your Peter Sellers dis. Shame, madame.

Great topic, bad list. You put Goldie Hawn on the list either because you are clueless or just because her daughter was the foundation. Timothy Hutton: in addition to the The Falcon and the Snowman had another great performance in Taps. Cuba and Jennifer Tilly's performances were not that good. Childhood performances should be excluded. Oprah has never really seriously pursued the craft. So what we have is Mira, Kate and Ryan. In fact if you want to be fair to Ryan, he had a pretty few really good comedy straight man roles.

*cough*Marisa Tomei*cough*

Them's fighting words, Mrs. Julien. Go watch The Lion in Winter, or it's Murdertanks at dawn.

This is going to be an unpopular sentiment, but here goes: aside from the true greats, and I think we'd all agree as to who goes in that category, and truly meaty, great roles, is it possible that screen acting isn't all that difficult (I think stage acting is a lot more demanding and that there are fewer one-offs on the stage, but that's another story for another day)? There are few fields where you can do an incredible job one day and then be a complete incompetent the next.

I completely agree samantha t.

I was about to post that this looks only at actors in movies whereas actors who can carry a stage role are really something. In that regard (Mrs. Julien is reprieved for recanting but only just), I have had the great pleasure of seeing Peter O'Toole on stage in London and the man is incredibly talented. Likewise Chrsitopher Plummer, who spent most of his post-Sound of Music years doing B-movies and Lifetimesque movies absolutely shines on stage.

Y'know this is the second article I've seen using the "Career-o-Matic", and as the first article pointed out, it's an incredibly flawed tool.

First, it presents a rating of the movie, not any particular performance within that movie. Second, it relies on Rotten Tomatoes' aggregation methods, which have some legitimate questions outstanding as to their validity. Third, the scores are an aggregation of critics' opinions, and as a group critics tend to run in packs. Reviewers routinely pan movies that the general public enthusiastically enjoys.

As to whether it's the performance or the role which makes one great, my gut tells me that's too simplistic a view of the world. As others have noted above, the scriptwriter, director, and actor all share equal-but-different stakes in the blame/glory. And of course, in these matters, beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder.

I guess what I'm saying is, we've had our fun with the "Career-o-Matic". Like any other dime-store toy, throw it away now that the new is worn off.

Jennifer Tilly is very Underrated in my opinion. Most of her Main Stream movies always make her a sort of one note character. But if you watch some of her independent films like Bound (Which I was surprised she wasn't nominated for)or Intervention, or Relax it's Just Sex she is actually quite stellar in them. My friend and I saw Intervention when we were making our film festival rounds a few years back and we couldn't believe how wonderful she was in it! And when her name popped up in the end credits the audience applauded her. What a moving performance! I believe she won best actress for it at a couple film festivals.