Why are Natalie Portman's movies so hit-and-miss?

[filmfanatic Joined: Mar 29th, 2020 Topics: 22 Posts: 25 View Predictions]

#1203482476

So of course she’s had great films like Black Swan, Jackie, Closer, Annihilation, Leon, and V for Vendetta. But what is it with most of her other movies? It’s so odd to me. Lately she’s had Lucy in the Sky, Planetarium, Vox Lux, Song to Song, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, all of which bombed critically and commercially, and in the past she’s had many mediocre to okay films like Star Wars. Can anyone explain this or conjecture?

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[loudtoilet Joined: Feb 19th, 2020 Topics: 2 Posts: 379 View Predictions]

#1203482572

Annihilation is garbage. It’s aSy Fy movie of the week quality with a twist that you could see from the start. No wonder it flopped. Also, Poo Dumberon was God-awful in it. Phoned in paycheck colleting performance.

her ratio of good/bad is pretty good. All actors are hit and miss. Her resume is far from worst because those bad movies just turned out bad, they weren’t trash to begin with. Honorable failures. It isn’t like she signed up for Norbit, any of Adam sandler paycheckers, other lowest common denominator.

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[filmfanatic Joined: Mar 29th, 2020 Topics: 22 Posts: 25 View Predictions]

#1203482582

But why is her filmography hit-and-miss? That’s my question.

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[FairWeatherAffair Joined: May 11th, 2018 Topics: 7 Posts: 975 View Predictions]

#1203483057

Almost every project she picks is interesting; sometimes audiences and critics don’t like interesting, though. Death and Life is not good, but it’s also challenging; Planetarium and Vox Lux are actually solid flicks; and Song to Song and the Star Wars prequels are all masterpieces.

As for general consensus, what can you say? Some people don’t enjoy out-of-the-box fare.

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[Faux architect Joined: Mar 29th, 2017 Topics: 0 Posts: 512 View Predictions]

#1203483082

She makes bold choices because she wants to work with auteurs. Kidman had some periods like that too.

Pantheon of acting: Uta / Elizabeth / Richard / Sandy (Virginia Woolf), Bibi / Liv (Persona), Sandrine (La Ceremonie), Brie (Short Term 12), Jodie (Silence of the Lambs), Jodie (Killing Eve), Nicole (The Others), Eva (Penny Dreadful), Timothée (CMBYN), Lupita (Us)

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[Wanda Joined: Feb 16th, 2019 Topics: 42 Posts: 3493 View Predictions]

#1203483089

Because she takes risks. Not every mainstream actress can relate!

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[BICTH Joined: Nov 3rd, 2016 Topics: 3 Posts: 3002 View Predictions]

#1203483103

it’s not her fault that her taste in projects is more challenging than the average audience and critics can handle

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[karls Joined: Oct 8th, 2011 Topics: 2 Posts: 167 View Predictions]

#1203483128

I like her in Vox Lux, Planetarium, Annihilation even Lucy in the Sky for wich she received great reviews for those performances unlike annihilation the orhers flopped She’s someone who likes to take risks she thinks outside of the box and the projects she choose to work on reflect just that wich I like that about her she challenges herself…

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[loudtoilet Joined: Feb 19th, 2020 Topics: 2 Posts: 379 View Predictions]

#1203483350

FairWeatherAffair wrote:

   the Star Wars prequels are all masterpieces.

Preach!

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[Dan Backslide Joined: Apr 24th, 2016 Topics: 63 Posts: 5679 View Predictions]

#1203483398

FairWeatherAffair wrote:

Star Wars prequels are all masterpieces.

Shitty memes don’t make films masterpieces.

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[M: The Original Joined: Aug 5th, 2014 Topics: 61 Posts: 6738 View Predictions]

#1203484196

filmfanatic wrote:

But why is her filmography hit-and-miss? That’s my question.

Tackling provocative and challenging material will have more misses than hits. See Nicole Kidman as another example of someone taking the road with the steepest drops in critical acclaim and audience approval for the sake of art.

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[FairWeatherAffair Joined: May 11th, 2018 Topics: 7 Posts: 975 View Predictions]

#1203484358

Dan Backslide wrote:

Shitty memes don’t make films masterpieces.

Oh ok. Opinion changed.

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[Dan Backslide Joined: Apr 24th, 2016 Topics: 63 Posts: 5679 View Predictions]

#1203484363

FairWeatherAffair wrote:

Oh ok. Opinion changed.

Whatever. If you can explain how films containing excessive cgi, boring politics, Jar Jar Binks, and one of the worst written cinematic love stories are masterpieces, I’d love to hear your reasoning behind why those elements are apparently so great. I’m not even a big prequel hater, but they are, at the very least, extremely flawed.

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[vinny Joined: May 20th, 2011 Topics: 23 Posts: 75793 View Predictions]

#1203484614

I kinda love how she does so many different kinds of roles since you never can guess what’s next.

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[M Bocioaca]

#1203484618

Dan Backslide wrote:

Whatever. If you can explain how films containing excessive cgi, boring politics, Jar Jar Binks, and one of the worst written cinematic love stories are masterpieces, I’d love to hear your reasoning behind why those elements are apparently so great. I’m not even a big prequel hater, but they are, at the very least, extremely flawed.

The prequels sounded extremely good on paper. If someone had read to me a summary of the script, I’d have jumped right in. I mean, it sounds like a critically acclaimed space opera with political themes. It’s just that the result was what it was.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by M Bocioaca.
• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by M Bocioaca.
• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by M Bocioaca.

Pantheon of acting: Uta / Elizabeth / Richard / Sandy (Virginia Woolf), Bibi / Liv (Persona), Sandrine (La Ceremonie), Brie (Short Term 12), Jodie (Silence of the Lambs), Jodie (Killing Eve), Nicole (The Others), Eva (Penny Dreadful), Timothée (CMBYN), Lupita (Us)

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