The Emperor's Clothes
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Jodie Foster
Soodinum — 9 years ago(July 17, 2016 04:49 PM)
Foster is not a terrible actress, but she isn't as good as her rep.
I'm always confused when actresses like Foster and Streep get reputations which don't seem to match their actual abilities.
Too, Foster seems to be doing worse and worse in her roles.
'Then' and 'than' are different words - stop confusing them. -
luciana_mc25 — 9 years ago(July 18, 2016 07:17 PM)
To each their own, I always find her a joy to watch.
From her subtle and nuanced perform5b4ances she gave in thrillers such as Silence of the Lambs, Panic Room, Flightplan and The Brave One, to her "flashier" roles in dramas like Nell, Contact or the dramedy Carnage, she's fantastic and simply becomes the character. She was also hilarious in Maverick and Nim's Island and proved she can do comedy as well. Since she was a child she played iconic roles in Taxi Driver and Bugsy Malone and she pulled them off flawlessly, and she continued giving great performances in Foxes and The Accused.
I think her reputation is well deserved. -
luciana_mc25 — 9 years ago(July 19, 2016 03:13 PM)
I'd also add that perhaps you may need to watch her without paying attention to the hype. I follow a lot of actresses because of the hype they receive (Streep, Blanchett, Cotillard, etc), and even though most of the time I think they do deserve the praise and I'm impressed by their acting, at the end of the day the performances that really stay with me are those from which I expected nothing.
The first time I saw The Silence of the Lambs, I did not know her performance was highly regarded as one of the best ever or that she had won the oscar, and I just fell in love with her acting. To this day I still think if I had known all the praise she got for it, probably I wouldn't have been so attached to her character and it's still one of my favourite performances ever. I can rewatch it again and again and find something new, some subtlety I did not notice before.
Sometimes it's better to forget everything you hear from something and just enjoy. -
luciana_mc25 — 9 years ago(July 19, 2016 05:48 PM)
Telling me to ignore the hype is missing my point.
No, I think that
you
are missing my point. I'm not saying she's less than the hype she gets, I'm saying that if you are expecting to see "the best performance ever", you will not get that, precisely cause you're waiting for it. I saw her in Lambs and I still think it's the best performance by an actress ever. It's one of the finest examples of an actress that simply disappears into a role. But I did not have any hype beforehand, she just captured me and still does.
If she's not for you that's just ok. -
luciana_mc25 — 9 years ago(July 20, 2016 07:41 AM)
It might be subjective but I'm not the only one who thinks the performance is one of the best since that performance in particular has got a lot of praise over the years. You are the one who don't get it, so why are the rest of us the ones who are wrong?
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luciana_mc25 — 9 years ago(July 21, 2016 09:40 AM)
Never mentioned numbers in my post. If any, I was trying to make a point as b68an answer to your "subjectivity aside". My preference for her might be subjective, but your "there's no way she's as good in SOTL as you just said" is still not a fact. Just an opinion like the subjectivity you want to put aside.
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Prom_Queen_Carrie — 9 years ago(July 21, 2016 03:51 AM)
Well this person is entitled to their opinion of course. I'm a huge lifelong Jodie Foster fan, and I even I admit I'm not too crazy about her recent work. But as a kid, I think she was pretty much the most natural actor ever. In the 80s and 90s, she delivered many performance gems. Her Clarice Starling performance is easily my favorite. Subtle, but powerful.
Meryl Streep is more overrated because people act like she's the only great actress alive, and she isn't even that natural.
"Oh I went there, bought a house, moved in b*tch, and now I'm remodeling the kitchen."