I like Kristen Stewart, but then again I admit I might be prejudiced because I think she's pretty. I liked her in
The Cake Eaters, where she gave an excellent performance as a dying teen wanting to lose her virginity before she dies. Not as cliche' as it sounds. The whole cast was excellent but she really shone it that. I thought she was pretty decent in
Adventureland,
Fierce People,
Into the Wild,
Clouds of Sils Maria, and I thought she was
okay, not terrible, in the Twilight flicks. I haven't really seen any real recent movies with her so I don't know how she's done. I know a lot of people base their hate of her on the Twilight movies, but they really need to check out the ones I mentioned above, especially
The Cake Eaters.
Will Ferrell. Man, I used to love this guy on Saturday Night Live. I even saw his debut performance on it and didn't think it was bad, as a lot of critics did. I've seen a lot of his comedies and I either love them or hate them. I'm usually not that way with an actor. Usually I can find some middle ground but he broke the standard for me. He's really irritated me in the past decade or so. I think the best acting he ever did was in a quirky drama called
Winter Passing, along with Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel, and Amy Madigan. He's a somewhat strange, reserved person living in Zooey's Dad's house as a guest, and he plays the guitar in it. Really good performance. Still, I cannot believe this guy won the Mark Twain Award for Comedy Excellence. Steve Martin winning, I can totally see, but not Ferrell.
Michael Cera. I like this guy all right. I haven't seen anything were his acting has ticked me off. I really liked him in
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Jennifer Aniston. I like her okay. I can watch a rom-com with her (which is mostly all she does these days) and get a kick out of her. I'm not one of those guys who ever found her to be amazingly beautiful. Still, if she wanted a lift somewhere.
Ben Stiller. Really like the guy. Still, for a while, it seemed he made nothing but masochist movies where the entire running time would be about him getting blamed for all the trouble, getting beat up, etc. etc. He was always the victim. I only saw the first
Meet the Parents flick and I didn't find it all that funny, mainly due to him being blamed for everything and hated by all his girlfriend's family. Even the "everything is fine now" ending didn't square it for me. That's why I avoided the two follow-ups. I like the
Night at the Museum movies because they're more like Disney live-action movies to me than showcases for his acting. He's just there to lead us in the adventure, where everything but the kitchen sink comes alive at night. My favorite role of his is in
Mystery Men where he's "Mr. Furious," a low-grade superhero who mainly throws a hissy fit when he gets mad. I thought he was pretty good in that. I also liked him in
Walter Mitty, where he was really good in his mostly dramatic role, with comic touches.
So I guess, on the whole, Ferrell is the one I'm pretty well done with.