STAR TO WATCH: Jennifer Lawrence

By R. Kurt Osenlund, The Good Life film critic



This time last year, 20-year-old Jennifer Lawrence was the talk of Sundance, where "Winter's Bone" (left), the Ozark-Mountainss thriller that sees her in the lead role of teenage spitfire Ree Dolly, ran away with the Grand Jury Prize and the hottest buzz of any title at the fest. Jump ahead 12 months, and Lawrence is a Best Actress Oscar nominee, a first-timer alongside the established, multi-nominated likes of Natalie Portman, Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams.

The moment "Winter's Bone" -- itself nominated for Picture and Screenplay -- began gaining an audience, there was really little question as to whether or not Lawrence would find herself in the Best Actress race. Her turn as Ree, who has to navigate the dark corners of her lawless extended family to find her missing father, is an almost shockingly superb breakthrough, rough, tough and revelatory. Though the Kentucky-born actress has been cast in redneck-esque roles in the past ("The Burning Plain," TV's "The Bill Engvall Show"), her glamorous offscreen look and demeanor give no indication of the rustic, no-nonsense, unrefined fire Ree emits. Thanks also to the script (co-written by Anne Rossellini and director Debra Granik), but mainly to Lawrence's unflinching embodiment, she's one of the great recent film heroines. 

And how will Lawrence be following her own tough act? In addition to starring in the Mel Gibson curio "The Beaver" and the relationship drama "Like Crazy" (which, incidentally, won the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance fest), the blonde phenom will be appearing as a young Mystique in this summer's superhero prequel, "X-Men: First Class" (left), opening June 3. After that she'll be seen opposite Elisabeth Shue in "The House at the End of the Street," a thriller directed by Mark Tonderai and based on a short story by Jonathan Mostow ("Breakdown"). First, of course, you can see her all decked out at the Oscars, opening Feb. 27.