A Jessica Chastain Appreciation Post

Today is the lovely Jessica Chastain's birthday. This time last year, so few of us had heard of her. And then, out of nowhere, she starred in more than enough films to last an actor a decade. Sure enough, she's became my favourite actress, and I've endeavoured to see her in as much as possible. So let's take a look at the performances of hers that I've seen (there's some that haven't reached us here), and where they stand against each other.

6) Sally Ann in Stolen Lives (2008)

Admittedly, I only watched this movie because I'd heard that she was in it. And because the DVD slip said that there was a man called "John Hammm" (no jokes) in it. You probably can't expect great things from a movie which can't even spell it's headlining star right, but the film isn't too bad. It is just a very standard straight-to-DVD made-for-TV feel kind of movie. If I'm being honest, I can't really remember Jess all that much in it because her role is so small, but she was pretty cute.

Every Secret Comes with a Price.

Film: The Debt
Year: 2010
Director: John Madden
Written by: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan (based on the 2007 film 'Ha-Hov')
Starring: Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciarán Hinds, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas, Jesper Christensen, Romi Aboulafia. 
Running time: 113 min.

Right, the time has come: you may as well call me a hipster. I saw the original movie of The Debt, a small Israeli film made in 2007, before I saw the remake. I know, I made a choice so obscure that I should probably be wearing my hipster flag out and proud - but for now, I'd like to call it a good choice on my part by delving into the shallow waters of the preview drawer. Usually, there is just a flood of needlessly violent and cheaply gruesome horrors, or action movies starring Z-list 'actors'. At first, The Debt looked a little like that. But going in 'blind' led to some good results.

These results, though, were some that - dare I say - could have been improved on. I don't want to put anything indelicately, but better production values and a little more money could have turned a solid movie into an extremely good one. With a who's who of British screen-writing team (Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan), Shakespeare in Love director John Madden at the helm and a cast headlined by the always wonderful Helen Mirren, this remake is not one that we can dismiss as a 'copy-cat crap'. Trust me, I know - I'm a 'hipster'.