Happy 37th Birthday (tomorrow!) to Natalie Portman.
I’ve always liked Portman but probably wouldn’t think to include her in a list of favorite actresses. And after doing this list, I see she’s really not been in any favorite films of mine. I mean, even number one on my list isn’t exactly one that I love. That’s a shame. She’s a very good actress – she just seems to not be in many movies that are my type of thing.
As always, I’ve ranked these according to how much I like the movie instead of by Portman’s performance. Here are My Top Ten Natalie Portman Movies (counting down & including all I’ve seen):
The Rest I’ve Seen:
17. No Strings Attached
16. Jackie
15. Cold Mountain
14. Where The Heart Is
13. Anywhere But Here
12. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
11. Garden State
Top Ten:
10. Closer
9. Beautiful Girls
8. Annihilation
7. Mars Attacks!
6. Black Swan
4. V For Vendetta
3. The Star Wars Prequels (Well, they kind of suck but I’m being nice since it’s Star Wars)
2. Heat
1. Leon
Some I’ve Not Seen:
Zoolander, The Darjeeling Limited, My Blueberry Nights, The Other Boelyn Girl, Brothers, I’m Still Here, Your Highness, Knight Of Cups, Jane Got A Gun, Song To Song
Cinema Parrot Disco 
She was in Mars Attacks?! She must have been about 10. I did think GArden State would be higher. Whatever happened to Zach Braff?
Think she was a little older but she was still fairly young in Mars Attacks. 🙂 I don’t know about Braff… think he’s pretty active on Twitter, though!
This may sound strange, but I really believe to this day (even after Black Swan) that her finest performance was in Leon. It had some raw genuineness to it, and I always detected some artificiality in her performances in her later films. I am also happy with Black Swan being at number 6 (not higher).
Nope – I agree. Her best performance is in Leon. I think you get something much more genuine from young actors sometimes. 🙂
She’s not my fave but I did really like Closer and Black Swan.
Yeah, I don’t know why I don’t like Portman a bit more than I do. I like her but she’s not a favorite, although I do think she’s a good actress.
Her performance in Jackie is my favorite of hers, though Black Swan is a close second, followed by Leon.
Agreed that she was fantastic in all of them. 🙂 Although I don’t love most of her movies, she does tend to make them better by being in them.
Leon was phenomenal. I still think she deserved the Oscar for Jackie over Emma Stone’s cookie cutter performance in La La Land.
Haha! I think everyone deserved the Oscar over Stone. 🙂 I do like Stone fine but La La Land was very overrated.
Am a bit surprised to hear, that none of her films are among your favourites. I love CLOSER, infact it’s my favourite film, from the previous decade (more thanks to Jude Law & Julia Roberts, even though Natalie Portman & Clive Owen, too, were brilliant in their respective roles).
And from her performances, I think she was brilliant in LEON and BLACK SWAN!!
Yeah, I do like her but don’t love her films. But I agree she was brilliant in Leon & Black Swan! And Closer. And everything she’s ever been in, actually. 🙂