WINTER'S BONE: A HARD KNOCK LIFE BUT A GREAT MOVIE

For her role as Ree Dolly, Jennifer Lawrence had to learn how to skin squirrels, chop wood, and fight.

Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) lives in the Ozarks and with an absent father and mentally absent mother, she raises her two young siblings while battling the harsh world around her. Lawrence gives the performance of a lifetime for such a young woman, and we hope it will not be her last. So poor that they have to depend on eating squirrels to survive, she sets out on a journey to find her absent father in hopes of saving the house put up for bail foreclosure.In the Ozarks, she finds a tight knit group of people, who won't talk to strangers, nonetheless even a stranger they know. Her journey is not an easy one, and is at sometimes painful both physically and mentally, but luckily Ree is tough enough to win to her what she must in order to help her family survive. This film isn't exactly easy to watch, but it is so well done and compelling that it is also hard not to watch it.This was definitely one of the best films of 2011.   

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE

"My name is Clareece "Precious" Jones. I wish I had a light-skinned boyfriend with real nice hair. And I wanna be on the cover of a magazine. But first I wanna be in one of them BET videos. Momma said I can't dance. Plus, she said who wants to see my big ass dancing, anyhow? "

There is so little I can say about this movie but not because it was bad or poorly acted. On the contrary, it was such a strong and powerful movie, so well acted you forget that it is indeed acting. This is the story of a young woman who has everything in the world going against her and yet she still finds a way to not only keep going, but to persevere. Gabourey Sidibe stars as our young heroine and her lack of acting ability gives a realistic portrayal of her character. She is obese, black and pregnant, not a cute Juno girl. This is not a cute movie.