Cinema Experts

“The work gets more difficult as you get older. You learn more and you gather more experiences, there is deeper pain and higher highs.”
Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, California to the late film and television director, writer, and producer Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner. Raised in Santa Monica, she attended Crossroads School before moving and attending Spence School, a private girls' school in New York City. Later she briefly studied art history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before discontinuing her degree and committing herself to acting. She is an "adopted daughter" of Talavera de la Reina (Spain), where she lived as an exchange student and learned Spanish.
Paltrow made her professional stage debut in 1990. Her most recent stage appearance was in Proof at London's Donmar Warehouse. Her debut film was Shout (1991). Later that year, she had a small role as the young Wendy in family friend Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991). She also appeared in Malice and Flesh and Bone.
Paltrow starred in Se7en (1995), opposite Brad Pitt, and Morgan Freeman. The film was hugely successful commercially and critically. Then in 1996 she starred in Emma, where she received strong positive critical acclaim, particularly in Europe, and Asia.
Two years later, Paltrow starred in Shakespeare in Love, an imagining of how William Shakespeare might have written Romeo and Juliet. The film received critical acclaim, earned more than $100 million in domestic box office receipts, and received numerous awards. Shakespeare in Love won the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay, as well as the Academy Award for Best Picture. Paltrow also won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role from the Screen Actors Guild. Later that year, Paltrow won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. After her Oscar win Paltrow starred in other movie roles such as A Perfect Murder. In 2000 Paltrow starred in The Talented Mr. Ripley which earned over $80 million domestically, and received positive reviews. She then starred in Bounce with Shakespeare in Love costar Ben Affleck, which was moderately successful, both critically and commercially.
Since then, she has had a relatively low-profile, yet steady, film career with a few critically acclaimed film roles, including Proof (2005) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Audiences got their first taste of Paltrow's singing ability with the 2000 release of Duets, in which she co-starred with singer Huey Lewis, who played her karaoke-hustling estranged father. Towards the end of the film, their characters resolve their differences and perform a cover version of Smokey Robinson's Cruisin'. The song, which surprised many of Paltrow's fans, was well-received and was eventually released as a single, getting heavy airplay from Top 40 and adult contemporary-formatted radio stations.
In an interview with The Guardian on 27 January 2006, Paltrow admitted that she divided her career into those movies she did for love and those films she did for money.
The Royal Tenenbaums, Proof, and Sylvia fell into the former category, whilst View From the Top and Shallow Hal were in the latter. In interviews for Shallow Hal, she reported did some research for the role by wearing the fat suit she used during filming, and going to a local bar to gauge the public perception of obese people. She said that people refused to make eye contact with her, and she was treated quite rudely on multiple occasions, and the experience saddened her greatly, with regards to how people treat those who are overweight.Since winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love, Paltrow's box-office profile has declined considerably, with her most recent smash being 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley.

"I think it's a bigger risk following a part that plays up your looks than it is to try and carve out a career as an actor."
Jude Law was born in Lewisham, South London, England to teachers Peter and Maggie Law, who now run their own drama school in France. He was educated at 'John Ball' Primary school in Blackheath and Kidbrooke School in Kidbrooke, before attending the Alleyn's School in Dulwich. In 1987 he started acting with the National Youth Music Theatre.
Law's first major stage role was as Foxtrot Darling, the sexually ambiguous and manipulative teenager in Philip Ridley's multi-award-winning The Fastest Clock in the Universe. Law went on to appear as Michael in the West End production of Jean Cocteau's tragicomedy Les parents Terribles directed by Sean Mathias. This role saw Jude nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award as Best Newcomer. Following a title change to Indiscretions, the play transferred as an imaginative re-working to Broadway in 1995, and he played opposite Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees and Cynthia Nixon. This role earned him a Tony Award nomination and the Theatre World Award.
In 1989 he got his first TV role in a movie based on a Beatrix Potter book, The Tailor of Gloucester. After minor roles in British television, including a two year stint in the Granada TV soap opera Families and the leading role in the BFI /Channel 4 short The Crane, Law had his breakthrough with the British ram-raiding drama Shopping which also featured his future wife Sadie Frost. He shot to fame in Britain upon the release of the biopic Wilde, in which he played Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the glamorous lover of Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde.
He subsequently moved to Hollywood; his performances include Andrew Niccol's Gattaca, as a frustrated Olympic medalist bound by a wheelchair, in Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as the ill-fated lover of Kevin Spacey's character, and in Sam Mendes's Road to Perdition as a sadistic hitman in a critically-praised performance. He has been nominated for an Academy Award twice; once as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley in 2000, and then again as Best Actor in a Leading Role for Cold Mountain in 2003, both directed by Anthony Minghella. For the film The Talented Mr. Ripley he learned to play saxophon and earned a MTV Movie Award nomination together with Matt Damon and Fiorello for performing the song Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano by Renato Carosone and Nicola Salerno, so he learned ballet dancing for the film Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001).
He portrayed the lead character in Alfie, the remake of Bill Naughton's 1966 drama. He also acted opposite Michael Caine in the 2007 film Sleuth. In both films, he plays the role originally played by Caine. In Sleuth Michael Caine played Sir Laurence Olivier's original role. Law is an admirer of Olivier, it was his idea to use the famous actors image in the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, so he could, in a way act opposite the deceased actor.
Jude Law is on the latest Top Ten List from the 2006 A-list of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood. The list was created by James Ulmer, he calls his method The Ulmer Scale. He was honored with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government on March 1, 2007 in recognition of his contribution to World Cinema Arts. He was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
In 2005, he was one of many actors rumored to be a possible choice to assume the role of James Bond, as MGM decided not to renew Irish actor Pierce Brosnan's contract. The role would eventually go to fellow Englishman Daniel Craig.
In 1997 he set up a film company, Natural Nylon, with Sadie Frost and fellow friends and thespians Jonny Lee Miller, Ewan McGregor, Sean Pertwee, Damon Bryant and Bradley Adams.

“Good things about Mr. Ripley? Could take some time… Tom is talented. Tom is tender... Tom is beautiful... Tom is a mystery. Tom is not a nobody. Tom has secrets he doesn't want to tell me, and I wish he would. Tom has nightmares. That's not a good thing. Tom has someone to love him. That is a good thing. Tom is crushing me. Tom is crushing me... Tom, you're crushing me!”
When it comes to naming the best films of the 1990's, The Talented Mr. Ripley hardly ever gets a mention. This is one of cinema's greatest mysteries; how can a film as well made, constantly intriguing and brilliantly conceived as this one constantly get passed over? And in favour of many under deserving films as well? Really strange. Almost as big a mystery as the one I've just mentioned is the web of intrigue created here. Through deep, complex characters and situations rich with double meaning, Anthony Minghella has turned Patricia Highsmith's original novel into a cinematic masterpiece. The talented Matt Damon stars as the talented man of the title that is offered $1000 to travel to Italy to try and return Dickie; the rich and spoilt son of a millionaire. What follows is a complex, disturbing and fascinating expose of a man ingratiating himself into the lives of Dickie, his girlfriend Marge and high society on the whole...
The main reason why The Talented Mr. Ripley works so well is that it's central characters are deep labyrinths that beg to explored and analysed. Every scene is rich with double meaning and character interactions that exist under the surface of the drama we are seeing on screen. The character of Tom Ripley is a true masterpiece of characterisation indeed. This sociopath, that would rather be "a pretend somebody than a real nobody" is a myriad of contradictions and muddled personalities. His actions are always amoral and through his lies and deception, it is obvious that he doesn't care at all for anyone around him. However, despite this; we are still able to feel for him through his tribulations. The story is told in such a way that it is difficult to feel for any of the other characters and all of our sympathies lie with the talented Tom Ripley. This puts the audience in a strange situation, as we're used to hating the antagonist and feeling for the protagonist, but this film turns that on it's head, and to great effect.
The film is helped implicitly by the fact that it's one of the most professionally made films ever to make it onto the screen. Every scene, every action, every line uttered is done with the greatest assurance and nothing at all in the film appears to be there by accident or out of place. The way that the characters interact with each other and their surroundings is always believable and we never question anything that is shown on screen. Anthony Minghella's direction is more than solid, and this is helped by the stunning photography, courtesy of 1950's Italy. Many times a film has benefited from Italy's landscape, and this is one of them. This is all great, but it's the performances that put the final finishing touch on this amazing masterclass of film-making. As mentioned, the talented Mr Damon takes the lead role and completely makes it his own. He often gets coupled with his friend, Ben Afleck, when it comes to acting; but this is very unfair as Damon is one of today's brightest stars. Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow make up the other two leads. I'm not the biggest fan of either of these two stars, but both, like Damon, give performances here that will always be associated with their personalities. Cate Blanchett has a small role, but the real plaudits for the smaller performances go to the brilliant Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who steals every scene he's in.The Talented Mr. Ripley is one stunning piece of film. Ignore the people that don't consider this one of the 1990's greatest achievements; they are wrong. The film is a masterpiece of tense situations, great characterisation and professional film-making. And I refuse to hear otherwise... 9/10