Jennifer Lawrence

Actress Jennifer Lawrence. I first encountered Jennifer Lawrence in the not-so-glorious role of Ree in Winter's Bone. In this film she flexed her serious acting muscles, probably better than almost any other actress in 2010. Since then she's skirted the line between superficial and deep roles with emotionally complex characters in otherwise somewhat insignificant films such as The Beaver and X-Men: First Class. (X-Men: First Class could have been significant if it hadn't been preceded by Thor. Thor kind of made it difficult to notice any other superhero film in the summer of 2011.) My hope is that Jennifer Lawrence manages to find time for really interesting roles in smaller films and doesn't get too big for her britches. The odds are against this, especially considering that she's going to star in the next big children's book franchise to hit the big screen, The Hunger Games, but I remain hopeful.

Anton Yelchin

Actor Anton Yelchin. I have really been disappointed with the last two movies I've seen him in - Fight Night and The Beaver - but for some reason I'm still writing a blog about the guy (and I only write blogs about people, shows, movies, etc. that I like - leave that negative stuff for other bloggers). The simple answer: While Yelchin often chooses bad movies, he is a fantastic enough actor that it doesn't seem to matter. Whenever you see Yelchin in a film, you know that Yelchin is going to be good in that film. While Yelchin is very much himself, looking comfortable in every role I've seen him in, he's also capable of transforming into other characters, sometimes highly established characters. Consider the fact that he's played two of the best known science fiction characters of all time, Kyle Reese in Terminator: Salvation and Pavel Chekov in Star Trek. This kid is really fantastic, and I imagine that in the near future we'll see him get more and more picky with his scripts. When that happens, we will live in an age of Anton Yelchin.