Winter's Bone is a wonderful, yet haunting, tale of adventure set within some of the more troubling family lifestyles. The family life Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) experiences is already challenging enough for most around her age to not even fathom. Add in the struggle of a house being taken away due to a snobby, drunk father and the raging attitudes of the local neighbors, and there lies a truly gripping story. Lawrence is outstanding here as she takes every scene and really makes it her own here. Her work alone deserves at least a Best Actress Oscar nomination. John Hawkes also is especially noticeable here and helps his character more from the arrogant figure shown earlier on. The story may go a bit basic at times, but when it hits its high points it ranks near some of the year's finest work. The film's ending may be a little bit predictable as well but the overall impact still doesn't change how life was beforehand. Director Debra Granik pulled out a hit here and now it's time to wait and see how awards season will treat it. ***1/2

WINTER'S BONE - 6/10 (C+)

Just was not that impressed by this. Not even the lead's performance blew me away. I was expecting to love it with the glowing reviews it received and also because it reminded me of Frozen River from a couple years ago, which I loved. But this story just failed to engage me.

Disappointing.

Feels like a post apocalyptic film... just Missouri. But cool little murder mystery all the same.

It LOOKS great. Definite great use of the setting without focusing on it too much.

There's definitely something strange about the acting... I wouldn't call it realism. There's a feel of acting and roles here. It adds to the film and the tone. It's more of a movie's movie than I would've expected. Not quite a 'we're going to drop you in depressing Missouri and that's the point' indie.

Loved Lawrence and Hawkes performances/characters/etc. Lawrence is like an overmatched boxer who keeps getting up. Hawkes is like that boxer 30 crushing years later.

This is an outstanding Oscar year.

Found the right word for this movie after reading some reviews: Gothic. It's a world in decay.

Great performance by Lawrence. A bit fantastical with the dad stuff. B+

I was disappointed in it. I expected to love it but just found the story to not be engaging and quite frankly, kind of boring. Lawrence was good, but undeserving of her Oscar nomination. Still, it was nice to look at and had some nice scenes. 7/10

This is one tough film, reminiscent, in my opinion, of the films of John Hillcoat (The Proposition, The Road) or even Michael Haneke. Set in a cold and desolate part of southwestern Missouri, the film concerns a strong-willed teenager, Ree (Jennifer Lawrence), who is left to care for her two siblings and their invalid mother. The film's plot begins when she discovers her ne'er-do-well father, a figure in the local methamphetamine culture, put up the family's house and property as bond after his last arrest. If he does not show for his court date, Ree and her dependents will be adrift, homeless in a cruel land. She sets out to find him (or, it soon becomes clear, at least his final resting place), a conflict-filled, dangerous adventure. Another key character is Teardrop (John Hawkes), Ree's drug-abusing, mercurial uncle and potential protector.

Winter's Bone, as a coming-of-age drama, as a crime suspense film, and as a portrait of a specific place and the people who live there, pulls no punches. The film's setting, the Ozarks, sets the tone: picturesque, unforgiving, never less than striking. Lawrence and Hawkes give expert performances. She is 100 percent deserving of the inevitable Best Actress Oscar nomination. No one in this film, not Lawrence, not Hawkes, and of course not the locals recruited to fill supporting/minor roles, is acting with a capital A, nor should they. These are quiet and lived-in performances which suggest so much more than what is said.

This is a small, at times rough 'round the edges film, but it will leave you shaken and moved.

A-

'Winter's Bone' seems to be what lies beyond the river in 'Deliverance'. Is this bizarreness true, are these incest hillbillies real? It certainly felt authentic. 7/10.

A strong, bleak film bolstered by an exceptionally well-cast group of actors, especially Oscar-nominated Jennifer Lawrence and consistently great John Hawkes.

I've not seen this yet, but my Ozarks Studies professor seems fairly impressed by it. He says it's still not the most positive portrayal of the Ozarks, but apparently it's a much more realistic look at the lower income areas than what is normally portrayed in Hollywood.

8/10 -> B

It starts off very slow but once it gets in a higher gear it's a pretty interesting movie. I wasn't blown away by Jennifer Lawrence. I actually thought everyone was pretty good and that's why the movie worked.

I must say that as bleak and dark the movie may be, it's actually such a pretty movie. Great cinematography.

I can't believe I used "bolstered" in my review.

I picked this up on DVD and I stand by my opinion on it. In a time where small, independent films rely on complex storytelling to keep up with big budget blockbusters, it was kind of nice to see a very simple movie with subtle performances. Compared to "big" Oscar-nominated performances, everyone (Lawrence and Hawkes included, as the stand-outs) are very subdued in their roles, even with the heavy Ozark dialects. And appropriately simple: she looks for her Dad, some people don't want her to look for her Dad. That's the story, basically, start to finish.

I liked many of the Best Pic nominees (especially Inception, Toy Story 3, The King's Speech and The Social Network), but this is probably my favorite of the nominees. No, it's not the best, but overall it's my favorite.

Definitely could tell this was shot in the Ozarks. A LOT of beat-drown areas like this in the boonies. Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic, just wish there was a little more story to it. Maybe I missed it, but was it clear who actually killed her dad? I assume someone close to the old gramps as they knew exactly where he was in the water.

B+

I found it awfully boring.

I FIND YOU AWFULLY BORING!

Fellow Canadian, pfft. Not anymore.

The film's not boring.

I agree. All we do is apologize profusely before any fighting actually starts then settle our differences with a cup of Tim Horton's and a bowl of poutine.