If you didn’t know already Mary Elizabeth Winstead wanted to be a ballerina before she turned to acting, but at a certain point she realized she was going to be too tall and figure that acting was the best route to take. It’s funny how being 5’8″ is too tall but maybe that comes from having stood over six feet for so long. In any case her foray into acting has managed to land her numerous roles throughout the years that have allowed her to become a known commodity and in some cases a rather well-respected actress that might not seem to be of superstar caliber, but has still made her into someone that people recognize rather quickly. A lot of times she’s the good girl that gets put into rough situations or the semi-bad girl that hangs around with friends that aren’t always the best of individuals but are far from the worst. Her characters also tend to range from meek and fun to tough and possessed of an obvious attitude that benefits her more than anything.
Here are her five best movies.
5. Live Free or Die Hard
In the history of the Die Hard movies this one actually did pretty decent when it came to the critics since from the second one on it’s been kind of a give and take type of thing with fans and critics alike. But playing the daughter of a character like John McClane one would almost assume that a young woman like Lucy would be tougher than she seemed and have an attitude that mirrors her father’s. When John has to come rescue his daughter since obviously she’s not going to be entirely like him in terms of sheer physical resilience she’s still more than capable of giving the bad guy a piece of her mind, telling him off in a number of ways that actually seems to impress the antagonist.
4. Final Destination 3
This one is kind of hard to like since it almost feels as though the franchise should have stopped when it was already plummeting, but fans have still managed to react to it and those that came after in a positive way since FD has become something of a cult favorite. In this one however it was a little more appreciated that by the end of the movie death was finally allowed to wrap up what had been started with a dust-up of those that had cheated it out of its due, rather than allowing a couple of people to live since they’d been ‘passed over’ in favor of death moving on to take someone else in their place. No one cheats the Reaper forever after all.
3. The Thing
For some reason a lot of people had a serious issue with this movie since it seemed to explain just how the original got started and why things were found the way they were. In all honesty there were a few moments in the movie that could have been left out since they messed around with the continuity, but overall it almost seems as though it could have been left alone without the serious hatred levied by some fans and things would have been okay, no pun intended. After all the movie does go into a fairly good explanation of how and why some of the events from the first movie came to be.
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
When gaming and romance meet this seems to be the result since Scott is a would be gamer and a wannabe rockstar that meets the girl of his dreams but doesn’t realize until later on that if he wants to be with her he has to defeat her 7 evil ex-boyfriends, which is a daunting task for someone that looks and sounds like Michael Cera. That being what it is the movie is still a lot of fun, especially when Ramona reveals that she’s pretty awesome herself and yet is still bound up by the emotions that her exes bring out in her thanks to the past they shared. Eventually Scott does realize that he has to deal with his own issues before dealing with those that are keeping him and Ramona apart.
1. Death Proof
Andrea Thompson of The Spool and many others might actually agree that this is one of Quentin Tarantino’s absolute best movies since it’s simple, doesn’t have a lot of working parts, and is a hellish thrill ride that isn’t too drawn out or complicated to follow. Mary’s part in the movie is noticeably small but it seems perfect that way since the overall chase and confrontation with Stuntman Mike is something that the cheerleader character she plays doesn’t seem cut out for. That being the case, she kind of comes and goes in this movie, but it’s still something that seems perfect for what it is.
So far in her career she’s had a pretty solid showing in everything she’s done.
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