Hailee Steinfeld didn’t really come out of left field but it feels like if you only started to notice her when she was in the remake of True Grit. No matter what anyone says about the film it’s agreed that she put in a great performance and made the part of Mattie feel uniquely real. But that’s the kind of skill she displays on a regular basis as she’s able to dive into her roles as much as possible and really make a person believe that she is that character. Even better is that in each film she’s in there’s a distinct feeling that she’s so into the character that there’s little if any real overlap between that current role and any other she’s done. In most of her movies you could say there are similarities, but overall she’s able to bring new and exciting characters to life without having to fall back on her other roles as much.
Here are some of her best movies to date.
5. Ender’s Game
Having kids fight a war sounds horrific, but given that this entire movie feels like one giant video game and starting people out at a young age seems to be the theme, it becomes a very real test of whether they can take the emotional stress that comes with the physical stress that they’re put through continually. The only problem with fighting and enemy that looms as a threat to your world and your existence however is that sooner or later you become the monster, while the enemy becomes the assaulted victim that is struggling to survive. Ender is a gifted tactician, but his sense of morality is still developing.
4. Pitch Perfect 2
You can imagine how tough it is to belong to a specialized group of singers when you’re in high school, but in college it would be even more difficult since the standards go up and the judging is done by your peers rather than by teachers and music instructors. This is the kind of group where a mistake isn’t really accepted and doing anything subpar is not allowed. In that vein it seems that those that aren’t able to sync with the group in one way or another are bound to be sent down the road without so much as a ‘buh-bye’. College is after all where dreams are built up and then dashed apart for people to do with as they will.
3. True Grit
Opinions about this movie were kind of divided since a lot of people were still in love with the version that was given by John Wayne back in the day. In this movie however Hailee presented herself as a very talented actress as Mattie was a very direct and to the point individual that wouldn’t always take no for an answer and was all about getting business done. The bad part was that she wasn’t really geared for the wilds and wasn’t much help to the two men that were reluctant to have her come along in the first place. In fact it’s safe to say that she was more of a distraction than anything throughout the trip.
2. Bumblebee
Admittedly this movie hasn’t come out yet but from the trailers so far it looks like something that might be a kind of hail Mary for the Transformers franchise to make a comeback from the pit that’s been dug for it lately. Bumblebee is after all one of the favorite characters in the story and rumors about a solo movie were kicking around for a while before someone finally decided to do something about it. Just being in the film is enough to bring another light upon Hailee’s career since unlike Shia LaBeouf there’s a good chance that she won’t be yelling every other scene when stuff starts to happen. Even if she did it would be more entertaining.
1. Edge of Seventeen
A lot of us can remember what it was like when we were seventeen years old. Even if we were having a good time in school and were popular there was always bound to be one or more issues that we had to deal with at times. If we weren’t popular however then life seemed to slow to a debilitating crawl as we tried to navigate the halls of high school and life, struggling to find any purchase that we could use to rest a while and prolong the agony. It was a tough time in some cases but it was always meant to be a time of learning, of fun, and of discovery about a great many things that we never knew about. High school was a time to expand our personal world and gain the experience we needed.
She’s got a bright future yet ahead, and so far it looks very promising.
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