Ryan Gosling

[Jeffbiscuits]

Reading the Evolution of Ryan Gosling feature on the main website, I realised that I've never actually seen any of his films. This is through no fault of my own or choice, just haven't seen any. Any recommendations? Is he that good?

[Click here to link to "The Evolution Of Ryan Gosling" feature].

And what the hell is a Carey Mulligan?

[Kiba.]

I've seen him in Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl and (on recommendation by Mike an old forum member) The Believer. I hated him in Half Nelson and found the film highly overrated, for a while that put me off him as an actor. I've revised my opinion of him after seeing the other two films and think he is a fine talent, capable of subtle performance: Lars, and intense: The Believer.

I would now rather watch Gosling in a film rather than Edward Norton who I used to like but hasn't been in anything good for a long time that I'm aware of. Any of the titles I've mentioned are recommended to check out Gosling's performance.

[Zippykins1]

I've seen Murder By Numbers, The Notebook, and Half Nelson. I think I've seen Fracture, but the fact that I really can't remember means I probably wouldn't reccommend it!

Like Kiba, I found Half Nelson rather overrated, so my favourite of those is probably The Notebook. Hmm. I think hes a pretty decent. likeable actor though.

Really want to see Blue Valentine but its not on at my Cineworld and I'm seriously skint so can't stump up for a ticket to another cinema to see it.

[Jeffbiscuits]

Just watched The Believer. Gosling is good in it. Intense and volatile throughout but when the film calls for it he brilliantly handles playing fear and vulnerability. Quite impressed.

[Jonesy]

Yeah, it's a cracker of a performance in The Believer. Like Kiba and Zippy I did not like Half Nelson. Bloody dreadful film, with a very mis-judged performance.

[Jeffbiscuits]

I'd never even heard of The Believer until a couple of weeks ago. It's a good film and a really entertaining performance. I didn't understand Kiba's comparison of Gosling to Edward Norton at first but watching this I was measuring it against American History X. But for Gosling to make me pity and even relate to such a hateful, aggressive character is a sign of a good performance. I'll definitely keep an eye out for Lars and the Real Girl on tv or cheap DVD after this.

[Kiba.]

Originally Posted by Jeffbiscuits

I didn't understand Kiba's comparison of Gosling to Edward Norton at first but watching this I was measuring it against American History X.

Partly that, and partly that Gosling is getting cast in some of the roles that Norton might've, [serious young man in dramatic role] if his career hadn't gone so off the rails recently.

Originally Posted by Jeffbiscuits

I'll definitely keep an eye out for Lars and the Real Girl on tv or cheap DVD after this.

Good man. It's a film which surprised me.. I saw it with reluctance and scepticism and ended up enjoying it and his performance which is beautifully subtle.

[jhirsohn]

I've only seen Lars, and Blue Valetnine, but I thought he was fantastic in both. While Lars and the Real Girl was very difficult to watch for me, it is still a film with a ton of merit and Gosling's performance is masterful. I loved Blue Valetine and didn't understand how Michelle Williams could get nominated but not Ryan Gosling. I have not seen Biutiful, so I don't know the quality of Bardem's performance, but my intial reaction was that he stole the nomination from Gosling. I have heard Half-Nelson is one of his best performances, even though yuo guys don't seem to think too highly of it, I plan on checking it out soon. At this point, I'm a huge Gosling fan.

[Siegfried]

Who would have thought that someone who got his start over here in New Zealand playing Young Hercules in that cruddy TV series would have developed into one of the finest young actors currently working in films?
His first work that really impressed me was his performance in Murder By Numbers, and since then I've seen The Notebook, Lars And The Real Girl, Fracture (an under rated film), Half Nelson, which, unlike a couple of previous contributors to this thread, I liked very much, and Blue Valentine.
Neither Drive nor The Ides Of March have been released here yet, but I'm looking forward eagerly to both of them.

[MikeyRix]

Saw him in "The Notebook" (meh film, good performance from him in it) and a few years later, or last night, I saw him in "The Ides of March". Pretty impressed by him, he was very good in the latter. I want to see "Blue Valentine" still, not purely because of him, but because of the subject matter (got a bit of a thing for 'anti-romance' films). I've no doubt he'll be decent in that too.