The Best and Worst of John Goodman

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "Trumbo" star John Goodman.

Film starring John Goodman that I've seen:
Raising Arizona
The Flintstones 
The Big Lebowski
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Emperor's New Groove
One Night at McCool's
Monsters Inc.
Death Sentence
Evan Almighty
Red State
The Artist
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Trouble with the Curve
Argo
Flight
The Hangover Part III 
Monsters University
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Monuments Men
Transformers: Age of Extinction 
The Gambler

Best Performance: The Big Lebowski (1998)
This choice was a no-brainier. While Goodman has brought a lot of memorable characters to the screen over his decorated career, none of  them even come close to touching the brilliance of Walter Sobchak, a short-tempered Vietnam vet obsessed with Judaism and bowling. Jeff Bridges gets heaps of well-deserved praise for his portrayal of the lovable stoner hero "The Dude", but it's Goodman's insane, hilarious and subtly poignant performance that is the true heart and soul of The Big Lewbowksi.

Worst Performance: The Monuments Men (2014)
If there was a Guinness World Record for most actors phoning it in in the same movie, The Monuments Men would hold it. The likes of Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and Bob Balaban all left their A-games at home for this World War II docudrama about a group of civilian art experts dispatched to Europe to help the Allied forces recover valuable stolen paintings from the Nazis. The typically-lively Goodman follows the trend of his peers by looking bored every second he's on screen and seems to have only agreed to appear in the film as a favor to his friend George Clooney, who co-wrote, directed and starred in the film.

Best Film: Raising Arizona (1987)
Raising Arizona is essentially the redheaded stepchild of Coen Brothers films. It doesn't have the awards-pedigree of No Country for Old Men, the quirkiness of Fargo or the dieheard cult following of The Big Lebowski, which has subsequently caused it to get buried in the Coen Brothers deeply celebrated filmography. What Raising Arizona does have is a winning screwball sense of humor and a surprisingly upbeat atmosphere that makes it standout from the bleak films that have largely defined the Coen's career. It's also hard not to love a film where Nicolas Cage gives a multi-layered performance that relies just as much on subtlety as it does the unhinged insanity he's known (and frequently parodied) for. Raising Arizona may not be finest the film the Cohen Brothers have ever made, but it's certainly the most underrated.

Worst Film: Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
I was a longtime Transformers apologist who embraced the franchise's loud, effects-heavy formula and frequently found myself defending its merits whenever someone trashed one of the films in my presence. After seeing Age of Extinction, I'll never defend another Transformers film again. Transformers: Age of Extinction is such a colossal and universal failure that it's almost impressive. The dialogue is cringeworthy, the performances from Mark Wahlberg and Nicola Peltz are a new low for a series that has previously employed such lauded thespians as Megan Fox, Rose Huntington-Whitley and Josh Duhamel and worst of all, the action sequences are bland as hell. Age of Extinction is a moronic, overlong disaster that has tarnished this franchise's reputation as the benchmark for mindless blockbuster action films.

Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of "By the Sea" star Brad Pitt .