Films starring Anthony Mackie that I've seen:
8 Mile
Million Dollar Baby
The Man
Freedomland
Half Nelson
Eagle Eye
Notorious
The Hurt Locker
Night Catches Us
The Adjustment Bureau
What's Your Number?
Real Steel
Man on a Ledge
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Gangster Squad
Pain & Gain
Runner Runner
Captain America: The Winter Solider
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Our Brand is Crisis
The Night Before
Triple 9
Captain America: Civil War
Detroit
Avengers: Infinity War
Best Performance: Pain & Gain (2013)
While Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg had more time to drive this morbidly hilarious bus, Mackie's turn as the third wheel in this bumbling band of meathead criminals was just an integral to Pain & Gain's unexpected brilliance. Thanks to his completely believable arrogance, naivety and bursts of steroid-fueled rage, Mackie makes Adrian Doorbal the king of incompetence in this American Dream-chasing band of con men.
Worst Performance: Notorious (2009)
Mackie is about as reliable as an actor can possibly be. Even if the material is suspect (Our Brand is Crisis, Eagle Eye, Runner Runner), his natural charisma and refusal to slum it prevents him from stumbling. The closest he's come to making a true misstep came with his bit part as Tupac Shakur in the Biggie biopic Notorious. After Demterius Shipp Jr. turned in an electric performance that propped up the otherwise mediocre All Eyez on Me, it became even more evident that he didn't do a great job of capturing the blend of monk-like calmness and seemingly infinite wisdom that made Shakur such an icon.
Best Film: The Hurt Locker (2009)
Modern war flicks, particularly ones set in Afghanistan/Iraq, have a disturbing tendency to favor overwhelming flag-waving macho garbage over showing the true unspeakable horrors that occur and helping people who have never served in the military understand the experiences of the people that are putting their lives on the line. The Hurt Locker was a refreshingly grounded departure from these repulsive propaganda pieces. Kathryn Bigelow realistically portrays the environment in nightmarish detail as well as the variety of ways soldiers react to life on the frontlines without ever glamorizing combat or failing to treat its characters as anything less than fully-formed human beings.
Worst Film: What's Your Number? (2011)
At this point, I should just ban What's Your Number? from this series. It features a gigantic ensemble cast (Anna Farris, Chris Evans, Mackie, Chris Pratt, Andy Samberg, roughly a dozen more prominent actors) that are among Hollywood's most steadily employed on-camera personnel, which has resulted in me writing about this several times a year since this weekly column began back in May 2015. That being said, this tedium doesn't change the fact this borderline historic lowpoint for the romantic comedy genre squanders an abundance of top-end talent on a monumental dud that is completely devoid of charm, laughs or anything that even resembles fun.
Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” star Allison Brie.
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