Ryan Gosling Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Ryan Gosling-whose latest project "The Gray Man" is in theaters now and hits Netflix on Friday. 

Ryan Gosling's Filmography Ranked:

18.Only God Forgives (D)

17.The Notebook (C)

16.Murder by Numbers (C+)

15.First Man (B-)

14.Half Nelson (B-)

13.Blade Runner 2049 (B-)

12.La La Land (B-)

11.The Place Beyond the Pines (B)

10.Fracture (B)

9.The Ides of March (B)

8.Crazy, Stupid, Love (B)

7.Gangster Squad (B+)

6.Lars and the Real Girl (B+)

5.The Big Short (A-)

4.Drive (A-)

3.Remember the Titans (A)

2.Blue Valentine (A)

1.The Nice Guys (A)

Top Dog: The Nice Guys (2016)

In a perfect world, The Nice Guys would've turned into a Lethal Weapon-esque franchise that hammered out a new entry every 2-3 years for a decade or so and cemented Gosling and Russell Crowe as one of cinema's all-time great odd couples. Alas, it didn't do very well at the box office, and was sentenced to an eternity of being a cult movie with a particularly vocal fanbase. Overwhelming disappointment about its commercial failure aside, The Nice Guys is a clever, uproarious dark buddy comedy with noir undertones that will hopefully continue to find new audiences on streaming as the years go by (funnily enough, it was confirmed earlier today that it will start streaming on Netflix on August 9th)    

Bottom Feeder: Only God Forgives (2013)

The second collaboration between Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn wasn't the next Drive. Hell, it wasn't even the next Murder by Numbers. Only God Forgives is a wet fart of a crime movie that proved that the impact of Refn's mesmerizing visuals can be wiped out by incoherent storytelling and a cast that seems like they have no desire to be starring in such a scuzzy, brutal movie.

Most Underrated: Blue Valentine (2010)

If certain engaged couples were to watch Blue Valentine at any point before their wedding day, they would break things off with little hesitation and never speak to each other again. By making the decision to constantly switch between timelines to show the blissful start and seemingly imminent demise of a romantic relationship and casting a pair of actors (Gosling, Michelle Williams) as the couple that have the fearlessness and commitment to explore every emotion that needs to be explored to properly tell this story, Derek Cianfrance made a devastating portrait of how even the most loving, supportive relationships can simply erode to an unrepairable degree over time and neither party is at fault. It's a cinematic gut punch that I'm not confident I ever want to experience again, but the raw power and authenticity of the emotions on display here make it an unshakable artistic masterwork.    

Most Overrated: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Blade Runner 2049 is a competent sci-fi epic that features staggering cinematography from Rodger Deakins, a terrific lead performance from Gosling and some of the best VFX in the history cinema. But to best, I've never quite understood why this film has been billed as this groundbreaking masterpiece. Denis Villeneuve himself made better sci-fi movies before (Arrival) and after (Dune) this, its themes of robots trying to find humanity and struggling with their status as second-class citizens haven't been innovative since the original Blade Runner explored them in 1982 and 10-15 minutes could've easily been shaved from the nearly 3-hour runtime-particularly in the glacial early stages of the second act where the story seems to be stalling in order to further build up anticipation for the return of Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard.

Relatively Poorly Received Early-ish Gosling Title That Deserves a Reappraisal: Gangster Squad (2013)

A re-watch last week reaffirmed a take I've had since the film was released all the way back in January 2013: Gangster Squad is fun as hell. As soon as Sean Penn's Mickey Cohen is introduced in a scene where he has a guy who disrespected him killed by ripping him in half via a chain that's connected to two cars that are driving in opposite directions and feeding his corpse to a group of dogs, this film announces itself as a cartoonish romp and keeps pouring on the over-the-top stylized cheese until the credits start rolling. The flurry of big shootouts/car chases/robberies are staged with gusto by director Ruben Fleischer (both Zombieland films, Uncharted), the loaded ensemble cast (Josh Brolin, Gosling, Penn, Anthony Mackie, Michael Pena, Giovani Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Emma Stone, Troy Garity, Nick Nolte) has fun looking cool and chewing up the scenery and the lens of veteran cinematographer Dion Beebe beautifully captures the abundance of picture-esque sleaziness that Los Angeles has to offer.