Edward Norton Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Edward Norton-whose latest project "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" debuts on Netflix this Friday. 

Edward Norton's Filmography Ranked:

24.Kingdom of Heaven (C-)

23.Keeping the Faith (C-)

22.Moonrise Kingdom (C-)

21.The Bourne Legacy (C)

20.Motherless Brooklyn (C)

19.Pride and Glory (C)

18.Isle of Dogs (C+)

17.Alita: Battle Angel (C+)

16.Frida (B-)

15.The French Dispatch (B-)

14.The Score (B-)

13.The Incredible Hulk (B)

12.The Grand Budapest Hotel (B)

11.The People vs. Larry Flynt (B)

10.Death to Smoochy (B)

9.Primal Fear (B+)

8.Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (B+)

7.25th Hour (B+)

6.Sausage Party (A-) 

5.Rounders (A-)

4.The Italian Job (A)

3.Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (A)

2.American History X (A+)

1.Fight Club (A+)

Top Dog: Fight Club (1999)

Discovering Fight Club as a teenager among the most formative movie watching experiences of my life and that was well before I even figured out what the hell it was really about. David Fincher marries style and substance perfectly in this darkly comedic takedown of everything from toxic masculinity to self-worth that features top-tier performances from Norton and Brad Pitt, chaotic editing that brilliantly captures its punk ethos and a staggering plot twist that only further solidifies how exceptionally sharp the writing is.   

Bottom Feeder: Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

It needs to be noted that this designation is being handed out to the theatrical cut, not the director's cut that has developed a decent-sized cult following in recent years. Whether it was the result of studio interference or just Ridley Scott rushing an edit to make a deadline, Kingdom of Heaven squanders its potential to be another one of Scott's triumphs in the historical epic space by having a story that never quite builds any meaningful momentum and making the questionable decision to cast Orlando Bloom in a rousing hero role that's he's not particularly convincing in.

Most Underrated: The Italian Job (2003)

Maybe it's nostalgia or simply a case of my intense love of action movies causing me to deeply appreciate something that the average person wouldn't get too excited about, but I sincerely believe that the remake of The Italian Job is a near-perfect blockbuster. By placing on an emphasis on simple yet effective things like telling a story that has constant forward momentum, charismatic characters being played by magnetic actors (Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Norton, Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def, Seth Green, Donald Sutherland) and elaborate heist scenes and car chases, F. Gary Gray made a movie that is ridiculously fun from start to finish.

Most Overrated: Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

While I've been able to get over the bulk of my previous problems with the films of Wes Anderson in recent years (shoutout The Grand Budapest Hotel for making that breakthrough possible), Moonrise Kingdom just contains too much quirkiness for me to forgive. The kids in this movie are the most insufferably eccentric shitbags Anderson has written since the ensemble of The Royal Tenenbaums and that fucking dance scene between the two leads (Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward) will haunt me for the remainder of my days.

Most Deceptively Layered: Sausage Party (2016)

What's really delightful about Sausage Party is that the movie is simultaneously an extremely silly movie about food items swearing at, having sex with and killing each other and a pointed, intelligent satire of organized religion. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are probably about two of the five people in Hollywood right now that would have the audacity and filmmaking savviness to successfully combine these things and it's really unbelievable that a film with this content got widely released into theaters all over the globe. The power of movies really is remarkable folks.