The Best and Worst of Alan Rickman

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 "Eye in the Sky" star Alan Rickman.

Films starring Alan Rickman that I've seen:
Die Hard
Dogma
Galaxy Quest
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Love Actually
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Butler

Best Performance: Die Hard (1988)
Rickman was a virtual unknown in the mid-to-late 80's, but that all changed once Die Hard was released. Rickman's menacing presence and sarcastic wit instantly made German thief/terrorist Hans Gruber one of the most iconic villains in the history of cinema.

Worst Performance: Love Actually (2003)
Rickman's underwhelming performance in the schmaltzy ensemble romantic comedy Love Actually isn't really on him. Richard Curtis' script gave him very little to work with and while he puts forth  valiant effort, he can't save his character from being anything but the stock "long-married middle-aged guy who lusts after an attractive younger woman" character you've seen in a million other romantic comedies.

Best Film: Die Hard (1988)
My absurd love of action movies is well-documented on this site and like a lot of self-proclaimed action junkies, Die Hard is one of my all-time favorites. John McTieranan's Christmas-set action opus contains all of the winning ingredients for this genre: a charismatic protagonist, a top-notch villain, a not even remotely serious tone and of course, non-stop, exhilarating action sequences. I don't quite agree with the popular notion that it's the greatest action movie of all-time, but it's definitely damn near close.

Worst Film: The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
I'll never forget my experience seeing The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy in theaters when I was 13. A group of friends and I went to go see on it opening weekend and before we went in, the ticket-taker went on a prolonged rant about great the movie was (this had never happened to me before and it hasn't happened again since). Let's just say I didn't share the ticket-taker's over-the-top enthusiasm for this movie. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of those comedies that thinks every single joke that trots out is the funniest and most clever joke ever written, which makes for an incredibly obnoxious viewing experience. It was honestly a pity to watch great actors like Mos Def, Rickman, Martin Freeman, Zooey Deschanel and Sam Rockwell get wasted on a smug film full of terrible, forced humor with a space-travel plot so muddled that it makes John Carter look coherent. Damn this movie to hell.

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 "The Divergent Series: Allegiant" star Miles Teller.