The Best and Worst of Ben Foster

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 "Inferno" star Ben Foster.

Films starring Ben Foster that I've seen:
Big Trouble
The Punisher 
X-Men: The Last Stand 
Alpha Dog 
3:10 to Yuma
30 Days of Night
The Mechanic
Contraband
Lone Survivor
The Finest Hours
Hell or High Water

Best Performance: Alpha Dog (2007) 
Alpha Dog is a potent, engrossing crime drama that I feel is highly underrated. The quality of its massive acting ensemble is the primary reason that I loved the film and of that talented bunch that includes the likes of Justin Timberlake, Olivia Wilde and the late Anton Yelchin, Foster is the clear standout. As the skinhead brother of a teenager (Yelchin) who's been kidnapped as a form of ransom by the drug dealer (Emile Hirsch) he owes money to, Foster is a fragile emotional powerhouse that is brimming with unhinged intensity and sincere pain every moment he's on screen. 

Worst Performance: Big Trouble (2002)
Big Trouble is a pretty forgettable comedy that oddly featured a number of future stars including Zooey Deschanel, Sofia Vergara and Foster in some of their first Hollywood roles. This overly quirky dark comedy featured lackluster performances from a majority of its cast (Johnny Knoxville and Stanley Tucci are the only two actors that showed up to play here), but Foster came out looking worse than anyone not named Tim Allen. Foster proved here that he has no knack for comedy with a performance that was completely soulless and unfitting for the material.   


Best Film: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Films like 3:10 to Yuma are why I'll always give remakes a chance. When a film is this exhilarating, sharp and universally well-acted, who cares if it's an update of a preexisting film?  

Worst Film: The Finest Hours (2016) 
While there's still a bunch of films slated for release over the next two months and a number of others from earlier this year that I still need to catch up on, 2016 has been notable for its lack of serious duds. To be honest, the only truly unholy piece of shit I've seen this year is The Finest Hours. Director Craig Gillespie (Million Dollar Arm, Fright Night) managed to turn a pretty remarkable true story of the Coast Guard's storied rescue of the crew of the SS Pendleton during a blizzard off the coast of New England in 1952 into a tedious snoozefest that focuses more on documenting the sappy romance between the hero Coast Guard officer (a god awful Chris Pine) and his fiance (an equally wretched Holliday Grainger) than the rescue itself. It wouldn't surprise in the least if this corny, overly sentimental pile of trash ultimately went down as my pick for the worst movie of this year.

 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 "Doctor Strange" star Chiwetel Ejiofor.