The Best and Worst of Tommy Lee Jones

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 "Just Getting Started" star Tommy Lee Jones.

Films starring Tommy Lee Jones that I've seen:
Under Siege
Natural Born Killers
Batman Forever
Volcano
Men in Black
Small Soldiers
Men in Black II
Man of the House
No Country for Old Men
Captain America: The First Avenger
Men in Black 3
Criminal
Jason Bourne
Mechanic: Resurrection

Best Performance: Natural Born Killers (1994)
For such a stoic personality, Jones is surprisingly adept at playing unhinged, over-the-top characters and his performance in Natural Born Killers is the finest example of this underutilized skill. Jones' non-stop deranged energy is the only real highlight of the wildly disjointed second half of Oliver Stone's uneven satire of sensationalist media.

Worst Performance: Jason Bourne (2016)
Jones has been typecast as a curmudgeon lawman for so long that I think even he's starting to get tired of it. His by-the-numbers "I'M A SUPER SERIOUS LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT WHOSE GOING TO CATCH THE BAD GUY BY ANY MEANS NESSECARY" routine was very appropriate for an impressively average spy thriller like Jason Bourne.

Best Film: No Country for Old Men (2007)
Films like No Country for Old Men are why I'll always consider the Coen Brothers among the best directors on the planet, regardless of how many middling-to-bad movies they've released over the course of their lengthy careers. This Texas-set crime drama is an unforgettable powerhouse with some of the finest acting, storytelling, dialogue and suspense I've ever seen on screen. After exploring all sorts of different time periods and genres in the 10 years since No Country was released, I'm hoping that the Coens will return to the grimy, darkly comic criminal underworld they portray so brilliantly before too long.

Worst Film: Criminal (2016)
No movie in the history of cinema could've benefitted more from the presence of Nicolas Cage than Criminal. Watching straight-faced Kevin Costner repeatedly scream about having the memories of a dead CIA agent (Ryan Reynolds) implanted in his head and kill random dudes with lamps makes this film seriously painful to watch. Casting Cage in the lead role would've turned this overly serious action thriller into a brilliant piece of ludicrous, high-concept B-movie poetry. Shame on Ariel Vomen, Elaine Grainger and everyone at Lionsgate for not letting Mr. Cage come in and carry this movie on his crazy-ass shoulders.

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 "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" star Benicio Del Toro.