The Best and Worst of Kyle Chandler

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” star Kyle Chandler.

Films starring Kyle Chandler that I've seen:
King Kong
The Kingdom
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Super 8
Argo
Zero Dark Thirty
Broken City
The Spectacular Now
The Wolf of Wall Street
Carol
Manchester by the Sea
Game Night
First Man

Best Performance: The Spectacular Now (2013)
The Spectacular Now boasts one of the finest ensembles (Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Brie Larson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kaitlyn Dever, Bob Odenkirk) in recent memory. Like all of the aforementioned actors, Chandler brought his A-game to this super underrated coming-of-age drama. He's terrific in a vitally important supporting role as Teller's estranged alcoholic father who helps spark the heartbreak and introspection that drives the film's final act.  

Worst Performance: First Man (2018)
While the surprisingly dry material certainly didn't set them up for success, that still doesn't excuse the stiff acting everyone in First Man besides Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy displayed. For a character that was supposed to a fiery leader hellbent on helping the United States win the space race, Chandler's turn as NASA head Deke Slayton is oddly reserved and borderline indifferent for most of the movie.

Best Film: Manchester by the Sea (2016)
There are movies that have affected me emotionally, then there's Manchester by the Sea. Kenneth Lonergan's minimalist character study about the everlasting impact grief can have on a person's life is the type of movie that just leaves you feeling broken and exhausted on the inside once it's over. The natural manner in which the story unfolds paired with the stunning performances from its protagonists (Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams) ensures that every moment of this film feels like real life, which maximizes the devastation of each somber revelation or exchange it offers up. I may never watch it again, but it's a remarkable cinematic accomplishment and easily one of the finest films I've seen in the past decade.  

Worst Film: King Kong (2005)
Let's hope that Chandler's second crack at the giant monster genre goes a whole lot better than the first. Peter Jackson ushered in his (still active) naptime era as a director with a film so painfully slow and thoroughly unpleasant that it should be used as a torture mechanism. A more apt title for this would've been Three Hours of Tedious Storytelling and Good Actors Embarrassing Themselves With a Few Brief Action Interludes featuring King Kong

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “Dark Phoenix” star Tye Sheridan.