Welcome to the latest edition of "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out related accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Amy Adams-whose latest project "Hillbilly Elegy" hits Netflix tomorrow.
Amy Adams' Filmography Ranked:
21.Man of Steel (D)
20.Sunshine Cleaning (C-)
19.Julie & Julia (C)
18.Junebug (C+)
17.Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (B-)
16.The Muppets (B-)
15.Charlie Wilson's War (B)
14.Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (B)
13.Nocturnal Animals (B)
12.Big Eyes (B+)
11.Trouble with the Curve (B+)
10.Justice League (B+)
9.Catch Me If You Can (B+)
8.Her (B+)
7.Drop Dead Gorgeous (B+)
6.Vice (A-)
5.Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (A-)
4.Doubt (A-)
3.Arrival (A-)
2.The Fighter (A)
1.American Hustle (A)
Top Dog: American Hustle (2013)
Slick writing, infectious energy and a magnificent acting ensemble (Christian Bale, Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Michael Pena, Robert De Niro) makes American Hustle a brilliant crime drama that ranks near the top of David O. Russell's terrific filmography.
Lowlight: Man of Steel (2013)
Re-releasing Catwoman would've been the only way the DCU could've got off to a worse start than it did with Man of Steel. With its combination of glacial pacing, needlessly chaotic action sequences and acting that is either stiff to the point where it appears rigor mortis has set in (Henry Cavill, Adams, Diane Lane) or unfittingly over-the-top (Michael Shannon), Zack Snyder's first (and only solo) Superman film is a boring, catastrophically messy disaster that flirts with hitting the rock bottom of the superhero genre.
Most Overrated: Julie & Julia (2009)
While there's certainly some enjoyment to be had in watching Meryl Streep's uncanny Julia Child impression, it's not enough to propel Julia & Julia out of its deep-rooted mediocrity. The late Nora Ephron's swan song aims to weave together the stories of Child's rise from bored housewife of a US diplomat (Stanley Tucci) to culinary icon and a New York-based call center worker (Adams) who re-discovers her passion for writing after starting a blog that details her journey cooking her way through Child's The Art of French Cooking over the course of a year, but only the portions with Child are consistently engaging-leaving this as an uneven and overlong biopic that misses its heartwarming target.
Most Underrated: Doubt (2008)
I'd argue that Doubt is one of the most overlooked films of the past 20 years. This adaptation of the Tony Award winning-play uses its understated direction and performances from its tiny cast (Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffmann, Adams, Viola Davis) to craft a complex, morally ambiguous story about an alleged sexual assault by a priest at a Bronx Catholic School in the 1960's that offers no clean or easy answers about the innerworkings of the Catholic Church or the incident itself.
Top Cult Classic: Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
Beauty pageants are the perfect target for a mockumentary and Drop Dead Gorgeous hits the bullseye with ease. By deeply committing to skewering the ruthlessness, superficiality and abundant absurdity that defines the subculture, the writer/director team of Michael Patrick Jann and Lona Williams are able to craft a pitch black satire that uses its heightened real world observations to fuel a smart, bitingly hilarious comedy that was practically readymade for passionate niche audiences.
Most Inexplicable Faceplant: Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
How does one waste the talent of Adams and Emily Blunt? Cast them in a charmless indie dramedy of course! Sunshine Cleaning is a product of the post-Garden State indie wave where quirky melodramas that dealt with "taboo subjects" like mental illness or teen pregnancy were the hottest shit on the scene and while its never as insufferable as Zack Braff's Hall of Fame pseudo-intellectual circle jerk, its clumsy commentary on handling the suicide of a loved one and unmemorable characters make it a relatively miserable watch.
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