George Clooney Ranked

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 George Clooney-whose latest project "The Midnight Sky" is now streaming on Netflix. 

George Clooney's Filmography Ranked:

23.Tomorrowland (D-)

22.Ocean's Twelve (D-)

21.Hail, Caesar! (D+)

20.Batman & Robin (C-)

19.The Monuments Men (C)

18.Good Night, and Good Luck (C)

17.The Perfect Storm (C+)

16.Spy Kids (C+)

15.Burn After Reading (C+)

14.Money Monster (C+)

13.Intolerable Cruelty (B-)

12.Up in the Air (B)

11.O Brother, Where Art Thou? (B)

10.The Ides of March (B)

9.Gravity (B+)

8.Ocean's Thirteen (B+)

7.Michael Clayton (B+)

6.Three Kings (B+)

5.From Dusk till Dawn (B+)

4.South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (A-)

3.Out of Sight (A-)

2.The Descendants (A-) 

1.Ocean's Eleven (A)

Top Dog: Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Powered by a charismatic ensemble cast, clever heist and cool, confident style of filmmaking, Steven Soderbergh's remake of Ocean's Eleven manages to be an invigorating blast of pure entertainment. 

Lowlight: Tomorrowland (2015)

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (at least the first two) and even something harmlessly goofy like The Haunted Mansion proved that being based on a Disney theme park attraction wasn't a kiss of death for the quality of a movie. Then Tommorowland came along and reinforced why it can be a horrible idea to flesh out the premise behind something that's designed to provide purely visceral entertainment for a short period of time. Not only is the messy "adaptation" that Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof cooked up feature a silly, convoluted plot, it betrays its wonder-fueled entertainment origins by being aggressively dull and needlessly long.       

Most Overrated: Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

Iconic broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow is a figure from American history that deserves to be propped up more in the present day f-particularly for his efforts to dismiss McCarthyism for the erroneous witch hunt that it was and Good Night, and Good Luck is an adequately made/acted production that accomplishes all of its storytelling goals. However, Murrow's efforts to expose the injustices of McCarthyism through pursuing various stories of people who've had their careers or lives ruined by baseless accusations of being supporters of the Communist Soviet Union and subsequent clashes with network executives/government officials that stemmed from his reporting is the type of important yet dry material that's better suited for a history classroom than the silver screen.  

Most Underrated: The Descendants (2011)

Re-watching this recently for the first time since my initial viewing in 2012 has only solidified my stance that The Descendants is an exceptionally underrated movie. It handles complicated themes (grief, infidelity, impending death of a loved one) in a graceful, even-handed manner, deploys humor at the perfect times to break up the immense sadness that is at the center of the narrative and features extraordinary performances from Clooney and Shailene Woodley that sell every nuance of a morally and emotionally complex story.    

Best Pre- Super Stardom Vehicle: From Dusk till Dawn (1996)

Outside of Danny Ocean, I don't think Clooney has played a character that's made better use of his natural charisma and smart-ass attitude than Seth Gecko. The way that he utilizes those gifts makes him the ideal anchor for the unhinged B-movie insanity that occurs in both halves of this crime saga turned vampire hunting schlockfest as well as a terrific vessel for the plethora of sharp dialogue Quentin Tarantino's script delivers.   

Most Insane Superhero Movie: Batman & Robin (1997)

As superhero movies have evolved into billion dollar empires that are micro managed down to the smallest details, the ill-conceived, balls-out ridiculousness of Batman & Robin has become kind of a charming relic of a bygone era where these movies weren't part of intricate shared universes. The head-scratching ineptitude and bizarre creative choices (Nipples on the Bat Suit, Mr. Freeze rocking ice skates, etc) on display here resulted in the fun kind of bad movie that the 90's churned out with regularity and unlike like a lot of things from that era in entertainment, hasn't really returned in the present day.