A24 Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out related accolades. This week, I'm profiling the filmography of beloved indie studio A24-whose latest project "Minari" is in theaters now and will be available to rent on video on demand services this Friday.   

A24's Filmography Ranked:

45.Under the Skin (F)

44.The Rover (D-)

43.Tusk (D-)

42.First Cow (D)

41.Hereditary (D)

40.American Honey (D)

39.Slice (D+)

38.Gloria Bell (D+)

37.Slow West (D+)

36.The Bling Ring (C-)

35.Eighth Grade (C-)

34.Swiss Army Man (C)

33.The Last Black Man in San Francisco (C)

32.Dark Places (C+)

31.The Florida Project (C+)

30.Morris from America (B-)

29.Free Fire (B-)

28.Waves (B-)

27.Mississippi Grind (B-)

26.Son of a Gun (B)

25.The End of the Tour (B)

24.The Farewell (B)

23.A Most Violent Year (B)

22.Climax (B)

21.20th Century Women (B)

20.Never Goin' Back (B)

19.Locke (B)

18.First Reformed (B)

17.Moonlight (B)

16.Obvious Child (B)

15.Midsommar (B)

14.Life After Beth (B+)

13.The Witch (B+)

12.Lady Bird (B+)

11.Good Time (B+)

10.The Lighthouse (B+)

9.Spring Breakers (B+)

8.Amy (A-)

7.Ex Machina (A-)

6.Green Room (A-)

5.Mid90s (A)

4.The Spectacular Now (A)

3.Uncut Gems (A)

2.The Disaster Artist (A)

1.Room (A)

Top Dog: Room (2015)

While I'm not confident if I'll ever have the stomach to watch it again, Room remains an unbelievable movie that I'll never be able to shake. It's a powerful, often harrowing story about a mother and son who experience unfathomable trauma and their long, painful adjustment to "normal" life once they've been removed from the situation that was endangering their lives that's emotionally elevated by a pair of gut-wrenching performances from Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay.  

Lowlight: Under the Skin (2014)

No amount of full frontal nudity from Scarlett Johannsson or striking shots of the Scottish wilderness could save Under the Skin from being a relentlessly hellish experience. It's one of those purely insufferable movies where a meandering string of inconsequential encounters and contemplative shots of the characters driving or staring into the distance masquerade as some kind of profound philosophical exploration of the human condition until it reaches a purposefully ambiguous conclusion that just confirms that there's nothing meaningful or interesting going underneath its shiny art film exterior.   

Most Underrated: The Spectacular Now (2013)

With its preposterously talented ensemble (Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kaitlyn Dever, Bob Odenkirk) all turning in top-tier performances, a central relationship that feels realistic at every turn and a steadfast refusal to give into the genre's easily digestible, fairy tale clichés, The Spectacular Now manages to standout as one of the most grounded, mature coming-of-age romance movies ever made.

Most Overrated: Hereditary (2018)

After showing some potential in the opening half as a moody mediation on the different ways people grieve after the unexpected death of a loved one, Hereditary morphs into an overacted, unintentionally hilarious disaster with supernatural horror elements that feel tacked-on and completely undercut the themes that drive the initial stages of the film. 

Finest Polarizing Piece of Pop Culture Insanity: Spring Breakers (2014)

Calling Spring Breakers polarizing might be portraying its reception as more favorable than it actually is. In my experience of reading and listening to takes about it, it's a movie that most people from critics to average folks completely despise that just happens to have a very small yet vocal group that thinks its a masterpiece. While I'll stop short of joining the extreme enthusiasm end of that spectrum, I do think Spring Breakers is a really great movie that cleverly tricked people who were expected to watch some kind of mindless beach party movie that starred a trio of former teen idols (Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson) into watching an unhinged, hypnotic surrealist satire about the joys and horrors of the unapologetic hedonistic excess that drives America's youth culture.    

Most Indulgent Indie Crap: American Honey (2016)

Has the concept of editors gone out the window in the world of cinema? Because literally not having an editor on the production is the only justification I can think of for making a low-key road movie about a group of runaway misfits selling magazines door to door throughout the midwest in THE PRESENT DAY  2 hours and 43 minutes long. The free-spirited/illegal hijinks of these young drifters are fun for about 45 minutes, but an additional couple of hours of watching them rob the houses of their potential customers, stirring up shit with locals in small town (insert rural state) and trade passive aggressive barbs because they're mad about who's screwing who makes American Honey an exercise in constantly escalating tedium that could've easily been avoided if Andrea Arnold simply made something more streamlined.    

Most Surprising Entry in Their Distribution Library: Son of a Gun (2015)

In less than a decade as a distributor, A24 has been able to establish themselves as the leader in bringing prestige indie cinema from across the genre spectrum to the screen and helped launch or significantly elevated the careers of many celebrated young filmmakers including Barry Jenkins, Robert Eggers and the Safdie Brothers. Given their tastemaker status, it's pretty surprising to discover to uncover some of the less glamorous titles they've put out-particularly during their early years. Of the movies from that group that I've seen, Son of a Gun stands out the most. While Son of a Gun is a perfectly functional prison/heist thriller from Overlord director Julius Avery that features magnetic turns from Ewan McGregor and a pre-Ex Machina/Danish Girl Alicia Vikander, it just feels like way too conventional of a genre movie to be distributed by a label that prides itself on garnering cinephile raves.