Cliff Curtis Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Cliff Curtis-whose latest project "Avatar: The Way of Water" arrives in theaters today. 

Cliff Curtis' Filmography Ranked:

16.The Last Airbender (D)

15.The Fountain (D)

14.Sunshine (D+)

13.10,000 BC (C)

12.Columbiana (C)

11.Push (C+)

10.The Meg (B-)

9.Fracture (B-)

8.Reminiscence (B)

7.Bringing Out the Dead (B)

6.Blow (B+)

5.Three Kings (B+)

4.Doctor Sleep (B+)

3.Hobbs & Shaw (A-)

2.Live Free or Die Hard (A-)

1.Training Day (A+)

Top Dog: Training Day (2001)

Overflowing with intensity, grit and visceral fear, Training Day is a masterfully crafted, unrelentingly nightmarish knockout of a film that possesses a well-deserved place in the annals of movie history.

Bottom Feeder: The Last Airbender (2010)

My negative feelings towards The Last Airbender don't even come close to the overwhelming disgust fans of the animated series have expressed towards it since it was released, but I still have a strong, active dislike for this movie. M. Night Shyamalan goes completely against his brand by directing with zero enthusiasm or purpose, the story doesn't make much sense and the acting from the young cast-particularly Noah Ringer and Nicola Peltz-is stiff to the point where it's fair to question if they were humans or aliens that were having a really hard time mimicking the behavior of Earth's citizens. 

Most Underrated: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Die Hard's self-aware, quip-heavy style made it an ideal candidate to receive the over-the-top 21st century blockbuster treatment and courtesy of the spirited efforts from everybody involved with this project, Live Free or Die Hard hits every single intended target gracefully. Bruce Willis and Justin Long are a great bickering odd couple lead pairing, the action scenes are gleefully ridiculous and loaded with energy and Timothy Olyphant treads the line between genuinely maniacal and cartoonishly menacing so beautifully as primary antagonist Thomas Gabriel that it's kind of a shame that he been given more roles like this since. For my money, it's the best Die Hard sequel and it sucks that they decided to go back to the well one more time while Willis was still playing John McClane.

Most Overrated: The Fountain (2006)

Like most "failed" projects directed by beloved directors, the popular opinion towards The Fountain has greatly improved since it was met with mixed-to-negative reviews upon its release in November 2006. As of this writing at least, I'm not among the people that has come to appreciate The Fountain more with time. While its ambition is admirable, Darren Aronofsky's quest to create this epic, 1,000-year romance is foiled by the non-existent chemistry between Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, stunningly cheesy tone and excruciatingly slow pacing that makes 96 minutes feel like 9,600.