Sebastian Stan 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 Sebastian Stan-whose latest project "Sharper" is in select theaters now and begins streaming on Apple TV+ tomorrow. 

Sebastain Stan's Filmography Ranked:

17.Gone (D)

16.The Covenant (D)

15.Captain America: The First Avenger (C+)

14.Captain America: The Winter Solider (C+)

13.The 355 (B)

12.Destroyer (B)

11.Rachel Getting Married (B)

10.Captain America: Civil War (B)

9.Fresh (B)

8.The Devil All the Time (B)

7.Logan Lucky (B)

6.The Martian (B+)

5.Avengers: Endgame (A-)

4.Hot Tub Time Machine (A)

3.I, Tonya (A)

2.Avengers: Infinity War (A)

1.Black Swan (A)

Top Dog: Black Swan (2010)

Thinking about the brilliance of Black Swan just a mere couple months after watching the manipulative melodramatic circus that was The Whale is making me kind of sad about the massive rut Darren Aronofsky has fallen into recently. Where The Whale goes for tears by effectively pummeling the viewer until they submit to crying, Black Swan taps into feelings of paranoia, jealously and fanatical dedication to creating art by viscerally telling a story through the disturbed eyes of ballerina Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman in one of the most stunning performances I've ever seen in a film). As Nina's grip on reality continues to worsen as she becomes completely consumed with giving a flawless performance in a production of Swan Lake-in which she is set to play the dual lead role of the graceful White Swan and the insidious Black Swan, the film becomes an increasingly vivid hallucinatory nightmare through the twisted materialization of her long-suppressed insecurities surrounding her career, sexuality and relationship with her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey). It's a deeply disturbing master class in psychological terror and my personal favorite thing that Aronofsky has ever made.     

Bottom Feeder: Gone (2012)

Gone achieves the rare double whammy of being a thriller that's both exceptionally dumb and brutally boring. How Amanda Seyfried got dragged into leading a project this inept at a stage of her career where things were already going well just completely defies comprehension, but fortunately she hasn't stooped quite this low since.   

Most Underrated: Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Does Hot Tub Time Machine hold up well? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure as it's been about a decade since I've watched it from start to finish. That being said, I did see about 15 minutes of it on HBO recently and it seemed like the combination of kinetic self-aware absurdity and great buddy camaraderie between its leading ensemble (John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke) that made it such an excellent comedy when it was initially released remained fully intact.

Most Overrated: Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014)

While Winter Solider features some of the better choreographed fight scenes in the MCU and a great lead performance from Chris Evans-who really blossomed into the role of Captain America after a somewhat shaky inaugural turn in The First Avenger, its lethargic pacing and overwhelmingly convoluted plot make the film a pretty frustrating mixed bag overall.