Nicholas Hoult Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Nicholas Hoult-whose latest project "Renfield" releases in theaters tonight.

Nicholas Hoult's Filmography Ranked:

13.About a Boy (D)

12.Warm Bodies (D)

11.Collide (D+)

10.Mad Max: Fury Road (C)

9.The Weather Man (B-)

8.Clash of the Titans (B)

7.Those Who Wish Me Dead (B)

6.Dark Phoenix (B+)

5.X-Men: Apocalypse (B+)

4.The Favourite (B+)

3.The Menu (B+)

2.X-Men: First Class (A)

1.X-Men: Days of Future Past (A)

Top Dog: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

What X-Men: Days of Future Past was able to pull off was extraordinary. Not only was it able to tell a time-hopping narrative that never becomes muddled or overwhelming, it bridges the gap between the two eras of X-Men films in a way that always thoughtfully services the story at hand without ever veering off into blind nostalgia worship.

Bottom Feeder: About a Boy (2002)

About a Boy is a somewhat unsung yet still completely insufferable entry in Hugh Grant's extensive catalog of late 90's/early 2000s British romcom torture porn. The efforts to sell Grant's Will Freeman as a sweet, misunderstood man instead of an obnoxious, arrogant pathological liar are futile, the child/surrogate father relationship that develops between Will and Marcus (Hoult) never feels remotely real and its portrayal of suicide and depression is reprehensible even by the standards of the era in which it was released. 

Most Underrated: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Here is the moment where I out myself as a massive apologist for the latter half of the new X-Men saga. X-Men: Apocalypse may be a pretty sizable step down from the prior two films and feature some uneven writing and a preposterous-sounding overdub that weakens Oscar Issac's performance as the titular Apocalypse, but the ensemble both old (James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Hoult) and new (Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smith-McPhee, Sophie Turner) are a treat to watch and the frequent, massive action sequences are excellent.  

Most Overrated: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Viewing Mad Max: Fury Road as overrated is a lonely island to put yourself on in the world of movie takes, but God damn it, I'm going to reside there for the rest of my days. No number of big trucks driving across the desert, people playing instruments that shoot fire on the front of a big truck or occasional explosion of a big truck can cover up the dullness of Fury Road's action and plot. None of the action setpieces are particularly memorable, creative or overly well-staged, Immortan Joe is an abysmal villain that provides more moments of unintentional comedy than menace courtesy of Hugh Keays-Byrne's needlessly cartoony performance and its commentary on patriarchal societies/dictators is not nearly as feminist as George Miller seems to think it is.