Sterling K. Brown 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 Sterling K. Brown-whose latest project "Atlas" arrives on Netflix tomorrow. 

Sterling K. Brown's Filmography Ranked:

11.Righteous Kill (C)

10.The Rhythm Section (B-)

9.Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (B-)

8.Waves (B-)

7.Our Idiot Brother (B)

6.Marshall (B)

5.American Fiction (B)

4.Hotel Artemis (B)

3.The Predator (B)

2.Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (B+)

1.Black Panther (A)

Top Dog: Black Panther (2018)

Hating on Black Panther has become an increasingly popular activity-which admittedly makes sense since it's the only Marvel movie to be nominated for Best Picture and got hyped up as an instant superhero movie classic before it was even officially released. I however remain a huge fan of what Ryan Coogler pulled off here. Given the incredible luxury of not having to do a full-blown origin story after T'Challa/Black Panther (the late Chadwick Boseman) debuted in Captain America: Civil War, Coogler instead got to make a political epic about a man grappling with his sudden ascension to the throne following the murder of his father, the unexpected arrival of someone from his past (Michael B. Jordan-in an elite villain turn) who didn't get the luxury of growing up as the beloved son of the King challenging his right to the throne and whether to make his prosperous nation of Wakanda known to the world or continue living in the shadows like they always have. Further elevating all the compelling, emotional drama is a great collection of supporting characters headlined by Luptita Nyongo's Nakia, Winston Duke's M'Baku, Letita Wright's Suri and Danai Gurira's Okoye and an underrated collection of action sequences (particularly that big fight in the South Korean casino). 

Bottom Feeder: Righteous Kill (2008)

Righteous Kill being the first film in which Robert De Niro and Al Pacino shared significant screen time is a random fact that always me laugh. Truth be told: Neither of these acting titans should've been here-even at a juncture of their career where they were totally fine with just taking a paycheck-nor do they look particularly thrilled to be appearing in something that is so clearly beneath them. It aims to be the kind of silly, intermittently entertaining police procedural that TNT's weekend afternoon movie programming is built around, but it's not engaging enough to earn its prime basic cable rotation stripes and ended up being relegated to the desolate 2AM on HBO2 circuit. What a god damn shame for De Niro, Pacino and a generation of American middle-aged fathers who have to settle for half-watching Law Abiding Citizen in between recliner power naps for the 16th time instead.        

Most Underrated: Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (2022)

While it's often guilty of settling for low hanging fruit instead of going for truly scathing satire about Christianity/megachurch culture, I still enjoyed the hell out of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Regina Hall is handed one of her most substantial roles in ages as the wife of a megachurch pastor (Brown) desperately trying to hold onto her glamorous life as their church attempts to reopen after being shuttered for a year following a scandal involving the pastor and absolutely knocks it out of park with a performance that is equally hilarious, diabolical and sympathetic. Brown is similarly great as the charismatic slimeball pastor who shares his wife's crippling fear of losing everything and overwhelming desperation to keep their empire alive, but refuses to admit that his actions are responsible for the precarious position they find themselves in. Without these incredible performances, Honk probably wouldn't been all that great of a movie. With them, it's a hidden gem that's well worth exploring.     

Most Overrated: Waves (2019)

As great as the final third of the film is when Taylor Russell and Brown's beautifully vulnerable performances are steering the ship, the remainder of Waves is a clunky mix of showy melodrama and quiet character study that significantly undermines the lovely drama about forgiveness and the power of finding human connection during dark times in life that it eventually becomes.