There are many terrible movies out there, and a fairly solid number of amazing ones, but finding people who’ve been involved in the production of movies on either end of these extremes? It’s not the easiest thing in the world. Take an acting legend like Daniel Day-Lewis, who has been in at least one 10/10 movie, or something many would consider 10/10 worthy: There Will Be Blood.
He’s generally been selective with his roles, and so even if his worst movie (it’s probably Nine) is quite bad, it’s not, like, 1/10-level bad. And, yes, this endeavor is going to be a bit more subjective than your average ranking, and you may disagree with some movies below being highlighted as perfect, and others highlighted as irredeemable, but it was a fun challenge regardless. Most of these actors are prolific, and have been acting steadily for decades, so after a while, mathematically, the odds do increase that one’s filmography will contain at least one masterpiece, plus one or more movies that are irredeemably bad.
10
Nicolas Cage
From ‘Face/Off’ (1997) to ‘The Humanity Bureau’ (2017)
Trying to watch everything Nicolas Cage has starred in makes for a chaotic experience, to say the least. He’s been in more than 100 movies, and you best believe that not all of them are good. Some are even nothing but bad, which is a clunky way of putting things, but these movies are clunky, so it’s what they deserve, probably (looking at you, Left Behind, The Humanity Bureau, and 211).
That same journey through the filmography of Cage, though, will also unearth some absolute masterpieces. And yes, Face/Off is a masterpiece, as a weird sci-fi movie and as a ridiculous action blockbuster. If you’re more into quieter weird movies, then Mandy is quite exceptional, and even if Leaving Las Vegas isn’t perfect in every single way, Cage’s central performance is, and it deservedly won him an Academy Award, too.
9
Tom Hanks
From ‘Saving Private Ryan’ to ‘The Polar Express’ (2004)
While plenty of movies try to capture the feeling of being in a nightmare and succeed, with it all feeling intentional, some are nightmarish for reasons that didn’t feel intended. Enter The Polar Express, which is an animated movie, sure, but done with motion capture, and so Tom Hanks really is front and center, just in an uncanny way. Oh, and he plays multiple roles, which somehow adds to the horror.
To his credit, other than The Polar Express, Hanks has had a pretty steady acting career. Even the notorious The Bonfire of the Vanities isn’t bad enough to be a 1/10.
Some people might be fond of The Polar Express, especially those really into Christmas, yet it’s being counted here as the nadir of Tom Hanks’ career. To his credit, it’s otherwise been pretty steady. Even the notorious The Bonfire of the Vanities isn’t bad enough to be a 1/10. And then, on the other end of things, Hanks was, of course, in the hard-to-fault Saving Private Ryan, and if you’re willing to include some more animated movies, the first three Toy Story films are basically perfect, too.
8
Ellen Burstyn
From ‘The Exorcist’ (1973) to ‘The Wicker Man’ (2006)
Ellen Burstyn has been in plenty of non-horror movies, but she applies for this present ranking because of two. She was in The Exorcist, and that’s an all-timer as far as the horror genre’s concerned, for hopefully obvious reasons, being timelessly unsettling and also very effective as a drama on top of being a horror movie. It was elevated horror before it was cool, or before it was a term.
And then you’ve got The Wicker Man (2006), not to be confused with The Wicker Man (1973), which is a classic that was released the same year as The Exorcist. But 2006’s The Wicker Man is a disaster on just about every front, outside some sporadic scenes of unintentional comedy (and the aforementioned Nicolas Cage was another cast member/casualty of that film, of course).
7
Al Pacino
From ‘The Godfather’ (1972) to ‘Jack and Jill’ (2011)
It’s hard to pick out the best Al Pacino movie, but it’s a little easier to pick out his worst. It’s probably Jack and Jill, and even then, he’s not in that film a great deal, and is the closest thing it has to a good element. Adam Sandler could maybe also appear in this ranking, if Uncut Gems is considered perfect, but he’s been in too many less-than-great movies to be an interesting – or eye-opening – inclusion.
So, Al Pacino. Al Pacino it is. His 10/10 movies are numerous, albeit most of them are from quite a few decades ago, like The Godfather, its sequel, Dog Day Afternoon, and Scarface (1983). In more recent years, he’s also had roles in movies that might well be classics one day, once enough time has passed, including in the likes of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Irishman.
6
Robert De Niro
From ‘Goodfellas’ to ‘Little Fockers’ (2010)
While on the topic of someone who was in The Godfather, here’s Robert De Niro as well, who was in the second film, just not on screen at the same time as Pacino, since De Niro’s scenes were all flashbacks. The two did star in Heat a couple of decades later, and that movie’s pretty much perfect… but between The Godfather Part II and Heat, De Niro was in maybe even more classics than Pacino.
You’ve got Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Brazil, among others. De Niro has generally been more prolific than Pacino, which means he’s also been in a few more stinkers, including the genuinely abhorrent Little Fockers, Dirty Grandpa, and Righteous Kill. Okay, the last of those might be more of a 2/10 than a 1/10, but that’s not saying much. It’s only worth acknowledging because it’s the movie Pacino and De Niro were both in that’s not good (their other three – The Godfather Part II, Heat, and The Irishman – are all winners).
5
Samuel L. Jackson
From ‘Jurassic Park’ (1993) to ‘Cell’ (2016)
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Technically, Samuel L. Jackson was in a very small role in the aforementioned Goodfellas, but there were other movies of his early in his career that were arguably masterpieces, where his roles were a little bigger (like in Jurassic Park and Do the Right Thing). He was in a couple of masterful early Quentin Tarantino movies, too (Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown), becoming very recognizable by about the mid-point of the 1990s.
Like Nicolas Cage and Robert De Niro, Jackson is incredibly prolific, and so him appearing in some fairly terrible movies was probably an inevitability. Of those, Cell might be the worst, which is a bad adaptation of a Stephen King novel that already wasn’t very good. On the topic of misfires, Oldboy (2013) and Argylle were also pretty terrible, though Samuel L. Jackson wasn’t anywhere close to being the worst thing found in either.
4
Christopher Walken
From ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994) to ‘Gigli’ (2003)
While his role wasn’t as big as Samuel L. Jackson’s, Christopher Walken was also in Pulp Fiction, and his one big scene did prove memorable. He did a lot with a little, and that’s kind of the Christopher Walken specialty. His worst movie is probably Gigli, and he also sort of just barges into that for a few minutes, does his thing, and then departs about as gracefully as one could from a movie like Gigli (Pacino was also in that one, regrettably).
Honestly, most of Christopher Walken’s movies range between about a 2/10 and a 9/10, rather than being on either of the absolute extreme ends. The Deer Hunter, for example, is great, but probably not perfect, while Balls of Fury (the table tennis movie that isn’t Marty Supreme) is bad, but maybe not the absolute worst thing ever, or not as ghastly as it technically could’ve been.
3
Judi Dench
From ‘Casino Royale’ (2006) to ‘Cats’ (2019)
Judi Dench is one of the all-time great English actresses, and her work hasn’t just been on the big screen, yet some of the films she has starred in have been amazing. Casino Royale, for example, is probably the best movie she’s in as M, while she also had small roles in two pretty much perfect Shakespeare film adaptations directed by Kenneth Branagh: Henry V (1989) and Hamlet (1996).
Unfortunately, Dench was also one of the many people who ended up in the train wreck that was Cats. It’s a gonzo and disastrous musical that is as bad as people make it out to be. Anyone in that who’s also been in at least one classic could technically go in this ranking, alongside Dench (like the also legendary Ian McKellen, whose filmography now – and forever – includes both Cats and The Lord of the Rings).
2
Michael Fassbender
From ‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009) to ‘The Snowman’ (2017)
Easily the youngest actor here, Michael Fassbender wasted very little time appearing in an all-time great movie, and then wasted only a tiny bit more time appearing in something that already feels like an all-time terrible movie. The modern classic is Inglourious Basterds, and it helps Fassbender that his supporting role allows him to be at the center of what might well be the movie’s best sequence (the extended and agonizingly intense one that takes place in a tavern).
Less than a decade later, Fassbender was also in The Snowman. There is nothing of value to be found in The Snowman, and it doesn’t even have the decency to be bad in a funny way, outside the fact that Fassbender’s character is named “Harry Hole.” The Snowman is a nadir for various other cast members, within their respective careers, including the likes of Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, and Val Kilmer.
1
John Travolta
From ‘Blow Out’ (1981) to ‘Battlefield Earth’ (2000)
Like his Face/Off co-star, Nicolas Cage, John Travolta has had the most chaotic of acting careers, quality-wise. He’s yet another actor who appeared in Pulp Fiction, and that’s certainly one of his best movies, but other masterpieces include Brian De Palma-directed movies like Carrie and Blow Out, as well as The Thin Red Line, which has an absolutely enormous cast filled with an almost distracting number of recognizable faces (an amazing movie, though).
And then you’ve got just as many all-time bad movies, in Travolta’s filmography, or maybe even more. Like, what else can be said about Battlefield Earth, at this point? Well, beyond stating that the likes of The Fanatic, Gotti, and The Poison Rose might well be just as bad. Life is like picking a John Travolta movie at random to watch; you never know what you’re gonna get.
Blow Out
- Release Date
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July 24, 1981
- Runtime
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108 Minutes
