Emily Blunt’s 10 Best Movies

I think Emily Blunt is the most versatile actress in Hollywood.  There is literally nothing she cannot do and do well.  Drama, comedy, period pieces, she’s the best female action star since Sigourney Weaver, and on top of all of it she can sing and dance.  I have never seen Blunt turn in a bad performance, even if the movie she was in didn’t entirely click.  That skill set is going to allow her to break through that idiotic wall that exists for actresses between 40-60.  Even the best actresses usually have an area of weakness. For example, as superb as she is, no one is going to buy Meryl Streep in an action film.  I use Streep as an example, because it was Blunt’s role as her acerbic assistant in The Devil Wears Prada that first got her wide notice, and you CAN stick Blunt in action/science fiction films like Sicario, Looper, and the underrated Edge of Tomorrow and she will blow you away in either setting.  Turning only 34 this week, Blunt has a long career ahead of her making what I can only imagine will be one of the most diverse filmographies in movie history.

Amy Adams’ 10 Best Movies

Amy Adams has unfortunately inherited the mantle Kate Winslet had to drag around for a decade: “Best Actress Without An Oscar”.  Nominated six times, she’s 0 for 5 (the verdict is still out on 2019’s nomination).  Adams has put together an amazing body of work since she broke out in 2005’s Junebug and earned her first Oscar nod.  Whether in supporting roles as in Doubt, Charlie Wilson’s War, or Her; or as a lead in American Hustle, Big Eyes, or Enchanted, Adams always delivers strong performances.  I think her best performance was American Hustle, but her best movie was 2016’s science fiction masterpiece Arrival.  In the age of the comic book movie, most stars have been snapped up by DC or Marvel.  Adams has played Lois Lane in the DCEU in Man of Steel (which was good) and Batman vs. Superman (which was really not but not Adams’ fault).  It’s an unfortunate reality that quality actresses have a harder time finding quality roles as they age.  Adams is defying this trend, and eventually, the Academy will recognize her as one of the strongest actresses of the last 30 years.

Amy Adams’ Best 10
1. Arrival (2016), Louise Banks
2. American Hustle (2013), Sydney Prosser
3. Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Bonnie Bach
4. Catch Me If You Can (2002), Brenda Strong
5. Enchanted (2007), Giselle
6. Doubt (2008), Sister James
7. Julie & Julia (2009), Julie Powell
8. The Fighter (2010), Charlene Fleming
9. Junebug (2005), Ashley
10. Big Eyes (2014), Margaret Keane
Honorable Mention: Her (2013), Amy

Tom Hanks’ 10 Best Movies

Tom Hanks is the biggest star in Hollywood and has been for over two decades.  From a start as a comedian, first on TV in Bosom Buddies and then in film with movies like Bachelor Party, Hanks got his big break, first in 1984’s Splash, then exploding into popularity in 1988 with his first Oscar nomination for Big.  Since then, he has gone on to win two Oscars, four Golden Globes, and his work with HBO on miniseries like From the Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers, and The Pacific has won him six Emmys.

Hanks is often called the “Jimmy Stewart of our generation” in that despite being the star he is, he’s a genuine person; the everyman who becomes someone with whom the audience can instantly relate.  Many actors, especially comic actors, really just play a heightened version of themselves in film.  Hanks began his career doing this, but soon disappeared into his roles and those roles defined some of the finest cinema of the last 30 years.  Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, the Toy Story Trilogy, Cast Away, Road to Perdition, Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Charlie’s Wilson’s War, and the list goes on and on.  Hanks’ #11-20 films are of a quality that most actors would kill to have them as their top 10 (and I cheated and combined the Toy Stories to get two more films on the list; perks of making the rules).  Hanks turned 60 in 2016, hard as that is to believe, but he’s still Hollywood’s leading man.

PS – If you find yourself in a movie and Tom Hanks is the captain of whatever vessel you’re traveling on (Captain Phillips, Sully, Apollo 13)…..buckle up.  Things are going to be ok, but you’re in for a bumpy ride.  If he’s the captain of your platoon, that is another story altogether.

Amy Adams’ Latest 10 Movies vs. Greatest 10 Movies

Latest vs. Greatest looks at directors, actors, actresses, screenwriters and composers to assess the state of their career as it stands.  We’ll look back at the latest 10 movies the artist has done, rate them and then average them out to see where they stand today.  We’ll also rank their 10 greatest movies and give them the same treatment to compare what they have been doing to their very best work.  (A quick side-note: if an artist is/has been a regular on a TV show we’ll also grade the seasons individually; artists need 10 projects to qualify).

Amy Adams is the fifth person involved with Catch Me If You Can that we’ve profiled so far (Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, John Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio), though you may not recall her as she had braces and was the youngest and most innocent of Frank Abagnale’s con victims in that film.  So to open, what I’m saying is, go rent Catch Me If You Can.

My Favorite Scene: Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) “Gust’s Tirade”

Heading into weeks now after the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and it’s just still surreal that he’s no longer with us.  Such a classic, larger-than-life presence on the screen; a true movie star whose career was so full and yet so far from finished.  Hoffman turned in a number of performances that were astonishing, but my favorite role of his was that of Gust Avrakatos in Charlie Wilson’s War.