Chris Pratt spent seven seasons on Parks and Recreation as a comic supporting character before losing sixty pounds and being cast in Guardians of the Galaxy, which is one of the more abrupt career transformations on record.
Star-Lord works because the comic instinct is genuine, and Pratt plays a man whose confidence is entirely unearned and knows it somewhere underneath.
Jurassic World and The Lego Movie made him one of the most commercially reliable leads of the 2010s.
The dramatic work is thinner, though he is good in Zero Dark Thirty and The Tomorrow War, and his public comments on faith and politics have made him a recurring subject of argument.
Bryce Dallas HowardJurassic World Dominion (2022) rates 2 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. The previous film ended with dinosaurs released into the world, which is the only genuinely new idea the series ever had, and this one is about locusts…
Byung-hun LeeThe Magnificent Seven (2016) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Antoine Fuqua takes the same structure, casts it the way the American West really looked, and gives the villain a coherent economic argument. The last forty minutes…
Chris PrattZero Dark Thirty is one of the best American thrillers of the past fifteen years and one of the most controversial mainstream films of the post-2001 perio. She became the first woman to win that award.
Chris PrattThe Lego Movie is one of the great American animated films of the 2010s and one of the most substantial commercial cinema surprises of the decade. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had directed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in…
Bradley CooperJames Gunn's farewell with substantive Rocket Raccoon backstory, the High Evolutionary's dark register, the Phase 5 exception. The 6 reflects honest evaluation based on what the available material shows, the broader critical reception, and the documented commercial response.
Benicio del Toro1 soundtrack, the cosmic Marvel foundation. The 6.5 reflects honest evaluation of one of the more creatively committed Phase Two MCU entries and the film that introduced cosmic Marvel to mainstream audiences.
Bradley CooperKurt Russell's Ego, Yondu's affecting sacrifice, comedy density exceeding the original's balance, family themes as load-bearing foundation. The 6 reflects honest evaluation of a sequel that maintained the original's tonal commitment with diminishing returns and that increased the comedic density…
Anthony MackieThe most contrived blockbuster of the decade. The 4 reflects honest evaluation of one of the most commercially successful films in cinema history.
Benedict CumberbatchTwo billion dollars on the strength of accumulated franchise capital. Forty characters, the Snap that wasn't depicted, and structural failures.
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