SD enterprise: Every Ben Affleck Movie, Ranked

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Every Ben Affleck Movie, Ranked

by Eric Francisco

Ben Affleck is a legit American treasure. A square-jawed, cleft-chinned heartthrob who can really act (and write, and direct, and smoke dejectedly). The man has done it all in his career of more than thirty years, including winning Best Original Screenplay in his mid-twenties (for Good Will Hunting) and Best Picture, for his 2012 drama Argo.

His latest film, Animals on Netflix, sees Matt Damon’s BFF play a Los Angeles mayoral candidate who races against the clock to rescue his kidnapped son. It’s a solid flick; more than worth adding to your Netflix queue when it drops on October 9. Sure, not everything Affleck has made has been gold—you remember Gigli?—but he is rarely the worst thing about them.

From Hollywood wunderkind to being married to not one but two different Jennifers, Affleck has grown up before our eyes. To celebrate the release of Animals, the editors of Esquire have taken it upon themselves to rank every single movie made by and/or starring Dunkin’s biggest fan. Yes, even his Batman movies. Behold the official word on the Book of Affleck—and yes, he is still the bomb in Phantoms.

Read the Story

Ben Affleck on the cover of Esquire's April 2009 issue.

Mailbag!

Esquire last interviewed Ben Affleck when he was on the cover of the April 2009 issue (above), right before he would direct one of his best films: The Town, which follows a Boston bank robber who looks to pull off a heist at Fenway Park.

“There's always a worry among directors that—unless you're some genius like Paul Thomas Anderson—you'll get pigeonholed, that maybe you can only tell stories about one city,” Affleck told Esquire. “It's simple: I just respond to the story. I have since I first read it. That fact that it's set in Boston may be part of that, but I'm not out there looking to document Boston. I want to tell good stories."

Let me know what your favorite Ben Affleck film is at josh.rosenberg@hearst.com.

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The Continuing Adventures of the Esquire Entertainment Desk

Hoon Lee, who plays Lee in Netflix’s East of Eden, spoke to Brady Langmann about his standout role in the celebrated John Steinbeck adaptation. “I felt the book had come to me as a gift,” he says. Read the interview here.

The Exorcist: Martyrs director Mike Flanagan gave Esquire an exclusive first look at his new film, which stars Scarlett Johansson as a detective who investigates a religious serial killer (played by John Leguizamo). “The way we’ve used the horror genre is to try to take the horrors of being alive on the earth and confront them,” he told Anthony Breznican. “In fiction, we can stare the devil in the face.” Check out the first images from the film here.

Hoon Lee / photo by: Shane McCauley

The Cliff-Hanger's Winners and Losers of the Week

Winner: Nicolas Cage

The actor stated during a panel at New York Comic Con over the weekend that he’s not interested in working with Amazon again. Why? He refused to sign a waiver allowing them to use AI on his Spider-Man spin-off series, which Prime Video did not renew for season 2. “Amazon is a very AI-friendly company,” Cage said. “I am not an AI-friendly actor, so it’s like, connect those dots!”

Loser: Hollywood

“Hollywood is over,” director Ava Duvernay declared while speaking at the BFI London Film Festival on Monday. “Did you guys hear?  It’s done. They’re buying each other, they’re collapsing. It’s all changed.” We don’t disagree—so we broke down why people are feeling this way following the Skydance-Paramount-Warner Bros. merger here.

Winner: Animatronic Birds

The most unhinged story of the week? Kelly Clarkson is feuding with a toy and puzzle store in Brooklyn over an animatronic bird. According to Clarkson, she offered to buy the $15,000 wall decoration, but the employee—who may not have recognized her— assumed that she couldn’t afford it. The store, in return, claims that the item wasn’t for sale. My question: why did Clarkson want a $15,000 animatronic bird?

Loser: The Dutton Family

Luke Grimes said that he hasn’t spoken to his Yellowstone costar and TV dad, Kevin Costner, since the Western series ended. “Not for any other reason than, you know, we’re both busy guys and life moves on,” the actor told USA Today. Still, there’s nothing stopping John Dutton from appearing via flashback in Marshals should Costner come around to the idea, right? “I doubt that will happen at this point,” Grimes said.

Winner: Avatar: The Last Airbender Fans

It’s been twelve years since the Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel series, The Legend of Korra, ended on Nickelodeon. But following a leaked film—one that was made without the creators—and a fan campaign to continue the story, the third series, Avatar: Seven Havens, finally premiered. Creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko spoke to Eric Francisco about the exciting new future ahead for Avatar fans and unveiled their plans for a fourth series after Havens. Read the interview here.