Every Ben Affleck Movie, Ranked

He’s a leading man, a reluctant superhero, a tabloid fixture and a rabid Dunkin’ enthusiast. And a great actor, too.

If you’re having trouble viewing this email, view in browser 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.    Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here. 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. Glen Powell Conquered Hollywood. Was That What He Actually Wanted? How the Collapse of Marvel’s Blade Led to One of the Year’s Best Movies The Best Part of the New Carrie TV Series? Her Mom. The Best TV Episodes of 2026 (So Far) Follow Us Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences | Privacy Notice | CA Notice at Collection Esquire is a publication of Hearst Magazines. ©2026 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This email was sent by Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019-3779

How to Copy Tom Hardy’s (Easy) Haircut

We found out how you can get it with ease.

View in Browser  Monday, October 12, 2026 Not sure what to do with your hair lately? Just check out Tom Hardy, who has one of the best—and easiest—haircuts a man can get. To make it even easier, we spoke to an expert who broke down how to ask for it on your next visit to the barber. — Jonathan Evans, style director Plus: Why Netflix's East of Eden cut a major section of the book Bags, bomber jackets, and all the new launches Esquire’s editors loved this week The 7 best wireless headphones for runners Tom Hardy Has One of the Easiest Haircuts for Men. It’s Also One of the Best. Hardy’s had a lot of cuts, but this one is supremely classic and ideal for anyone. We found out how you can get it with ease. Now 49 years old, Tom Hardy’s had a plethora of different hairstyles across his career. He’s been no stranger to trying something new, whether it’s growing it long and luscious or shaving it all off—notably for his role in Bronson. Center-parting Beckham style? He’s done that. Jack Grealish–style headbands? Yep, that too. Right now, however, he’s rocking what our go-to hairstylist describes as “a real classic men’s haircut.”   Maxwell Oakley, cofounder of London-based premium barbershop chain Supply 91, sees his fair share of cuts. But for him, this is one that works for pretty much anyone. “It’s a simple, textured style with a decent amount of product to give it texture and hold,” he tells us. “We’ve seen it around for the best part of 20 years, and it’s never really disappeared, even if it’s never quite blown up as a trend. It’s low-maintenance, masculine, and has a slightly rugged feel to it, especially when worn with a bit of stubble.” READ THE STORY The White House is doing its best to derail a potentially huge midterm swing. Charles P. Pierce probes how ring-wing outlets falsely reported on James Talarico checking into a mental health clinic. >> Ben Affleck is one of our favorite guys, but which movies are his actual best? Eric Francisco and the other editors weigh in on the filmography of Dunkin's biggest fan. >> Omega Made a Bond-Themed Watch for the Bad Guys—and It’s Very Good Earlier this week, on a blistering day in Los Angeles, I walked into an Omega boutique outfitted unlike any other. Just off the sun-soaked main floor was a staircase leading to an exhibition on the second floor. It was dark, lounge-y—the kind of spot where you could imagine James Bond sinking into a sofa and sipping on a Vesper martini. And along the walls were glass display cases housing ephemera from 007’s onscreen career.   The miniature bombs released from Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 in No Time to Die were pretty damn cool. His passport and MI6 ID badge, too. But the thing I kept coming back to was across the proverbial aisle, in the section devoted to the goodies and gadgets used by Bond’s longtime nemesis, the nefarious global organization known as Spectre. It was Blofeld’s bionic eye. I know it’s not a real bionic eye. But in that space, surrounded by suited-up watch fans, I wanted to believe it was. Because mini bombs are neat, but if you ask me, bionic eyes win every single time. By Jonathan Evans READ THE STORY After My Father Died, His Much Younger Husband Became a Bigger Part of My Family Than I Ever Expected In the spring of 2011, I was living in Los Angeles and single after a bad breakup. My dad and Jamie were renting a house in Key West and encouraged me to crash in the spare bedroom for a couple weeks.   On my second-to-last night, at a bar called Durty Harry’s, I met a Clemson senior on spring break and fell in love. Always the one to nudge me off the edge of the diving board, my dad egged me on: “Why not toss out your return ticket, see where things with this girl might go?” Jamie agreed: “You never know.”   Four years later, Susan and I were married and living in Charleston, South Carolina. My dad and Jamie followed us, hoping for grandkids. They bought a house in Beaufort, a nearby waterfront town lined with ancient oaks and Spanish moss. My dad opened an antique shop on Bay Street, and everything seemed perfectly in place for his next act.   But he didn’t know how to slow down. When he got sick with double pneumonia, I knew it was because he was pushing himself to exhaustion at the store. His nightly double bourbons on the rocks didn’t help, either. By Stinson Carter READ THE STORY Follow Us Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences | Privacy Notice | CA Notice at Collection Esquire is a publication of Hearst Magazines. ©2026 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This email was sent by Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019-3779