All JC Chandor movies, ranked from worst to best

The 2010s saw the emergence of several debutant filmmakers who have already captured the attention of the general public and inspired fervent anticipation for their upcoming projects. Jordan Peele, Alex Garland, Greta Gerwig and Ari Aster are now names that could sell an upcoming film, but it doesn’t seem JC Chandor joined that group yet. That’s not to say anything about his talent, as Chandor has already proven in his four films that he has an aptitude for scale, realism and emotion that would impress even a master of cinema. He simply tends to make films that go unnoticed, and until recently, he managed to avoid the world of franchise cinema altogether.

The other reason Chandor’s name doesn’t suggest a clear type of film is because he apparently takes on a new genre with every new project. So far, Chandor has directed a timely financial thriller (margin call), a gritty survival film (All is lost), an epic crime (A More Violent Year) and a Netflix heist action thriller (Triple Border). Considering that many filmmakers rarely show such diversity in their work, it’s amazing that Chandor is already taking such risks early in his career. He is currently working on the Sony Marvel project.Kraven the Hunterstarring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the beloved Spider man antagonist. Here are all the JC Chandor movies, ranked from worst to best.

4 Triple Border

Triple Border it stands out above many of Netflix’s other original action movies. While Extraction, The Gray Man, It is Bright among others do nothing but set up planned franchises, Triple Border takes a more serious approach to the lives of struggling veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Despite featuring some incredible action scenes later on, the film’s first section is a more intimate look at post-traumatic stress disorder. The story revolves around former soldiers Redfly (Ben Affleck), Pope (Oscar Isaac), Ironhead (Charlie Hunnam), Ben (Garrett Hedlund) and Catfish (Pedro Pascal). to pay off your debts.

The film’s script, by The Hurt Locker It is Zero Dark Thirty writer Mark Boal does a great job of showing how poorly their government treats these men and why they are forced to resort to illegal activities to support their families. The heist itself is electrifying, as characters like Redfly must make decisive ethical choices at any given time. the only reason Triple Border ranks so low is that the third act devolves into a survival thriller that just isn’t as compelling as previous segments, and that characters like Catfish and Ben aren’t given enough character development.

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3 All is lost

Robert Redford gives one of the best performances of his entire career as an unnamed sailor in All is lostand considering its incredible track record, that’s no small feat. All is lost it’s as simple as you can get. The film centers on a single character, whose boat is stuck in the middle of the Indian Ocean and facing extreme weather conditions. Your resources are slowly reduced over time; Chandor does a great job of showing how this character finds his environment getting smaller and smaller as he has to abandon his boat for a lifeboat, forcing him to use only sparse materials to sustain his life. It’s a film about the deterioration of spirit as a character clings to his life in the face of unimaginable opposition. It’s a credit to both Chandor and Redford that the viewer feels so much empathy for the character without knowing much about his backstory.

it’s refreshing that All is lost it stripped away all the conventional elements, but it doesn’t go too far into artistic territory either. Out of some religious images obliquely at the end, All is lost depicts literal events as they unfold without any metaphorical threads. Considering how often survival movies question the sanity of their characters, this works in their favor. All is lost which is more focused on problem solving as it showcases the character’s creativity. It also features a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Alex Ebert. While it’s a bit too long and extends some similar scenes into the final act, All is lost is an impressive second film that showed that Chandor could make an old story feel new again.

Related: Best Robert Redford Movies Ranked

two A More Violent Year

When moviegoers think of the kind of movies that “they just don’t make anymore,” a movie like A More Violent Year comes to mind. Set in New York City during the early 1980s, A More Violent Year follows honest trucking company owner Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) as he tries to protect his shipments from being hijacked when crime is on the rise. Abel swears he must maintain his integrity, but his wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) pressures him to take more extreme measures to secure their family’s future. It’s a fascinating ethical debate, and despite the film’s impressive scope, the story is mostly centered on how this marriage is tested during a stressful time.

Isaac and Chastain would later play another couple on the HBO series. Scenes from a weddingbut they proved in A More Violent Year that they could recreate realistic arguments that lovers who are business partners would have. However, it’s Chandor’s writing that really elevates their chemistry. Film critic Richard Roeper felt that there was “a David Mamet lilt to Chandor’s script” but that he still “has his own very strong voice” and named the film one of the top 10 of 2014.

1 margin call

There aren’t many directorial debuts in recent memory that leave as strong an impression on audiences as margin call. A riveting financial thriller set during the collapse of a major Wall Street investment bank. margin call follows employee Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) after he learns from a fired co-worker (Stanley Tucci) that his employer has made a major data error. As Peter tries to warn his bosses that the collapse could put the entire market in irrevocable danger, its greedy CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons) tries to find a way to keep the bank alive without worrying about collateral damage. The film features an excellent cast that includes Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, and Demi Moore as the various officials who weigh in on these decisions.

margin call it is written so brilliantly that it gets the minutiae of modern economics right, but still shows the clear morality of the characters. As it happens in a short period of time, margin call continues to increase in intensity until the end. Chandor received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for his work, which was praised by financial experts for its realism. Bloomberg News called it “the best finance movie”.